Smart energy meters, should I/shouldn't I?

[I like Skol]

I have an email from my energy supplier saying they want to come and fit some new, super-funky, smart meters for me, free-of-charge, and this will save me money. I have been on Google!

Straight away this reveals two big fat lies!

1. The 'estimated' cost of the nationwide smart meter installation programme is £11 billion and this is being footed by the energy firms, who acknowledge that the cost will be passed onto the consumers. This means it is not f-o-c and that actually I will have to pay the cost regardless of whether I have the meters installed or not.
2. It will not save me any money. My energy cost will be the same and I will only save if I use the data available from a smart meter to reduce my usage. I am not stupid, I have a reasonable idea of what is a high power appliance and what is low power. It isn't rocket science and if you turn stuff off when not needed you will minimise power costs, simples.

So, are they a good thing or a bad thing? I can see benefits, automatic meter readings and no estimated bills. I can also see potential downsides, like what happens when the software gets a bug and starts over-reading or some malicious individual decides to hack into your power meters and start messing with the supply? I can see it clearly, some Chinese or Russian teenage computer geek sat in his bedroom with his mates, laughing as he says "watch this, I am going to switch off Britain for a laugh". He doesn't have to target the power stations, he can do it by recoding all the easily accessible, remotely connected, insecure power meters in each and every property in the country!

Not surprisingly, my fear is not unique and the idea has occurred to other people already!

Do I do it or not? I don't expect it will help me reduce my consumption to a significant degree, certainly not with two young boys in the house, but if I don't do it am I potentially missing something positive?

What says you?

 

[classic33]

Soon have no say anyway. The letter is the subtle way of letting you know, whilst letting you have the "choice".

 

[I like Skol]

My biggest fear is that I would be allowing big brother into my house. I don't fear this in a foil hat, they are listening, kind of way. It is just that I am not a very good customer. I don't pay my bank anything because I never go overdrawn and don't use any of their paid-for bonus services. I shop around and get good deals. I pay my annual expenses as lump sums to avoid any fees and will always use the debit card if there is a fee for creditcard payments (creditcard balance is always settled in full each month).
I worry that the power companies will look at my usage data and decide they are not wringing enough out of me, so limit my access to the best deals. Whereas without that usage data they won't know which deals not to offer me.......

 

[I like Skol]

Soon have no say anyway. The letter is the subtle way of letting you know, whilst letting you have the "choice".

Not so sure about this. From the .gov website - www.gov.uk/guidance/smart-meters-how-they-work

 

[nickyboy]

Well given you're going to pay for it whether you have one or not, you can forget about the free/not free argument. All that matters is whether it will result in reduced consumption or not. I suspect you'll reduce consumption...a bit. It's like a water meter; at first you stop flushing the toilet etc to save water. Then you creep back into the old habits but probably never go back to the old consumption levels

Try not to worry about "big brother". I've got the same situation with the Hive which controls the central heating. When it disconnected for some reason I had to call them. The operator at the other end could see exactly what the status was of my Hive box, the ambient temperature it was recording, when it was next scheduled to switch on the heating etc etc. The power companies know how much you're consuming already via the metered bills. This is a bit more sophisticated but it's the same idea

 

[SteveF]

They will also recoup some of the costs by employing less "meter readers", some (if not all) will currently submit their own readings but they still occasionally send people out to check (at least here they do).

 

[sight-pin]

We have one installed by british gas, It's a handy bit of kit to keep an eye on the charges etc, we also now have free electric one day a week between 9am til 5pm.................It's not as if we would choose that day to do all the washing and tumble drying

 

[Shaun]

I'd go for it - it would avoid those situations where the person sent to read the meter sneaks up to your front door, drops a "no one in" card through your letterbox, and makes a quick exit.

 

[Kestevan]

Not 100% sure or not if this is the case but I remember hearing (money program radio 4 perhaps) that the power companies had yet to agree on a smart meter standard and were all offering their own version. This then limited your ability to easily and cheaply switch suppliers to find the best deal.

As someone who moves suppliers almost every year in order to keep costs down this has made me think twice about any change.

 

[classic33]

I'd go for it - it would avoid those situations where the person sent to read the meter sneaks up to your front door, drops a "no one in" card through your letterbox, and makes a quick exit.

Given the right reader, this should be a thing of the past. The meters can be read from outside most properties.

Link your phone/computer up via Bluetooth to the meter.

 

[Lonestar]

It runs on a battery though,doesn't it?

 

[sight-pin]

Our s/meter is plugged in in the kitchen, not sure about other end though....never looked tbh.
Edit; It works by wifi, so must be something in the electric and gas meters.

 

[fossyant]

I know not to spend 6 weeks in hospital again. The family blew through a fortune in electric. Dryer on all the time and electric heating on the conservatory.

We had one of those freebe meters a few years back but haven't used it in the last few years. Don't think I'll be bothering. The smart thermostat like hive might be worth looking into.

 

[I like Skol]

I know not to spend 6 weeks in hospital again. The family blew through a fortune in electric.

That is part of the problem, and what will ultimately undermine the effectiveness of most smart meter apps. I, as the bill payer, may be anal enough to analyse the usage and work out what is the most efficient way of doing things, but what is the point when I can't even get the rest of the family to stack the dishwasher so the plates aren't touching? If they are not interested then they don't buy in, and there it falls.

 

[fossyant]

My son's gaming PC uses a whole lot of power..... Bit stuffed really