MikeSharp01 Posted August 31, 2018 Share Posted August 31, 2018 (edited) If I never see another TV ad for smart meters it will be too soon and I will save a heap of energy and turn my TV off because I don't understand what the advantage of having one is for the householder given that most people don't track or care about their energy usage anyway. Edited August 31, 2018 by MikeSharp01 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triassic Posted August 31, 2018 Share Posted August 31, 2018 (edited) The whole smart meter thing has been a complete waste of money. I had an electricity and gas smart meter, they never worked properly, so the meter reader still came every six months. This is well worth a read http://euanmearns.com/uk-smart-meters-a-ghastly-mess-created-by-decc/ Interestingly I've just had the electricity meter replaced and the brand new meter isn’t smart! That’s fine by me! I’d just assumed that if you were an electricity company and you replaced an old meter with a new one, it would be a smart to replace it with a smart meter. Edited August 31, 2018 by Triassic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted August 31, 2018 Share Posted August 31, 2018 I have said before on another thread. The reason for smart meters is to enable half hourly charging so we can be charged a much higher rate should we have the audacity to want to cook our dinner at peak time (i.e at dinner time) But our masters don't have the balls, or honesty to say the grid is in danger of collapse and this is what we must do. No instead they try to promote them on the basis they will save you money and everyone will want that won't they. I predict this is the next miss selling scandal unfolding. I am shocked that the ASA have not stepped in to demand the real reason for promoting them to be told rather than the save money pack of lies. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newhome Posted August 31, 2018 Share Posted August 31, 2018 Ha ha, I don't watch the TV so don't have that problem. I did however switch a load of appliances off last weekend that had been left on standby including 2 large TVs that hadn't been switched on in over 2 years! I can't have a smart meter yet as apparently they haven't written the software yet for my 2 meter system. Given that they can't even get my bills right at present and continually blame 'the system' for it I have no confidence in them writing software for smart meters. I definitely won't be having one. I did consider buying one of these the other day however. Not sure how accurate they are however. Energy Monitor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triassic Posted August 31, 2018 Share Posted August 31, 2018 Cheaper in B&Q. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newhome Posted August 31, 2018 Share Posted August 31, 2018 Worth it though? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lizzie Posted August 31, 2018 Share Posted August 31, 2018 I have not paid an electricity bill for this house yet. Got a regular meter. The Electricity provider have refused to accpet my readinga s they say its way too high. I am having to take readings daily and ring them again next week (been trying to get this sorted for 2months now). I only found out 2 days ago that we have an immersion heater and that has been switched on since god knows when certainly before we moved in as I have never touched any switches in the plant room...nothing is labelled and I dont know what they are. I have now switched off immersion heater and consumption has slowed.....maybe thats it! Bill so far is over £800 for 4 months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triassic Posted August 31, 2018 Share Posted August 31, 2018 If they don’t believe their own meter is reading correctly, maybe you should invite them to change it. I’d keep quiet about the immersion heater for the moment. I’d won’t to be sure the meters working correctly first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newhome Posted August 31, 2018 Share Posted August 31, 2018 £800 in the summer ?. That’s a lot! Worth trying to find out what’s causing the high usage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lizzie Posted August 31, 2018 Share Posted August 31, 2018 Yes I am! They are talking about having to do some check on meter in case its faulty. I only have usual kitchen appliances, pc, Tv on standby, and mvhr not a lot else bar lighting which is all led. Energy efficient house a lot more expensive to run than my old house LOL 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Temp Posted September 1, 2018 Share Posted September 1, 2018 (edited) My mvhr can draw a lot more than expected if I don't keep the filters clean. It once blew a 1A fuse so may have been drawing 250w!!! Edited September 1, 2018 by Temp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newhome Posted September 1, 2018 Share Posted September 1, 2018 6 hours ago, Temp said: My mvhr can draw a lot more than expected if I don't keep the filters clean. It once blew a 1A fuse so may have been drawing 250w!!! Thanks. I bet that accounts for some of my strangely high summer electric bill then (not as bad as @lizzie‘s). Must get the loft sorted as a priority then so that I can get to it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Harris Posted September 1, 2018 Share Posted September 1, 2018 "Vampire" loads from lots of small things that are left on 24/7 can quickly add up. Years ago I did some experiments in our old house, measuring the 24 hourly consumption of every single appliance we had, including plug-power supplies for things like the cordless phone etc. At that time, our old fridge freezer was the main culprit, averaging around 1.3 kWh per day, with the TV and DVR combination being the next biggest culprit, at around 0.9 kWh/day. Just switching the TV and DVR off every night and replacing the old fridge freezer with a newer one with an A*** energy rating saved us around £70 a year. The other thing using a small, but continuous, amount of power was all the PC and network related stuff. Routers, modems, switches etc all use a fair bit 24/7, as do laptops and tablets whose chargers are just left plugged in and on. In the new house I have all the network stuff powered by a battery pack that is charged during the day (via a time switch) so that it is usually charging from self-generated power from PV. It doesn't make a massive difference, but every little bit helps. I'm hoping that the price of battery storage continues to drop, as being able to just run stuff like the aeration pump on the treatment plant, the MVHR and the other house vampire loads wholly from self-generated energy almost the whole year around will make a fair size dent in the electricity bill. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Temp Posted October 6, 2018 Share Posted October 6, 2018 Government allows 1million more non-portable smart meters to be installed... Why not just delay the project two months? https://www.telegraph.co.uk/bills-and-utilities/gas-electric/another-million-substandard-smart-meters-will-put-homes/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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