Smart metre? They twisted my arm!

[johnofgwent]

It will be the same with these things.  Right now, a friend up the valley in Blaina who has one has to choose whether to cook lunch, or do his washing or cut the lawn. If he does two at once his bills double, if he does all three, his lights go out and he has to press the reset button, because his meter refuses to allow him enough kilowatt hours to do all three. He finds himself doing his washing in the middle of the night because the alternative is to go to bed hungry or buy a takeaway.

What energy company are they with?

I do not know, I will ask. 

My current supplier (Octous) produced a study a year or so back which might still be available onits website. I downloaded it last year. It showed limited success in forcing people to use more off-peak energy, most "beneficiaries" being the london based owners of electric cars who set their systems to fast charge in the middle of the night under the smart meter's control. The overwhelming majority simply did nothing while their bills rose by 30%, the rest switched away from Octopus. These findings caused the company to pause its adoptionof the lobbying group's relentless pressure towards smart metering, but I believe it is now back apace.

The issue is that the imposition of 30 minute tariff rates cannot be successfully imposed until the overwhelming majority have been suckered, just as the water  companies cannot move to their preferred option of overthrowing a centuries old law that a home without a working water supply is unfit for human habitation until everyone is forced to have a water meter which they have "voluntarily" agreed will cut them off if they do not put money on its account. They tried this stunt back in 1999 and it went SPECTACULARLY wrong for the lead proponent of the scam, Hyder aka Lusis aka Welsh Water. The legal backlash was not the ONLY thing that drove them bankrupt but it certainly did not help !

[papasmurf]

Remember, a metre is defined as the length of the path traveled by light in vacuum during a time interval of 1/299,792,458 of a second and do you know anyone with a watch that good?

Not that you could wear on your wrist.

[Nalaar]

It will be the same with these things.  Right now, a friend up the valley in Blaina who has one has to choose whether to cook lunch, or do his washing or cut the lawn. If he does two at once his bills double, if he does all three, his lights go out and he has to press the reset button, because his meter refuses to allow him enough kilowatt hours to do all three. He finds himself doing his washing in the middle of the night because the alternative is to go to bed hungry or buy a takeaway.

What energy company are they with?

[Borchester]

As Pappy has said, you can't be forced to use a metre and I don't. Remember, a metre is defined as the length of the path traveled by light in vacuum during a time interval of 1/299,792,458 of a second and do you know anyone with a watch that good?

As to these smart meters that the power companies are pushing, the last time someone rang up and tried to sell one to me I thanked them and asked what my cut would be. The way I see it about the only expense the power companies have is sending chaps round to read the meter. If they stop doing that their only outgoings are the commissions of those girls in the Indian call centres who poach customers from SSE to Thames etc. I never got a reply but it was a polite way to little lass to sod off.

Whatever the power companies want the government has gone cold on the idea and I reckon is not something Boris will be pushing.

[johnofgwent]

DONT have one installed.

Oh dear - that sounds categorical. Reasons? I've got til the end of the month to cancel.

Many reasons.

I've gone into details before.

Electricity is no longer a utility, but a commodity. The supply and demand are traded at huge profits and penalties. companies must forecast a year ahead for the exact number of kilowatt hours they will need each half hour of each day. Companies must then accept and use every one, or face huge penalties for over or under use.

20 years ago Yorkshire Electric (YEG) signed a deal with a cement maker giving them free electricity to crush stone to make cement, provided they let YEG control when it was crushed.

As each half hour came along, YEG looked at the actual consumption of power, the prediction they made, the difference between them, and the demands of all the other power companies.

Companies whose predictions were wildly off and needed more were forced to pay huge premiums for it from National Grid. Companies who had too much were forced to sell it at stupidly cheap prices. The national Grid then found a company at the last possible minute to offset these ups and downs in a massive game of chicken.

While other companies had heart attacks, YEG planned to be crushing stone all day and night, and then either ramped up the crushers, or shut them down, to meet internal demand, and then when the Grid company came begging, would play them at their own game and offer to accept the excess power, or reduce their grid demand.

