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Smart meters, less smart companies

Scrat said:
Trog, email them and ask if it is 2nd gen. No harm in those.
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Even if they are less prone to failure than the 1st gen it is the hassle of taking time off work, having to move furniture and empty cupboards for something that will be of zero benefit to me. Also what is the life of the batteries? do they still cut you off when the battery fails? not to mention losing more wages when they replace a failed battery. I already lost 2 days wages when they failed to fit one before and the compensation was less than 1 days wage.
 
trog said:
what is the life of the batteries? do they still cut you off when the battery fails? not to mention losing more wages when they replace a failed battery.
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I'm guessing you are referring to smart gas meters rather than smart electric meters which don't run on batteries
 
www.thisismoney.co.uk

Will your smart gas meter suddenly die at Christmas?

While electric smart meters are wired into the National Grid, the gas ones are powered by batteries. This means thousands of batteries could fail in the coming months.
www.thisismoney.co.uk www.thisismoney.co.uk

OVO fits a meter, the owner changes to EDF, and ten years on, the battery fails. So who is responsible for replacing the battery?
 
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Ezra Pound said:
I'm guessing you are referring to smart gas meters rather than smart electric meters which don't run on batteries
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Yes. As a dual fuel deal tends to be better value and having one supplier being able to screw up is less risky than having two I will be obliged to have both meters replaced.
 
Is it right that the electricity meter communicates with the supplier, and the gas one communicates with the electric one?
 
Scrat said:
Is it right that the electricity meter communicates with the supplier, and the gas one communicates with the electric one?
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Yes in order to keep the battery life to 10 - 15 years, the gas meter only sends it's readings to the electric smart meter every 30 minutes, the electric meter does everything else like talking to the Hand Held Display every 10 seconds and connecting to the remote Digital Communications Centre once per day, the customer can change this to every 30 minutes on request
 
Octopus Energy finds that outrageous? Yet they are happy to charge £300 a year more than competitors.
 
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Just did a quick survey of my gas and electricity costs. No savings, but I could be paying £965pa more. What an incredible spread!
 
The advice given here to do nothing yet was for the best. I just had this update from MSE, no mention of smart meters but all good news.


"EDF has told us it is placing customers on one of six new tariffs – which one you’re moved to will depend on the rates you were paying with Green Network Energy.
We’re still chasing EDF for full details of these new tariffs, but it has said that it "guarantees all customers will see a price decrease versus your current tariff until 30 September 2021."
It told us that the maximum price of these new tariffs will be £950/year on average for someone on typical dual-fuel use, and the rates won’t change until the end of September. In comparison, the cheapest on the market currently is from E.on, at £925/yr including £25 Cheap Energy Club cashback on the same usage.
So right now, this sounds good, but it hasn’t provided the full tariff information yet, and as prices vary by region and usage, we can’t validate what it is saying. Once we have more info on EDF’s tariffs, we’ll update our EDF to take on Green Network Energy’s 360,000 customers MSE News story with full analysis.
The new EDF tariffs won't have exit fees, so if the deal doesn't turn out to be as good as it seems, or if prices across the rest of the market drop below what you’re paying on EDF, you can switch penalty-free."
 
Has anyone else been on a comparison site to check the cheapest tariff for their gas and electric recently? If not have a look and you will be shocked, the cheapest fixed deal for me was £98 per month compared to the £43 per month I pay now. The great deal EDF gave when they took over Green Network Energy customers ends next month but have offered an exclusive deal to GNE customers to renew with them, fixed for 3 years and costing me £63 per month, hopefully I made a wise choice to take their offer.
 
I've had one of the dreaded "your meter is nearly out of certification and it needs to be changed" type emails from $energy company.
They say no traditional meters are being manufactured or refurbished, so I've been compelled to book an appointment to have "Smart" ones fitted on Fri. afternoon.
Anyone got any tips/gotchas to beware of?
 
prpr said:
I've had one of the dreaded "your meter is nearly out of certification and it needs to be changed" type emails from $energy company.
They say no traditional meters are being manufactured or refurbished, so I've been compelled to book an appointment to have "Smart" ones fitted on Fri. afternoon.
Anyone got any tips/gotchas to beware of?
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Make sure it is not a first version ( I doubt they are still fitting them but best to check) If you want it in dumb mode make sure they also do it so the supplier cannot remotely turn it smart. The guy who fitted mine was not a smart meter fan and when I asked if they could remotely turn it smart he admitted they can but he could disable that ability and did.
 
prpr said:
Anyone got any tips/gotchas to beware of?
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Too late for mine: you should have demanded proof that the meter needs changing. They go away then. So far I've simply ignored them.

You can insist the meter is installed in dumb mode, but of course dumb mode means you can't take advantage of any off-peak discounts your supplier comes up with.

Be aware that smart meters have a sealed in battery which means the whole meter has to be replaced when the battery runs out (stupid or what?). Possibly running the meter in dumb mode obviates that.
 
Black Hole said:
Too late for mine: you should have demanded proof that the meter needs changing. They go away then. So far I've simply ignored them.

You can insist the meter is installed in dumb mode, but of course dumb mode means you can't take advantage of any off-peak discounts your supplier comes up with.

Be aware that smart meters have a sealed in battery which means the whole meter has to be replaced when the battery runs out (stupid or what?). Possibly running the meter in dumb mode obviates that.
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"you should have demanded proof that the meter needed changing." The meters have dates on them which the supplier also has so they know when the meter has reached its replacement date. I was told I needed smart meters due to expiry date and asked for details, the electric was out of date but the gas had a year to go so I only let then change 1 and have not had any further pressure to change the gas.
 
I had a "your meter is nearly out of date" messages. It had a Radio Teleswitch included which won't work when the signal on R4 LW is turned off. It should stay on the setting it would be on when the signal is turned off. As the day and night rates are the same for me, I could have left it. Much against my better judgement I let British Gas fit new meters (smart ones). A few problems to start with, but seems okay now (fingers crossed).
 
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