The Agile deal would have worked even better for us had we been able to access it in the spring.
We are in the rare position that our electric bills actually fall slightly in the winter. During the colder months, all our hot water comes from our log burner heating up our sealed heating system (radiators and water). So whilst we have to pay for logs, our immersion is switched off. In the summer, it’s on for a couple of hours a day - but it was still by far the biggest contributor to our electric bill.
I’m quite prepared to jump from the Agile ship at a moment’s notice. For now though, the 2.56p rate at lunchtime today looks very appealing for a flurry of high energy activity!
Not sure what amounts your immersion uses, 2hr flat out is about 6kWh. Our ASHP heats the cylinder about 4 times a week each at a cost of 2kWh approximately. It uses about 170Wh/day to monitor itself. We just keep the cylinder hot enough for our showers. I am happy with 36C but my wife likes it hotter and fast flowing.
The UK government is basically saying to consumers that they must take an artificially managed price volatility. The overall effect will be to increase the total cost of energy, whether through taxes or direct charges.
They are not free - they have cost every energy user £480 whether you have one or not!
Complete racket - a friend told me their installer told them most people put them in a drawer after a month and do not look at them again. Many do not work properly. I have more info on my spreadsheet.
P.S. British Gas are the worst company ever - worse than Virgin Media. I got lumbered with them.
Quite. The email went along the lines of ‘we’ll soon be sending our friendly experts around to discuss the benefits of a Smart Meter you may be unaware of’. I know exactly what they are, and currently why I don’t want one.
What you are talking about there is the in home display, not the smart meter. Whether someone uses it or not has no bearing on the actual smart meter which is permanently installed in place of the original gas and electricity meters. The smart meter reports gas and electricity usage to the energy supplier, which might or might not be British Gas.
In point of fact Octopus Energy (as an example) encourages users to monitor their energy usage in the Octopus phone app rather than the in home display. However the display is almost real time for electricity and every half an hour for gas whereas the app reports usage the previous day and earlier.
You are correct about the display although they are promoted together.
Our friend’s electricity smart meter is unreadable on the meter.
British Gas state “If you have smart meters and we’ve asked you to provide meter readings, it’s because we’re unable to take automated reads. Some older smart meters are not compatible with all energy suppliers, so they can’t send reads. This is a temporary issue we’re working hard to resolve.” - (for over 6 months).
They also reported that some smart meter displays will not accept the new tariffs.
What a waste of money - millions of “our” pounds - not the energy companies please note!
Probably included in the increased standing charges.
Trouble is, the family insist upon 65 degrees. I’m weaning them down to 60. You also have to be a little careful re Legionella development at low temperatures, as I’m sure you know.
Re the display, I’m a big fan already. Just noticed on the way out to the pub that the numbers were high (and between the witching hours of 4-7).
Turns out I’d forgotten to turn off that dreaded immersion. Small victories !
Question. Why do people get angry about smart meters ?
Because they are a con.
Angry is correct.
Consumer pays for them not the energy company.
Cost every user £480 and many do not work.
Have increased standing charges or bills.
If displays go wrong after 12 months - Kaput - that’s it (source British Gas).
Here is my smart meter and display kit.
Together with a spreadsheet I have every gas and electricity reading for last 11 years with graphs (since I installed solar).
I can also tell you that my consumption has decreased by 26% and 27% respectively over last 2 years.
Please credit the £480 to my account.
British Gas - variable tariff (they are useless).
I have switched regularly in the past but not seen significant benefit of present offers some of which may provide initial savings but lock you in for the unknown medium time.
The problem is that the govt and OFGEM have allowed the demise of all the innovative and excellent providers, and left us with the old monopoly five or six so the future looks bleak.
There is now no effective competition.
I will explore some of the options outlined in this topic.
P.S. I understand you cannot be forced to accept a smart meter but unsure how this applies to providers who seek to impose this as a condition of their new tariff.
It’s just a matter of time before smart meters become compulsory if you want mains gas or electric.
My missus knows one of the installer trainers - he doesn’t have a SM himself though
I am very disappointed not to have a smart meter - my father in law is against it (we are on a shared supply). Without a smart meter I cannot charge a car cheaply overnight. I cannot get paid for solar exports. I cannot time shift to help out with grid demand and benefit financially from it. There are huge financial benefits from time shifting demand with the right tariff. Which reflects huge savings in infrastructure costs if we allow ourselves to be nudged to save money
I will grant you that without time shifting there is no great benefit to having a smart meter - and I am sure not all smart meters are equally reliable / useful. And I think there is a chance that one won’t work where we are as the mobile reception is so awful
Do you ever envisage the farm being sold independently of your home? If so not having your own utilities would be very unorthodox. Maybe this kind of discussion with your father in law would help him see that something needs to change. You could get your own supply on the same phase.
There is a plan to separate the supplies. But a sticking point is that that would make it difficult if not impossible for us all to continue benefiting from wind generation which is currently split three ways
The earlier SMETS 1 meters were a mixed bunch, but the SMETS 2 that are being installed now are all to the same spec.
I’m not sure exactly where you live, but “OopNorth” suggests that you are in the northern metering zone and in that case the connection back to the data centre isn’t done using the mobile phone system, but rather with a lower frequency data system provided by Arqiva. So connectivity probably isn’t an issue for you either.