It was a neat trick, and I got paid the best part of £15,000 + vat for my services developing and testing part of the system, but in essence it turned a company thatwas supposed to create and supply electricity ionto a company that chose to crush stone or not crush stone,a ot avoid huge penalty fees it would have to pass on to the consumer....

Smart meters are a way to analyse your consumption over 30 minute intervals so as to bring in tariffs that will force you to change your usage.

But you can never "win" Over Twenty five years ago Bristol became a pilot for compulsory water meters. consumes were told to save water or face 20% rises in their bills.  So they all stuck bricks in the toilet cisterns, and showered with a friend. Water bills across the city dropped by 30%. The water company almost went bust, and promptly put up prices per litre by 50%.

It will be the same with these things.  Right now, a friend up the valley in Blaina who has one has to choose whether to cook lunch, or do his washing or cut the lawn. If he does two at once his bills double, if he does all three, his lights go out and he has to press the reset button, because his meter refuses to allow him enough kilowatt hours to do all three. He finds himself doing his washing in the middle of the night because the alternative is to go to bed hungry or buy a takeaway.

[Borg Refinery]

DONT have one installed.

Oh dear - that sounds categorical. Reasons? I've got til the end of the month to cancel.

It's pretty much always a worse deal.

[papasmurf]

s://www.energylivenews.com/2019/08/29/more-than-a-third-of-smart-meter-users-report-having-problems/

Did you read the two links I posted earlier:-

https://www.energylivenews.com/2019/08/29/more-than-a-third-of-smart-meter-users-report-having-problems/


https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bills/article-8583651/Whose-crazy-idea-faulty-9ft-high-smart-meter.html

[T00ts]

DONT have one installed.

Oh dear - that sounds categorical. Reasons? I've got til the end of the month to cancel.

[johnofgwent]

DONT have one installed.

[Barry]

It's also interesting that Covid has allowed Eon too state that their installer will not be in a position to have any conversation and that user instructions will only be available online.

I have been in conversations with Sky and Openreach lately and told them to stop using the virus as an excuse for poor service as there are currently no problems with doing their type of work. The same applies with these Smart meters, I think that they are just trying to close down opportunities for people to discuss and decline.

[T00ts]

Eon like so many others will only give the lowest rate if I go Smart. I have been changing suppliers regularly for years but as time has gone by and with the insistence of successive Governments on the installation of these metres, the net has been slowly closing. If I change my mind I pay more for my power.

Like Papa I have said that I wouldn't accept the change hence my arm up behind my back feeling today. It's also interesting that Covid has allowed Eon too state that their installer will not be in a position to have any conversation and that user instructions will only be available online.

[papasmurf]

As PS says, you can still change your mind.

There is some VERY forceful and illegal practices by smart meter installation companies.
It can end up being a police matter.

[Barry]

I've just moved house, and the electricity is with EDF at present and the meter looks digital and clever but there is no home display.
I don't see the advantage to me. The new tariffs are the lowest if you have a smart meter, but after 12 months they put their prices up, so you have to switch every year to get a good deal.
The whole situation is a bit crazy and I'd argue there is a case for nationalisation of electricity and gas supplies.

As PS says, you can still change your mind.

[papasmurf]

You CANNOT be forced to have a smart meter.  There are numerous problems with them which are not being addressed by the British media/press as they are in other countries.
A smart meter will be fitted to my home over my dead body.

https://www.energylivenews.com/2019/08/29/more-than-a-third-of-smart-meter-users-report-having-problems/

New research suggests the number of people having issues totals around four million, with just over a year to go until the installation deadline

An example:-

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bills/article-8583651/Whose-crazy-idea-faulty-9ft-high-smart-meter.html

[T00ts]

Well it has come - the demand to install my smart metres. I looked around to change my power supplier and the best deal and several others that were not as good were requiring me to make the change. Covid has given me several month's grace but yesterday they emailed to set a date. I know there have been other threads on this subject but having just made the appointment why do I feel bullied?

Any experiences anyone? Is it painless? Is it going to be worthwhile? I have heard rumours of dodgy installers. Should I be worried? If it's anything like the mindless mass installation of cavity wall insulation debacle I shall be hopping mad.