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Smart Meters Thread

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27 minutes ago, El Cid said:

So if the energy suppliers will save money, that means that they could charge their customers less.

They can only save money by not having to pay meter reading services to send out their person twice a year to housholds than cannot read their own meter and submit it online ( whom can be then made unemployed and have to be supported on benefit by the taxpayer) which on the scale of things would be a drop in the ever warming ocean.

I would not expect to see any financial benefit myself.

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15 minutes ago, Janus said:

I refused to have one fitted.

 

As an aside,  i also feel that paying a charge for the meters for most of your life should be abolished. How much does that amount to over the course of a lifetime? Utility companies should pay for meters out of their profits.

You mean the fixed charge, Gas or electric that's for the whole infrastructure pipes cables storage etc. I think it is probably higher now than it used to be compared to the usage cost when more of the cost was covered by the useage charge as customers are supposed to be using less but the infrastucture still needs to be there and competition between companies to charge less per KWH.

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2 hours ago, El Cid said:

So if the energy suppliers will save money, that means that they could charge their customers less.

And pigs might fly - I'll believe that when it happens.

We all remember the days when a company was happy if they made half a million or more profit.

They are not happy now unless it's counted in 10's of billions.

The top execs and the shareholders go home happy and the public, the goose that lays the golden eggs for them, are forgotten.

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I switched to the Scottish Power gas meter automated reading. First, the meter did not provide gas readings at all, electricity only.   Scottish Power said :"Everything is fine!" Couple of months later, I got £600 of gas based on their estimation. I said, **** it, paid a lot. And then, this July I got £300 gas charges for gas in June?? for 2 bedroom apartment!? I didn't even turn the heating on that month. I called SP, and they said that they cannot do nothing for now, because of Covid 19, nobody can take a look at the gas meter. I binned the "smart" meter and went back to manual reading.   That is my experience with "smart" meters, never had single problem on manual reading

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@croat77

Re-you got rid of the smart meter and went back to manual reading? I am surprised to hear that. Surprised that a provider would remove a smart meter and put a manual one back  in. 

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30 minutes ago, Janus said:

@croat77

Re-you got rid of the smart meter and went back to manual reading? I am surprised to hear that. Surprised that a provider would remove a smart meter and put a manual one back  in. 

You can read a smart meter and submit your own readings if you like.

 

My SM doesn’t work. My supplier keeps on emailing me for a reading. I email back and tell them to make the SM work, because I don’t work for them. They say ok. 
 

Rinse and repeat.

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7 hours ago, Janus said:

I refused to have one fitted.

 

As an aside,  i also feel that paying a charge for the meters for most of your life should be abolished. How much does that amount to over the course of a lifetime? Utility companies should pay for meters out of their profits.

Same with us.  We had a letter from NPower years ago, (it must have been when  the first generation meters were out), that on first reading, looked as though it was compulsory to have one?  It was only when you got to the very end did you realise that you didn't.  We've had other similar letters over the years & a few phone calls as well.  Still not got one. 

 

As others have said, the only saving is to the electricity companies in that they don't have to have the occasional meter reader call on you. 

 

You can only turn so many appliances off in your home.  You're never going to get to the point of such low usage unless you're prepared to spend time sitting in the dark & cold & without any entertainment. 

 

Over the years I've had loft insulation & double glazing fitted.  Tried to eliminate as many drafts as possible & changed all the bulbs over the years from the old type to dim low energy ones & then to the newer, brighter but even more energy saving LED ones.  Funny enough, I'm still paying more than I was 10 years ago.  Why?  Well, NPower, now E-on, just keep putting their standing charges up to ensure they maintain their profits. 

 

Only way to save I've surmised, is to regularly change suppliers & be treated as a new customer. 

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19 minutes ago, Baron99 said:

 

 

Only way to save I've surmised, is to regularly change suppliers & be treated as a new customer. 

I do that every year.

 

With energy, home insurance, car insurance. I change broadband and mobile tariffs as often as I can and I argue with Sky every 18 months or so.

 

My rationale is that if I can get just £3 a month off each of those, I’m a couple of hundred quid a year better off.

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Energy companies put enormous pressure on consumers to have these so-called "Smart" meters fitted, but only because the Government are putting enormous pressure on them to hit targets for installing them.  Letters, adverts in the press and on tele all say they will save money, when clearly all they do is tell you what you are spending, and send mobile phone messages to the suppliers at very regular intervals (typically half-hourly) on your usage - that are paid for by consumers in their bills of course.

 

Of course, anybody from the Supplier company, or anybody else with access to the readings, can easily work out when you are in, your daily habits etc - all of which would be of great interest to potential burglars.  I suspect we will see a spike in burglaries for those with Smart Meters fitted, and an accompanying rise in premiums for those with them when insurance companies are alerted to the trend.

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9 hours ago, Arthur Ritus said:

They can only save money by not having to pay meter reading services to send out their person twice a year to housholds than cannot read their own meter and submit it online ( whom can be then made unemployed and have to be supported on benefit by the taxpayer) which on the scale of things would be a drop in the ever warming ocean.

So are you a Ludite that does not believe technology should be allowed because it will cause unemployment?

We have tech in all aspects of life and unemployment was low, pre-COVID.

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32 minutes ago, El Cid said:

So are you a Ludite that does not believe technology should be allowed because it will cause unemployment?

We have tech in all aspects of life and unemployment was low, pre-COVID.

Didn’t you know? Meter readers are unemployable in any other job.

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I have changed several times and not once have I been pestered to have a smart meter. I said no when I changed to the new supplier and not heard anything since. I read my own meters once a month and send it to them. They seem happy with the result.

If the smart meters send info to the supplier on a regular basis then surely they have to employ someone to download and analise the results.

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