Compulsory smart meters?
- Thread starter Nanu
- Start date
Devon
Does anyone know if you have to pay to upgrade from SMETS1 to SMETS2. Mine was installed by British Gas in 2016 but unsure if they are required to upgrade as time goes on. I have lost connection on occasions about twice in that time which meant I had to contact them to reboot the hub remotely. I think the difference between SMETS1 and 2 is how they connect remotely.
Tim.
Tim.
Nanu said:
Good news then.
The companies can't Force you into taking a Smart meter, although some can be awkward or pushy.
I'm not a fan of them, personally. Too many stories in the industry if them being poorly made and or fitted,and going on fire as a result. Also,there is an element of big brother is watching you.
Re the fires,it was the same back when they brought the 17th Edition, amendment 3 out a few years back,(now on 18th Edition amd 2,as of this September),where the Plastic Consumer units were causing fires....even though a high percentage of those fires were concentrated in the South of England,and Poor quality units Or Poor Quality installation practices (slack connections,etc) were the main factors....yet they decided back then to introduce Expensive(at the time), Metal,fire retardant consumer units
In saying that,it now pales into Insignificance,with the new Afdds and Spd boards adding a Substantial cost!
Anyhoo, back on topic,Smart meters are Not a must.
At the summit of the picturesque fens
pvr said:
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.
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.
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.
pvr said:
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.
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.
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.
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. :thumbsdown:
:thumbsdown:
pvr said:
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
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.