Smart Meter = smart move?

[30801]

Apart from saving you the effort of reading the meter once a year and allowing them the ability to switch off your supply remotely, what is so fantastic about a 'smart' meter?

Off peak pricing.

Instead of paying £40 per week for petrol. 5p per unit of off peak electric means I can run the Leaf for less than £20 per _month_

[JJGraphics]

Apart from saving you the effort of reading the meter once a year and allowing them the ability to switch off your supply remotely, what is so fantastic about a 'smart' meter?

 

 

Nothing.

[gismorail]

It's a funny old world isn't it. I like everyone has been bombarded with literature through the post , have had many texts and emails from my electric supplier all of which I have totally ignored as I have no desire to have a smart metre installed into my property as I might well be old fashioned but when I get a bill I pay it  none of this budget per month and paying up front ....why should lend a multi-million organisation money !!!!! 

Anyway to cut a long story short I received a letter from the electric supplier informing me that due to my location ( which is a bit isolated up a mountain to be honest ) it would not be possible to installed a smart metre due to a lack of mobile signal ..........yes result me thinks !!!!!!!!     ..... Well after about two or three months and  no further  mention of smart metres ......the letters and phone calls have started again .......even though they know that I cannot have a smart metre installed in this location ..........so who's smart now me thinks     

[alastairq]

4G mobile signals are constantly being rolled out further......last year I could not receive even 3G..this year, 4G is quite good.

 

Maybe there is now a mobile signal of some sort?

 

Not forgetting maybe new managers setting the sales dept. ever higher targets?

[jjb1970]

My experience of the retail side of the big 6 (or is it 5 now?) electricity and gas suppliers is that their people were just given arbitrary targets and pressurised to meet those targets. What tended to happen was that every now and then they'd push somebody over the edge (the company I worked for pushed a person to suicide, something accepted by the then CEO) then senior management would wring their hands, blame some poor sap in a call centre and use the usual lessons will be learned cliché before putting their sales battery chickens back under the cosh to meet targets. I always found it a bit screwed up that as a power station shift charge engineer, operations manager then strategic development engineer on a very acceptable salary working on new tech and new projects I was never put under anything like the pressure and never ending demand to succeed BS of some minimum wage person in a call centre.

Edited November 19, 2017 by jjb1970

[APOLLO]

Yes jjb the world of work has changed vastly, and not for the better (for most). When I started at the North Western Gas Board the Directors were public servants, as were us all.

 

Safety, security of supply and standards of service were always at the forefront of everything we did. I'd like to say the rot started when British Gas was privatised way back in 1986, but it most certainly did not - indeed for a period it was a better company to work for. British Gas was sold whole (Maggie Thatcher and her ilk wanted to split it up) - and run by a very competent gas engineer - Sir Denis Rooke. The story is here.

 

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/sir-Denis-Rooke-engineer-and-chairman-of-british-gas-who-battled-nigel-lawson-over-the-privatisation-922511.html

 

Changes occurred as they do, and lots changed especially from 1996 on, but the rot REALLY set in when National Grid "took over" (it was a supposed merger). Shortly after that they started to really screw everyone and everything up. In 2003 they declared "5000 staff have to go" - everybody got there figures, everybody including managers etc - I saw my figures, ticked the box and duly went (with a grin like a Cheshire Cat !!).

 

It was always known that from 1986 Royal Dutch Shell wanted the exploration & production side, they finally got it last year when they bought BG. The name British Gas survives as part of Centrica (con-tricka - nuf said), and The National Grid got what they wanted, the High Pressure Gas Transmission Network. A few years ago National Grid sold some of the non transmission gas networks,and recently they have sold off 50% or so of  the remaining network to overseas "investors" (asset strippers).  The whole gas industry is a dogs breakfast these days.

 

I'm  proud I worked in the gas industry all my life, but very sad to see what the greedy barstewards right at the top have done to a once magnificent British asset.

 

Brit15

Edited November 19, 2017 by APOLLO

[jjb1970]

The outfit I worked for saw their share price implode from something like 140 Euros to 4 or 5 Euros during the time I worked for them. I'd like to take the credit, but alas epic mismanagement on the scale I witnessed required more idiocy than even I can deliver. What irritated me wasn't so much their self inflicted economic disaster that but rather their head honcho had a habit of giving interviews to the press whinging about how inept the UK government was, now I'd not disaagree with him in principle but perhaps he should've been looking at his own performance before throwing stones.

Edited November 19, 2017 by jjb1970

[brack]

Jjb - the sales staff on minimum wage are expendable, easily replaceable and thus you push them til they break. At least the company had presumably realised that doing the same to well qualified professionals results in them getting a job elsewhere - it's usually a bit trickier for the poor souls in the call centres, plus they usually have less confidence in their ability to a) find a better job and B) survive without pay for a month or two until a) happens, especially as there's no welfare help if you've voluntarily left work, no matter how badly you've been treated.

