I've just had my govt provided smart meters installed (gas and electric), plus a sort of baby iPad which clocks up how much I've spent today/last week/last month. I suppose the thinking is that this will have a psychological effect and if people can see how much they're spending, they'll be more careful. I've certainly turned my programmer down a degree (don't think I can go below 16º and survive). Anyone else had theirs installed?
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It isn't given us to know those rare moments when people are wide open and the lightest touch can wither or heal. A moment too late and we can never reach them any more in this world. -
Not here and don’t want one!Originally posted by french frank View Post -
I've had a smart meter for nearly two years now and, yes, it does have a psychological impact in that it's very easy to become paranoid at seeing the numbers climbing, especially at this time of year. One upside is that it's easier to see which appliances are chewing up all the electricity/gas and help to cut down on usage where possible.
You can, though, take it too far just to save a few pence and no way could I survive at 16 degrees. There's no point in being stingy about it and I'd rather be comfortable at 23 degrees and pay up than shiver at 16 just to save a few pennies.
EON keep on pestering me to a) pay by direct debit and b) change to a two year fixed price tariff but no thanks to either of them. It's all for their benefit and not mine!
Why would I want to pay, say, £60 every month, effectively paying EON upfront? Much better to pay less in summer to help pay for the winter."The sound is the handwriting of the conductor" - Bernard HaitinkComment
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I had mine fitted in June, but it took much stressful messaging/phoning to ScottishPower to finally get them to recognise the fact on my own online account.....
It hasn't changed my usage much, but that is largely due to poor health: if you eat little you tend to feel the cold more. Perfect excuse to sip brandy all day.
I switched to my Winter Hive Schedule recently (warm bedroom...), but once I've staggered downstairs, I'll often reduce the target temperature to switch it off for a while. Very useful adjustment. Or go manual after that with 2-3 hour boosts... slick and quick and easy.
But I do look at the readout daily, noting the amounts for dual-fuel. Broadly this is less than my DD was previously - no bad thing. It will keep telling me though that: "weekly budget exceeded"...... it should add an admonishing exclamation mark, but as it is still below the DD (although approaching it now my usage is higher) it seems puzzling.....
(no, I don't look to see how much boiling the kettle just cost...)...
But I do like it ..... especially not having to read the meter every few months (Old house, meter at ground level, mice scrabbling away somewhere (they emerge to eat the bird food in its RSPB sacks at night), painfully tricky manoeuvres with torch and notepad), put in the readings online and faint with shock when the DD goes up again, & struggle to reduce it back a bit.......
"Oh god, anything but that"...etc...Comment
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Indeed - until they lose interest and go back to previous habits which I believe tends to happen, not surprisingly. When the electricity monitors were the in thing some years ago the first six months were a honeymoon period and then the novelty wore off. It's why the "smart meters save you money" line is a lie, as it's people's response to the information supplied by the meter that saves money (or not) - the meter just sits there . In due course if they get really smart and can micromanage tariffs in real time then perhaps they might make that true - in theory my son's set-up could (and did do for a while) do something like that but his suppler has, like most, gone bust, so I think it's now back to the crude FIT versus actual consumption arrangement.Originally posted by french frank View Post
I'm holding out as long as possible, since none of the listed benefits applies to me and, in the case of the electricity meter it is not an easy job to fit one in these houses, as my neighbour found after various holes had to be put in floor and front path.Comment
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My electricity one was installed last February. However, the gas meter was not converted due to it having two flexible pipes. The installer said that current regulations require at least one of them to be of the rigid type. He went out to his van, only to find he did not have the requisite parts with him. It would then appear that he made an inaccurate note on his worksheet to the effect that the conversion of the gas meter was not carried out due to lack of accessibility. A few months later I contacted my supplier to ask when the conversion would take place. I was told I would be contacted with a new date "soon". This week I contacted the supplier again to give my latest gas meter reading and took the opportunity to raise the matter of the conversion again. I now have a date in the new year for an installer to come and sort it out. However, I must admit that I am tempted to dump gas altogether ( I use very little, having not bothered to get the central heating fixed since the back boiler's thermocouple failed a couple of year ago, and I need to replace my old stove, so might go all-electric).Originally posted by french frank View PostComment
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I didn't ask for it! I had a voicemail asking me to make an appointment to have them installed and deleted it because I thought it was a scam. Then I had another and ignored it as I could see it was from the same number. Then I thought … I wonder if …Originally posted by cloughie View Post
