Smart Meters, Again

[Drago]

Our new house has smart meters and I'm still receiving text messages from British Gash telling me they want me to submit a meter reading.

Seeing as a) they're smart meters, and b) they're not paying me to read meters, they can feck off.

 

[PaulSB]

We had very old meters which had both become difficult to read. The gas meter was outside and for half the year condensation made a reading almost impossible.

I asked for smart meters to be fitted and they were in July 2021. These did not send a single reading to the supplier until August of this year, three years later. I wasn't concerned because all I wanted was a new readable meter.

Suddenly in August this year the meters began to transmit! A three year wait. It's well known locally that over a wide area there's been a problem with the network which transmits the data. Clearly that's now fixed.

The energy network is a standalone one operated by DCC.

The household gizmo has never worked. I tried again for a week recently. It's back in the cupboard again now.

 

[Tenkaykev]

Our smart meters were installed by octopus last November when we had the battery and solar installed. They have worked flawlessly since. The little in house display they supplied was a novelty for a few days and then got put in the drawer of surplus electrical components. I requested a smart energy monitor from Octopus which is really useful as it sends information from your meters to an app on your phone and displays consumption in various formats. It's about half the size of a pack of cards, much slimmer, with a single led to show that it's functioning. Octopus will send you one FOC if you ask.

 

[Punkawallah]

Like you, Octopus wanted me to replace mine with a Smart Meter, as mine was ‘coming to the end of its life’. Apparently they can not order the old style meter for replacements. After repeated requests to be put in touch with a line manager they gave up.
Nothing against Octopus, here. Found them to be fair and straight forward.

 

[Alex321]

Like you, Octopus wanted me to replace mine with a Smart Meter, as mine was ‘coming to the end of its life’. Apparently they can not order the old style meter for replacements. After repeated requests to be put in touch with a line manager they gave up.
Nothing against Octopus, here. Found them to be fair and straight forward.

Yes, there is a legal obligation on energy companies to meet targets for smart meter installations. They cannot install any new non-smart meters, and are encouraged by these targets to replace existing meters.

The government target is for smart meters in all households by the end of 2025.

Ours was two smart meters (one for electricity oe for gas) when we moved in, and since we had solar installed, we switched to Octopus, and are on their half-hourly variable tariffs for both import and export.

At this time of year, we are getting paid a lot more than we are being charged. And then November to February, we charge the battery overnight, between 2:30 and 5:00, which usually provides all the electricity we need, at the cheapest rates. We couldn't do any of that without a smart meter.

 

[wiggydiggy]

That accounts for 10% of all meters, but they're just the faults that the industry is admitting to, all the other faults they don't count take the total faults to 19%.

I thought the SMETS2 meters were supposed to have fixed that sort of thing.

I've been on their basic variable tariff since they took over from Shell, I can't get anything else without a smart meter. Fortunately the cost seems to be within a fairly small amount of the best price Moneysupermarket could find, for the time being at least.

I'm with Octopus, I switched to their August 12M Fixed without a smart meter. Its slightly more expensive than the variable but I'm gambling on a price rise and there is no early exit fee if prices plummet.

 

[presta]

I'm with Octopus, I switched to their August 12M Fixed without a smart meter. Its slightly more expensive than the variable but I'm gambling on a price rise and there is no early exit fee if prices plummet.

I looked at changing a few months ago and thought the smart meter issue had put me off, so I've just had another look. There's an option to view tariffs which seems to be all smart meter ones, and then there's a 'change my tariff' option which offers a 15M fixed. I can't see anywhere it insists you have to have a smart meter to switch, but the T&Cs say:

"If you do not have a Smart Meter at your Premises, we may install one for you. We will arrange an appointment with you for installation. If you repeatedly refuse to allow us to install a Smart Meter, you may not be eligible for our full range of products and services, which may include specific Smart Meter tariffs which may be cheaper."

I don't know whether they could enforce that if I stay on my existing tariff, as I was moved from Shell without agreeing to it.

 

[Tenkaykev]

The Octopus " Go " tariff looks really attractive with periods of low cost charging for electric vehicles. Unfortunately my electric bicycle doesn't count, despite technically being a " vehicle " 😁

 

[wiggydiggy]

I looked at changing a few months ago and thought the smart meter issue had put me off, so I've just had another look. There's an option to view tariffs which seems to be all smart meter ones, and then there's a 'change my tariff' option which offers a 15M fixed. I can't see anywhere it insists you have to have a smart meter to switch, but the T&Cs say:

"If you do not have a Smart Meter at your Premises, we may install one for you. We will arrange an appointment with you for installation. If you repeatedly refuse to allow us to install a Smart Meter, you may not be eligible for our full range of products and services, which may include specific Smart Meter tariffs which may be cheaper."

I don't know whether they could enforce that if I stay on my existing tariff, as I was moved from Shell without agreeing to it.

I don't want to to tempt fate but I've been on that 15M Fixed since August and bar the usual pop ups when I visit the website asking me to fit one, I've not had one forced on me yet. I have spoken to them a fair amount as well because I transferred a family member into them on the same tariff (though they had Smart meters already). I was also moved from Shell (though I was happy to do so!).

 

[presta]

I was also moved from Shell (though I was happy to do so!).

I wasn't unhappy about moving from Shell, but if they say things like "Don't worry...you don't need to do anything...nothing will change" presumably they won't be able to enforce new terms until you change tariffs and agree to new ones.