Smart Meters

[Mags22]

Have any of you had problems with yours, and as a single occupant would it be any help in bringing my monthly payments down?

[Hopkirk]

The only way that smart meters reduce your bills us if you realise from the meter what you are using and change your ways.
It might make you realise how expensive a tumble dryer is to run.

[davebro]

1. No
2. Doesn't matter how many occupants, will only bring your costs down if it encourages you to use less gas/electric.

[Hazlinny]

No problem with ours. It came with a separate monitor which tells you how much electricity you use each day and the cost - if you are using a lot of appliances on one day, you will see the cost shoot up! As Hopkirk stated, a tumble dryer is the appliance which is the costliest to run.

[Maydup]

We have had no problems with ours and a pleased to see the back of estimated bills/DIY readings. It hasn't reduced our payments though.

[barry1010]

People seem to confuse the smart meter with the in-home display.
The smart meter is the big box that replaces your existing meter, usually in the same place. It is smart because it constantly updates your usage to the supplier and there is no need to read the meter.

The in-home display is a little monitor that connects wirelessly to the smart meter so the customer can easily see how much gas and/or electricity they are using and how much it is costing them in £ and pence.

The smart meter does nothing to keep your monthly payments down. Understanding the information on the in-home display may help you use less energy but only if you take action to use less gas and/or electricity

[William51]

I cannot have a Smart meter in my house because it needs an internet connection which my is bad in my village.

[Giggsie]

William51 you do not need internet connection to have a smart meter

[Maydup]

Agree, no internet connection needed.

[davebro]

they work on the mobile phones networks I think

[William51]

Giggsie, i had an engineer here about having a smart meter and he did some tests and said i cannot have one because he could not get a connection. I did not really understand him and what he really meant.

[barry1010]

Can your mobile phone get a 4G connection at your home, William? Is your meter somewhere that would block a mobile signal?

[William51]

Barry, my village is in a dip and mobile signals are bad. Perhaps the engineer was talking about mobile of Wi-Fi. It is not my best subject.

[barry1010]

Yes, he would be referring to the 3G or 4G signal the meters use to send the data to the servers.

[William51]

Thanks Barry, useful information.

[ducksie]

Hi William, if smart meters are installed in your neighbourhood there should be no problem installing one at your home, Barry's is the best answer that explains what a smart meter is.

[William51]

Thanks Ducksie i shall talk with the locals in the pub, over a pint or two.

[ducksie]

That's the best way to have the chat William :) suss out what's the craic