Smart meters

effalump we bought a small airfryer and didn't use it a lot, but when it died in January.

I then, on DD's advice (she lives alone) bought a slightly bigger one and haven't stopped using it. DH cooks his breakfast sausages in it, I have cooked a fritatta in it. It is big enough to get small bowls in, roasted root vegetables and yesterday cooked 2 salmon fillets, wrapped up in a foil parcel with chopped veg, plus the usual roast potatoes, chips and pomms parmentier.

I fought tooth and nail to avoid having to have one but my old, traditional, gas meter finally gave us the ghost over Christmas. I got a smart meter but I think I am a bit obsessed with it now. I'm checking everything to see how much a cup of boiling water costs (1p), A full washing machine (about 40p), I even bought a one person airfryer because of all the rave reviews, and it is quite cheap but I don't use it every day.

Please do MadeinYorkshire. So many people struggle to live on tiny incomes when they are entitles to all kinds of benefits.

I would recommend talking to Age UK. I confess a bias. I was a Benefits advisor with them, when they were Age Concern, that is sometime ago now, but I have kept my hand in with offering advice on GN, if it might be needed, plus filling in forms for friends and family.

*MOnica thank you ... am pretty up on benefits myself, and I am getting everything I am entitled to, but because I am on old Legacy Benefits, I am sure they are wrong! I am using some people from Income_max who are helping me. I am nearly 61 so not entitled to my State Pension just yet. We called the DWP on 16th January, and they were supposed to call me back within 72 hrs, obviously they didn't, so we called again yesterday and they SHOULD call me back with an answer this morning ... I won't hold my breath.
Yes - I SHOUD be entitled to some grants, but am having difficulty in getting hold of anyone! Hopefully Income_max will help me with that too.

Will update later if I get anywhere ....

missdeke the purpose of a smart meter is NOT to save you money. It is to make it easier for your energy supplier to send you accurate bills, no more estimates, and arguments about bills.

For some people seeing how much electricity they are using does help them see where they could save electricity, but I an chasing my supplier for smart meters and I know they will not save us any money, because we have always monitored our consumption.

Smart meters are nothing special, all the do that your current meter doesn't, is let your supplier have meter readings without you having to remember to.

MadeinYorkshire Your situation sounds dire and I am worried by some of the things you say in your post.
Disability benefits are not income linked, so a rise in your private pension should not affect them.

Assuming you are over 65 you should be getting free prescriptions regardless of income. If you are under 65 you can buy prescription 'season tickets'. They cost £108 for a year's prescriptions www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/prescriptions-and-pharmacies/save-money-with-a-prescription-prepayment-certificate-ppc/

I repeat below advice I gave on another thread to someone who seemed to be in a similar position.

You should speak to Age UK or Citizen's Advice, they can both do benefits checks.

Benefits you may be entitled to include:
_Pension Credit:_www.ageuk.org.uk/globalassets/age-uk/documents/factsheets/fs48_pension_credit_fcs.pdf

If you are in rented property you may qualify for housing benefit www.ageuk.org.uk/globalassets/age-uk/documents/factsheets/fs17_housing_benefit_fcs.pdf

You may also qualify for Council tax relief whether you rent or own your house www.ageuk.org.uk/globalassets/age-uk/documents/factsheets/fs21_council_tax_fcs.pdf

If you are becoming disabled, perhaps need help doing things or have had falls you may well qualify for Attendance Allowance. If you would like to discuss that PM me and I will try to help

You could also qualify for insulation grants.

But the firstthing you must do is speak to Age Uk, locally or nationally, or Citizen's Advice.

The display monitor is away in a drawer. I think DH put it there because I got on his nerves by commenting when the meter shot up.

