Smart Meters

[Chris38]

Another attempt to con the longsuffering British public! Surely very few people really thought that smart meters were intended to save money, even for those enthusiasts prepared to waste their lives staring at meters. Saving power companies from having to read meters might be one reason for their installation. A more likely explanation is giving suppliers the ability to cut off domestic supplies when our insane dependence on renewables creates outages when there is no wind or sun. Do not agree to have a meter installed - but be prepared to be penalised by power suppliers for not having one. Meanwhile, look forward to eating cold baked beans out of the tin in the dark with no heat when power outages become our way of life!

[fiction-factory]

You don't want one or need one as you are using energy efficiently already. Good for you. I think I am using it pretty effectively too and I know that my spreadsheets enable me to get the best deal each year. But I'd still welcome asmart meter- it might save me a few pounds, it'll save me climbing over all the junk in my garae to read it, it'll save me logging on to the website to submit them every month or two. It might even cut down costs of meter readers for others so push down prices if the regulator and competeitive forces work. The only downside would be if they said that the overall cost of implementing it was say £100 as a one off installation cost and I would have to pay (either directly or indirectly)- then I might say is it worth it

[Old_Geezer]

It's clearly being pushed to give control to the companies, and since the government's on board they must see a chance for data collection and control too. And they don't care if the data or control is hijacked as that's the individual citizen's problem.

But as is always the case, some will comply for some minor advantage or bribe they see, and then support their decision by ignoring/denying the larger picture. (That's how we got water meters everywhere despite it bring bad for the community as a whole.)

[Old_Geezer]

The shareholders are unlikely to pay for it. Ultimately it will be covered by higher bills - you can bet on it.

[Baldric]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/ask-a-money-expert/smart-meters-can-energy-suppliers-hackers-turn-supply-remotely/

Benjamin Sovacool, a University of Sussex professor studying smart meters, said he understood it was technically possible for your supplier to cut off your supply remotely, but that this would only be used as a last resort. For example, a prepayment meter customer who has fallen into extremely large arrears.
British Gas confirmed that “remote disconnection” is possible

[Baldric]

https://www.smartme.co.uk/customer-rights.html
Smart Meter privacy and your rights as a customer in the UK. ... Smart Meters will be rolled out as standard across the country by 2020. .... Smart meters have the facility to remotely disconnect and reconnect both the electricity and gas supply.

[woofgang]

Baldric that actual website says that smart meters must be OFFERED by 2020 but that customers do not have to accept them.

[Hopkirk]

I think George Osborne was involved in telling the public of the savings the public could make.

The reason I don't want one though is the disruption on the day of having it fitted. By the sound of it many of the rapidly recruited fitters are undertrained and incompetent.

[dannyk13]

OG, Installing a water meter saved me £16 per month.

[Baldric]

Woofgang, yes it does, and?

[Voltage]

Love reading all the conspiracy theories about smart meters ..bottom line you either have one or you don't!

[Kathyan]

Just heard an ad on the radio for smart meters where she says 'save your energy to power big cities, get a smart meter'!

[margarettom]

In the paper today it says 'half of smart meters fail if you switch suppliers and a cross-party committee warned the £11billion project to install the meters in every home by 2020 should be urgently reviewed'. ( sorry can't do links). I'm glad I have not got one and intend to stay that way.

[The_Rim_Greaper]

A company is there to make as much money/profit as legally possible..they dont exist to save the punters money...there may be some people who make a saving looking at their smart meter and go round turning things off but the majority just leave it, possibly saving you money is just a spin off effect...ok it might save you looking into a dark cupboard to get the reading but thats hardly a big deal....the main reason is to make them more money and other reasons mentioned here like future charging methods to extract even more out of your pockets which is what their shareholders expect as a priority.

They are not in business to save you money, if they werent "forced " by government they wouldnt give out all the "how to lower your bills" advice, thats the last thing they want to do

[KARL]

Almost every reply here has at least some hard truth in it. Among these is that no meter is going to change the amount of energy an electrical item consumes - the only way to reduce one's bill is to consume less: Self-rationing. Condemning an item and replacing it with a more efficient one is an increase in costs, not a reduction (the upgrade result) except perhaps the cost is partially/wholly recovered over many years.

One aspect not so far mentioned is that for a short-termism-sighted government there are distinct gains. The extra induced supply/work installing the meters generates employment which has all the usual effects such as reduced outlays in supporting under-/unemployed people, increased tax revenue (income tax and VAT), etc. This is not a surprise effect of new regulations but a very well known one (a strong incentive ?). That the smart meter programme was botched (single supplier meters, absurd mis-selling, etc.) is no huge surprise, we have seen this sort of thing before in the UK. Added to a strong culture of aversion to change, the history of change within markets has left the UK public very sceptical, reinforcing the aversion with some justification but this is as much as anything else the result of chaotic and obscure conduct by the authorities. There are benefits to be gained from smart meters but most of those are collective ones such as higher overall transparency (regulation potential), better overview and pricing/collection efficiency (better planning/management)nationally, etc.

To suggest/expect anyone other than the public in some way paying for change is at best insincere/naive. To rule out change is to rule out improvement. Finding an acceptable solution to any moan has to start with better decision making leading to improvement - I see no sign of that on the horizon for the UK, better is different but being different does not inevitably mean that is being better.

[youngmafbog]

"Love reading all the conspiracy theories about smart meters"

I've not seen any conspiracy theories. What has been written by quite a few are perfectly viable options for the utility companies to take in the future should they wish to.

By taking the smart meter you are facilitating this opportunity which is fine so long as you know, understand and accept how in the future it is possible to do things differently in the future with them.

[Togo]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/consumer-affairs/six-reasons-say-no-smart-meter/

[fender62]

the only advantage i see is to the shareholders, who uses x amount
then price accordingly and or cut off your supply.

[Togo]

This is when I started to take an "interest" in the smart meter debate. The insidious EU is behind the "concept". Did you also know that EU regs demand that every electrical appliance sold in the EU is chipped to facilitate the "smooth operation" of the spying devices? When we all have them, someone can decide who is "worthy" of having power supplied. The thought police will love them.
I am happy for as many of you who want them to indeed have them. When the power cuts do arrive guess who will be switched off first so as not to cause problems with the grid balance set up?

// The main catalyst for the government's mass installation of smart meters came in July 2009, when a European Commission Directive made it a requirement that 80 percent of EU households have a smart meters installed by 2020.//

[jambutty]

I don't want a smart meter, but blimey Chris your thread makes glum reading!! Cheer up.

[Old_Geezer]

danny, switching to a meter gave you a bribe of £16 to get you to do it and support it. Meanwhile the community gets those who use insufficient water for hygiene purposes in order to save money, amongst them, and genuinely poorer folk desperate to spend as little as possible worrying they mustn't turn on taps for fear of debt. Affects older folk mainly. It's an uncivilised change which gives commercial companies control of pricing instead of society ensuring all have sufficient for their needs without stress.