General Chat

There is apparently a north/south divide in whether your smart meter works properly or not. :-( If you want to read the full details there is a link below. I haven't got one and having read the article I don't want one!!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cq52382zd1no

BBC1 8pm TONIGHT Monday
I heard about this on a feature on Breakfast this morning and will watch Panorama this evening to see what they have to say.

Urges for us to have a Smart meter fitted seem to come in phases.
I honestly don't see how they save one money.
If I need to heat water, I do.
If I need to wash clothes, I do. We think before we use power eg. try to fully use the oven, if it's on, perhaps roasting vegetables to make soup for the following day or with washing machine doing a full load of washing.
As long as one is not wasteful, there is only a certain amount one can do to save fuel.

There was a smart meter put in about 3 months before I moved into here - but it never worked.
Twice I asked British Gas (the previous tenant's supplier, that I initially stayed with) to repair it - twice they ignored me.

Then I found out, with British Gas, anyway, if your standing order doesn't cover your bill, if you're on a smart meter, they can put you on a remote Pay-as-you- go thing, which costs more.
Well b*gger that.

They can keep their 'smart' meter.

I then changed providers, and BG wouldn't believe my readings, but wouldn't send anyone out to read them.
It took 3 months for them to repay me the credit in my account.
They didn't do it willingly, either. I sent an 'invoice' for 3 times the amount, for my wasted time, frustration at their inadequacy, admin, and having to read the meters despite having a 'smart' meter!

We've had a smart meter for some years now, OH having worked in the metering industry and being interested in power. Ours didn't work for a long time, didn't send the readings automatically so OH had to lie on the floor to read it.........

I agree, many older folk do understand about using power efficiently, but many young do not. They need to be educated about just how much power they are using at any time, and to select cheaper times.

We have had solar panels for over 10 years now, and OH has had a battery installed too, so it will be charged up when the power is free via the panels, or cheap during the night, then we use that battery power during the rest of the time.

We succumbed recently as our meter was about to start going round again so thought it would be easier to give in.

Our usage wasn’t going to change so we opted not to have a hand set reader. OH still checks the figures monthly so he can fill in his record chart.

As this house was brand new, it had a smart meter fitted already.
Once we got the account sorted out and cancelled my old company i've not had any problems.
I pay by d/d and only once did i use more so technically went into debit mode so I just made an extra payment by phone to clear that.

Now I've been here 3/12 years, my monthly d/d is the same all year. I build some credit during summer which pays for my extra heating in the winter,

I have the app on my phone and each morning, i can see how many units i have used the previous day. My own max is 10 which i try & stick with. Last few days i haven't used much at all, about 6 units a day as its been mildish.

It doesn't save you money as some people think it just saves you having to read the metre and send in the readings, that's all. Saves the company paying a man to come & read the meter too! I think they call that natural wastage!

I cant believe that young people are not educated about saving money, electricity etc even in my primary school, we did many projects on solar, wind and all sorts of ways to get free electricity to help the planet and save money.

Having a light on in every room is pure stupidity and very expensive so unless you are very rich, who does that exactly?Our grandparents had draught excluders at the doors, kept them closed in the evening etc so its nothing new is it?

I mean who would put the washing machine on for 1 item? If i want to say cook peas, I don't use a pan on the cooker, I put them in the microwave for 3 minutes as so much quicker.

Florence in the hebrides

I know you are younger than a lot of us but I am amazed schools were teaching about wind & solar powers etc that long ago.

Is it really down to schools to teach us about saving money? Surely it is the parents job to teach the children the value of money and how things can't be afforded and how to save up.

Probably not as it seems you can't deny children any of their wants :-|

Yes names absolutely agree. Parents should teach children about money and how to budget and save up etc. I was taught that and I have taught my own children. Neither have a credit card or an over draft. They had to learn to save up to buy something.

My grandparents also taught me about money too. probably why i ended up working in a bank for 14 years before going into education!

It wasn't that long ago, i showed my daughter how to do an income & expenditure sheet to show her if she could afford to rent a place of her own. Its a very useful tool to have and anyone can use it to see how buoyant their finances are and where they can save money etc.

As for denying what children want, oh yes they can, the word is NO. I want doesnt get.

Mine is one of the "smart" (not) meters in Scotland that doesn't work properly - and I could have told them that would probably be the case before they installed it.

It was only installed three weeks ago, so it's early days yet - but they can't connect it, so I read it myself - which is fine. I'm used to doing that with the old meter, so no problem.

Ever since it was installed, though , the storage heaters are 12 hours out of sync. They come on from 12.30 - 8.30 (ish) PM instead of AM.
However, that's also not a problem for me, as it turns out!
At first I was concerned because I assumed the power they use would be charged at the daytime rate - but now I find it's charged at the night rate even though they're heating up during the day.
That suits me OK - it means the house is nice and cosy in the evening!

I suppose they'll do something about it eventually, but I'm in no hurry.


I wasn't offered an in-home monitor, or whatever they call it - but I didn't want one anyway. I've been careful with usage for many years.