Smart Meter, Yae or Nae?

[Sirius]

Originally Posted by Paul

Well I dont suppose this helps ;


https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cz9zqn77ezno

Meanwhile there is the following

Collectively across all energy suppliers, there were 32.1 million domestic smart meters (including those in smart or traditional mode) in Great Britain at the end of Q3 2023; 60% of all domestic meters.30 Nov 2023

https://assets.publishing.service.go...ics_Report.pdf

Nearly four million that are faulty is a lot however.

[heero_yuy]

Originally Posted by Sirius

Nearly four million that are faulty is a lot however.

Ours has been faulty since the day it was installed. I still have to navigate the undocumented (Why?) menus on the main unit to get the readings to send in for an accurate bill as the consumer display has also never worked properly.

[Taf]

Neighbours still have faulty meters that have to replaced yet again. The signals are not detected, so they are dumb meters, and have been for a very long time.

[Mr K]

Originally Posted by ianch99

Why do people not like Smart Meters? I mean real, concrete reasons, not fears of what may or may happen in some perceived future.

I think the total control given to suppliers in the future is a legitimate reason.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/bi...re-busy-times/

Millions of households with smart meters face paying more for their electricity at the busiest times of day under plans by the energy watchdog.

Ofgem is consulting on introducing a “dynamic” energy price cap for households to meet the demand of net zero. The proposals come despite the Government insisting in 2018 that it was a “myth” anyone would face higher energy bills because of the devices.

[nomadking]

Not all faults need the meter to be replaced. Often it just needs an update to be sent to the meter.

[ianch99]

Originally Posted by Mr K

I think the total control given to suppliers in the future is a legitimate reason.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/bi...re-busy-times/

Not really. For those without a smart meter, if they do this and it is not certain yet, they will impose a "modelled" profile for dumb meters to approximate the demand curve. Have no fear, you will pay either way.

As for our smart meters, in the last year they have saved us approx. £1000 relative to us staying on the SVR for Gas & Electricity. No brainer really ...

[spiderplant]

Originally Posted by nomadking

Not all faults need the meter to be replaced. Often it just needs an update to be sent to the meter.

Sent through the non-working connection?

[Taf]

Originally Posted by Mr K

I think the total control given to suppliers in the future is a legitimate reason.

It is a government policy that smart meters must be 100% fitted by a set date, or suppliers will be penalised.

Ditto water meters, where the idea behind them is to move away from the charges being set by "rateable value" of a home, to actual usage. And we all know that once an item has a unit price, they will use it to reduce our consumption by either taxation or rate increases.

When I lived in Cyprus, power would be cut off at certain times of day to protect supplies to industry, hospitals, etc. That just meant that peak hours moved either side of the powercuts. If you wanted power during the cuts, you had to pay a substantial amount to maintain your supply.

[jfman]

Originally Posted by ianch99

Why do people not like Smart Meters? I mean real, concrete reasons, not fears of what may or may happen in some perceived future.

I like doing things that are positive for the environment. Throwing out two meters that work perfectly well seems an unnecessary waste.

[ianch99]

Originally Posted by jfman

I like doing things that are positive for the environment. Throwing out two meters that work perfectly well seems an unnecessary waste.

Same could be same for mobile phones. Do you still use a phone that only handle voice calls with no data capability? I suspect you don't but it still functions as a phone.

[jfman]

Originally Posted by ianch99

Same could be same for mobile phones. Do you still use a phone that only handle voice calls with no data capability? I suspect you don't but it still functions as a phone.

My current phone isn't a comparable product with my first phone. I suspect you knew that before you put forward the comparison.

It is however six years old having replaced the battery once.

[Mr K]

Just a few of them (4 million!) don't work.
https://www.theguardian.com/business...-great-britain

[ianch99]

Originally Posted by jfman

My current phone isn't a comparable product with my first phone. I suspect you knew that before you put forward the comparison.

It is however six years old having replaced the battery once.

The latest SMETS 2 meters are also not comparable to the dumb ones. Also, you might want a 6 year old phone with dubious security updates but the vast majority of people do not.

Your point of keeping the old meters on "environmental grounds" just does not hold water. With smart meters you can encourage people to switch consumption from peak times and so reduce the need to burn fossil fuels to satisfy the peak demands. You can allow EV's to charge in periods when electricity is under utilized. The list goes on.

[jfman]

Originally Posted by ianch99

The latest SMETS 2 meters are also not comparable to the dumb ones. Also, you might want a 6 year old phone with dubious security updates but the vast majority of people do not.

It’s an iPhone that only recently got dropped from the most recent version of iOS. Apple still provide critical security updates beyond this.

Your point of keeping the old meters on "environmental grounds" just does not hold water. With smart meters you can encourage people to switch consumption from peak times and so reduce the need to burn fossil fuels to satisfy the peak demands. You can allow EV's to charge in periods when electricity is under utilized. The list goes on.

None of the above benefits me personally as an end user. I don’t own an EV.

Encouraging people to move consumption away from “peak” times is a slippery slope. Next it’ll be pricing grandma out of using the heating in winter because America is fighting another proxy war and gas has gone up.

[ianch99]

Originally Posted by jfman

It’s an iPhone that only recently got dropped from the most recent version of iOS. Apple still provide critical security updates beyond this.



None of the above benefits me personally as an end user. I don’t own an EV.

Encouraging people to move consumption away from “peak” times is a slippery slope. Next it’ll be pricing grandma out of using the heating in winter because America is fighting another proxy war and gas has gone up.

You do know that the world does not revolve around you?

Saw this point made on this subject on Reddit and it sums up the position why Smart Meters are a good thing:

The point of dynamic pricing isn't to reduce overall demand. It's to shift loads around. Peak loading is incredibly wasteful. With smart appliances (and especially the large electricity consumers like cars, water heaters, heat pumps, and dryers), it's absolutely possible to flatten and smooth out the demand curve. This is just a sensible thing to do, but without dynamic pricing, it won't happen.