Meter readings

[french frank]

“Smart functionality is not a guaranteed service but preferred. As long as you can read the meters manually they are not faulty.” ….. and I thought the planet would fry without 100% take up ….. a cynic might say suppliers are happy with any customers willing to submit their own readings for billing and won’t move to resolve any smart meter problems they have …..

Well, clearly it's only the customer who benefits from not having to faff about reading the meter and submitting readings. The company gains no benefit whatsoever from being able to read meters remotely with regular accurate readings rather than having to employ an army of people to traipse round inspecting the meters personally .

[antongould]

Well, clearly it's only the customer who benefits from not having to faff about reading the meter and submitting readings. The company gains no benefit whatsoever from being able to read meters remotely with regular accurate readings rather than having to employ an army of people to traipse round inspecting the meters personally .

Indeed

[Frances_iom]

Well, clearly it's only the customer who benefits from not having to faff about reading the meter and submitting readings. .

EDF in search of yet higher prices removed their 0800 number to report meter readings - it costs me £1.50 by time I've heard their initial message etc to report any readings.
As for prices their price is some 25% higher than that charged on the IoM (a state owned system which doesn't have a high local reputation) which derives much of its supply from Gas augmented by a cable with UK - but then of course this is the outcome of Thatcher's privatisation of the one time state owned natural monopolies - hence sky high prices, polluted rivers etc.

[Serial_Apologist]

Well, clearly it's only the customer who benefits from not having to faff about reading the meter and submitting readings. The company gains no benefit whatsoever from being able to read meters remotely with regular accurate readings rather than having to employ an army of people to traipse round inspecting the meters personally .

And as you pointed out awhile back, some ;places such as our's cannot have "smart" meters for reasons I and my neighbours never had explained. But it doesn't stop them repeatedly (every so often) emailing to say it time one had one installed. The usual case of the right hand knoweth not what the left doeth.

[vinteuil]

The usual case of the right hand knoweth not what the left doeth...

... of course in Matthew 6:3 this is put forward as a good thing

.

[Dave2002]

Well, clearly it's only the customer who benefits from not having to faff about reading the meter and submitting readings. The company gains no benefit whatsoever from being able to read meters remotely with regular accurate readings rather than having to employ an army of people to traipse round inspecting the meters personally .

I"m not sure exactly what point you are trying to make here.

If the utility companies install smart meters, then they bear an up front cost, but they may then benefit from not having to employ people to go round to read or check meters. If they expect customers to phone in the readings then that presumably simplifies things for the companies, though if some are charging high rates on phone calls for that, then that sounds very out of order. There may be some notional contractual obligation however, to validate that. In the longer term both customers and the companies could benefit, though it may depend on how things are actually done, and how effectively. The meter readers could be out of jobs, though, which they might not like, even if they don't actually like walking around and knocking on doors, they would still normally get paid for doing so.

[french frank]

I"m not sure exactly what point you are trying to make here.

I was indulging in a literary device known as irony, Dave2002. You rightly picked up on the point (as did I) that the companies don't have to employ meter-readers. Though as regards part of your first sentence, not so in my case though I don't know what the situation is now. The original roll-out of smart meters was funded by the government not the utility companies who, like the customer, were then beneficiaries of government bounteousness.

[oddoneout]

And as you pointed out awhile back, some ;places such as our's cannot have "smart" meters for reasons I and my neighbours never had explained. But it doesn't stop them repeatedly (every so often) emailing to say it time one had one installed. The usual case of the right hand knoweth not what the left doeth.

Well only partially. The requirement to keep nagging you to have a smart meter comes from government requirement (targets to be met) not that of the companies, so from their point of view it makes sense to just send out block messages to those accounts without, rather than filter out those where installation isn't possible/relevant. Admittedly they benefit from reducing the number of meter readers but that reduction has been underway for years. By also reducing customer service provision they can also ignore the problems that do arise when the gadget doesn't work. The majority of set-ups work adequately I suspect, but when things go wrong they can go very wrong and leave customers in considerable financial difficulties, or possibly without a power supply at all.I will continue to decline for as long as possible, for various reasons, which mostly come down to being of no advantage to me.
When I bought my current house the electrics was one of several major items I knew needed attention, as it was old fashioned fuses. Also, much to my puzzlement it was, on an E7 set up, despite having gas CH, a relatively new combi boiler and no immersion heater. After a bit of a tussle with the electric company who were convinced that I still needed to be on E7 even after I explained - not surprising I suppose as it meant more money for them if I was paying double for daytime and not able to use the lower rate at night, an all new replacement meter was installed, which I'm hoping(but not assuming completely in view of the warped way things operate these days) will push one of the other reasons touted by the companies for replacing with a smart meter reasonably far into the future.
Meanwhile I need to try and find out what the state of my electricity/gas account is now that usage of both has gone down significantly but the greatly increased DD payments haven't of course, and try and establish whether any notice has been taken of the most recent meter readings I sent in calculating the balance. I'm not hopeful about the online route as up to now the account information has been less than helpful - even when they sent me the quarterly "review" I found it difficult to make sense of it, spread over several pages that I had to keep scrolling to and fro to read. Mutter, mutter, grumble, grumble.

