Smart Meters

[Marmalade]

From a email from Scottish power, about smart meters

Is this a fly way to tell consumers, we need smart meters

Unless the law has been changed that’s misleading. You are not obligated to have one last time I checked. After I’d explained this umpteen times the energy company stopped bugging me to have one.

[Doc Holliday]

Unless the law has been changed that’s misleading. You are not obligated to have one last time I checked. After I’d explained this umpteen times the energy company stopped bugging me to have one.

That's right you are not obligated, but a family member who had had an old style 'unsmart' meter and who had held out against installation, found last year her electricity meter failed. There are no stocks of old meters as they are indeed obsolete and no longer manufactured. She had no choice but to accept a new smart meter.

[lillythesavage]

That's right you are not obligated, but a family member who had had an old style 'unsmart' meter and who had held out against installation, found last year her electricity meter failed. There are no stocks of old meters as they are indeed obsolete and no longer manufactured. She had no choice but to accept a new smart meter.

Of course they are, and they have dumped all the ones they have replaced with smart meters which were working perfectly

[lillythesavage]

Saw an article yesterday saying most current Smart meters will go dumb by 2030, even the newer SMET2 ones.

They communicate via 2G/3G mobile networks which are due to switch off by end of this decade. Some can communicate by radio but these are the exception rather than the rule and only get installed where there's no mobile signal eg remote rural places.

What a fucking debacle. £Billions shelled out... the first meters were rendered useless anytime someone changed suppliers (something we were encouraged to do) and now the newer meters will be useless in several years too.

What really gets my goat is fact that there will have been many highly remunerated civil servants and officials who oversaw this shit-show and got paid bonuses and given promotions. There ought to be a witch-hunt of the lot of them to jail them for malfeasance.

Do not worry about billions in costs, the end user will be paying it .

[Watts.E.Dunn]

That's right you are not obligated, but a family member who had had an old style 'unsmart' meter and who had held out against installation, found last year her electricity meter failed. There are no stocks of old meters as they are indeed obsolete and no longer manufactured. She had no choice but to accept a new smart meter.

Plenty of suppliers have them new and refurbished...

[Doc Holliday]

Plenty of suppliers have them new and refurbished...

Interesting. So she was lied to?

[Watts.E.Dunn]

Interesting. So she was lied to?

Yes I think she was Doc, we occasionaly buy meters from a company called Owen brothers, there are others!...

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[Doc Holliday]

Yes I think she was Doc ...

I will PM you her number and let you tell her. Just hang up when she loses the plot 

[tynetunnel]

Saw an article yesterday saying most current Smart meters will go dumb by 2030, even the newer SMET2 ones.

They communicate via 2G/3G mobile networks which are due to switch off by end of this decade. Some can communicate by radio but these are the exception rather than the rule and only get installed where there's no mobile signal eg remote rural places.

What a fucking debacle. £Billions shelled out... the first meters were rendered useless anytime someone changed suppliers (something we were encouraged to do) and now the newer meters will be useless in several years too.

What really gets my goat is fact that there will have been many highly remunerated civil servants and officials who oversaw this shit-show and got paid bonuses and given promotions. There ought to be a witch-hunt of the lot of them to jail them for malfeasance.

Bollocks! Only Smets1 meters communicate via 3G. Smets2 communicate via a central data network, which has nothing to do with cellular networks. There is an upgrade to Smets1 underway which will enable them to use the same data network as Smets2. Over 3.5 million so far remotely upgraded with plans to upgrade them all. Any that fail will be replaced with Smets2

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If you got your information in an article you should consider a better source for your news 

[Gordon Bennett]

Bollocks! Only Smets1 meters communicate via 3G. Smets2 communicate via a central data network, which has nothing to do with cellular networks. There is an upgrade to Smets1 underway which will enable them to use the same data network as Smets2. Over 3.5 million so far remotely upgraded with plans to upgrade them all. Any that fail will be replaced with Smets2

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If you got your information in an article you should consider a better source for your news 

I couldn't link it, it was on a newsfeed thing. I'm pretty sure the feed was sourced from This is Money though. As for Smartdcc, they would say everything will be fine and nothing to see here wouldn't they - it would totally fuck their grift up if they said anything else.

Anyway, the data network you mention absolutely does use O2's 900mhz GPRS network in huge parts of England. Rest of UK does use a slightly lower frequency, 880ish but I'd still call that 3G and assume it'd be in scope for closure.

[Watts.E.Dunn]

Some bollix ad on the radio today a claiming that smart meters do save you money!, I 'd like to know how they  bloody do that!...

[hamchang]

Some bollix ad on the radio today a claiming that smart meters do save you money!, I 'd like to know how they  bloody do that!...

They work out when you use the most power, then jack up they rate at those time to "nudge you" to not bother using it then. However those dumb enough to have "Smart meters" will soon be helping fight Climate Change by having their power rationed.

Yes Doc - lucky you - you will have your power cut off. For Al Gore. 

