Panorama - The Smart Meter mess

[Harry Bloomfield]

I think they were saying 35M installed and 3.5M were not working, due to the mess the government has allowed to happen - making them an option, with incentives to have one, leaving it to the energy companies to implement, and some, simply unable to communicate to base, the readings. Such a shame, such a potentially useful technology, was so badly implemented, when it could have been done so much more reliably....

Even when it's working and reporting properly, and at best - they only report the day's reading, once per day, at that days end, as a batch of data.

Octopus, independently designed a nifty little free optional gadget, called the Mini, which grabs the readings every few seconds, and relays them in real time, back to Octopus, using your wifi/internet. That could be an instant fix, for all those Smart Meters, which struggle to communicate - If only they were allowed to make use the data that way..

 

[diy_fun_uk]

For someone like me, from an end user/consumer pov, 'smart' meters hold no interest and I'll only have one installed when they become mandatory. I live on my own, I've never been natured to waste energy e.g. lights left on in rooms I'm not in, boiling the kettle full for one cuppa etc, so I don't need a smart meter to help me monitor usage etc. Taking a reading once a month and then uploading it online, oh what a hassle (not.)

 

[noseall]

For someone like me, from an end user/consumer pov, 'smart' meters hold no interest and I'll only have one installed when they become mandatory. I live on my own, I've never been natured to waste energy e.g. lights left on in rooms I'm not in, boiling the kettle full for one cuppa etc, so I don't need a smart meter to help me monitor usage etc. Taking a reading once a month and then uploading it online, oh what a hassle (not.)

Don't be frightened, they are also just a meter. You can ignore the irrelevant stuff that excites the likes of Harry.

 

[blup]

That could be an instant fix,

Or allow people to revert to an old style meter. Its also the difficulties reported with changing providers that put me off getting one installed.

 

[gas112]

they are that good that Cadent had to go to the regulator and ask if they could stop working on them due to amount of breakdowns and faults on them costing them a fortune and effecting attending actual emergencies . Which the reg agreed to .
Fitting a meter takes a matter of minutes but it can then take a couple of hours for the meters to actually communicate and be set up not the most productive use of time

 

[bernardgreen]

The video of Big Clive's investigation into smart meters is well worth watching.

At 7 minutes into the video he looks at the relay that when energised cuts OFF the supply to the house.

Was remote control of load shedding mentioned on the Panorama programme

 

[noseall]

Its also the difficulties reported with changing providers that put me off getting one installed.

How does the meter affect switching supplier?

 

[gas112]

Not forgetting house fires caused by electric ones , a few years back our council had a couple of house fires traced back to the meter forcing a change in policy for smoke detectors to be fitted in the same room as the meter

 

[bernardgreen]

How does the meter affect switching supplier?

Probably because different suppliers have different protocols for the data from the meter to the supplier's accounting system

 

[noseall]

Probably because different suppliers have different protocols for the data from the meter to the supplier's accounting system

But it's still just a meter with consumption figures. No better or worse than an analogue, in that respect.

 

[Murdochcat]

How does the meter affect switching supplier?

SMETS1 meters are only compatible with the original supplier

SMETS2 meters claim to be compatible with any supplier

 

[ellal]

We've got the old white meter dual tariff and our supplier told us we had to have a smart meter as the signal was being switched off at the end of July this year...

Politely told them where to shove their 'smart' meter...

Didn't happen, and it's now supposed to be June 2025...

But apparently there are problems with that date too...

It's all a corporate wheeze to scam the consumer and take more control of usage/tariffs!

 

[camerart]

Hi,
I had efficient diesel vehicles for 40 years, only to find they've been killing me for that long.
I bought an almost free north sea gas central heating system, the price went up.

I have a dumb meter. I read it pay the bill, and nobody owes anything to each other. It's not broke' don't fix it.

I can see that the generators benefit from knowing what's going on, but with todays technology, I'm sure they could use that instead of smart meters.

As for cheap night power, it's days are numbered, as people are charging cars and using high use appliances at night not forgetting Crypto and AI, which can follow and fill up the the power gaps.

That's my penny worth.
C

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

For someone like me, from an end user/consumer pov, 'smart' meters hold no interest and I'll only have one installed when they become mandatory. I live on my own, I've never been natured to waste energy e.g. lights left on in rooms I'm not in, boiling the kettle full for one cuppa etc, so I don't need a smart meter to help me monitor usage etc. Taking a reading once a month and then uploading it online, oh what a hassle (not.)

You do however, lack access to the many Smart tariffs..

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Or allow people to revert to an old style meter. Its also the difficulties reported with changing providers that put me off getting one installed.

There is no real difference.... A dumb meter provided consumption readings, a smart, not able to report in, also provides readings.

The program, seemed to mainly based on the number of smart meter installed, which were simply unable to automatically report their readings, due to communication issues. There was nothing to stop people simply reading the smart meters, and sending the readings in, as the used to have to do.

I was an early adopter, never any comms issues, the only issues I've had are when swapping suppliers, and entirely due to the mess the government caused, when they rushed into this.