EDF and smart meters

[alan_m]

The one where if you keep ignoring their letters results in a veiled threat that they will get a court order to gain entry by force - all written in red ink.

[Dave Plowman (News]

Quite. Don't see how a battery operated device could go online with a battery life of 10 years?

I've really not understood this. The ability to check your daily or weekly usage without fuss is very useful with the current high energy prices. And having readings sent in automatically.

other thing is, should a meter go faulty, you'll notice it right away. Not weeks or months later.

[Roland Perry]

In message [e-mail]>, at 15:11:45 on Wed, 22 Mar

2023, "Dave Plowman (News)" [e-mail]> remarked:

It only communicates with the hub, probably no more than 25ft away on average. The mains-powered hub then contacts the outside world (or not, depending on the weather).

[Jeff Layman]

You may remember when this con started many years ago how much it was going to help us save. It was hundreds of pounds a year IIRC. I didn't believe it then and I certainly don't now. I'm not going to turn the heat down if I'm cold, am I? I'm not going to turn off the light unless I like stumbling around in the dark. As much as there's a load of crap on the TV, I'm not going to turn it off to save 70W an hour if there's something I want to watch. Should I turn off that wallwart to save £10 a year, only to find my mobile isn't charged because I turned off the charger! And so on. Don't people know what they're using, and how much it costs?

Oh, and the much-vaunted savings seem to have disappeared into fairy smoke. This is from

: "Is it worth getting a smart meter? There are three main benefits to having a smart meter:

1. Complete control See how much you're spending in real time. This can help you make small changes to reduce your energy usage, as well as your bill.
2. Hassle-free Your smart meter will send readings automatically^(3)*. This way you'll get more accurate bills without leaving the sofa. (* the link to (3) states "Very rarely, your smart meter may be unable to send us an automated meter reading due to connectivity loss. If this happens we’ll try to contact you for a manual meter reading")
3. Low-carbon lifestyle Understanding where your energy goes will encourage you to think about your carbon footprint and how to live more sustainably."

So, for 1. we're now talking about "small changes". Where are the major savings they talked about? For 2., how many companies actually do this? I know they are increasingly doing it, but I thought many still don't do this. Why not? Why aren't *all* smart meter accounts done this way?Is that because, if they do it, they can only use a DD to pay them the correct amount, and can't make vast profits by using your money for their investments by overcharging greatly on DDs? And for 3., wow, that's a really great incentive thrown at us every day. I wonder what the carbon footprint is for the introduction of smart meters across the whole of the UK? And, as I pointed out in my reply to Roland Perry, all the present hubs will have to be replaced as they communicate by 2G and

3G, and those will be gone by 2033. More carbon...

So what? it'd be challenged in the same way that dumb meters are now if the reading seems unusually high when it's taken.

[Brian Gaff]

Well having had one for several years, I'd not be without it. The recent update at last tells me when the economy 7 times are and the tariffs. It was a bit annoying when the first meter expired the Christmas before last and would not switch tariffs, but since then, knock on wood all has been well and the accessible talking user display is working well. I like its big rubber buttons that you can feel with hard plastic between the sides. Brian

[alan_m]

They subsequently had to admit that the average saving was around £15 per year which was also misleading because more people were switching to CFL/LED light bulbs at the time which was nothing to do with the installation of a smart meter.

Yes, with a smart meter people can determine when and what is eating electricity but for a decade previously some companies were supplying those clip on coils and displays that did exactly the same for electricity. After the novelty had worn off in the first 48 hours of using them they stood on a shelf just displaying peoples usage based on their previous habits.

I have smart meters and do find them useful in that the in-house remote display is showing my daily/weekly/monthly spend on electricity and gas. Also my bills are not estimated and I can easily monitor my gas/electricity usage to a resolution of 30 minutes on my on-line accounts.

[Andrew]

I have a digital meter. It was installed by EDF in 1997, replacing the original whirly wheel one which was by then

23 years old.

[alan_m]

The hubs have to be replaced but not necessarily the meters themselves. By 2033 gas meters will have required their nominal 10 year batteries to have been replaced.

[Andrew]

Huge numbers of houses built in the 60's and 70's had combined meter and wylex fuse boxes fitted just inside the front door. These boxes were metal and had metal doors. Neighbour still has the metal door (some people binned the door and fitted a hinged mirror door instead) and a smart meter. I assume it still works even though enclosed in a metal box.

[Andy Burns]

My smart gas meter was fitted in mid-2011 and there's no sign of them popping round to replace the battery yet, the display still lights up brightly when I press the button.

[SteveW]

And the gas meter only communicates about every half hour.

[Andy Burns]

But it is doing ultrasonic volume measurement "constantly".

[Colin Bignell]

Do you know whether your assumption is valid?

[SteveW]

Is it or is it doing ms bursts every few seconds?

[Andy Burns]

Hence the scarequotes, I don't know how often it samples.

[David Wade]

I was sceptical, but I also love mine. When it goes into the Amber my wife checks what has switched on.

Dave

[Andy Burns]

I find it almost impossible to reduce loads and get mine to go into the green, last autumn when the price hikes kicked-in I did try to turn off my server PC as much as possible, but it's back to being on 24x7 now, too inconvenient to keep waking it remotely.

[Robin]

On some monitors you can change the levels they switch colour so as to get the possible benefit of a "this ain't just background" signal.

[Andy Burns]

Yes, I wish mine had that, but it's fixed at 200W, amber covers quite a wide range up to maybe 1kW before red kicks in for oven/toaster/kettle/tumble-dryer etc.

[Andrew]

A rolling daily average might be more useful, which gives you some indication of improvement or otherwise.

Can they do this ?