[Blackpool Rock]

They work out when you use the most power, then jack up they rate at those time to "nudge you" to not bother using it then. However those dumb enough to have "Smart meters" will soon be helping fight Climate Change by having their power rationed.

Yes Doc - lucky you - you will have your power cut off. For Al Gore. 

No point asking for a link to prove any of this though 

[lillythesavage]

Some bollix ad on the radio today a claiming that smart meters do save you money!, I 'd like to know how they  bloody do that!...

They do, you just have to stare at them, and shout at any one in the house who turns something on, think of the TV savings, while you are glued to the meter screen.

[Blackpool Rock]

They do, you just have to stare at them, and shout at any one in the house who turns something on, think of the TV savings, while you are glued to the meter screen.

Ironically the smart meter while not actually saving any power consumption does itself use power to work 

[lillythesavage]

Ironically the smart meter while not actually saving any power consumption does itself use power to work 

True, but they are not smart, they give you the opportunity to be a smart arse and drive people demented, but they are just a meter.

[Watts.E.Dunn]

Bit on the news today that people are to be offered cheaper leccy or be paid to use less at times of peak demand....

[spiralnotebook]

Said it before and will say it again, when the utility companies refer to meters as ‘our cash registers’ you know it’s time to worry.

[Gordon Bennett]

Bit on the news today that people are to be offered cheaper leccy or be paid to use less at times of peak demand....

Article I read had a slightly different take..... suggested a move towards "surge pricing", ie charging more during peak time, say watching England playing in WC on a Saturday night at 8pm.

[myothernameis]

Said it before and will say it again, when the utility companies refer to meters as ‘our cash registers’ you know it’s time to worry.

I think come middle of March, a lot of consumers, especially ones on smart meters, and prepay meter, are in for big shocks

[petermisc]

I think come middle of March, a lot of consumers, especially ones on smart meters, and prepay meter, are in for big shocks

Not sure why you single those out - it is going to be everybody who is not fortunate enough to be on a fixed-price deal.  Although it may come later depending on when your next meter reading and/or bill comes.

[petermisc]

Article I read had a slightly different take..... suggested a move towards "surge pricing", ie charging more during peak time, say watching England playing in WC on a Saturday night at 8pm.

Some suppliers already offer a cheaper off-peak rate (or higher peak rate, depending on how you look at it).

I think he was referring to a proposed Octopus tarrif that would reward you for cutting your consumption during peak hours, by giving you a couple of hours of "free" leccy (presumably at off-peak times).

[lillythesavage]

Not sure why you single those out - it is going to be everybody who is not fortunate enough to be on a fixed-price deal.  Although it may come later depending on when your next meter reading and/or bill comes.

The advice is to update meter readings before the hike, or all your usage from last reading will be at the higher rate. 

[Doc Holliday]

The advice is to update meter readings before the hike, or all your usage from last reading will be at the higher rate. 

Unless you have a smart meter which reads it daily 

[Blackpool Rock]

The advice is to update meter readings before the hike, or all your usage from last reading will be at the higher rate. 

Whenever there has been a price change they estimate what the reading would have been on the day the price changed and bill you for however many days on the old tariff and then however many on the new.

Obviously if they have read the meter or you have given them a reading then it will be fairly accurate but if they have no reading it could be wildly out
 

[lillythesavage]

Whenever there has been a price change they estimate what the reading would have been on the day the price changed and bill you for however many days on the old tariff and then however many on the new.

Obviously if they have read the meter or you have given them a reading then it will be fairly accurate but if they have no reading it could be wildly out

Heard it a few times, they do not read meters anymore, it is up to you to update, if it is up to date the can be no trying to get your money back, they estimate monthly if you do not update, but would you trust the estimate to be accurate when money id to be made?

[Doc Holliday]

Heard it a few times, they do not read meters anymore, it is up to you to update,

I've heard that also.. but they are still recruiting meter readers though? External Link/Members Only

[lillythesavage]

I've heard that also.. but they are still recruiting meter readers though? External Link/Members Only

There are private companies that supply a meter reading service for energy companies, usually to catch out suspected fiddling I would imagine, and charging well if a reading is requested.

Several have disputed my readings, so I said come and read it yourself, each one said they do not have meter readers anymore. I used the ombudsman service. They refused to pay the private company to read.

Can anyone remember when they knocked on the door or left a card last?

I think it must be nearly 10 years since one knocked here, and he refused to read the meter unless I took the dog out of the house, I told him to get a job he could do and to fuck off.

[Blackpool Rock]

No point starting a new thread as this old one mentioned things like surge pricing at peak times, talk on the news today that dynamic pricing is indeed now being considered in various forms / options

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[Watts.E.Dunn]

Its not surpising they have been offering cheap rate overnight power for years, can't alter the output of the old coal stations that easlily..

[WARSZAWA16]

Faulty Smart Meters rise to nearly 4 million:
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