I spent a few months in an inbound call centre answering phones before uni. I usually had crap figures because people rang up to order something, I processed their order but couldn't see the point in trying to force extra crap they didn't want/need down the throat of some nice old dear.

One month I miraculously managed the highest sales figures and was asked to explain to the whole team what changes I'd made to rise from bottom to top so meteorically. My reply of "nothing, I just sell people what they've rang up for politely and without any irritating pressure" didn't go down so well...

[DIW]

It seems that Eon have been naughty - telling customers that a Smart Meter is compulsory, even though that isn't so. More information here, from people who know about this stuff. Whether or not one wishes to have one of these meters, this sort of tactic by a Big Six supplier is not really going to persuade the undecided towards accepting a change.

[jjb1970]

It seems that Eon have been naughty - telling customers that a Smart Meter is compulsory, even though that isn't so. More information here, from people who know about this stuff. Whether or not one wishes to have one of these meters, this sort of tactic by a Big Six supplier is not really going to persuade the undecided towards accepting a change.

 

Why doesn't that surprise me.........

[Re6/6]

l hope that l'm going to be a hard nut to crack! l'm with EDF on one of their new fixed tariffs but they have my 'commercial' e-mail address (i.e not my 'private' address for my GP, friends and family)  which every month is contacted (and deleted!).

 

They also have my stand-by PAYG number which is always switched off. Every so often l open the call and text list and see that it's been bombarded with messages informing me that l really do need a new meter.

 

The third useful thing is l live in a 'no cold calling' area with the threat of retribution if ignored! The stickers on my door (issued by the council) are quite large and could not possibly be missed.

 

l wonder how long l will last before being battered into submission! I'm also going to fit a hasp and staple for a padlock on the outside meter door. I don't know if anybody has reported one being fitted whilst away.

Edited February 2, 2018 by Re6/6

[locomad]

I've been following this thread with interest

 

Question can anyone tell us how much does a smart meter cost to run?

 

A traditional meter uses a very small amount of electricity to run proportion to the current used only a very small amount, it's used to power that dial thing, gas uses the pressure of gas,

 

I've been told a electrical smart meter uses electy even though nothing is on in the house, it's on 24/7, apparently it can be quite a sum over a year could anyone tell us how much current they use?

[PaulCheffus]

I've been following this thread with interest

Question can anyone tell us how much does a smart meter cost to run?

A traditional meter uses a very small amount of electricity to run proportion to the current used only a very small amount, it's used to power that dial thing, gas uses the pressure of gas,

I've been told a electrical smart meter uses electy even though nothing is on in the house, it's on 24/7, apparently it can be quite a sum over a year could anyone tell us how much current they use?

Hi

 

I’ve had one for eighteen months and it has made no difference to our electricity consumption. The figure for each month is even sometimes less than the same period previously. I would suggest the consumption of the smart meter is negligible.

 

Cheers

 

Paul

[kevinlms]

I've been following this thread with interest

 

Question can anyone tell us how much does a smart meter cost to run?

 

A traditional meter uses a very small amount of electricity to run proportion to the current used only a very small amount, it's used to power that dial thing, gas uses the pressure of gas,

 

I've been told a electrical smart meter uses electy even though nothing is on in the house, it's on 24/7, apparently it can be quite a sum over a year could anyone tell us how much current they use?

A quick search on Google revealed this.

 

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/experts/article-4607552/How-electricity-smart-meters-use-cost-run.html

 

FWIW, who says that an old mechanical meter doesn't consume power? I can't see that it would use less.

[locomad]

A quick search on Google revealed this.

 

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/experts/article-4607552/How-electricity-smart-meters-use-cost-run.html

 

FWIW, who says that an old mechanical meter doesn't consume power? I can't see that it would use less.

Umm have seen this article not convinced, for a start a unit of electy only costs about 20p, I've a relative who uses very little electy, they claim its increased there bills by quite a bit, they are old fashioned and turn off the supply when leaving the house and find when returning to the house there's a few units on the meter about 5kwh per week,about £1 per week, they have the supply checked no leakage

[Butler Henderson]

I understand the current push is due to the suppliers having stocks of old type smart meters which are supplier specific whereas the new type works with any supplier - tried asking SSE which they would be installing if I went ahead and they became very confused so I ended the call.

Edited April 15, 2018 by Butler Henderson

[ColinK]

Scottish Power rang me trying to get me to have a smart meter. Having read this thread (thanks everyone) I asked what would happpen if I changed supplier. The caller went away to find out, came back saying it probably wouldn’t work. Hence I declined. Perhaps a coincidence, but my fixed price energy deal comes to a end soon, so the Mk1 smart meter they wanted to fit would have been a problem.

