British Gas Smart Meters

i have one, i have look every now and then at HOW!!! much i am spending, but really you can get in installed and just leave it.it beeps at me if everything is on, but i ignore it.only thing is my bills are monthly now and it depends on how much we use energy as to how much bill is.

We had them fitted about 3 weeks ago. There is no question of not being able to use them, if you don't want to bother with the gizmo just unplug it and stick it in a drawer and the advantage is you never need your meters read.
However the following week I got a letter from BG telling me how much of both fuel we had used up to that date and the new meters starting from zero. On the bottom of this letter it said "you may be able to save money by switching to our partner Sainsbury's energy.
I rang Sainsbury's energy who work with BG and my monthly payments reduced from £167 a month to £92 a month. They do not support the smart meters currently so the gizmo is obsolete and I will still need my meters reading. I couldn't understand the logic.

The one thing I learnt from it was that the tumble dryers didn't cost as much as I thought they did.

My best friend has just had one fitted and she is the least gadget savvy person imaginable but seems perfectly happy with it so they must be pretty easy to use.

It was convenient for us because the electricity meter is in an understairs cupboard, so we were unable to put anything in front of it because of the meter reader. After we had the smart meter fitted, we were able to put a fridge in the cupboard. It is on wheels so we can pull it out if necessary but hope not to have to very much.

Thanks for the replies. They don't sound too high tec and if I've nothing to lose I shall probably have them fitted.

I've applied for one. I struggle to read our meter as its in such an awkward badly lit place. Can't wait!

We have had one for a while..it is great. Makes you more aware of usage though...not sure whether that is a good or bad thing!

We have one and find it a waste of space. It sits on the windowsill, face to the wall and is never looked at.

We have always been careful energy users and before the smart meter had an OWL in a prominent place in the kitchen telling us our energy usage. Within a few weeks we realised that all it was doing was confirming what we always knew - that we were careful and efficient energy users and there were no further economies in energy usage we could make.

They are useful to British Gas; nomore meter readers coming round; no more estimated bills.

BUT

smart meters are particular to each energy supplier. Decide to move to another energy supplier and you are back to square 1. The meter will not feed data to your new supplier and it is back to meter readers and estimated bills. We changed suppliers to get a cheaper rate and found that out.

I would wait until the energy suppliers come up with a standardised smart meter that can transfer data to all suppliers before you have one fitted.

I had a smart meter fitted quite a while ago and it certainly made me aware of how much energy I was using. It just sits in the kitchen and every so often I see it move when I turn on the kettle or oven. My bills have been reduced and I got a large rebate a couple of months ago. I love it, but then I'm such a gadget person!