Smart Meters for Leccy in house

Not specifically required at all *****... the monthly readings were an option I deliberately chose (with British Gas dual-fuel) because I've never liked quarterly bills. The downside was that the meter readings had to be more frequent and registered by a certain date each month. Most companies will offer monthly or quarterly options. I pay everything monthly if I can... much easier to keep tabs on the budget without big bills building up.
 
Im with sse airtricity and send in my reading on the net,they send someone out 2 or 3 times a year to confirm m/readings,most qtr bills are around £100.
 
Due to a recent split with my ex wife, we had to sell a house. Lucky for me we had a 'Smart Meter' as she was the one dealing with the sale and previous to this I dealt with all the bills. On completetion she was the one to hand over the keys and I asked that she took photographs of all the meters so that we had an acurate final reading.
Now, I can't say this was out of spite or purely a missunderstanding on her side, but when she sent me the pictures of the meters they where just that, pictures of the meters taken from the otherside of the room so it was impossible to see any reading.

I contacted the supplier and as it was a smart meter they told me they could take an exact reading from the moment I telephoned and this would be the final reading. And yes, the overpayment was paid in to MY account!!
 
Minisorella said:
Not specifically required at all *****... the monthly readings were an option I deliberately chose (with British Gas dual-fuel) because I've never liked quarterly bills. The downside was that the meter readings had to be more frequent and registered by a certain date each month. Most companies will offer monthly or quarterly options. I pay everything monthly if I can... much easier to keep tabs on the budget without big bills building up.
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Yes With a smart meter if monthly payments are available then much better...
I "smooth" my big costs by using budget/savings accounts..
Put say £100 (Standing order) a month into 1 or 2 accounts and transfer it back to the main account as I need to.....Easy with Internet banking.
 
***** said:
We also pay a fixed monthly payment, and we get a bill after every reading I supply
If I didn't send a reading they would apply an estimated bill after about three months
We do build up a credit during summer, which dwindles away during the winter heavy use
After some summer readings, the supplier has tried to reduce our monthly payment, but I always change it back to our normal average, therefore no nasty winter bills
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I agree *****... just can't bear the way they try to push the direct debits up and down for very little reason. I too always change it back to my normal average. I remember once, they tried to raise my monthly payments for electricity, even though I was almost £300 in credit at the time! Their logic was that I could use more than that in the winter but I said I'd rather catch up the difference with a one-off payment at year end reconciliation time than have even more money sitting in their account instead of mine for up to a whole year. They owe me a fair bundle, especially for gas, at the moment but the coldest months are on their way. Hmmm, might push the heating up a degree, as I've already paid for it :LOL:
 
OVO have ramped up my monthly direct debit by quite a lot. I don't mind because they will pay me more interest on the balance than a Bank will ..... allegedly. 3% for starters and up to 5% is possible. Let's see how that works out. ;)
 
I see no advantage of having a Smart Meter fitted despite all the crap that SSE our supplier giving me , how difficult is it to send a meter reading via my on line account which I do now and then, if I sit and watch a meter showing me what I am using it will still cost me XXX as it would if I did not watch it.I pay both gas and electricity by Direct Debit which I can easily adjust on line even when I have been away from home for months ,so no problem there, I recently had a visit from some Clown claiming to be from British Gas telling me that my gas was going to be turned off and I had to have a Smart Meter fitted, it was a very bad day for the Clown , he was on commision from the company tasked with fitting meters, so need I say more,
 
We opted for a SM when we moved here, when the monitor display screen actually works it shows our heating per day cost around the same as a cup of coffee in a cafe, so we just use it as we see fit, previously it was a bit of a worry as we're on a Gov pension, it's handy not to have to read a meter anymore, we just check it's correct to the bill occasionally, it's the water bill we find scary.
 
Smart meters are being introduced so they can set variable tariffs through the day.

They know we do not have enough supply to cater for demand once electric cars become popular so rather than have the supply drop out they will price the majority out of using electricity in peak periods.
Coming soon: peak rate electric just as the working man/woman arrives home.

They will also be able to switch off your supply remotely if required.

We blindly fall in with these control mechanisms at our peril.
Resist as long as you can, but ultimately we will all have one forced on us.
 
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