[antongould]

Well only partially. The requirement to keep nagging you to have a smart meter comes from government requirement (targets to be met) not that of the companies, so from their point of view it makes sense to just send out block messages to those accounts without, rather than filter out those where installation isn't possible/relevant. Admittedly they benefit from reducing the number of meter readers but that reduction has been underway for years. By also reducing customer service provision they can also ignore the problems that do arise when the gadget doesn't work. The majority of set-ups work adequately I suspect, but when things go wrong they can go very wrong and leave customers in considerable financial difficulties, or possibly without a power supply at all.I will continue to decline for as long as possible, for various reasons, which mostly come down to being of no advantage to me.
When I bought my current house the electrics was one of several major items I knew needed attention, as it was old fashioned fuses. Also, much to my puzzlement it was, on an E7 set up, despite having gas CH, a relatively new combi boiler and no immersion heater. After a bit of a tussle with the electric company who were convinced that I still needed to be on E7 even after I explained - not surprising I suppose as it meant more money for them if I was paying double for daytime and not able to use the lower rate at night, an all new replacement meter was installed, which I'm hoping(but not assuming completely in view of the warped way things operate these days) will push one of the other reasons touted by the companies for replacing with a smart meter reasonably far into the future.
Meanwhile I need to try and find out what the state of my electricity/gas account is now that usage of both has gone down significantly but the greatly increased DD payments haven't of course, and try and establish whether any notice has been taken of the most recent meter readings I sent in calculating the balance. I'm not hopeful about the online route as up to now the account information has been less than helpful - even when they sent me the quarterly "review" I found it difficult to make sense of it, spread over several pages that I had to keep scrolling to and fro to read. Mutter, mutter, grumble, grumble.

On the billing and MDD reassessment front one of Lady Gould’s friends got a massive increase in her monthly payment when she came off a fixed price deal …. I couldn’t calculate where the figure came from and so I emailed EON and asked them to send us the calculation …. Well over 50 emails later we still have no calculation and in the meantime guess what - her smart meter has stopped communicating with the mother ship - which bizarrely caused EON to produce a monthly bill with no charges on only the monthly payment …. I pointed this out and they then sent an estimated bill which has too high … so I sent her readings in and they produced their latest effort which withdraws the estimated charge and only and only charges the negative kWh between the estimated readings and the readings submitted … so as things stand she hasn’t been charged for May. I have, very graciously I feel, told them it is wrong but they have asked me what is wrong with it and I have declined to tell them ….

[Dave2002]

I was indulging in a literary device known as irony, Dave2002. You rightly picked up on the point (as did I) that the companies don't have to employ meter-readers. Though as regards part of your first sentence, not so in my case though I don't know what the situation is now. The original roll-out of smart meters was funded by the government not the utility companies who, like the customer, were then beneficiaries of government bounteousness.

I wasn't sure - I am familiar with the form! Also I don't fully understand the reasoning for some of those who have contributed here as to why they can't have smart meters- though maybe there are special circumstances - for example distances from relay stations etc. [if any of the links are wireless or other "peculiar" connections]

[french frank]

II don't fully understand the reasoning for some of those who have contributed here as to why they can't have smart meters- though maybe there are special circumstances - for example distances from relay stations etc. [if any of the links are wireless or other "peculiar" connections]

A very near neighbour of mine whose house is just across the road said she was unable to have smart meters for both electricity and gas. I can't remember which one she couldn't have, but I think she said it was something to do with the pipes.

[Petrushka]

A very near neighbour of mine whose house is just across the road said she was unable to have smart meters for both electricity and gas. I can't remember which one she couldn't have, but I think she said it was something to do with the pipes.

My brother had a similar situation in his flat. He couldn't have a smart meter for both gas and electric as the meters were too far apart and wouldn't 'talk' to each other.

[Frances_iom]

the gas meter might be connected by lead pipe - apparently this means it cannot be easily switched out and a smart meterable one fitted (or at least that's what one gas fitter mentioned to me)

[oddoneout]

I wasn't sure - I am familiar with the form! Also I don't fully understand the reasoning for some of those who have contributed here as to why they can't have smart meters- though maybe there are special circumstances - for example distances from relay stations etc. [if any of the links are wireless or other "peculiar" connections]

Any form of shared supply will pose problems. An HMO or a block of flats where rent includes a portion of the electric and/or gas bill for the whole establishment won't be suitable for smart meters. I suspect that many "not possible" situations do have solutions, but they are too expensive/awkward to implement and so don't get done.
Now that the communication systems have improved I imagine that my electricity meter would now be able to communicate if switched to a smart meter, but being buried in the under stairs cupboard in the middle of a solidly built mid terrace isn't the best arrangement. I also remember that neighbours 2 doors up on the end of the terrace had to have their front path taken up when they had theirs installed(although I think they avoided having to have the floor taken up inside the front door) as apparently there was something about the internal connection that prevented direct meter replacement. They weren't told beforehand - presumably the job is done on a turn up and fit basis and tough if problems are found once on site?

[Old Grumpy]

We had an old fashioned electricity meter with dials in our previous house. I was perfectly happy to read the meter and submit a reading on line and declined repeated invitations from the provider to become smart.
In our present house a smart meter was already installed. I must say there is no great advantage to having it except it is useful to know when the car has finished charging and can be disconnected.