Got a smart meter and changing supplier.

[cosworth4x4]

i switched this month as british gas prices went up as deal ended , only had a smart meter fitted during the summer today i find out its no longer any use as not comaptable between different companies

What a waste of money no wonder they charge us so much for gas and electric , as im sure they must be added to everyone's bill's .

[xanadu]

The next generation Smart meters have not been rolled out yet.

It appears you had one of the first gen Foundation meters which are not compatible.

_https://www.gov.uk/guidance/smart-meters-how-they-work

"meters installed during the Foundation stage may lose some smart functionality depending on which energy supplier you switch to.
This will be resolved for the vast majority of meters installed during the main rollout as more energy suppliers begin installing smart meters."

[cosworth4x4]

Yeah but why bother paying out all that money , maybe to keep you with youre supplier.

They lose more than some functionality , they just revert to youre old style meter .

so i will have to now send in readings again , no longer shows me my daily use , sometimes that is for the best

Maybe they should stop installing them until they compatible across the board, if it was fitted 12 months ago then fair enough.

[xanadu]

I guess with all new technology it's never a good idea to buy the mark 1 model, as all the worst bugs are usually fixed in later models.

I am sure it was in the papers over a year ago that the early smart meters were no good.

__http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/energy/11456193/Energy-smart-meter-roll-out-may-be-costly-failure-MPs-warn.html

[traveller]

When we all have these "non" smart meters I would worry more about the Chinese holding us to ransom as they own the electric production and most meters are made by them, IOT linked and blocked by them or others. I am not a Luddite just concerned and looking at the bigger picture. Is it just me?

[cosworth4x4]

I guess with all new technology it's never a good idea to buy the mark 1 model, as all the worst bugs are usually fixed in later models.

you dont buy it its free, or so they say but as i said in first post its probably charged to every user if they have them or not by upping the gas/electric cost, im sure suppliers are not doing it out of their pockets.

[KARABANGA]

Hi Does anybody really believe that these so called smart meters are in the public's interest??..Companies are there to make money out of us mugs..Wait till everybody has a smart meter and watch prices go through the roof. Its the same for the motorist- just one big ripoff... Regards.

[cosworth4x4]

i only took it as it was free and saved me entering meter reading's every month,im still not sure how they say they will save you on youre bills thou , other than frightening you into turning off stuff as you watch it each day ,

[mrdude]

I got a letter the other day saying they were sending people out in my area to fit smart meters. This in my opinion is so these companies don't need to pay someone to visit your house to take a meter reading, basically putting people out of a job. The same thing with these trains down south - everything is being automated, so less jobs for people. One day robots will do everything and humans will be obsolete.

[crabber]

Our electricity company hardly ever visit the wilds of Norfolk, preferring to get you to read the meter yourself and send readings to their website. The bill is ready in an instant, pity the response isn't so good if there is a problem with supply.
I haven't ever tried a smart meter but I do monitor a couple of solar installations here in Oz where I am lucky to be at the moment. Despite the almost unbroken sunshine in the summer here it is debatable whether solar power is worth having. The electricity companies charge nearly four times as much for the customer to buy units from them than they give for units produced. I suppose this may change as battery technology improves then many people may end up going "off grid" My concern about this is battery life.
What do the companies say is the advantage to the customer of a smart meter? I presume that you can tell how much electricity each device is using and perhaps change the time of use accordingly?

[ian]

Not having one.

Simple as.

Ian.

[cosworth4x4]

What do the companies say is the advantage to the customer of a smart meter? I presume that you can tell how much electricity each device is using and perhaps change the time of use accordingly?

You can see youre use in ££ not kw and they automatically give the supplier meter readings , cant even remember the last time someone knocked the door to read the meter , i was doing it online every month for the last few years.

[Bbigfoot]

Hi cosworth4x4,

****** have a Wireless energy monitor
show in Pounds and KWh usage.

I was fed up with poor interest saving rates
back in 2012 3%, that looks good now, and
energy priced let rip.
So I pulled out £8000 for a
4Kw solar panel system. I now receive
£650 per year from NPower, plus
£200 free electricity per year.
Plus £10.000 on value of House.
Same 4Kw system now is
around £5000 today.

Next step is to install a
Tesla Powerwall 6.4 battery
storage unit.
That stores energy from
PV panels, and then use stored
Electicity a night.
No need to use any National grid
electricity. BF.

[rednoddy]

Hi Bbigfoot. Like you I had solar panels installed when they were introduced. At the time he installer advised me to install a "Solar Immersion", a gadget that diverted all excess generation to my immersion water heater. since then the only time I have paid for hot water is when there has been little or no generation, as lately! Which over the years has not been very often! This addition has really cut down on my energy costs and obviously the amount I save!!
It's just a pity that the FIT payments today for new installations is so small. rn

[xanadu]

Plus £10.000 on value of House.
Same 4Kw system now is
around £5000 today.

So your house must have gone down in value as these solar panels are now as cheap as cornflakes.

MSE states it will still take 22 years to break even on an install costing £6.5k

Not worth it any more.

[crabber]

@Bbigfoot where are your solar panels, and do you monitor the output? I upload to pvoutput dot org (free website) and would be very interested to see your results if you are in the UK/Europe. I can send you my login details to look at my graphs if you are interested. A 3KW system generates just over 20 Kwh per day here in Australia but of course we are coming up to the longest day in the southern hemisphere and every day is usually wall to wall sunshine. There are other factors which affect output though as I am sure you know, panel temperature for instance, the hotter they are the less efficient.

[painter]

Bet you use a cash machine though mrdude

regards painter

I got a letter the other day saying they were sending people out in my area to fit smart meters. This in my opinion is so these companies don't need to pay someone to visit your house to take a meter reading, basically putting people out of a job. The same thing with these trains down south - everything is being automated, so less jobs for people. One day robots will do everything and humans will be obsolete.

[mrdude]

Bet you use a cash machine though mrdude

regards painter

There's thousands of bank branches closed over the last 5 years - which is many thousands of jobs, also when you look at factories/farms and other places like that - these are being automated also with the loss of thousands of jobs.
It's going to end up getting to a point where vast amounts of people can't get jobs because there is no job for them to do. This in turn leads to loss of tax revenue for the government as people can't be taxed on their wages and the money they spend on other things. This will make taxes rise for the people that do have jobs as the government will always come up with some reason to tax more so they can keep state spending at a high level.
All this automation is good for business owners that want to make higher profits - but in the long term it's bad for everyone else.

[captainglassback]

I'm not having one either. If they insist well I shall encase it in lead!!

[geoffh]

There's thousands of bank branches closed over the last 5 years - which is many thousands of jobs, also when you look at factories/farms and other places like that - these are being automated also with the loss of thousands of jobs.
It's going to end up getting to a point where vast amounts of people can't get jobs because there is no job for them to do. This in turn leads to loss of tax revenue for the government as people can't be taxed on their wages and the money they spend on other things. This will make taxes rise for the people that do have jobs as the government will always come up with some reason to tax more so they can keep state spending at a high level.
All this automation is good for business owners that want to make higher profits - but in the long term it's bad for everyone else.

I think I'll end it now and play satellites with my maker in the sky :( but you do have a point bring on the revolution and happy Christmas everyone