Smart Meter = smart move?

[Michael Hodgson]

4 minutes ago, Ron Ron Ron said:

 

Cuddle your pets and eat Porridge.

 

 

 

 

.

That's cold porridge.

[Guest]

56 minutes ago, boxbrownie said:

But you don’t need a smart meter to charge off-peak…….we had economy seven before and that worked with just a timer in the car 

 

We were with Green Energy for two years until they went bust, they kept telling us we needed a smart meter but in the end told us they were having issues with their meter supplier and it never happened, not that I would have let it.

 

They are the supplier last year I told about the non reading gas meter and they ignored every single note I sent them with each meter reading telling them about the faulty meter, they just didn’t seem to be “on the ball”.

 

But we'd still need an Economy 7 meter fitted.... IIRC the Green Energy tariff had three rates being off-peak, daytime and tea-time peak.

 

The furthest we got with meter fitting was talking to the meter supplier on the phone and have them saying they still didn't have the right sort of gas meter to suit our installation.

[boxbrownie]

4 hours ago, Jonboy said:

The shocker for us was when the last tumbler dryer died and was replaced with a heat pump fitted version, that dropped our electric usage by around 25% per annum on its own.

Done that…..

 

 

[boxbrownie]

3 hours ago, 30801 said:

 

But we'd still need an Economy 7 meter fitted.... IIRC the Green Energy tariff had three rates being off-peak, daytime and tea-time peak.

 

The furthest we got with meter fitting was talking to the meter supplier on the phone and have them saying they still didn't have the right sort of gas meter to suit our installation.

Indeed, we had a pre Smart E7 meter.

[Silver Sidelines]

7 hours ago, Metr0Land said:

 

...  I was with Southern Electric who got taken over by Scottish Power who got taken over by Ovo.  ...

 

Are you sure, it was Scottish Hydro that went bust and was taken over by Ovo?  Sadly we are still with Scottish Power - we have a Smart Meter and they email every two months for a manual reading because their system has failed.  I understand that in England and Wales Smart Meters are read using the 2G mobile netwrk (soon to be switched off).  In Scotland I believe the Smart Meter is interrogated via the electric supply.  As with rural Wales I guess that we here in rural Scotland only have electricity.  We have had a ground source heat pump now for around ten years - one big saving was it didn't need an annual service like a boiler.  Is the house hot enough - we think so - but I am certain a lot of people would not agree.  If it gets really cold we light the stove.

 

Cheers Ray

 

 

Edited January 22, 2022 by Silver Sidelines

[Enterprisingwestern]

6 hours ago, ess1uk said:

Just been hassled by my provider again asking if I want a smart meter.

they will not accept I don’t want one 

 

5 hours ago, hayfield said:

 

Ever thought it might be a good idea !!

 

5 hours ago, hayfield said:

 I have learnt simply to turn lights off that we are not using, must have knocked 20% off my bills in the past 5 months

 

I'm sorry for being a bit behind the door, but how does a smart meter make you switch things off that you are not using or needing?

 

Mike.

[hayfield]

10 minutes ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

 

 

I'm sorry for being a bit behind the door, but how does a smart meter make you switch things off that you are not using or needing?

 

Mike.

 

When you turn on an appliance you have no idea what its costing you to run, the smart meters have a graphic display which shows you are using more than you are budgeting for. Plus I get accurate information from the Octopus website showing exactly how much I am spending, without a smart meter this info will not be available. As I said I am both using and spending less electricity than last year 

[ess1uk]

6 hours ago, hayfield said:

 

Ever thought it might be a good idea !!

If I had a half decent signal,

my phone uses my Wi-Fi as the cellular signal is so bad at home

[Metr0Land]

1 hour ago, Silver Sidelines said:

 

Are you sure, it was Scottish Hydro that went bust and was taken over by Ovo? .

