Smart meters

I can Kim19. My gas meter is at the back of the cupboard under the stairs and reading it means taking half the contents out - it is the broom cupboard, etting down on the floor, with a torch, reaching in to press buttons, trying to write it down, thn crawl out of cupboard, put everything back in.

The eectricity meter, a smart meter is outside at the back and requires the use of a clumsy plastic key, except as it is the smart meter it sends the reading in automatically, so I do not have to fiddle with it, nor need I go outside in the rain.

I check my bill when it comes, sitting in comfort at my desk and can immediately see whether the bill has jumped as I have been tracking my quarterly, now monthly, consumption on a spread sheet for over 20 years.

We tracked our bills too, Monica, but Scottish Gas refused to listen, despite DH producing spreadsheets of consumption for the previous two years, which clearly proved something was wrong..
We thought we had resolved it, it took nearly a year. However, we appear to be back to square one, because our monthly DD has reverted back to being based on the erroneous bills, despite us being thousands in credit.
It is a shambles.

I rang Octopus yesterday, said I was looking to fix my payments, don’t have a SM, don’t want one, no exit fees, couldn’t see anything on line that matched that, all on offer seemed to need a SM.

The adviser soon came up with a suitable fix, assured me no SM required, so have fixed for 15 months.

They just didn’t seem to promote it online.

I wonder why?

🤷‍♀️

Marydoll We pay our bills on actual figures and not by spreading the bills evenly over the year.

Could you, after the winter, start setting aside a steady monthly amount in a teapot somewhere and just ask for monthly bills based on actual usage and dip into the teapot in the high bill months?

We were moved to Eon when our fuel company went bust. We have found them very good. I have smart meters and love them. They have reduced our monthly payments twice since we started with them and I have now fixed the price.

M0nica

Marydoll We pay our bills on actual figures and not by spreading the bills evenly over the year.

Could you, after the winter, start setting aside a steady monthly amount in a teapot somewhere and just ask for monthly bills based on actual usage and dip into the teapot in the high bill months?

Monica, you seem to have missed the point.

We are on our third meter in a year, the third meter for some reason hasn't been recorded on the system. When the meter reader came to check the readings because they were not registering on the system, the serial numbers did not match.
Consequently Scottish Gas, ( different depts. do not appear to communicate with each other ) are trying to base our usage on the faulty readings from years ago.

We know exactly how much we use and owe and DH sends in monthly readings which are ignored. Furthermore, I do not have a teapot, but a pot in my bank account, where I put additional cash, to cover any problems with fuel payments. We are pretty canny when it comes to finances.
In fact we could have a 5* holiday abroad with what I have saved (but know I don't owe), unfortunately I cannot get travel insurance.

We have an electric smart meter, which works perfectly well.--Touch wood--

Marydoll We've just had a similar (but not so serious) ongoing argument with a supplier.

After we had the smart meter put in it was nothing but trouble for weeks trying to reconcile the previous payments with what we owed. We could not get it through the assistant's head that they had already overcharged us (a minimal amount) and been paid for it, so we weren't paying for it again. MrA spoke to 3 different people in words of two syllables explaining it, resent photos of the meter we had already sent in but not one of them seemed to be able to do any simple deductions. In the end they agreed to start the new bill using our calculations but it was still wrong.

MrA responded to the usual 'Did we solve your problem?' enquiry with a short 'No. Please employ some people who can count.' - which is a bit rude but after two weeks of it I didn't really blame him.

We have a smart meter with EON. Next. We are in a flat with underfloor heating and have Economy 10 which gives us 10 hours of cheap electric. 4 hours in an afternoon, 2 hours in an evening and 4 hours during the night. These are our current prices but due to increase from 1st October.

My husband insisted on a smart meter
I insisted he have it out in his shed
They emit radiation
They also communicate our business to who knows where
Not my suspicious mind - this was corroborated my a scientist friend who said he would never have one
Of course they lure you in with incentives which in itself is slightly suspicious

Marydoll
Ofgem says that you cannot be charged for energy usage beyond 12 months.

my electricity company keeps asking me to get a smart meter but it would mean changing from my pre-paid meter that i have used for 20 years, i don't use my radiators and kept my bill for july 23 to july 24 to under £600, an older lady in my building got one and started to worry about heating the house as she was always checking the meter, there is pros and cons to everything.

Nannapat1

Marydoll
Ofgem says that you cannot be charged for energy usage beyond 12 months.

We haven't been charged for it, but they are basing their estimates on the incorrect bills.
It is an ongoing battle to rectify it.

We are pretty savvy and have followed every path available, but no-one will listen. The right hand does not know what the left hand is doing and they do not communicate with each other.

Heaven help those, who are not savvy.