[Reorte]

A quick search on Google revealed this.

 

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/experts/article-4607552/How-electricity-smart-meters-use-cost-run.html

 

FWIW, who says that an old mechanical meter doesn't consume power? I can't see that it would use less.

I could imagine a mechanical one might not consumen power when there's absolutely nothing turned on anyway, and impose an additional load when there is. A smart meter will (at least sometimes) draw regardless, although I find it hard to imagine their usage being anything more than negligable.

[30801]

Umm have seen this article not convinced, for a start a unit of electy only costs about 20p, I've a relative who uses very little electy, they claim its increased there bills by quite a bit, they are old fashioned and turn off the supply when leaving the house and find when returning to the house there's a few units on the meter about 5kwh per week,about £1 per week, they have the supply checked no leakage

Firstly 20p a unit is a lot. Mine is 12.

 

5kWh per week is about 30W. If that's the case then the meter is going to be distinctly warm.

[kevinlms]

Firstly 20p a unit is a lot. Mine is 12.

 

5kWh per week is about 30W. If that's the case then the meter is going to be distinctly warm.

Agree 5kWh is a lot of power, just for a meter and doesn't sound right at all.

[SHMD]

The current consumption would be negligible for "nWatt" uController running an LCD with a little CMOS OP-AMP signal conditioning. The wifi will use more but can be left in standby mode for 99.99% of the time. Anyway, is the smart meter powered from the mains in or the mains output side?

 

Do people still really switch off everything by Isolating the MCB/Fuse at the Consumer unit or do they just unplug the tele before leaving the house because it would otherwise be left "on" in Standby mode with that pesky LED gnawing at the conscience? Don't they have a fridge, central heating, etc?

 

 

Kev.

[locomad]

Firstly 20p a unit is a lot. Mine is 12.

 

5kWh per week is about 30W. If that's the case then the meter is going to be distinctly warm.

That's what I though, however I have used a clamp meter on the mains feed wire and record a steady current of 75milli amp

 

Meter is not warm, yes they do turn mains off, no fridge or freezer, no Internet, standard electric price for electric in Wales is about 18p per unit so with vat getting on for 20

 

Not all smart meters are the same, I've heard similar stories in the press, as yet never heard anyone personally say it's saved them money, I had a clamp one sent free many years ago which had a display in the house I did notice things left on

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

It's saved us money, because my wife can now see the money trickling away hour by hour. Not standing under the shower for twenty minutes, not heating the street (her family are all apparently incapable of saying farewell briskly but instead stand around open outside doors saying goodbye again, and again, and again) turning off lights in empty rooms, and - major triumph! - not ironing unseen items like underwear any more. It costs much more to iron a load of washing, than to perform that wash, that was something I was previously unaware of. No amount of my boring advice on these and other points over the last thirty-five years ever had much effect: but the little daily totaliser on the kitchen worktop enabled us to knock down consumption by about 18% during December to February inclusive.

 

She's really excited now the heating is off, 'We have hardly spent anything!'.

[30801]

It costs much more to iron a load of washing, than to perform that wash, that was something I was previously unaware of.

 

I don't iron because I can't be bothered. But your excuse sounds much more convincing.

[Kickstart]

My experience of the retail side of the big 6 (or is it 5 now?) electricity and gas suppliers is that their people were just given arbitrary targets and pressurised to meet those targets. What tended to happen was that every now and then they'd push somebody over the edge (the company I worked for pushed a person to suicide, something accepted by the then CEO) then senior management would wring their hands, blame some poor sap in a call centre and use the usual lessons will be learned cliché before putting their sales battery chickens back under the cosh to meet targets. I always found it a bit screwed up that as a power station shift charge engineer, operations manager then strategic development engineer on a very acceptable salary working on new tech and new projects I was never put under anything like the pressure and never ending demand to succeed BS of some minimum wage person in a call centre.

 

 

The outfit I worked for saw their share price implode from something like 140 Euros to 4 or 5 Euros during the time I worked for them. I'd like to take the credit, but alas epic mismanagement on the scale I witnessed required more idiocy than even I can deliver. What irritated me wasn't so much their self inflicted economic disaster that but rather their head honcho had a habit of giving interviews to the press whinging about how inept the UK government was, now I'd not disaagree with him in principle but perhaps he should've been looking at his own performance before throwing stones.

I wonder if we both worked for the same one of the big 6! A company that as it steadily got taken over by bigger companies turned from the best place I have ever worked to the worst (by a long way), becoming appallingly badly managed (not surprising, a reorganisaton every few months meant managers were continuously applying for their own jobs and any who were doing their job wouldn't put in the best application so unlikely to get their own job!).

 

All the best

 

Katy