Smart Meter question

[Viktoria]

I too pay a fixed amount each month by direct debit.
This summer for example there were long periods when Ineeded no heat at all so only hot water and cooking to use gas.
So I will be very much in credit for gas when the expensive months come along.
So I am not worried about that..
I read my meters  about every week ,gas and electriciity.
With  the aid of a calculator I can manage to work it out but the calculations are difficult.
Electricity.
Multiply units used by 12.48+20 p per day.That is easy.
Gas.
Units used by39.5,x1.02264,divided by 3.6xunit price plus20 p per day.
That is so complicated,!
It is like cavity wall insulation. My daughter’s was done free on a local council scheme.Her house  was quite newly built and privately owned.
Grants  were given by some councils but now people are having to have it
removed as their houses are showing signs of dampness.
How much will it cost to remedy that?
All these flash in the pan schemes cost money and end badly for unsuspecting people who are bamboozled by the blurb!
Years ago there was much made of the way children “tidy up” in the classroom.
It was called Schemers.We all had to go on courses to analyse why when for example the children put dolls in the playhouse oven.
Pots  and pans in the doll’s beds etc..
The time and expense involved and then it all quietly died down
So much was made of things like this it was ridiculous.
-Of course  they were not psychopathic lunatics,just little children who wanted to make it look tidy quickly so they could go out to play.
Well no smart meter for me,not if I can possibly help it.
What a waste of money!l
Viktoria.

[Maiden Stone]

The smart meter does not use any more energy to run than a dumb meter. I take it the thing your stepson has to charge is the home display. This only needs to be plugged in when you want to check in real time what energy is used, not all the time.

Cheers
Guy

Can this home display be plugged in anywhere in the house? How long does it take to charge and how often?
Why can't I simply look at the meter as I do at present? Electricity consumption is low and predictable.

[Mvann]

Had great fun and games with them wanting to put a smart meter in at work. They came out the first time and realised the info the company had was wrong and couldn't fit one. Same power company rang up again a year later wanting to fit smart meter. Told them what the first guys said but person on the phone said that was wrong. In the end I told the person if she wanted to waste an engineers time go ahead. The engineer came out but most of the info he had been given to get there was wrong except the bit about me saying they wouldn't be able to fit the smart meter. Took one look at the meter and said you're right. I can't put a smart meter on your meter.

[Calverley Lad]

The home display unit has a limited wireless range to talk to main meter.
I ended up plugging in the kitchen.

[Maiden Stone]

The home display unit has a limited wireless range to talk to main meter.
I ended up plugging in the kitchen.

Thanks. My electricity meter is in front porch. There are no sockets anywhere near.

[Guy Etchells]

Can this home display be plugged in anywhere in the house? How long does it take to charge and how often?
Why can't I simply look at the meter as I do at present? Electricity consumption is low and predictable.

That depends on the construction and size of the house, I have no idea how long it takes to charge as there are a number of different types but I simply plug mine in if I want to check something and unplug when I am finished using it.

You can simply look at the meter (by pressing buttons on the meter you get different information)  but the home display is in effect a mini computer that gives additional information and the basic information in a more user friendly format.

Cheers
Guy

[GrahamH]

the home display is in effect a mini computer that gives additional information and the basic information in a more user friendly format.

Massaged to make it look good?
Cynical, moi? 

[LizzieW]

It is like cavity wall insulation. My daughter’s was done free on a local council scheme.Her house  was quite newly built and privately owned.
Grants  were given by some councils but now people are having to have it
removed as their houses are showing signs of dampness.

We live in a flat on the ground floor of a house built in 1926.  The woman who lived here before us had cavity wall insulation put in - which naturally went up to the first floor flat too.  It had to be removed, a costly job,  as apparently the dampness was horrific and one complete wall had to be tanked. 

Attached to the back of our flat is a very large conservatory built on top of a brick wall - this is only about 15 years old, so we got someone to look at it with a view to cavity wall insulation being installed.  As the wall wasn't that old, cavity wall insulation was appropriate, but the man who did it looked at the rest of the walls of the house and said that under no circumstances would his company, or any reputable company have agreed to put cavity wall insulation into the walls of the original house.  Figures - the woman who lived in our flat before had so much work done, most of it shoddy that we are slowly remedying, that she could be sold anything.

[andrewalston]

My mum has had a smart meter for electricity for some time now. The first was fitted under her previous supplier and the plug-in display had a "traffic light" indicator to show consumption as well as the detailed figures.
It took her new supplier a year to provide a replacement, prompted only by a refusal to provide our own readings, pointing out that all smart meters can be read remotely.
The new plug-in only has an LCD display (no backlight), so gives no hint of usage unless you examine it very carefully.
So the only benefit to her is the remote reading.

As to gas, the last accurate reading is now over four years ago, because the battery for the little digital display ran out. It seems that there is no current model of gas meter, smart or not, which will fit in the same space as the old one.
A complaint to the Ombudsman has prompted yet another engineer visit this coming Monday. Well into double figures now. I suggested that they remove the existing meter and refurbish it. I also suggested that while it was in the workshop they could determine the correct reading and adjust four years' worth of estimated bills appropriately. Knowing what I do about the internals of meters, it is extremely unlikely that they can actually read it, but appearing "reasonable" usually gets you a better outcome.