Smart meters

[gavroche]

There is a program on the pros and cons of the above tomorrow night at 8 pm on Channel 5 I think. I shall watch it as I have never been convinced about their efficiency so I hope it will be unbiased and not sponsored by the energy companies.
What are your views on smart meters if you have one ?

 

[Electric_Andy]

I'll try and watch it.we have one but it just sits under the stairs and does it's thing. According to my app, we average about £4.50/day not including the standing charge. I have no reason to think it's transmitting false information but who knows

 

[numbnuts]

As from Monday my smart meter runs on solar, now that's smart

 

[dicko]

We had a smart meter fitted just before our Tesla battery was installed. Our meter is set to read every 15 minutes. Between 2 and 5 am we charge the batterie at super cheap rates and we use this during the day. It is saving us £££s.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

Ours seems to work fine
It can be useful to see what is using the electric
and in summer to see that we are using nothing at all when I am cooking because the batteries have been charged by the solar panels and are powering everything

It was most useful when it was first put in as it pointed out what was worth saving on and what was not
OK - I could have just looked at the wattage and worked it out - but this was easier and more visual

I presume it is working accurately - but that also applied to the one was had before

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

Oh - and while we are at it - we also have a water meter that send its reading to the water company "by magic"
so I presume it is a smart meter as well

no idea how often it transmits or how but I presume it is similar
must have been pretty new when I moved in as the first reading as VERY low

 

[Psamathe]

Mine is a complete waste of time. Installed at providers request not mine.

Worked fine for 12 months but not spends most of it's time flashing "waiting for data" then displaying serial number. Called EDF and they were most uncooperative and forced a meter read and 5 mins later it was working (having been non-functioning for 1+ weeks). Lasted a few days then stopped working again. These days maybe 20% of the time displaying anything useful. But EDF wont cooperate about replacing or resolving so nowt I can do.

(EDF read the use once a month as I can't see any benefit from them having more frequent readings).

Ian

 

[presta]

What are your views on smart meters if you have one ?

I'd love the ability to download the data, but not at the cost of the problems with them that I see being reported.

We had a smart meter fitted just before our Tesla battery was installed. Our meter is set to read every 15 minutes. Between 2 and 5 am we charge the batterie at super cheap rates and we use this during the day. It is saving us £££s.

Why do you need a smart meter to tell you when the cheapest rate is?

It can be useful to see what is using the electric

Not really. Trying to compare individual appliance consumption with an electricity meter is highly misleading because it varies as the function of the appliances vary, and thermostats cycle etc. To measure something like a fridge or washing machine you would have to switch off every other appliance in the house for several hours whilst the one you're measuring completes a whole cycle. A plug-in monitor is far better for doing one appliance at a time.

OK - I could have just looked at the wattage and worked it out - but this was easier and more visual

Again, you can't get a meaningful answer like that either, for the same reason as above. The rating plate is just the peak power, not necessarily the mean power for a whole cycle of use.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

I'd love the ability to download the data, but not at the cost of the problems with them that I see being reported.

Why do you need a smart meter to tell you when the cheapest rate is?

Not really. Trying to compare individual appliance consumption with an electricity meter is highly misleading because it varies as the function of the appliances vary, and thermostats cycle etc. To measure something like a fridge or washing machine you would have to switch off every other appliance in the house for several hours whilst the one you're measuring completes a whole cycle. A plug-in monitor is far better for doing one appliance at a time.

Again, you can't get a meaningful answer like that either, for the same reason as above. The rating plate is just the peak power, not necessarily the mean power for a whole cycle of use.

View attachment 750345

True - any device that uses a thermostat - such as an oven - cannot be checked using simple maths

I have seen a lot of "energy saving" advice sites telling people to do exactly this and it is total rubbish.
They use it to get people to check for themselves but in a way that is guaranteed way to produce much higher results than the real figures

It does work fine for something like a light that uses the same power all the time it is on - but most larger appliances don;t do this.