My kids both worked for one of the big 3, they both agreed (amazingly) not to have a Smart meter until it was legally required. For my children to agree on anything means I have followed their advice

Life seems such a struggle for you MadeInYorkshire and I hope you get meaningful help via the man from Martin Lewis.
So sorry about your daughter too 💐

TillyTrotter

MadeinYorkshire do you have other heat sources - log burner?
You must try and keep rooms you use around 18 degs for your health.
Nannan2 as useful as a chocolate teapot really 🙄

I know TillyTrotter but I'm afraid not, and as disabled wouldn't be able to deal with it anyway. My house is heated by gas, and that is £1 an hour, but does eat up quickly - problem is, I could move into my lounge, BUT it is a room with NO natural light ... I am miserable enough been severely depressed since my health took a bad nosedive over the last 20 years, and I lost my daughter in November) without sitting in a room with no windows (the conservatory is blocking the light), hence I am in there. I can't get upstairs easily, and if I could I would have to go up and down to let the dogs out. The temp in here generally is 2 - 6*C warmer than it is outside, when it was very cold recently, it was 2*C in here. I am okay at night because I have a heated throw, it's during the day when sitting up using the computer that's worse - wear a coat and gloves all the time (fingerless as cannot type in full gloves!) I have been trying now for months to get help, nobody cares .... The room is heated by electric underfloor heating, which costs £21+ a day to heat to a temp comfortable enough to sit in a coat and gloves. I cannot afford that, full stop. I have tried 2 oil filled, radiators, they raise the temp by 2*C, not worth it, as costs WELL over my daily budget of £2.68. (not enough for ANY heating!) I do have an electric log burner which does actually work very well, but that's £1 an hour too, so just not affordable at all sadly.

I had an OT visit the other day. My downstairs loo is a macerator type and it sounds as though it is about to take off. I flushed it for her to show her. It is £119.40 for them to set foot over the doorstep - if I had them out, then my £31.88 I have left for food, clothes, house repairs and a life would be swallowed in one hit. I asked for a plastic bedpan to put on the loo "just in case" and so that I wouldn't need to try and hover over a bucket. Oh don't do those ... but I could have a commode in the kitchen!! (Wait a minute - what goes UNDER the commode to catch it???) ... and I can have a stairlift to get to the bathroom - not that I could in time, so there would be a trail of urine through the house and up the stairs that I can't clean up - can you imagine trying to get that out of the stairlift mechanism?? They are just plain STUPID!

I am literally starving and freezing to death after paying my household bills, which I have cut to the core as much as possible, as I no longer have my daughter to contribute to them .... this is down to what are known as LEGACY BENEFITS. A chap that was on the Martin Lewis TV show in November is helping me. We called the DWP 2 weeks ago today on a 3 way call, the people I spoke to in October and December told me I was no longer entitled to my disability premiums because my private NHS Pension had increased by £5.05 since 2021. This has knocked me off free prescriptions, dental care etc but the worst thing was, they wouldn't let me have a Funeral Expenses Payment with which to cremate my daughter - we had to crowd fund. I believe it is wrong, and so does he. The DWP were going to look into it and call me back within 72 hours - obviously they didn't, so we are calling again tomorrow. Some of THE most disabled people in the UK are on these, and a lot of them will also be charged by their local authorities for care and support - they tried to charge me £200 a WEEK for a daily 30 min call a couple of years ago, but I can challenge the system. I continue to fight for them, those that cant challenge it, or even know what it is, but it's wearing thin now.

bookaddict of course it is us, new meters cannot be magicked out of thin air but it is being done because it reduces costs in meter readers, means that bills received are accurate and reduces problems with getting readings where meter readers cannot get access, and all meters wear out.

Should we go back to those gas smelling meters of our childhood, or be charged for them? Smart meters are being put in all new homes and as they are manufactured in huge numbers, they are probably cheaper to make than non-standard ones.

Happy with mine as I don’t have to climb a ladder to look at the readings every month , but the devise went in the drawer as it kept telling me I was over budget when gas heating was on. I know that but I won’t be in a house that’s freezing, it’s bad for your health but consider myself lucky that I can afford i5, something else will need to go.

Wonder if anyone has thought who is paying for the installation of these things? You would be right if you thought it was all of us in our bills whether you have one of not!

Alison333 Although I don't have to tackle spiders to get at my meters, they are both tricky to read. The gas meter, in particular, involves lying on my stomach and squinting sideways while using a torch. As I grew older the numbers were also more difficult to read.
I resisted getting a Smart meter for ages. In the end I grew tired of having to ask my family to do my readings for me, and asked for one. I find it useful for keeping an eye on my usage, and I now tend to 'warm the person, not the room' a lot more.

