Anyone smart enough to talk about 'leccy meters?

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simonineaston
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Anyone smart enough to talk about 'leccy meters?

Post by simonineaston »

Turns out I have a so-called smart meter. At the week-end I dug out old tech - a clamp and an energyhive hub, but the contact at the end of the tech support email address told me it was old and I should get a smart meter which are in some unspecified way, better... anyone know about smart meters and their benefits? What does it do that might benefit me, as opposed to the supply company?
(original picture is portrait...)
(original picture is portrait...)
As can be seen, the original supplier was e-on and predictably I no longer use them. I bet a whole shiny 10p that there will be issues with supplier B, C, D etc using a smart meter from supplier A - I can just feel it in my bones... ! ;-)
S
(on the look out for Armageddon, on board a Brompton nano & ever-changing Moultons)
Jdsk
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Re: Anyone smart enough to talk about 'leccy meters?

Post by Jdsk »

Have you got access to Which??
https://www.which.co.uk/reviews/smart-m ... cle/guides

Jonathan

PS:
IMHO It's an essential piece of technology for the future and the implementation in the UK has been appalling.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_met ... _in_the_UK

Jonathan
Last edited by Jdsk on 18 Apr 2021, 8:56pm, edited 1 time in total.
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simonineaston
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Re: Anyone smart enough to talk about 'leccy meters?

Post by simonineaston »

Thanks - am able to read the text on the linked Which pages :D I see this jolly snippet
Switching supplier when you have one can cause it to revert to being a ‘dumb’ meter, and you’ll have to submit meter readings again.
Looks like my 10p is safe...
S
(on the look out for Armageddon, on board a Brompton nano & ever-changing Moultons)
ClappedOut
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Re: Anyone smart enough to talk about 'leccy meters?

Post by ClappedOut »

Smets 1 caused problems
Smets 2 allows supplier moving

Work in the industry and zero customer advantage, it allows remote disconnection,
time of use charging and as Gov docs state it is to reduce or delay infrastructure costs.

Won't have one
Last edited by ClappedOut on 18 Apr 2021, 9:34pm, edited 1 time in total.
rjb
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Re: Anyone smart enough to talk about 'leccy meters?

Post by rjb »

Plenty of info here from a previous post. Should tell you everything you need to know. Yawn. :roll:
viewtopic.php?t=141616

However that smart meter you have looks like a prepayment meter. Info here on this link.
https://www.uswitch.com/gas-electricity ... nt-meters/

Your meter although called smart may not be as smart as that implies. The smart bit enables it to communicate with your supplier so it knows how much money your putting in it.
https://www.jsgsolutions.co.uk/landis-g ... oring.html

If you don't have an in home display it may not be communicating on the Smets 1 or 2 system which is what the term smart metering generally refers too. Speak to your supplier for the definitive answer.
At the last count:- Peugeot 531 pro, Dawes Discovery Tandem, Dawes Kingpin X3, Raleigh 20 stowaway, 1965 Moulton deluxe, Falcon K2 MTB dropped bar tourer, Rudge Bi frame folder, Longstaff trike conversion on a Giant XTC 840 :D
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Mick F
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Re: Anyone smart enough to talk about 'leccy meters?

Post by Mick F »

Get yourself a key meter.
Ours was already fitted when we bought the place back in 1997. Swapped suppliers a couple of times, but we never get bills, no guesstimates of usage, no direct debits ............ PAYG is great, and no complaints whatsoever.
Mick F. Cornwall
ANTONISH
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Re: Anyone smart enough to talk about 'leccy meters?

Post by ANTONISH »

ClappedOut wrote: 18 Apr 2021, 9:15pm Smets 1 caused problems
Smets 2 allows supplier moving

zero customer advantage, it allows remote disconnection,
time of use charging and as Gov docs state it is to reduce or delay infrastructure costs.

Won't have one
That sums it up. The excitement of watching your electricity consumption will soon fade.
rjb
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Re: Anyone smart enough to talk about 'leccy meters?

Post by rjb »

I've been trying to get a smart meter installed for several years and different suppliers. We live in a mobile not spot so suppliers seem reluctant to fit them here. Initially the ones fitted to our neighbours have never worked. :(

The point about interruptible energy and variable pricing which smart meters will be capable of doing will depend upon what tariff customers sign up for. During the beast from the east large industrial energy consumers who had signed up to interruptible energy deals to get cheaper prices were complaining when they were cut off to keep the lights on for domestic customers. Serves them right in my view. :lol:
At the last count:- Peugeot 531 pro, Dawes Discovery Tandem, Dawes Kingpin X3, Raleigh 20 stowaway, 1965 Moulton deluxe, Falcon K2 MTB dropped bar tourer, Rudge Bi frame folder, Longstaff trike conversion on a Giant XTC 840 :D
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Ride-sleep-repeat
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Re: Anyone smart enough to talk about 'leccy meters?

