Smart meters

I'm sure most people would be able to surround the meter with foil without damaging the meter but signal jammers are illegal. The jammer wouldn't block my mobile - don't use one!

 

Good morning now I know what the SMART means

Self-Monitoring Analysis And Reporting Technology

 

@wiseowl That's smart of you.

 

Why thank you @shiney strangely enough,this morning had to ring my energy supplier and I was asked again we are in your area would you like a smart meter fitted,and I replied "no thank you,i was told oh after 2020 you will have to pay for the meter,and I said no worries "the way I feel this morning 2020 a long way off"

 

If they tell me that I shall ask them for their name and can I quote what they have said. It's not true! What the government had said was that they would like to have them in every house in the country by 2020. They specifically stated that no one would be forced to have one. Of course, at some stage, there will only be smart meters in stock and when a meter needs changing you'll have no choice. Donkey's years to go until then.

 

The second generation of smart meters are actually completely different animals to the originals, in as much that they are built to conform with set standards to ensure that they continue to work even when you change supplier.

If you take a tariff that requires the installation of a smart meter, you are entering a contract with the energy supplier to allow them to do so - I suppose, worst case scenario, they could charge you some sort of fee if you were to deny them permission to fit a smart meter and they could refuse to supply you.

As Jiffy rightly points out, the WAN signal used is carried on the GSM network, and to block it you could potentially do so with foil but lots of it would be needed, and to be honest why would you want to really? If you have already gone through the hassle of installing smart meters, disabling them at the last hurdle seems a bit odd to be honest. If you have a conventional meter and it goes faulty, I suspect you would have zero choice but to replace it with a smart meter

The one thing that the vast majority of people seem to forget with the scenario of smart meters being installed - the metering equipment does not belong to us, nor is is part of the properties we live in. Metering equipment is owned by the transmission companies (so in the case of gas, all gas meters are owned by National Grid Gas), and if they really wanted to do so they could mandate a change to whatever metering equipment they see fit to install.

I am as sceptical as the next guy when it comes to things like this, but can see the other side of the coin with this technology too; for it to be lauded as going to save us consumers money was wrong, as clearly the amount of money it saves individual families will vary wildly and the vast majority will see little savings at all. BUT, what they definitely will do is renew metering equipment, some of which is very old indeed, and like it or not the older things get the more failure prone they become. They will also see the end of estimated billing, as both the consumer and the company will have instant access to up to date readings. In theory (and this is the one I doubt will happen unless the government mandates that suppliers do it), it will also see the end of the pay up front token meters that are set to bill energy at exorbitantly high levels - people will still be able to pay up front, but should be able to pay online (or by phone) giving instant top-up and it should be billed at the same rate as one of the more sensible tariffs.

And whilst there will be many elderly people who just cannot get their head round a smart meter, the actual change to them will be the end of estimated billing - no longer should 95 year old Mrs Smith suddenly get a bill for £2000 through the post, for energy she can't remember using. Hell, family members will be able to manage energy use and accounts online at the same time as their own.

So yes, I can see the suspicion, especially when it comes to peak time charging - but, do you really need to run that washing machine at 5pm instead of 8pm?

 

I'm not so sure that it will end the ability to pay over 12 monts @WeeTam - I have just switched to a small supplier who are likely to move to smart metering only in the very near future, and what they do is give you two tiers of monthly payment - one for the summer and one for the winter.

Like all small suppliers, they take their direct debit in advance (most small suppliers do, as they simply cannot afford to trade otherwise), but they still balance out ups and downs in consumption across the year. Even the higher, winter rate, is still £20 a month cheaper than my old supplier and in the summer that rises to £50 a month cheaper.

If I can save money by using the washer or tumble dryer at night, then so be it.

 

Some suppliers already won't let you sign up with them unless you take a smart meter. Others won't give you their cheapest tariff.

I guess that most won't see any saving. either there will be virtually no difference (that's the latest report) or they won't be bothered to change what they do.

I've not had an estimated bill for many years. I send them my reading each quarter - after they send me a notice to do so.

We run our washing machine and other appliances in the middle of the day as we have solar panels. We might as well use the electricity we produce.

 

I think everyone is specially selected.

No smart meter for me, thank you.

 

Or me