So smart meters don't seem to save you much money

Jon

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People who have smart meters installed are expected to save an average of £11 annually on their energy bills, much less than originally hoped.
A report from a parliamentary group now predicts a dual fuel saving of £26.
In a critical report, the 92 MPs and peers also said the government was likely to miss its own deadline to have the £11bn switchover completed.
Up to 53 million smart meters were to be installed in 30 million homes and businesses by the end of 2020.

I've never been convinced they save you money anyway. We look at ours and it says we've spent say £1 on the days gas/leccy and I just think, meh... It doesn't make me then spend any less or more going forward

I'm more looking forward to seeing how much my Tado and New boiler save me compared to the smart meter that has no impact on my energy using behaviour.

Or maybe this is just me....
 
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The Reverend

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I've never been convinced they save you money anyway. We look at ours and it says we've spent say £1 on the days gas/leccy and I just think, meh... It doesn't make me then spend any less or more going forward

I'm more looking forward to seeing how much my Tado and New boiler save me compared to the smart meter that has no impact on my energy using behaviour.

Or maybe this is just me....

Smart Meters were never for our benefit.

Smart boilers do make a saving as they are able to balance an optimium output when needed. Smart meters really are 'dumb' meters as all they do is 1 function (well two, if you include the amount of data they provide back to power companies).

What would be of more benefit would be working to reduce the power of domestic items/white goods. Something the EU was doing but I guess Brexit will stop all that and we'll be back to 4000w hoovers!
 

Jon

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Smart Meters were never for our benefit.

Smart boilers do make a saving as they are able to balance an optimium output when needed. Smart meters really are 'dumb' meters as all they do is 1 function (well two, if you include the amount of data they provide back to power companies).

What would be of more benefit would be working to reduce the power of domestic items/white goods. Something the EU was doing but I guess Brexit will stop all that and we'll be back to 4000w hoovers!

Yeah good point about the smart meters being 'dumb'. It's just so odd as all the adverts you see on TV is smug mum or dad going around the house turning off every bloody light to save money.
 
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The Reverend

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Yeah good point about the smart meters being 'dumb'. It's just so odd as all the adverts you see on TV is smug mum or dad going around the house turning off every bloody light to save money.

Once we have have fully connected appliances we will start seeing reduced power useage. But 'smart' meters just don't do anything.

When we can start having ITTT commands based on all sorts (when I'm 30 minutes from home, put the heating on / 20 mins after I'm asleep, turn off / turn on water heater 30 minutes before I wake up / etc) then energy will be better used.

The ONLY way a smart meter can reduce bill is that if energy companies offer stuff like 'economy 7' so you can set stuff going remotely to run during cheaper times (when energy companies make more energy than is being consumed).
 

Jon

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Once we have have fully connected appliances we will start seeing reduced power useage. But 'smart' meters just don't do anything.

When we can start having ITTT commands based on all sorts (when I'm 30 minutes from home, put the heating on / 20 mins after I'm asleep, turn off / turn on water heater 30 minutes before I wake up / etc) then energy will be better used.

The ONLY way a smart meter can reduce bill is that if energy companies offer stuff like 'economy 7' so you can set stuff going remotely to run during cheaper times (when energy companies make more energy than is being consumed).

Yeah that's why my Tado setup does. So it tracks my phone and if I am coming home it then puts the heating on for me etc... We shall see if it saved any money but I can't see how it won't compared to our previous boiler setup last year
 

fraserbooks

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When we first had a smart meter we looked at it for a couple of weeks and then the novelty wore off. It just sits in the corner doing its own thing. I am not surprised it does not save people money. You can usually save more by switching suppliers.
 

Jon

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When we first had a smart meter we looked at it for a couple of weeks and then the novelty wore off. It just sits in the corner doing its own thing. I am not surprised it does not save people money. You can usually save more by switching suppliers.
I think it's very much like a fitbit

I'm not going to own one of those thigns and think 'Well, I've only done 5000 steps, i better do another 2000 at 10pm' it's just NEVER going to motivate me!!
 

