Been offered smart meters fitted to my place.
Would this cause any problems with my kit?
Are they essentially the same as any meter or not?
Beware, the current generation of smart meters apparently only work with the supplier who supplied it.
Change suppliers and you have to change meters.
Wait for v2 -> https://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/oct/01/smart-meter-energy-saving-revolution-cut-bills-gas-electricity
Really, that seems like a bonkers way to approach a UK wide Government encouraged and funded scheme.
O wait that is exactly the kind of crazy way a Government backed scheme would work.
The internet of Things is not a standard, it’s a phrase to describe a clusterfuck of proprietary and open protocols and standards. Hence the smart meter issue. They are programmed to transmit data to the servers of whoever supplied them, rather than say a secure data broker.
Yay.
1 Like
Bloody Hell
Done a bit of reading, I can’t believe what I’m seeing.
Things are getting worse here what a completely ill conceived plan.
2 Likes
They just installed ours in the street in front of the house and wrote to us saying we’ll be charged according to the meter reading in future…cunts. 
I mean water btw…
Just looking at switching energy suppliers and the cheapest ha a condition that a smart meter has to be fitted within 6 months. So they can get fucked.
Yep. Recently found the same.
That is yer keynote speech right there. Then drop the mike, give the audience the finger and walk off muttering ‘where is the fucking bar?’.
5 Likes
They’ll have probably seen him in the bar beforehand.
They seem to be the answer to a question nobody has yet asked. There are certainly few to none consumer benefits to them at the moment, whilst being a potential security nightmare and data miner’s wet dream on the supplier side.
1 Like
Ours is using a SIM so presumably on phone data, it certainly isn’t on our WiFi network.
Reason for getting it was ease of meter reading.
So far it shows daily use around £1.00, my direct debit is £46 per month so I’m expecting a saving.
My supplier’s policy is to install the second generation ones when they’re available, as the first ones are fucking stupid
They keep calling me asking when they can they come round to fit them.
My standard response is "Well that all sounds very intersting so please send me all the information, specification, user manuals and a calculation of my anticipated savings based on my known energy usage and I will certainly look into it."
Never received anything yet.
1 Like
My ex-supplier rang me and wanted to install a smart meter, I agreed, then they said,
“we just need you to confirm some security details”
you rang me, you know who I am
I’m sorry sir it is a security issue
My security means that I never give out my details to unsolicited callers
but we can’t proceed without being sure that we are talking to the customer.
OK, Give me the number of my meter and the cost of my last bill
We can’t give out that information due to data protection
But I can’t proceed without being sure you are my energy supplier.
.
I haven’t got a smart meter and i have a new energy supplier.
5 Likes
I asked the same question on a forum and one chap who fits them said this
when you get a smart meter fitted, they will take out your old electric (dumb) meter and replace it with a new (smart) meter. All the wires go back it the same place so what ever set up you have will be completely unaffected. It’s very unlikely that you’ve two power supplies unless you live in a house that used to be two separate house that have been knocked into one house.
The smart meter will show you what energy your using in watts and in £££’s, although it wont show you what different devices use, you can easily work this out by having a look at the power usage is before and after turning on your Hifi. Bear in mind smart meters aren’t all of the same quality, some may be more accurate/reliable than others and it largely depends on how the energy supplier considers the smart meter role out. Those in favor, who can see the long term benefits tend to be fitting the better meters; whereas those who only see a big short term expense tend to fit cheaper, more basic meters.
There’s no reason I can see why a smart meter would cause any problem at all in terms of sound quality.
Incidentally my job is fitting electric and gas smart meters.
perhaps you can tell us when the 2nd gen ones are coming out?
I keep getting aggressive calls from EON saying I have to have one…
Lol
1 Like