Smart Meters

My father has one and it has sent him mad, he cant stop checking the damn thing and now sits in the dark with just the tv on at night to save money. Doesnt help that some silly woman told him it costs 37p a day to have the smart meter.

We are not having one installed it seems all the advantage is to the power company having access to our system . As we are already careful about usage couldn't see the point.

We have one and we find it very useful. It tells you each day how much you are paying for electricity and gas. It has made us more careful. We have a large house and it can cost a lot to heat. It is a three storey house. When one of my son's is staying and his room is on the top floor we can tell when he has got up because he has an electric shower and the dial whizzes into the red zone!!

There are concerns around health, incorrect data, misuse of data, difficulties of meter installation, meter reading, transfer between energy companies. All easy enough to find through Google, You and Yours, Radio 4 did a feature on them last year and I think the website www.moneyexpert.com has some discussions.

We won't have one. I am perfectly capable of monitoring our energy usage and we already know to turn devices off stand by, a major waste of energy. I wouldn't want to be in the position of making guests feel uncomfortable because I monitored their shower length and life is too short to be led into the situation that grannypipers dad is now in and that's all too easy.

We have an electricity one and it has saved us a fair bit on our electricity bills. We realised that lights were burning in rooms and appliances were left on when no-one was in the room. We also noticed some older appliances were burning a fair amount of electricity, when we checked the cost on the meter. The result is that we have gradually been changing our appliances to A rating ones. We are not obsessed with it all. The only time I notice it is when I knock it off the kitchen worktop!
We have attempted to get a gas one, but it seems we do not have the right type meter.

Azie - I'm supposed to have them installed next week. What is the health concern?

Marydoll. I'm now wondering whether my gas meter is 'the right type'. I hate having work done on the house, it's never simple.
Even the nice man who came to fix a tap broke the washbasin ...

Marydoll I would quite like one for the same reason as yourself. My only concern is that when we all have meters it will be so easy for the electricity/gas company to up the bills eg during 6-9 am and 5-9 pm when people are cooking, showering etc. They may lower the bills similar to Economy 7 so that usage is between 12mid night and 6am, quieter periods at present.

Another major concern is if you change supplier as most people do now the meter won't transfer to the new supplier and so is useless.

We weighed it all up, didn't make the decision lightly. One of the advantages we found was that we were no longer getting ridiculously high estimates for our electricity usage, as we were always out at work when meter reader came.
My daughter has just moved into a flat for the first time and was really anxious about budgeting her bills. It has been a godsend for her. In fact she was using less than she had expected. She also has free fuel on a Saturday when she is at home. This is the day most of the washing, cooking etc gets down.
Not everyone is keen on technology (I am), so you have to choose what you feel comfortable with.

Eon are asking if we want one. I'm not bothering until they are compulsory.

We change suppliers annually or as soon as the fixed rate period is up and the meters don't work with the new supplier.

I think it might be like water meters, new builds have them but older properties have the choice.

We ended up with one as our meter was due to be changed. I don't think it's made a huge difference to the way we use power, but what it has done is massively reduce our monthly direct debit. We've just had nearly £200 refunded and direct debit is almost halved.

Elrel Not having the right type of meter is something to do with who "owns" the meter and who "owns" the pipe leading to the meter. It seems that Scottish Gas are responsible for one and some other company is responsible for the other. Have you ever heard anything so ridiculous? At every gas service, we ask the engineer to check our suitability and the answer always comes back "Not suitable"
Getting the smart meter wasn't any great upheavel, so don't worry about it. I too hate getting work down, got a new boiler last Friday and was pleasantly surprised at lack of upheaval.

Marydoll if yours is on the worktop then I assume that is a meter you have bought yourself to monitor your own usage. The smart meters that are being installed by the power companies to replace existing meters are a different kettle of fish. They are being paid for by the consumer but will save the power companies a fortune as they will no longer need to employ meter readers. If someone is not paying their bills they will be able to be cut off remotely, no longer any need to access the property. This is a concern as we all know how efficient some of these suppliers are and it has been questioned whether they could easily cut off the wrong account. I also think that once installed across the board we will see "tailored individual tariffs " imposed and premium hours rates -anyone getting ready for work at the same time as everyone else will pay a premium as will anyone getting home from work and cooking dinner at the same time as everyone else!

We are not having one, we keep on top of our usuage and change our supplier yearly.

Elrel The health concern is about the level of radiation that is emitted. If you Google, there are plenty of websites that discuss the issue. Of course, in the end, you have to decide who to believe!! My understanding is that, at the moment, having a smart meter is not compulsory.

Our Smart electricity meter was installed by Scottish Gas. We have a device in the kitchen that informs us of usage etc. We didn't install anything ourselves.

37p a day is £135 a year!!! That's nearly the same as the TV Licence. I know what I'd rather spend my limited funds on.

I resisted for some time. But there's really no downside for the consumer, they may make the system more effecient, and we're paying for them anyway from our collective bills.

We chose to have one as it gives a good indication of how much gas and electricity we are using. I don't think we changed our habits because of it, but it's interesting. I love that the meters don't have to be read as well and no estimated bills. I really don't think there is much of a radiation problem from them.

Every energy supplier has a different smart meter. They are not compatible. British Gas came and installed smart meter in our house. Six months later we changed our gas supplier and the smart meter no longer works as a smart meter.

Personally, unless you are a monumentally disorganised and energy wasteful person their advantages are over hyped. The main things that save energy are good insulation and good housekeeping: having thermally lined curtains, drawing them when the lights go on, not having the heating on longer than necessary, keeping the thermostat as low as comfortable, thermostatically controlled radiator valves, low energy light bulbs etc etc. These are the things that really save money, not rushing round the house turning (low energy bulb) lights off all the time..

I heard about health problems which were traced back to the installation of smart meters. Headaches, insomnia, all sorts of things, can't remember now, it was years ago.

We were instructed by nPower at the end of last year that an engineer was coming to fit a smart meter. I kept the relevant day free, engineer arrived, a charming man. When he came into the kitchen with the big black ugly contraption with a huge lead which is plugged in I was alarmed. It's not at all contemporary, I could see the lead would get in the way and wasn't at all impressed. I was told we didn't need to use it so that was it, it's bunged in a cupboard somewhere. Like an earlier poster mentioned, we know which appliances eat energy and we choose to use them. If I'd let my husband have his way he'd spend many a happy evening analysing the smart meter statistics and then instruct us accordingly. Oh no! I felt for the engineer when he then began his energy saving advice talk. In my own home! Without me requesting it! Oh now, enough was enough. He went off on his way to the next unsuspecting customer. All well and good, however the persistent emails keep on coming from nPower demanding we send in a meter reading despite the engineer assuring us the the meters send the readings automatically. The world's gone mad ........

As we are no longer with the supplier that fitted our mart meter we are back to supplying our energy company with meter readings every quarter. Like JS06, the user interface is at the back of a drawer somewhere.

Years before we had the smart meter, we had an 'Owl' on the kitchen wall that gave us the current consumption figures. All it did was confirm that we ran an efficient system, so after a couple of months that too ended up in the back of a drawer.