Topaz

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We're having one fitted in a few weeks. The only advantage that I can see is not having to have a bloke traipsing through the house every so often to read the meter!
 

marriedmeeples

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I think it's very much like a fitbit

I'm not going to own one of those thigns and think 'Well, I've only done 5000 steps, i better do another 2000 at 10pm' it's just NEVER going to motivate me!!

A bit off tangent- my husband owns a fitbit and although it doesn't do the motivation bit, we use it as a pudding threshold haha. He can only have pudding if he's done a certain number of steps!
 

Happyman

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I keep being asked to get a smart meter installed, but until they start rolling out the generation 2 model, I can't see the point. If I get one of the current ones and then change provider it just becomes a 'dumb' meter again.
 

Petlamb

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I have multiple misgivings with smart meters - at least in their current iteration.

I used to work for a third party call centre, on a contract for a utility firm. The official industry line is that smart meters can never be wrong - but I've seen data where there can't be any other explanation than a dodgy meter. That was from a real deep dive on each of the cases where customers had problems, it just doesn't add up. BUT the industry is so utterly convinced they can't be wrong, they won't listen.

Additionally, the current meters do indeed go "dumb" if/when you move providers. As the market currently stands, the likelihood is that you will need to shift providers at least every 2/3 years to get the best deal. The industry reckons the next gen of smart meters will be able to handle a supplier switch, but as for when that will happen...? I haven't seen any solid info.

The thing is our meters ARE in an awful place to get to - with my disabilities I can't read them without causing myself severe pain so that falls to the hubs. So a smart meter - if it worked well and didn't die a death on a supplier switch - could be useful for us.

In terms of pure money saving, accurate billing is important. I suspect those of us on this site will know the importance of accurate reads and reclaiming any leftover funds when leaving a supplier, but many don't. That's a big deal to some.

Personally - being a bit of a nerd - I'd be interested in running some numbers when we do get one, to find out costings for the running of various things. Whether that would shape behaviour, only time can tell.
 

kayfabe17

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We're due to have a smart meter installed next week - hopefully it will give me the justification I need when I moan at the missus for leaving lights etc on! I just hope it doesn't guilt me out of boiling the kettle...
 

Annie Beau

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Energy companies are pushing smart meters so much! My British gas tariff ended in may and they had two cheaper ones at the time but you had to agree to have a smart meter fitted to be eligible. They've phoned me twice to arrange fitting the meters. I then told them in no uncertain terms that I don't want them and not to call again. ..two weeks ago I sent online meter readings. ..they called me to see if I wanted to decrease monthly payments, I found this odd as they've never done that. But guess what they tried dropping into the conversation. ..smart meters! !!
 

kayfabe17

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Hrm, interesting! The engineer is actually at home fitting one for me as we speak, I wonder how my direct debit will change...
 

unicornrider

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My friend has one and was being over charged by it! I keep dodging it as a)I rent, it's not my house b)I don't want to take time off work to get it fitted c)I live on my own, there is only ever a light on in the room I am in! d) My meter is outside my front door and I have an online account, I have never had a bill estimated so I don't see why having yet another box in my house (which requires being plugged in and using electric that is unnecessary) is of any benefit to me. Eon still don't get why I don't want one.
 

kaiserpups

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We had the electricity one changed about a year ago. The engineer couldn't do the gas one as the cover was plastered to the wall, so told us to get someone in to release it and then they'd come back and fit it - we haven't!

As for the electricty, we've noticed no reduction at all and as we haven't got a smart gas one, we submit our own readings quarterly anyway as nobody comes to read the gas one.

The little thing you plug in to the wall to show your consumption, well that got unplugged and chucked in a drawer after it started setting off alarms after 11pm that we couldn't switch off!
 

kayfabe17

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Arg, I'm going to keep an eye out for late night alarms - won't be having that!
Turns out the engineer found the the electric meter had been damaged and was in an unsafe state since we moved in so got that sorted at the same time, phew :)
 

PeteG76

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I see one benefit of a smart meter - Getting cheap overnight electricity to charge an electric vehicle.

Is anyone signed up to Octopus Energy's Go tariff?

 

Danilene

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My letting agents say there have been plenty of errors, and not in the tenants' favour!
 

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