Forum Topic

Compulsory "smart" meters

I have received an email which states "As part of the obligations set by the UK Government and Ofgem, energy suppliers are required to upgrade all business customers to a smart meter." and it goes on to quote a particular day when "our install partner" will call to fit the meter.Can anyone confirm that installation of these meters has become compulsory.

David Marles ● 601d34 Comments

Energy companies have recently been ordered by Ofgem to pay  fines for not installing enough smart meters.https://news.sky.com/story/major-energy-suppliers-to-pay-10-8m-for-not-meeting-smart-meter-targets-13003806#:~:text=The%20UK's%20largest%20household%20energy,%2C%20OVO%2C%20Bulb%2C%2

Philippa Bond ● 545d

RE. WWW.SAVEUSNOW.ORG - Mark Steele is the campaigner attached to the website. He was taken to court by either Newcastle or Gateshead council to try to get a gagging order imposed on him, it was unsuccessful. The magistrate/ recorder of the court refused to issue the gagging order and said " Mr Steele has presented to  this court a tremendous amount of published research, he is obviously very knowledgeable. The public have a right to know, this is a free country."

Anna Kirkpatrick ● 546d

Hopefully this link works as it provides answers to many questions from the public.https://www.which.co.uk/reviews/smart-meters/article/smart-meters-explained/smart-meter-problems-and-solutions-a32nQ4f3LKV8Copy and paste into your browser search

Bernard Allen ● 546d

There is a smart meter objection notice template available which objects on 11 grounds. Go to www.saveusnow.org and put smart meter objection in the search box.

Anna Kirkpatrick ● 546d

Hi David  Marles. I think its possible smart meters invalidate the wiring code re the exposure to an open circuit ? but I dont know that that s  correct. I ll try to find out.

Anna Kirkpatrick ● 546d

Philippa, with the storage heaters which my sister had the night rate wascheaper but not sure if the day rate was higher than usual they were moreexpensive than my gas heating.  I still don't understand enough about smart meters and the safety aspect  to want one.

Janice Evans ● 576d

I got a smart meter at home which made things so much simpler or it would have done had they fitted the gas one at the same time but the electric works fine and I can keep an eye on my usuage so half pleased

Caroline Carney ● 576d

My supplier Octopus (who have a very good reputation with me and are by some distance rated the best by Which) recently delivered and installed a smart meter, which covers electricity and gas. Not sure it will make any difference to my bills but it's interesting, tracking instant and historic usage by days. weeks, months. Plus I will not have the chore with the meter readings gone away

Guy Lambert ● 576d

I've started to wonder whether there isn't yet another glitch in the system as it seems some people have access to the data readings that others don't..

Philippa Bond ● 576d

There are still issues upon changing supplier in that not all suppliers can 'receive' the data from all models of meter. So, you end up reading the meter and 'manually' submitting the reading.

N V Brooks ● 577d

I’m not sure they can be compulsory. My energy company tried to install a ‘smart’ but because if the layout of the house, it was impossible anyway. Even the Electricity company could not find a way. It’s an old property divided into 3 units

Jean Rowe ● 577d

The problem as I understand it with earlier ones (or some of them) was that they wouldn't work when you changed to a new supplier (as you were constantly being advised to do to get a more competitive rate) but that seemed to be a problem that was largely overcome.  However there appear to be a chain of eight different entities between the electricity generator and the ultimate customer.

Philippa Bond ● 578d

https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/127/public-accounts-committee/news/197947/delayed-smart-meter-programme-fails-to-hit-targets-and-secure-public-support/

Philippa Bond ● 578d

Exactly the same thing has happened to a neighbour of mine. This also happens in flats. I was OK with electric, but had to send a reading for the gas. The upside is if I switch on my electric kettle for breakfast tea and do a toast it tells me I am using a lot of electric. I did not need technology to tell me this.

