Compulsory smart meters?

Nanu · Post by **Nanu** » Sun Oct 23, 2022 6:43 pm

I think you are spot on there.

Pondrew · Post by **Pondrew** » Mon Oct 24, 2022 1:20 am

pvr wrote: ↑Sat Oct 22, 2022 6:37 pm Funniest part is that the consumer unit has to be 40 cm from the ground so that disabled can reach it. Let’s not talk children here then but as it was 1.8 meters high it had to come down

Are you sure about that Paul; or was it a 'chancer' electrician trying to get more money out of your offshore account?

Last time I did a new electrical install (2017), sockets minimum 450mm above floor level, light switches 1200mm above floor level; no regulations on heights of consumer units.

Document M of building regs are for disabled access. The socket thing is for access, so is the light switches. Consumer unit; not there. It would be extremely stupid, and potentially dangerous, to have a consumer unit at that height.

A consumer unit (despite it's name) is not made for the consumer to use.

Pondrew · Post by **Pondrew** » Mon Oct 24, 2022 1:26 am

I really think some people are getting the word 'smart' confused with 'intelligent' here.

Smart (as far as technology is concerned) really only refers to being 'connected' to the internet or Wifi.

Your electricity or gas meter really isn't going to spy on you, or limit the power you use. We have Google for that.

Pondrew · Post by **Pondrew** » Mon Oct 24, 2022 1:41 am

pvr wrote: ↑Sun Oct 23, 2022 5:46 pm As you know, currently the "best' deals for elec are if you pay by DD only. What is the betting that the next thing is that smart meter only deals will start to make an appearance ...

Makes sense with the current high rates. They can 'monitor' your usage by the minute (mine is every 1/2 hour), so can see a pattern and change your DD accordingly. Nothing wrong with that. It could save you building up lots of credit as you have access to the data aswell via your online account.

I am now taking gas and leccy reading every week, making a note of them to see if my DD is too high, as I have a suspicion they are building a 'credit' amount which I'm not happy with.

Stevo1987 · Post by **Stevo1987** » Mon Oct 24, 2022 2:12 pm

Pondrew wrote: ↑Mon Oct 24, 2022 1:41 am
pvr wrote: ↑Sun Oct 23, 2022 5:46 pm As you know, currently the "best' deals for elec are if you pay by DD only. What is the betting that the next thing is that smart meter only deals will start to make an appearance ...

Makes sense with the current high rates. They can 'monitor' your usage by the minute (mine is every 1/2 hour), so can see a pattern and change your DD accordingly. Nothing wrong with that. It could save you building up lots of credit as you have access to the data aswell via your online account.

I am now taking gas and leccy reading every week, making a note of them to see if my DD is too high, as I have a suspicion they are building a 'credit' amount which I'm not happy with.

[/quote This is certainly what Bulb (who are in administration are doing).

Nanu · Post by **Nanu** » Mon Oct 24, 2022 7:54 pm

Pondrew wrote: ↑Mon Oct 24, 2022 1:41 am
pvr wrote: ↑Sun Oct 23, 2022 5:46 pm As you know, currently the "best' deals for elec are if you pay by DD only. What is the betting that the next thing is that smart meter only deals will start to make an appearance ...
Makes sense with the current high rates. They can 'monitor' your usage by the minute (mine is every 1/2 hour), so can see a pattern and change your DD accordingly. Nothing wrong with that. It could save you building up lots of credit as you have access to the data aswell via your online account.

I am now taking gas and leccy reading every week, making a note of them to see if my DD is too high, as I have a suspicion they are building a 'credit' amount which I'm not happy with.

Not 100% sure but I think they are only legally entitled to keep a max of £150 of credit or one months DD. We have asked for credit back twice now and each timee it hasn't been a problem with money being back in our account by the end of the month.

Mr Tidy · Post by **Mr Tidy** » Mon Oct 24, 2022 8:18 pm

When I moved house recently it already had Smart meters installed.

Supplier was Eon, who I was with at my previous house. When I called them with bank details to pay by DD they suggested paying the same amount each month, which is how the account gets to be in credit for much of the year!

I said I wanted the same as I had before, monthly DD but for what I've used based on readings. I'd rather have the money in my account that theirs.

MikeyH · Post by **MikeyH** » Mon Oct 24, 2022 8:30 pm

We are with eon and they changed our meter over because it was leaking gas a little. Something was wrong with the change over however and eon didn't get the readings for both. This caused one hell of a hassle as they were charging by the square metre and now the square foot or the other way around. I don't know but my poor wife spent weeks and hours pouring over the dam bills, trying to get the useless bast*rds to sort it out as our bill shot up as did our DDs. Luckily my wife is a very persevering soul and would not give up so eventually it has been sorted out. So NO I don't want to have the bl88dy thing changed again for some stupid so called smart thing.

Pondrew · Post by **Pondrew** » Mon Oct 24, 2022 9:58 pm

Maybe some of the 'older' members would be re-assured if the energy companies offered 'smart yards' instead of 'smart meters'

I know; I'm hilarious.

Pondrew · Post by **Pondrew** » Mon Oct 24, 2022 10:00 pm

Nanu wrote: ↑Mon Oct 24, 2022 7:54 pm Not 100% sure but I think they are only legally entitled to keep a max of £150 of credit or one months DD. We have asked for credit back twice now and each timee it hasn't been a problem with money being back in our account by the end of the month.

I know this may sound strange but EDF only give the option of increasing my DD on their website, not reducing it.

Must be an oversight on their part.

If I get a spare couple of days I may ring them and ask.

pvr · Post by **pvr** » Wed Nov 09, 2022 10:55 am

Going back to this - how do they remotely switch it off as per below article if it is only a meter? I understand they can just change the tariff but you don’t need a meter for that.

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MikeyH · Post by **MikeyH** » Wed Nov 09, 2022 4:05 pm

I have also seen or read somewhere that the energy companies can raise or lower the cost per unit depending on the consumer’s usage at different times of the day.

smorris_12 · Post by **smorris_12** » Wed Nov 09, 2022 7:59 pm

pvr wrote: ↑Wed Nov 09, 2022 10:55 am Going back to this - how do they remotely switch it off as per below article if it is only a meter?

These are pre-pay meters (which inherently include the switch gear) that have been reset to run as credit meters being switched back remotely to pre-pay mode.

Now this is an interesting question about what comes as part of a standard smart meter nowadays. I've been assuming they're credit only. It's not occurred to me to look to see if they include the pre-pay gubbins instead.

Prepay meters have switching gear in them

pvr · Post by **pvr** » Wed Nov 09, 2022 9:43 pm

The article seems to imply that a “normal” smart meter was switched to a pre pay meter remotely. That would mean that the gear has to be in every smart meter I guess as it would be a bit odd that only suspect customers would get a smart meter which could be remotely controlled.

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