It only went down from 17º to 16º so it probably will make little difference. I'd rather put on a couple of extra layers than raise the temperature to 23º. Domestic heating is one of the biggest sources of the UK's contribution to global warming, so I feel I'm doing my bit on that. I wondered who was paying for it all and was told it was part of the government roll-out.Originally posted by Petrushka View Post
I pay by direct debit, and any benefit to the supplier will go towards some sort of energy saving scheme rather than shareholders, so I'm happy with that.Originally posted by Petrushka View PostIt isn't given us to know those rare moments when people are wide open and the lightest touch can wither or heal. A moment too late and we can never reach them any more in this world.Comment
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Me too. So far today electricity has cost 92p (all renewables) and gas £2.63. My neighbour also couldn't get her gas meter replaced for something to do with the pipes. No more submitting meter readings either.Originally posted by Bryn View PostIt isn't given us to know those rare moments when people are wide open and the lightest touch can wither or heal. A moment too late and we can never reach them any more in this world.Comment
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As of right now my electricity usage is £1.11 and gas is £1.00 and by the end of the day my total should read at or around £3.00. Experience tells me this is right for a winter's day. Usage goes up dramatically when I use the washing machine and tumble dryer. The smart meter has taught me to use these as sparingly as I can get away with.Originally posted by french frank View Post"The sound is the handwriting of the conductor" - Bernard HaitinkComment
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I can see that for a good many folk having the same amount going put each month could be easier than having fluctuating bills, but the mass collapse of energy suppliers and customers' subsequent difficulties getting credit balances repaid or transferred to the default new supplier has brought into sharp focus where the balance of benefit really lies - increasing DD payments to shore up company finances rather than iron out bill fluctuations. It also doesn't completely remove the customer's responsibility to make periodic checks that the amount being taken bears some relation to the amount owed. In theory credit balances are supposed to be automatically refunded above a certain point (don't know whether that's a proportionate point or flat amount) but I rather doubt that works as it should, and certainly not in all cases.Originally posted by Petrushka View Post
The temperature controller here is set at 15 for most of the day, but that isn't usually the temperature of the room it's in (although that is the coldest place in the house) and certainly not of the living areas of the house. It's just a result of trying to reach a compromise that keeps the boiler firing up to heat rooms to an acceptable level, since the feedback from the radiator thermostatic valves, which should do that automatically, are disregarded.Comment
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I think today may not be typical as I made a little mistake, Coming downstairs this morning I was struck by how icy cold the house was, only to find I had left the back door open. And not only open but wide open. This may have triggered the heating during the night when it's not usually on (don't like a hot bedroom - duvet is enough). I did quickly check to make sure all my furniture hadn't disappeared, but it seems it was entirely my oversight, not burglars.Originally posted by Petrushka View PostIt isn't given us to know those rare moments when people are wide open and the lightest touch can wither or heal. A moment too late and we can never reach them any more in this world.Comment
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Smart Meters should come with a HAL9000 voice....
"Sorry Jayne
But the success of my mission to minimise human wastage is paramount;
responding to your recent excessive usage, I will reduce output and disable manual heating controls until Friday 1500hrs.
I apologise for any discomfort this may cause and will review this before the weekend.
Please have an enjoyable week."Comment
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Originally posted by jayne lee wilson View Post
You're still in control of how much you use though - no cutting off when you reach your budget limit.It isn't given us to know those rare moments when people are wide open and the lightest touch can wither or heal. A moment too late and we can never reach them any more in this world.Comment
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I think this is where lasting change perhaps occurs - a figure in real time is placed on something which is known, but in a rather removed way, to cost money and that triggers moves to reduce the cost. Having been brought up by a father who was unbelievably stingy with the leccy (he put in a gas ring to stop my mother using the electric kettle, and the immersion heater wasn't to be used to top up if the gas boiler hadn't heated the hot water tank fully) I was already well used to making judgements about how much to use power hungry equipment so seeing figures wouldn't make any difference. When I was on an E7 tariff that required rather more planning, but even then it was on a don't use default starting point anyway.Originally posted by Petrushka View PostComment
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Something to look forward to when mass smart meter installation makes managing the National Grid so much easier...Originally posted by french frank View Post
You're still in control of how much you use though - no cutting off when you reach your budget limit.Comment
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