Post by Ride-sleep-repeat »

Mick F wrote: 19 Apr 2021, 9:01am Get yourself a key meter.
Ours was already fitted when we bought the place back in 1997. Swapped suppliers a couple of times, but we never get bills, no guesstimates of usage, no direct debits ............ PAYG is great, and no complaints whatsoever.
Wasn't there some evidence that those on Key-meters were charged more overall for their usage?
Many low-income/unemployed use this method and it was alleged they were being penalised for being 'poor' IIRC?
Oldjohnw
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Re: Anyone smart enough to talk about 'leccy meters?

Post by Oldjohnw »

We have had a wholly negative experience of both smart meters and eon.

We were with eon for a number of years when we discovered that our readings were odd. We eventually discovered that they were mixing us with our neighbours. It took over two years, the involvement of the regulator and MP, and a court threat for the situation to be resolved.

We were not able to leave eon immediately and were persuaded to have a smart meter installed. The contractors, Morrisons, insisted that they were only able to install a MK1. I initially refused but was persuaded that it would be updated by the end of the year. That was over two years ago.

We changed supplier but have to submit readings. The smart meter simply doesn't work.
John
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Re: Anyone smart enough to talk about 'leccy meters?

Post by thirdcrank »

rjb wrote: 18 Apr 2021, 9:28pm Plenty of info here from a previous post. Should tell you everything you need to know. Yawn. :roll:
viewtopic.php?t=141616
I've already read that. By coincidence, I've started receiving emails saying they want to fit us with a smart meter.

The following has put the wind up me a bit because we have just been sold to EON by our previous supplier NPower.
We were with eon for a number of years when we discovered that our readings were odd. We eventually discovered that they were mixing us with our neighbours. It took over two years, the involvement of the regulator and MP, and a court threat for the situation to be resolved.

We were not able to leave eon immediately and were persuaded to have a smart meter installed. The contractors, Morrisons, insisted that they were only able to install a MK1. I initially refused but was persuaded that it would be updated by the end of the year. That was over two years ago.
A complication for me is that we have solar panels - fitted 2011 so top payments. The NPower admin at the time was appalling. The two initial problems were that they paid our money to somebody else and they didn't take account of our electricity meter going backwards, even though the installer had insisted on filling in the relevant part of the form himself and signing it in case I involved him in some fraud.

I sorted out the money by persistently and politely pressing for my money. I reported the meter to everybody who would listen but it only came to a head when their computer couldn't cope. That was after a couple of years IIRC. Anyway, one morning a chap who might have been a prop for the All Blacks turned up looking grim with a new meter. It slowly dawned on me that he was one of the team sent to deal with naughty people who fiddle their meter. Once I'd explained what had happened, he explained that the people in the office were clueless, which I had already realised.

The Which advice is to notify the supplier you have solar panels before having a smart meter fitted. Eon seem to have no obvious way of doing this so I'm in wait-and-see mode. "High pressure in charge" here, as the countless weatherpersons say, so the sun is shing and the bunce is clocking up a treat.
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simonineaston
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Re: Anyone smart enough to talk about 'leccy meters?

Post by simonineaston »

...the take-away fact seems to be the suppliers work pretty much in isolation and that they will not carry out any of their 'promises' unless forced to and even then, they won't do it very well. What they do appear to do quite well is overcharge customers and then hang on to their overpayments... Cheers, Mrs T - thanks for nothing!!
And while I get that low-income / low social banding customers may represent a higher risk, with respect to payments, it cannot be right that the supplier's reaction to that is to raise the cost of the product for the customers perceived to be the highest risk.
S
(on the look out for Armageddon, on board a Brompton nano & ever-changing Moultons)
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Mick F
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Re: Anyone smart enough to talk about 'leccy meters?

Post by Mick F »

Ride-sleep-repeat wrote: 19 Apr 2021, 11:18am
Mick F wrote: 19 Apr 2021, 9:01am Get yourself a key meter.
Ours was already fitted when we bought the place back in 1997. Swapped suppliers a couple of times, but we never get bills, no guesstimates of usage, no direct debits ............ PAYG is great, and no complaints whatsoever.
Wasn't there some evidence that those on Key-meters were charged more overall for their usage?
Many low-income/unemployed use this method and it was alleged they were being penalised for being 'poor' IIRC?
Probably.
Not bothered anyway.

The advantages outweigh the disadvantages as far as we're concerned.
Maybe we're a bit different?
Cut our own trees down for the woodburner, and buy bags of anthracite for the cooker. Both the cooker and the woodburner produce enough hot water and heating, we could export it.

Lecky is used for lighting, the fridge and the freezers, and sometimes the lecky cooker.
Anthracite is PAYG of course, so why not lecky?
Mick F. Cornwall
Oldjohnw
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Re: Anyone smart enough to talk about 'leccy meters?

Post by Oldjohnw »

I spent a number of years on the board of a poverty advocacy charity. One of our major campaigns, significantly successful in Scotland, was to reduce fuel poverty, which was based around the loaded tariff on those who had PAYGO meters, which usually meant that the poorer you were the more you paid for something essential such as electricity.
John
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Mick F
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Re: Anyone smart enough to talk about 'leccy meters?

Post by Mick F »

Yep, probably true, and I'm not commenting on this.

I'm saying that in our situation, a smart meter is pointless, and a key meter works well, so don't dismiss the idea.
Mick F. Cornwall
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