The smart meter is useful and can be used - especially for high demand system - but you need to control everything else of any power in the house - whcih can be difficult.
I have a monitor that I can plug things into and leave it to run for a period time and see what it has used. This is the only accurate way of doing it

 

[PeteXXX]

Before we moved January before last we were Smartless. Our new abode already had one so we had to, I guess, stick with it.
To be honest, it's not made much difference to usthough we can now see daily usage (less than £3 a day)
Our gas is still on a dumb meter and that's the way it'll stay despite their offer to replace it.

 

[Spiderweb]

My supplier E.ON keep pestering me with emails saying ‘Urgent your electricity meter needs replacing’.
Apparently my current meter has passed its certification date and needs to be replaced, they say E.ON have a legal obligation to replace old meters with new ones.

I’ve been ignoring their emails up to now but I may have to give them a call?

 

[Drago]

I put off having a smart meter after my Mum had all sorts of grief.

Sadly I didn't have any choice now we've moved, but things are, so far, just dandy.

In summary, a) smart meters are brilliant...until they're not any more, and b) were already starting to see active demand pricing, which may be good for some but terrible for others, probably the poorest as that usually how these things go.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

My supplier E.ON keep pestering me with emails saying ‘Urgent your electricity meter needs replacing’.
Apparently my current meter has passed its certification date and needs to be replaced, they say E.ON have a legal obligation to replace old meters with new ones.

I’ve been ignoring their emails up to now but I may have to give them a call?

Funny how the dates on them are suddenly very important when they have a financial incentive to replace them
or they think there is something dodgy going on

but if not then they can go years past the date and no-one bothers!

I first realised this when I lived in "my house" but my partner and our daughter lived in North Wales (long story)
As a result I sometimes didn;t go "home" for a few weeks - and at one point she was (claimed to be) very ill so I didn;t go to my house for a couple of months except to check it was OK.

As a result I used naff all energy

Suddenly the meter urgently needed replacing
but it was a new build house and none of the neighbours had an letter at all about it



In this case - I saw something on the news recently pointing out that the energy companies are given a financial incentive (i.e. free cash) to install Smart Meters
and they have targets they are supposed to meet and if they do then - more money

BUT that is for installed meters - not working meters
so if they go wrong then they have no incentive to fix them as long as you can still pay somehow - so you go to the back of the queue behind new installations

People were suggesting that the incentives should be switched to incentivise working meters - and not just anything installed with teh words "Smart Meter " scrawled on it

Took me ages - and about 4 different companies - before mine got fixed when it "went dumb"
I got all sorts of stories about having to make appointments months in advance that then got cancelled and all that
then one day EDF sent me an email saying it is now working - but they had never visited
Turns out that my old smart meter was the old SMETS1 version - and hence I had been told it needed replacing
but in reality it was ALWAYS upgradable over the air - they just never bothered


as usual - follow the monsy

 

[Psamathe]

My understanding is that there are two components to a "Smart Meter": the meter itself often hidden in a box in an outside wall and something you only ever looked at if you needed to do a self reading, then a separate display unit that wirelessly connects to the actual meter which display data for your convenience. I thought they are fitted for free by your provider (at least mine was and at their request).

In my case it's the display unit that isn't working so I don't get what some consider the benefit of seeing my use displayed in real-time but the meter in the wall still records use as before except I don't ever have to do self-readings for the provider and don't get people wandering to the house to do their own reading a couple of times a year.

So whilst I say mine is a waste of time, there are no negatives, just a few minor positives and it was free anyway.

Ian

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

Yes - the Smart Meter is the thing in the wall (normally) and fixed in place
The little thing that you have inside that shows the usage in real time (ish - assuming ti works) is technically called the In Home Display and is just there for you to look at - it has no effect on the actual Smart Meter

Mine use to frequently come up saying "Network Connection Lost" but I had no idea whether this was from the IHD to the meter or the meter to the supplier
Then suddenly it stopped
there must have been an "over the air" update ot some kind
shows that they can update them if they want to - they just don't just because you have a problem