I have just received a strange email from my energy supplier advising me that the certification on my standard electric metre has expired not sure how they know that or even if the statement is correct although our house is nearly 30 years old and has the same gas and electric metre since it was built.
The supplier has stated that there is a legal requirement to change the metre and surprise surprise they want to fit me a new Smart metre, question is has anybody else been subject to this and is it just a ruse by my supplier to make me have a Smart metre ?
Any help or advise would be great fully received
As legally they own the meter they can do what they like!
The only benefit of a smart meter I can see is that the supplier can read the meter remotely, saving considerable staff time involved in traipsing around all homes once a quarter or whatever. There has been a lot of negativity about them, though the only obvious thing to me is that they cost money, which ultimately is paid by the consumer, so from that angle meters would be best not changed until the old one reaches end of life.
My supplier has just declared that they are starting a programme of changing all meters to smart meters, and have asked me to make an appointment for a visit as part of their preliminary survey.
1 Like
I had the same a couple of years back but the mails were actually coming from a third party said to be working on behalf of the energy supplier.
I agreed three dates which they failed to turn up for and got bored of their unprofessional behaviour.
Moved energy supplier and then same story, just ignored them and then questioned why they had my personal details as I had no association with their company.
Pointed out to my power supplier they had no right to pass on my details without consent, still have original meter and emails stopped.
Probably doubtful the correspondence is actually from your energy supplier, mostly they outsource to the same company so would just check the actual correspondence, on behalf of does not constitute a right to your data if you want a reason to object.
1 Like
Personally, I like having a smart meter, saves the hassle of meter readings, having to be in now and again for them and meter readers traipsing around the house.
5 Likes
I donāt have a problem with them but itās the false narrative of replacing working equipment with ānewā on an eco argument that doesnāt hold much water.
I get the convenience angle but the data footprint caused by these smart meters sending data packets every 30 minutes has to be stored in a data lake, then a warehouse, then the analytics layer over the top, carbon impact is huge when rolled up collectively.
Whereas I can send a reading once a month, 12 data packets a year.
More corporate BS.
9 Likes
Good point, but you can weigh that up against the hopeful saving you will make using the in-house-display (IHD) and realising you are using more energy that you need.
I go on line and press the click update , that tells me exactly how much I owe them or they owe me.
None of that faffing around with estimates etc
1 Like
The powered, in house display Iām guessing, as in another power source, sending data via your home hub, to the internet of things.
My point being these devices have a long tail that is far in excess of whether you turn on the kettle or not.
I leave my hifi turned on, just to be clear Iām not being hypocritical about this, but that is a conscious decision.
Doorbells now send video streams that need to be stored, used to be a ding dong and done, from an AA battery.
Thatās the ecological BS Iām on about.
2 Likes
Maybe for a few people. Others already minimise their use, perhaps assisted by the cheaply availability of plug-in monitors that have been popular for probably best part of a decade now. The only house Iāve knowingly been in with a smart meter had a little wireless box in the lounge that claims to display their current usage (pun not intended!), showing a small number that seemingly rarely changed and after the novelty factor in the first couple of weeks has been stuffed in a drawer. If they change mine and give me a display in the house it will find a similar resting place!
My understanding is that smart meters pave the way for energy companies to introduce variable tariffs, with highest tariffs for usage at peak hours.
2 Likes
Or even
1 Like
Itās actually to do with the demands of ESG reporting, the ability to show end to end supply chain management of reporting of all things under ESG.
Investment companies view ESG maturity like a balance sheet increasingly and the viability of investment or acquisition can be decided on all of this.
Data was the new oil, ESG is the new wind farm, or something like that.
Green is as always, driven by the economic value to investors.
Europe looking to repeat GDPR in the field of ESG regulation and likewise stock markets like Nasdaq and London exchange have their own guidance on all this.
1 Like
Nice report, thanks for postingā¦.
But this scheme could also operate perfectly well without smart maters - surely itās fairly obvious what are the big consumers of energy in the home, donāt need a smart meter to tell me that the clothes drier consumes more power than the TVā¦.
4 Likes
Youād be surprised, itās the watts over time that make the difference.
Many years ago I tried a plug-in power meter on various appliances and learnt one Saturday afternoon that running the lawnmower had cost more than boiling the kettle afterwards for a cuppa!
Indeed, but there are a lot of stupid people about who may not know the differenceā¦
To the OP, I finally gave in a couple of years back and had smart meters fitted, mainly as the better tariffs stipulated smart meters only. I still end up needing to read the gas meter as itās the other side of the house to the electric meter (where the comms hub is) and so doesnāt communicate back to the DCC 
I understand that There is no legal obligation to have one unless your existing meter is faulty or has reached the end of its certified life.
Sounds like you may have no choiceā¦ā¦
Still without one myself and hopefully wonāt getting one anytime soon.
I think weāre all approaching the point where we need to have them installed but I think theyāve been wrongly promoted from the outset.
Why?
You can have a āSmart monitor telling you how much energy youāre using currently and the cost!ā. Well thatās all fine but most sensible people have an inkling what it costs to use a kettle, electric oven, electric heater/storage heater and other high energy use items.
A large proportion of us still can read a meter and work out how many units weāve used since the last time we looked. Fairly simple from there on to calculate cost provided your tariff is the same 24/7.
They really should have pushed the differential tariffs from the offset as Iāve always resisted before but can now see for electricity at least how āSmart energy usageā could potentially allow us to use some devices when there is surplus cheaper capacity.
Ultimately though it wonāt last. For the National Grid or whatever itās called it must surely be about smoothing usage throughout the day but as soon as everyone does that assuming we can smooth things enough itāll simply mean tariffs become more consistent 24/7.
You then have issues of noise - many people might not be able to run dishwashers/washing machines/tumble dryers at 2am. Canāt see much point boiling a kettle half a dozen times at 4am when Iād normally do that 7am-10pm for example.
The promise of cheaper off-peak electricity will turn out to be bullshit - all theyāll do is increase peak tariffs and raise off-peak/lower usage tariffs.
Scam from start to finish in my view even if it looks good on paper usage wise rather than cost wise.
Of course unless they can sneak those Smart Meters into your property how would they know what you use and when? So, naturally youāll just be nudged by paying top tariff all day long.
1 Like
And there is a privacy issue surely in sending your real time electricity use to a third party?
Good point. I think Iāll stop sending in meter readings and tell them to mind their own business.
4 Likes
It would be very easy to see when you are home not patterns. 