I’ve been offered a Smart Meter, is it a good idea

We have had one for about 4 months. When the chap came to fit it he asked how many bedrooms we have. When we said 3 he set the meter too a daily amount of £1. After 2 days we realised that using the washing machine or dishwasher took the total way over the set amount. So we reset it. For the first few weeks our lives seemed to be ruled by the meter. DH was forever checking it and turning lights off etc. We have settled down together now and it is helpful to see what you are using.

P.S. I think most electricity companies offer a Smart meter now. So if you change suppliers you would probably get a new one

Oopsadaisy make sure that your smart meter is 2nd generation which means that if you decide to move to another company in a year or whenever, it will work with any other company. Do not get palmed off with a 1st generation meter which will only work with OVO.

I am with Octopus and am having one fitted mid year when they have the 2nd generation.

Well I’m obviously not smart enough for the Smart Meter because I have no idea what that means.
He set it for £1.00 per day?
Why.?
As you can tell I don’t know the first thing about it, I just thought it would tell me how much my telly was using...

Many thanks for your help, so far I might be inclined to say yes. 2 nd generation though right?

I am like you, I want to see how much money my eg washing machine is running away with and see if I can cut down my horrendous bills.

I like the idea but not yet. When I switched suppliers in November I was advised to wait for 2nd generation meters.
Sending readings doesn't bother me but watching consumption seems sensible.
Don't see how I can cut down much on electricity but would be keen to see just how my gas use varies.

There have been several threads on this, so going back to look at these may be of help.

We have a smart meter and even before we changed supplier, rendering it useless, we found it of no use at all in cutting consumption. A washing machine costs the same amount to run a load whether you monitor it or not. What reduces bills is planning washing machine use so that you do as few loads as possible

The meters do not tell you how much each appliance is using, only how much electricity you are using at any given time. To find out how much electricity a washing machine uses you will need to turn every other electricity consuming entity off: lights, central heating, all computers and so on. Much easier to just go online and google for washing machine operation costs for your model of washing machine.

We halved our fuel consumption by half between 2000 and 2010. We did it using just a a quarterly bill. We just went round the house gradually changing all the light bulbs to LEDs, putting extra insulation in, using the washing machine and dishwasher less and so on and so on.

Smart meters are being installed because it will make meter reading and billing easier. Any other claimed advantages are just window dressing.

We’ve got a smart metre. It’s in the cupboard. Unplugged. We didn’t need to be told when we were using several electrical appliances. It just burned unnecessary electricity.

Apparently the meter reader was supposed to be able to read the meter from the road without getting out of his car, but our old house has walls which are too thick and it didn’t work either. We read the meter and send it in on line, having a man come round once a year who has to ring the door bell doesn’t save much money really either.

I understand that soon there will be no option,
I have one which now is generally ignored. Before my husband died we used a lot of electricity because of his illness. The washing machine and tumble dryer were used at least twice a day. Then the boiler broke down and it took ages to find someone to fix it (oil fired, not gas). That meant using electric heaters,
I had the smart meter put in when I took the account over and the smart meter was offered. To start with I watched it carefully to see what the various appliances were costing. Surprisingly, the tumble dryer uses less than I had feared,
The only advantage now is that I no longer have to email the correct meter reading after an estimated one and the tariff is slightly lower than without it.

You do not have to have a smart meter, you can refuse to have one.

Many people are worried about the fact that these meters may constitute a health hazard, especially to those who are sensitive to WiFi. I think there are also concerns about the security of the data showing your energy usage. There appear to be problems fitting them depending on the thickness of your walls and the situation of your existing meter and also problems about transferring between energy companies.

The BBC consumer watchdog programme, You and Yours, Radio 4, weekdays at lunchtime did a programme about smart meters last year which will be in their archive on the programme website.

It's worth researching this on the Internet, it's not straightforward.

Thanks everyone, I knew that GNs would point me in the direction!

I think I shall thank them very much for their kind offer and say NO.

Having once lived off grid for 20 yrs and generating all our electricity from wind turbine and solar panels I don't need a meter to tell me what uses what ( or Wattage )
Basically anything with a heating element will cost, simples.
What I do like about OVO is their very simple website.

I have an Ovo smart meter because our actual meters were in a very inaccessible place. Before that we were with British Gas whose smart meter was very colourful and did give us some idea of usage. Sadly that one was not compatible with Ovo whose meter display is monochrome and hard to decipher.
I am pleased I don’t have to crawl under the stairs with a torch every month because a reading is sent off automatically. It doesn’t tie you in to Ovo.

Oh and I agree with Petra.The Ovo website is very good.

I decided that we are going to refuse one if and when offered one due to the fact that the programme I watched about them a few months ago said it's just more "big brother watching you " and eventually they may be used against you by the energy companies changing your rates for fuel at the times you use it most.