I didn't want a smart meter, but . . .

[Frogman]

I changed electricity supplier and the new lot said they had to change my meter because it was 20 years old. I checked, and they were right. They said there were no dumb meters, so I had to have a smart one. I was upset.

But no longer, dear reader! I thought if this thing is so smart, why can't I monitor use while we're away, when we leave the heating on low for frost protection? Then I discovered the uSwitch app, totally brilliant! Shows daily/weekly/monthly use in kWh or ££ whenever you want and wherever you happen to be, so we get early warning If something's gone wrong. Can't comment on gas, 'cos we don't have any, but I believe it works the same.

In addition it runs money-saving deals from time to time, like £5 worth of 'free' electricity every weekend in November, and free electricity on Christmas Day - actually a cashback deal, but who's complaining?

 

[Pudsey Bear]

We have one, but it isn't very smart. We're on a tracker tariff with Octopus, so while it can tell us the kWh or m³, it can't tell us the cost; we have to go to Octopus for that.

 

[Scotia]

I didn't want one either but needed one when we installed solar to get cash back from what we put back to the grid. A year on and this will be our 4th not so smart meter on Jan the 5th twice they did not show to replace. Im not holding my breath this will work either.

 

[tonybvi]

We are on an EV tariff with solar and storage batteries. This means a smart meter is obligatory as we run the house completely on off peak rates (currently 6.5p/kWh) so the meter needs to know when we are pulling from the grid. At these rates a smart meter is well worth it.

 

[Mick H]

We had to have our electricity meter renewed, about 2 yrs ago, and I refused to have a smart meter, so they fitted one with a "blanking plate".
I asked the installer if this could still be remotely read, and he assured me that the "blanking plate" would have to be removed, for this to happen.
My neighbour has also been under pressure, to have his meter replaced. because of it's age, but he keeps asking to see it's certificate, which they haven't yet been able to produce, so he still hasn't had a smart meter installed. This saga has gone on for at least 2 yrs.

 

[Frogman]

I quite appreciate that not everyone wants a smart meter. But I'm just saying that there are advantages that I never dreamed of when I was strong-armed into having one. It's certainly saving me money with the uSwitch app, which was the reason for the original post

 

[HTF]

Didn't know you guys had a choice. Over here, the power company is changing everybody's meters with smart meters and you can't refuse.

 

[Peisinoe]

I changed electricity supplier and the new lot said they had to change my meter because it was 20 years old. I checked, and they were right. They said there were no dumb meters, so I had to have a smart one. I was upset.

But no longer, dear reader! I thought if this thing is so smart, why can't I monitor use while we're away, when we leave the heating on low for frost protection? Then I discovered the uSwitch app, totally brilliant! Shows daily/weekly/monthly use in kWh or ££ whenever you want and wherever you happen to be, so we get early warning If something's gone wrong. Can't comment on gas, 'cos we don't have any, but I believe it works the same.

In addition it runs money-saving deals from time to time, like £5 worth of 'free' electricity every weekend in November, and free electricity on Christmas Day - actually a cashback deal, but who's complaining?

You could tell them to remove the SIM card to make it dumb.