Casdon

I’ve just had a letter to say my electricity meter has to be changed because the radio service that supports it is being switched off, and a smart meter is the only alternative. It is legitimate, I checked on CAB, the radio service is being terminated in June 2025, so I will be without power if the meter isn’t changed.

I've not heard that one anywhere - re them having a radio service to our (traditional) meters. I'd be investigating thoroughly if they told me that one - I guess electricians ought to know?? I'm certainly not having a smart meter ever - they can take a running jump on that. I do know about the excuse to change them of "Oh well - your meter is ever so old (think that's 20 years??) and so it has to be changed now". My meter is only about 10 years old (goodness knows why the electrician that virtually rewired my house when I moved here changed it - but he did - and got an absolute rocket out of the overall meter inspector the law said he had to call in at that point). I don't want the fuel people (and any Tom/Dick/Harry scammer) to be able to spot from afar what fuel I'm using and when and make an educated guess from that as to whether I'm in or no! The thought of some scally thinking "Ooh that's a couple of days in a row when she must have been away - as it's only been a low level of electric used. Good time to break in and thieve". I don't want the government to know either. Add that my electric meter is in a cupboard the other side of my bedroom wall (ie I'd be very near it for hours daily). It's no big deal for me to read my meters myself every couple of months when they tell me to do so. I don't see any point in knowing what fuel I'm using and when - as it won't make a scrap of difference to what I actually use.

I've just this second put up a query to one of my Facebook groups I'm on - ie "The Analogue Alliance UK" and asked them if it's true re a radio service to traditional meters. Will see what sort of response I get to that....

Heaven help us all the way things are generally going 🙄

CariadAgain

I've just this second put up a query to one of my Facebook groups I'm on - ie "The Analogue Alliance UK" and asked them if it's true re a radio service to traditional meters. Will see what sort of response I get to that....

I’ve read up on it CariadAgain. I’ve got Economy7, and apparently on the old style meters the radio frequency has been used to control the switch between the two rates via the two dials each evening/morning.

The explanation.

youtu.be/loyUVB7zKhw?si=RHKfbnpmRpT0wEjn

The above link is a video by a Bristol electrician who had been called back to a house he'd rewired 3 years ago when the owner reported the inset lighting in every room kept flickering even when switched off and even when the lighting circuits were switched off. It turns out the subcontractor who installed a Smart Meter in July 2024 had reversed the polarity of the fuse box which not only caused the annoying light flickering but was also potentially lethal.
Like the OP we took continue to resist smart meters as a few friends who have them also report problems. Given that SIM card devices,like the pagers which injured and killed so many in Lebanon recently, remote control items are to be trusted. Energy companies can switch homeowners to prepayment terms with telling them so I wonder how many more will be switched this winter now that Labour has announced withdrawal of the WFP for pensioners? And who wants to do their batch cooking and gardening late at night in order to benefit from cheaper electricity? Angela Rippon should hang her head in shame for selling out

Yes, I bet AR doesn’t practise what she is preaching.

I moved house in January 2022. Was with BG at the previous house so just moved with them. Between January & September because I was trying to find out what we were spending, BG sent me 13 different bills. Some were in debt, some were in credit, they even sent me a cheque! In the end I said I wanted a smart meter as it was getting ridiculous. It took them 5 attempts to get it going, and then I got a bill for £1800!! Fortunately because of the pickle they had caused, and it was their fault and I could prove it, BG Foundation paid the majority of it off although it took a fight. But once the SM was fully working I found out that the heating in my room (underfloor) was costing me £21 a DAY, and it hasn't been on since - I'm being kept alive by a heated throw.

I don't like it as it is just another form of control they have over us, and there will be many more, but in my situation it helped ...

Octopus are excellent to deal with, they answer emails! Had a smart meter with them for years with no problems at all. Use their tracker account and it is much cheaper at the moment than my old fixed account. This may change but you can change too.

My meter has one rate for "Peak time", a second rate for "Off Peak" and a third rate for the storage heaters. It's a minor chore to read the three values every month and report them. I've asked more than once about getting a smart meter but my supplier says either they aren't installing them at the moment or they don't have one for that sort of tariff.

BlueBelle

Refused one for years then they talked me into it They came took the other meter out and started to put the smart meter in,they got a phone call half way through to abort it. Took the smart meter out put the old meter back in and that was at least two years ago and not heard another word
Suits me fine I ll stay as I am reading my own meter, thanks

Wonder what made them change their minds?

We had one installed two yrs ago, hardly look at the thing now. We also had a deal last year, if we didn’t use electricity between 4/6 pm we saved money- so hubby would put the electric banket on just before, then switch off. Min to 4pm & we would go to bed & read for couple of hrs- bet KS doesn’t have to do that

Another one here who won’t have a smart meter either.

Ovo keep badgering me to get one, but I’ve stayed firm.

I’m quite happy to read my own meters and send readings to them online via the app.