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Smart Meters - your advice please!

Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2016 11:49 am
by Rolyan
Nothing whatsoever to do with driving, just after the collected wisdom.....

We've been contacted by our energy company to say that we are to have smart meters fitted to our gas and electric. I've checked online and there is no legal requirement to have them fitted, you can say no. Half of me welcomes the new technology, half of me thinks leave it well alone, everything works just fine and I cant see a genuine impact or benefit to us.

What are most doing on here? Accepting or rejecting, and why.

P.S. I haven't told them, but they wont be able to do the gas due to its location under the cupboards. So its electric only.

Re: Smart Meters - your advice please!

Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2016 11:58 am
by akirk
whatever they claim as an advantage for you, it is important to remember that they are only bearing the cost of this because they see it as a commercial advantage for them...

a big part of the future for companies is ownership and use of data - that is a key focus for them in the roll out of smart meters.

if you look online at their stated advantages it boils down to:
- less hassle on readings (not something I find a hassle)
- more understanding of your consumption - I do this already with a device attached to my electricity - not sure I want to know how much gas the rayburn uses!

so it is all about data - but whose data is that - yours / mine, not theirs, if they want to make money out of it / make savings, are they going to offer me a share in that financial benefit? if they did, then maybe - otherwise, no interest

Alasdair

Re: Smart Meters - your advice please!

Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2016 1:40 pm
by angus
akirk wrote:whatever they claim as an advantage for you, it is important to remember that they are only bearing the cost of this because they see it as a commercial advantage for them...


I thought the government was subsidising this?

Personally, I've lost out with a smart meter. With solar panels, my old meter went backwards on sunny days

Re: Smart Meters - your advice please!

Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2016 1:47 pm
by Rolyan
Have you seen any benefits to your Smart meter. The more I think about it, the more I want to cancel the appointment and stick with what I've got.

Re: Smart Meters - your advice please!

Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2016 3:13 pm
by Triquet
We've got them, doesn't seem to make any difference.

Re: Smart Meters - your advice please!

Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2016 3:48 pm
by GTR1400MAN
Rolyan wrote:The more I think about it, the more I want to cancel the appointment and stick with what I've got.

Wait until the Tin Foil Hat comments start :D

Re: Smart Meters - your advice please!

Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2016 3:52 pm
by Mr Cholmondeley-Warner
What's to be afraid of, really? It's a meter. You pay for what you use, same old same old. On top of that you may benefit from a clearer understanding of your own consumption (throw that old freezer away ...)

Angus, my meter still goes backwards, but I doubt if that makes much difference other than a placebo effect. The FIT payment, as you know, is based on your FIT meter readings, not on some magical interpretation of what current is flowing in or out of your main meter.

Re: Smart Meters - your advice please!

Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2016 4:32 pm
by angus
Mr Cholmondeley-Warner wrote: Angus, my meter still goes backwards, but I doubt if that makes much difference other than a placebo effect. The FIT payment, as you know, is based on your FIT meter readings, not on some magical interpretation of what current is flowing in or out of your main meter.


Ah, but in addition to your FIT payment, you're getting a "refund" for every unit that goes back to the grid (or more accurately the grid is storing/borrowing that unit for you to use later)

Re: Smart Meters - your advice please!

Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2016 4:34 pm
by angus
Rolyan wrote:Have you seen any benefits to your Smart meter. The more I think about it, the more I want to cancel the appointment and stick with what I've got.


Not really. It came with a remote display, which I used to look at when I went past it, but it hasn't been plugged in for months

Re: Smart Meters - your advice please!

Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2016 5:13 pm
by Mr Cholmondeley-Warner
angus wrote:
Mr Cholmondeley-Warner wrote: Angus, my meter still goes backwards, but I doubt if that makes much difference other than a placebo effect. The FIT payment, as you know, is based on your FIT meter readings, not on some magical interpretation of what current is flowing in or out of your main meter.


Ah, but in addition to your FIT payment, you're getting a "refund" for every unit that goes back to the grid (or more accurately the grid is storing/borrowing that unit for you to use later)


Estimated on your behalf at 50% of your energy generation*. Not measured.

*EFA