 

Cheers Ray

 

 

 

SSE is now 'part of the Ovo family' whatever that means!

https://sse.co.uk/sse-and-ovo

[ess1uk]

6 hours ago, hayfield said:

 

Ever thought it might be a good idea !!

If I had a half decent signal,

my phone uses my Wi-Fi as the cellular signal is so bad at home

[Jonboy]

1 hour ago, Silver Sidelines said:

Are you sure, it was Scottish Hydro that went bust and was taken over by Ovo?  

 

SSE got bought by OVO and are in the process of moving accounts from the SSE platform to OVO’s in batches. 
 

• We just had the fun of submit meter reading to SSE as normal.
• Four days later they migrate us by ignoring my meter reading and estimating a reading 30% below last years usage for the same period.
• raising a final SSE bill and then moving the financial balance and reading to their new platform.
• I find I cannot update readings in OVO so ultimately just pay estimated bill thinking it will all iron out in the end.
• this month I submit readings in ovo platform and they raise bill catching it all up.
• I pay this bill.
• they then raise an amended final invoice in SSE platform and submit revised financial balance to ovo platform
• they don’t amend opening meter readings in ovo immediately so it suddenly shows I have a large balance outstanding.
• a few days later they adjust opening balance in OVO and recalculate bills.

During all of this there was zero communication about what was going on and  the email notification of the revised SSE final bill was sent days after it had been done and over 30 days since the initial final bill was raised….

 

Not overly impressed with ovo so far…

 

[boxbrownie]

55 minutes ago, hayfield said:

 

When you turn on an appliance you have no idea what its costing you to run, the smart meters have a graphic display which shows you are using more than you are budgeting for. Plus I get accurate information from the Octopus website showing exactly how much I am spending, without a smart meter this info will not be available. As I said I am both using and spending less electricity than last year 

But as I said before, you don’t need a smart meter for that just use a clamp on current meter with a RF readout in the house, we’ve had one for years and they are useful for showing usage amounts but it’s entirely up to the consumer whether you turn appliances off or not to save money.

[Michael Hodgson]

1 hour ago, Silver Sidelines said:

As with rural Wales I guess that we here in rural Scotland only have electricity.

 

Wow!  I thought you were still using candles for lighting and to keep warm, like the Welsh.

[Silver Sidelines]

1 hour ago, Metr0Land said:

 

SSE is now 'part of the Ovo family' whatever that means!

https://sse.co.uk/sse-and-ovo

Thanks I think SSE stands for Scottish and Southern Energy which comprised Southern plus Scottish Hydro.  Scottish Hydro were based in Perth and there is a lot of unhappiness up there as Ovo have notified their intentions to shut down the Perth operation.  Scottish Hydro was the company ten years ago that were seriously criticised for door step mis-selling.  I remember my aged aunt being bamboozled into swapping her BT telephone account to Scottish Hydro - including her Broadband which she didn't have.....  That took a few days and the rest to unwind.

 

As to being forced to move supplier, we were with Yorkshire Energy which folded in November 2020 and were then transferred to Scottish Power.  As asked we provided meter readings on the due date.  Sadly the Accountancy Firm managing the transfer chose to use different dates but kept the same readings.  Quite clever - they gained two or three days standing charge.  If they did this for all customers it mounts up to a tidy little bonus.  After the usual number of emails and telephone calls I was told it was too difficult to change all the numbers but Scottish Power made an ex gratia payment.  Scottish Power is of course owned by the Spanish company Iberdrola.

 

Cheers Ray

Edited January 22, 2022 by Silver Sidelines

[Enterprisingwestern]

2 hours ago, hayfield said:

 

When you turn on an appliance you have no idea what its costing you to run, the smart meters have a graphic display which shows you are using more than you are budgeting for. Plus I get accurate information from the Octopus website showing exactly how much I am spending, without a smart meter this info will not be available. As I said I am both using and spending less electricity than last year 

 

I understand that, but, you can't control the amount of power that an appliance consumes, you either use it or you don't, all a smart meter is in this respect is just a more convenient method to see how fast the silver wheel is spinning, it does nothing to help an appliance work more efficiently.

