Interestingly when my meter was fitted last year I think it was coming up with two values, and eventually they sorted it remotely.
Had an SSE smart meter (now OVO) installed last October. Worked ok for approx 3 weeks then lost connection with the in-home display. When it was being installed the installer said that I will probably be contacting SSE/OVO within 2 months due to this occurring and he would have to come back to reset it. Have not contacted SSE and the display is in a cupboard drawer!
We gave up with ours and took it to the recycling centre.
We had smart meters installed when we had a contract with Scottish Power. When that fixed price deal came to an end, we switched to Pure Energy, which was unable to read the smart meters. After that deal came to an and we switched to Green Energy, which was able to read the meters remotely, but still required me to submit meter readings on line! Green of course folded and we’ve now been transferred to Shell Energy, which can and does read the meters remotely. I’m not sure I want to know my energy usage in real time, otherwise I might be tempted to turn the stereo off.
Sorry if this has been said already, but if you’ve formally complained just get onto the ombudsman after the appropriate time period.
I’ve resisted these smart meters for many reasons, primarily because I can take a reading and calculate my usage!
The ‘smart’ tariffs the meters allow seem appealing, however I’d have to ask if those tariffs are discriminating against those without smart meters.
Realistically energy supply/pricing is a right mess currently, prices are going to be frightening within a few months for everyone, naturally the poorest will be least able to meet those rising costs.
The Centrica boss said today I think that we can expect volatlity/high prices for at least 2 years, and they consider gas to be a transitional fuel now which is being used while other fossil fuels are wound down across the globe.
I find the IHD really useful. My Trio model can be set to connect to my wifi and it will upload its data to the net, then you can view various stuff from an app, e.g.
The big suppliers like Centrica will be rubbing their hands with glee right now. Those high prices have totally annihilated the low price competition and handed back the lost customers on a plate. They will weather the storm, the government will make sure of that, and the likes of Centrica who supply gas from the UK and other reserves are awash with cash due to high wholesale prices they get for what they produce.
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I agree, but are they saying this is a temporary thing as I honestly can’t see that if gas usage is rising globally.
We have to be careful not to stray discussion into politics, but we do use a hell of a lot go gas - below is currently where we get it from. Nice to see Wind up there.
Is that panel based on a single day, Quarter or an annual average? Choosing one winter day may not be the most useful depiction of the whole situation.
Statistics I have seen suggest higher percentages of renewables in the last years as an average.
This is very detailed, but I found it interesting. The huge fluctuations in usage/fuel types show just how complex these systems are.
Bruce
We have a bungalow in NE England that we bought a few years ago to move to on retirement, rented out in the interim. (Unfortunately plans now on hold as COVID has made it better to stay where we are, while the cost of doing the works we need have shot up so high as to be unaffordable.) The tenant wanted to change to a so-called smart meter, as some energy companies would only accept that and they wanted to be able to choose their supplier. Although I do not want a smart meter, there being nothing smart or positive to them for me as a consumer, we did agree to it as they are good tenants. They arranged - but it didn’t happen because the house, unusually, is on a 3-phase supply and the so-called smart meters aren’t smart enough to cope with 3-phase. I was not sorry to hear that - and reading this thread makes me positively glad the change didn’t happen.
(Though not until after buying, I noted the three overhead power cables entering the house, and could only think of 3-phase as the explanation, though nothing in the meter cupboard to indicate other than there being 2 small distribution units instead of one larger one. A neighbour who had known the original owner (it was an individually built house) told us that said person had indeed had 3-phase installed. That to me was positive news, as potentially I could use a separate phase for hifi.)
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The nice thing for the future is an electric vehicle charging point with 3 phases can be up to 22 kWh instead of 7 kWh for one phase.
There are many variables in the energy industry, and attempts to predict the future are usually futile. Globally there is still a huge amount of oil and gas out there, and in the absence of greener alternatives it would be perfectly possible to extract it at affordable prices to supply the expanding UK market.
High prices are the result of political issues that understandably cannot be discussed here.
It’s current data, display updated every five minutes.
I shall try that later, thanks
Doesn’t solve the main issue of Octopus connecting to the meter though.
Bruce
We had a smart meter installed when we had Bulb. It quickly lost contact and took ages to reconnect. Then it lost connection again, and we switched to Octopus last June with an unconnected meter. They managed to connect, then it went again. After a while they managed to sort it out and it’s been ok for a good few months now - though writing that will probably jinx it. They were very helpful by email, but I suspect having to take on thousands of new customers has put the pressure on. We have a Landis & Gyr meter and it was really hard to get the E7 readings - I think we get Rate 1 and total, rather than 1 and 2, so you need to subtract one from the other to get Rate 2. We now have both rates set as the same, but they cannot programme it to just show a single reading, which seems most odd.
I’ve had two smart electricity and one smart gas meter fitted but still have to read the meters and send in a monthly reading.
On the first installation two separate engineers turned up in different vans and installed the new meters.
When I changed supplier they said would you like Smart meters I explained that I already had them and didn’t think you could change them again till the latest meters were available.
The young lady assured me that this was not the case so booked a new Smart meter installation and once again two engineers turned up in separate vans.
They checked back with the installion department saying that I already had smart metres and was it OK to change the electricity meter this was confirmed so they went ahead
After they had fitted the new Electricity meter I questioned them about the Gas meter the reply was that they only fit electricity meters and a Dual fuel team should have been sent to do both!!!
They said ring the office later that day to sort which I did the young lady said that according to her records they had installed a gas meter that morning and upon checking they should not have carried this out anyway as I had already had smart meters fitted in the past further more they would not be changing the electricity meter which was the meter they changed in the morning ?
Despite what I said she was adamant that the gas meter had been changed.
So to sum up I have had four engineers turn up in separate vans and have had three smart meter fitted but none are working.
When I changed suppliers again the young lady asked for my meter numbers and reading and she informed that the numbers on her records that she had been sent by my previous supplier the gas meter number was for a electricity meter and vice versa so she sorted the correct numbering.
Just wondering what the carbon footprint of this pointless exercise has been and if this is going Green please leave me out of it.
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I struggle to see who really benefits from the billions of pounds spent on these rollouts ultimately funded by consumers. Well actually…I’ll stop there.
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