Mallin There’s only me at home but I refuse to be cold.

There are 2 of us (and many who come round), but we feel the same. We refuse to be chilly. We put logs in the 2 fires all the time and have heat set at 21 day, 15 night (window open over our bed). So far the bills have been ok.

There’s only me at home but I refuse to be cold. The two night storage heaters and emersion heater which are supposedly on a cheaper rate, cost around £8 a day. Horrendous but I refuse to worry. My last bill was for one amount but when I went to pay it on line, it was for the amount it would have been if the government subsidy wasn’t taken into consideration. So I haven’t paid it. If they try to put me on a meter then I will purchase a generator. If they answered the telephone then perhaps it could be sorted out. They don’t answer.
Funnily enough, there’s no way of asking on line, how to rectify the company’s mistake.

Aargh ! I actually WANT a Smart Meter but am told by more than one electricity supplier, including my present one, that I cannot have one as my system is something strange that has a meter with about 5 readings ....One of the reasons I want one is that now I have to stand on a stool to take a reading which is not very stable and one day I might fall off ! Has anyone else been told their system is not suitable ? Several people I know have had these fitted ....and we are all in the same retirement flats ......still pursuing it !!!!

I fought for a long time against a smart meter. We are with Octopus and had a heat pump installed, changed to a smart tariff, so was forced to have a smart meter. We are on 3 different tariffs through the day and I was obsessive in calculating the kw's used and how much the IHD was calculating the cost. I realised eventually that it was not adding up correctly. I contacted Octopus and was told that the IHD could not give an accurate cost when a customer was on a smart tariff and to disregard the price it was showing, and so it proved when I had my first bill which was alot less than the total shown on the IHD. So the only point in them is to show you what different appliances are using, which having said all that has been a useful excercise

dragonfly46

Charleygirl I had a gas and electric one fitted outside. They were the two and they came with a countertop display unit.

Charleygirl I had a smart gas meter for about a year before I got an electricity one. Two years on and my gas meter is apparently still not sending readings to British Gas, so I have been entering readings myself and asking for bills.

I'm happy with my smart meter. Before having one our bills were more often than not estimated, as we weren't very good at submitting meter readings ourselves. Rarely did they come and read the meter either. Every so often I read the meters and check online that the latest reading is the same as I have. I have never used the little screen gadget as I can look online at the usage and see how much we are using.

Had a smart meter for years. Even in early says hardly looked at it. Couple of tears ago moved it into the atrached garage so look at it even less. Have a neighbour who is very well off and since energy crisis started I have a report on how much she is using and how much it is costing every time we meet. Drives me mad. I prefer to dry washing outdoors. However this winter has been awful for that. I have a heat pump tumble dryer. With three loads a week it costs 38 pence. Now on my own it's even less. I too have a gas meter near the ground causing me to have to lie on the ground to read the blasted thing, so grateful for a smart meter.

We were constantly pestered about gas and electricity smart meters many years ago. The energy companies were given government targets for Smart meter installations so they really went for it aggressively.
Eventually, after much discussion with the companies, we agreed to both. Electricity installer came but couldn’t get any kind of consistent signal - he said “they’ll never work here”.
I told him that I’d explained our complete lack of reliable signals before agreeing to the new meter - he shrugged and said they also had a target for attempting to install so they would have sent him regardless!!
The gas installer came and said the meter was bigger than our purpose built cupboard and that we’d have to have one installed “somewhere else” with no suggestions as to where. We would have to pay for the move and new cupboard ourselves!!
For 12 months afterwards I was plagued with continuous demands to have meters installed.
I put in official complaints of pointless, ridiculous harassment and eventually received compensation from both companies.

Karmalady…I’m with edf and yes you can still send your own meter readings …they do have that facility!

I can’t convince my freinds that the inside ‘display unit ‘ is NOT the meter…and that you don’t have to have one . The smart meter …the thing in the cupboard …is no different from the ordinary old fashioned meter except the readings go straight to your energy company!! Don’t see what folk are upset about .. I don’t have a display unit because I can access my daily/weekly readings on my phone now and check my usage.

I can't see how a smart meter would save me money at all. I rarely use a tumble drier, the heating is only on as needed, hot water is on once a day. I just don't see what else I could do.