Nicholas Beard ● 578d

When is a Smart-Meter not Smart? When one of them is in my basement. The main advantage is that it should save you remembering to take a reading and with the rising cost of fuel save you from becoming too indebted to your provider. The downside is that they could open to the door to Smart tariffs, the main purpose of which would be to increase revenue. There is also evidence that because they are so 'in your face' at a time of rising energy costs, they have increased people's anxieties about their bills rather than made them feel more in control.Oh, and mine won't work because the wireless signal won't reach the meter in the basement. A meter in a basement...who'd have thought

Leigh Stops ● 578d

They say they are on a different generation of smart meters than most of the ones which did not work in the past although I think some still can't connect properly in buildings where there is a Faraday cage effect stopping communication.

Philippa Bond ● 578d

Janice, no - smart meters can be used to measure the electricity used at different times and where they have different rates for off peak use. It might of been this one - Sundays not Saturdays as I think I said -  https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2023/06/british-gas-energy-usage-/There also seems to be an EV rate for charging your EV during the night.But there also does still seem to be the Energy 7 which people used with night storage heaters.  I understand there are more up to date storage heaters than the ones my parents had over 50 years ago which you can also use top up the heat out of Economy 7 hours (more expensive but an option).

Philippa Bond ● 578d

Philippa, is that homes with electric storage heaters who have cheaper electricity overnight.

Janice Evans ● 579d

“Households forced to pay for seven million useless smart meters to be replacedFinancial burden on energy bill payers will be ‘very significant’, watchdog warns”https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/net-zero/consumers-pay-seven-million-useless-smart-meters-replaced/

Bryan Turner ● 579d

My next question would be is that the same for all energy suppliers because obviously some of them are giving better tariffs to those who are making the effort to move to using more off peak electricity.

Philippa Bond ● 580d

Our supplier, EDF, told us our old meters had to be upgraded due to their age. Whilst both our new gas and electric meters are meant to be ‘smart’ we only get electricity usage on the in home display, contrary to what we were told. I subsequently discovered that just the installation of a smart meter is sufficient to meet some government target, they don’t have to actually work.

David Turner ● 580d

I spoke to someone the other day who is on a tariff which is cheaper off peak on Saturdays so does lots of stuff then using electricity then such as more washing, drying, cutting the grass and putting all electric batteries on to charge.

Philippa Bond ● 582d

It caused a degree of excitement in our household initially and we notice the thing with the kettle. It did cause us to reconsider the usage of certain household items and one of these days I am going to do a proper check to see if there are any further savings to be made. You can set daily budgets which alerts you if you go over. I think all this has led to some changes of habits at the margin that has saved us money.

Francis Rowe ● 595d

It is quite interesting, for the first few times, to see how the electricity indicator goes up when you - for example - put the kettle on (which of course only lasts a couple of minutes).

Anne England ● 596d

I’m on a waiting list for a Smart Meter purely to avoid estimates or grovelling under the stairs to take my own readings. Certainly not interested in watching it all the time to see how many light bulbs are on!

Peter Evans ● 596d

I don't always go along with things but did with the Smart Meter. I can't say I much notice its presence, let alone let my gas or electricity usage be determined by it. What is the issue with having a meter? Just wondering.

Anne England ● 596d

Use the torch on your phone and take a photo, quicker.

Janice Evans ● 596d

I have always refused a smart meter but, given that reading my meters involves a torch and a kneeling pad, plus lots of moving of recycling bins, I am wavering.

Susan Kelly ● 598d

Do believe someone on dialysis machine noticed an increase think itwas sorted out but it does happen.

Janice Evans ● 598d

I find the smart meters a great free upgrade to monitoring the energy use of my property, it has allowed me to also combine the data coming out of it with mobile apps such as 'loop' which help me monitor the real time usage of the utilities as well as benefiting from live updates to the smart meter. It hasn't affected at all my energy bills and in fact comparing the costs has made me more aware of my energy usage. I've read some claims that the meters are inaccurate and that would be similar to saying your odometer on your car producing false reading..............

John Bird ● 599d

From www.smallbusiness.co.uk (April 2023)."While the government requires energy suppliers to offer a smart meter to all eligible small businesses, there’s no legal obligation for you to accept. You’re able to refuse installation and then request a smart meter at any point in the future at no extra cost. "

N V Brooks ● 601d

I'm pretty sure they haven't become compulsory. Just say no.

Susan Kelly ● 601d

It is from SSE Energy Solutions who are, indeed, the supplier.

David Marles ● 601d

Who is it from ?

John Southey ● 601d