Presumably, as the Octopus website is telling you exactly how much you are spending, when you reach reach your pre-determined limit you shut off at the fuseboard?

 

Mike.

[hayfield]

14 hours ago, boxbrownie said:

But as I said before, you don’t need a smart meter for that just use a clamp on current meter with a RF readout in the house, we’ve had one for years and they are useful for showing usage amounts but it’s entirely up to the consumer whether you turn appliances off or not to save money.

 

Smart Technology in use then ?  What about Gas ?

[hayfield]

12 hours ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

I understand that, but, you can't control the amount of power that an appliance consumes, you either use it or you don't, all a smart meter is in this respect is just a more convenient method to see how fast the silver wheel is spinning, it does nothing to help an appliance work more efficiently.

Presumably, as the Octopus website is telling you exactly how much you are spending, when you reach reach your pre-determined limit you shut off at the fuseboard?

 

Mike.

 

No it gives you more accurate (the smart meter is less accurate) information on the daily spend the next day, also can be changed to weekly/monthly/annually. Its just you can see real time how much you are using/spending,

 

If you start to understand what you are using and what it costs, there is a chance you can take action to reduce your consumption.

 

You set your limits in the smart meter unit, all it does is report if you are on target or going over

[Zero Gravitas]

21 hours ago, Jonboy said:

The shocker for us was when the last tumbler dryer died and was replaced with a heat pump fitted version, that dropped our electric usage by around 25% per annum on its own.

 

What did you go for, if I might ask?  Our Miele tumble dryer is now 20 years old, and I suspect it’s a major contributor to our energy costs...

[Jonboy]

17 minutes ago, Zero Gravitas said:

 

What did you go for, if I might ask?  Our Miele tumble dryer is now 20 years old, and I suspect it’s a major contributor to our energy costs...

We have an AEG condenser** heat pump dryer. The only things I don’t like about it are:

 

1) sometimes the power button needs a couple of pushes to engage. It is the same on the matching washing machine.

 

2) It stops when it detects no further moisture is being removed, which is sometimes wrong when you have very different fabric types in the load.
 

**flat dwellers so no opportunity to vent externally.

[Jonboy]

17 minutes ago, Zero Gravitas said:

 

What did you go for, if I might ask?  Our Miele tumble dryer is now 20 years old, and I suspect it’s a major contributor to our energy costs...

We have an AEG condenser** heat pump dryer. The only things I don’t like about it are:

 

1) sometimes the power button needs a couple of pushes to engage. It is the same on the matching washing machine.

 

2) It stops when it detects no further moisture is being removed, which is sometimes wrong when you have very different fabric types in the load.
 

**flat dwellers so no opportunity to vent externally.

[boxbrownie]

54 minutes ago, hayfield said:

 

Smart Technology in use then ?  What about Gas ?

We had a heated pool for thirty years so we tend to ignore the gas reading 

[boxbrownie]

1 hour ago, hayfield said:

 

Edited January 23, 2022 by boxbrownie
Double post

[boxbrownie]

1 hour ago, hayfield said:

Smart Technology in use then ?  What about Gas 

Edited January 23, 2022 by boxbrownie
Double post

[boxbrownie]

1 hour ago, hayfield said:

 

Smart Technology in use then ?  What about Gas ?

Of course, Imam not averse to Smart technology (we have an EV after all) but not if it is sold on the basis of saving you money but blatantly made for another reason.

[boxbrownie]

1 hour ago, Zero Gravitas said:

 

What did you go for, if I might ask?  Our Miele tumble dryer is now 20 years old, and I suspect it’s a major contributor to our energy costs...

We went for the John Lewis condensing heat pump model, it was top of the range when we bought it (five years ago) we went for that one primarily because of JL warranty and service we have had before with appliances, fortunately we have not needed to use the warranty.

Apparently it is an AEG model under the badge.