…not to mention the widely reported instances of house fires caused by botched installations!
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Surveillance Capitalism?
Before and After
My old meter was replaced about 6 weeks ago
The energy display tells me two things:
Waiting for current data
Connection lost…
Funny thing is, the display worked really well for a few hours after the guy finished fitting the new smart meter, and he showed me how easy it was to use.
But within a few hours after he’d gone, the display stopped displaying any info’ : (
I’m well aware of what i have plugged in and drawing power around my household so the information can only tell me what i more or less know anyway, well it would if it actually worked. I’ve given up with the display, unplugged it and bunged it into a cupboard, that should save me 50p a year! : )
However this meter replacement has had an unexpected positive outcome by actually increasing the SQ of the audio, and it definitely does sounds better than before. Blimey!
The only logical reason i can come up with over an SQ benefit is the reconnection of those hefty 16mm Neutral & Live leads that had been fastened to the original meter since 1989, and now freshly screwed into the copper wire to the new Smart meter.
Of course if my theory is true, this particular SQ improvement could of been achievable by disconnecting and reconnecting to the original meter. Dunno how one would go about getting it done though, it’s not a DIY job : /
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I reckon he noticed that your fuse was fitted the wrong way round, and has fixed it for you!
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Good observation!
He was obviously a very smart meter fitter! 
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Thanks for all the input folks - not really seen any downsides, it’ll be a SMETS2 meter and as Debs mentions, it’s a good opportunity to make a fresh connection between meter and incoming supply (my Electrician did check tightness of these but didn’t remake when i had my dedicated radial installed). I’ll report back once we have the new meters fitted…
Hi James
Good luck with your new meter. Personally I have treated smart meters like I treat Ryan Air…I have avoided them at all costs… if I ever have to have them I’d lol to put it in some sort of faraday cage
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What’s your concern ChifChaf ?. My only worry was the original SMETS1 meters and possible issues later on when moving suppliers but otherwise they seem to have no other problems. I’ll quite happily prevent installation if i don’t think the installer is competent but otherwise i can’t see any other issues with having them.
Hi James,
I’m sure you will be fine with your meter. I have a thing about RF EMF which of course the smart meter emits in short bursts in order to communicate with the base stations. I know we have EMF sources all around but I even turn off my Wi-Fi at night. As I said it’s just one of my personal things as I had to work with some intense RF EMF sources during my past working life.
There are many on this forum whose knowledge of any effect on the hifi will be much better than mine
Your Naim streamer does this, too. Like smart meters, it uses the Zigbee wireless protocol to communicate with its remote. So I suspect that you, too, will be fine.
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It seems there are two networks involved - the electric meter will connect to the DCC network (the older SMETS1 used 3G - the later SMETS2 is either using frequencies around 400 or 900Mhz depending on where you are in the country). Communication between the electric meter, gas meter and the internal display is via Zigbee at 2.4Ghz. Happy to be corrected on the above as info seems to be rather scant…
All pretty low level in the grand scheme of things so nothing of much concern.
Recently had my energy suppler (Bulb) invitation to install a smart meter. Not planning to take up the offer any time soon.
The fact that the rollout target has been delayed until 2024 points to known issues and concerns within the industry. I’ll wait until the beta test is complete!
It’s also telling that the latest government analysis indicates savings will be only £250 over 20 years. So an average of £12.50 per year. Is that really enough to make you switch supplier/meter?
The only way greater savings will become available is through cheaper tarrifs being linked to having a smart meter installed. I wouldn’t put it past suppliers forcing the issue this way.
There’s a good perspective recently published by Which magazine. https://www.which.co.uk/news/2019/09/new-government-report-reveals-whether-smart-meters-will-save-you-time-and-money/
I’m going to wait a couple of years and see what shakes out of all this. I submit my meter readings to my supplier monthly online. Takes 5 minutes each month and my supplier allows me to control direct debit so I can manage account credit appropriately. I’m in control, not the supplier.
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I’ve been considering Bulb for some time - does their system allow you to control your monthly payment?
The monthly direct debit is based on projected annual usage. But if you find/feel it’s not track, then you can set the DD value yourself. There’s option in the account settings.
Towards the end of the past winter they proposed an increase in my DD, despite my account just running in credit. I knew my usage was going to decrease, so I set it back to the initial figure.
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This is mostly correct! But both SMETS 1 & 2 use the same networks to connect to the DCC. The north region network is provided by Arqiva and it uses spectrum in the 400 MHz band whereas the central and south regions, its provided by Telefonica and uses their mobile networks (GPRS or 3G). The difference between SMETS 1 & 2 is basically that the latter allows smart switching between energy suppliers and supports things like pre-pay accounts.
As you say, within the house the so-called Home Area Network (HAN) interconnects the electricity meter, the gas meter and the in-house display. This does indeed use Zigbee at 2.4 GHz and there is a plan to use an alternate frequency 864 MHz where the construction of the house and meter layout makes the 2.4 GHz band unreliable. The HAN also provides a “Consumer Access Device” read-only interface which enables third party home automation or home energy control systems to be able to access the home’s energy usage data.
There is no power line communications technology involved so far, although that is one technology being considered for the so-called Alt-HAN for buildings like blocks of flats where the meters are remote from the dwelling, for example blocks of flats where the gas meters are usually in the basement and not in individual flats.
Best
David
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Thanks David - that’s a lot clearer
James
Bulb are excellent. If I recommend you we can both get £50 credit!
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I remember reading about that referral system sometime last year, good to hear it may still be active.
If I decide to move to Bulb I’ll let you know provided it’s acceptable to do so here.
I’ll have to move at some stage as I’m with SSE who are haemorrhaging customers and plan, I gather, to quit the electricity business next year! Last time I checked Bulb were 25% or more cheaper than SSE for electricity which is very significant (Bulb 14p vs 19p for SSE per unit or thereabouts).
Bulb provide 100% renewable electricity. 25% of their gas comes from pig slurry and the rest is offset. They may not be the very cheapest but I’ve been completely happy with them for the last couple of years.
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Today’s copy of The Register has a commentary about Smart Meters in France.
see