OVO plan offers

[Davey]

I have just received an offer from OVO to fix my electricity rate for a fixed term, of 1 or 2 years. They estimate my monthly cost for each of these plans, with £1 per month difference (the 2-year option is more than the 1 year option) and then also for my current plan. It is obviously difficult to predict future prices, price caps, and weather conditions, but the figures they quote show my current plan to be £3 per month cheaper than the cheapest of the Fixed options. Also, the fixed plans require me to have a 'smart' meter installed. I have never been impressed with the reported reliability of these things, and the BBC News item this morning did nothing to change my mind. But here is also the bribe of a £100 refund for having a 'smart' meter, which would cover a lot of £3 months. I think I will remain on my current Plan, with my existing meter. It might turn put to be the wrong choice, but it is the simpler. But there again....

[Jonathan]

They offeredrd me a similar thing which involved going to direct debits, so I have ignored it.SSE were so much better.

Jonathan.

[Jeff Layman]

I saw a similar offer from EDF last month, fixed price for one or three years. Also linked to smartmeter installation. I didn't look further, but it might have been tied to accepting DD as well. That's not going to happen as I won't allow them free access to my bank account (

).

[alan_m]

And I'm sure that you can find similar stories from the past long before smart meters and where inappropriate legal action was taken against those where the billing was widely inaccurate.

[Peter Johnson]

I didn't, and won't, hear the BBC item, but is the meters that are defective, or the in-home displays? There's a thread about the latter on uk.legal.moderated.

[Tim+]

Unreliable or not, the power companies are under obligations to fit them.

If they start getting fined for not fitting them we’ll all end up paying those fines through our bills.

For me, a smart meter is essential to my electricity budgeting and as my current one isn’t working it’s a total pain in the bum when I could be getting paid handsomely for exporting during the current saver sessions.

Tim

[Andrew]

If by refusing, all those cheapskate switchers end up with higher bills, then thats fine by me. Serve 'em right

[Tim+]

Except it wouldn’t be targeted. Standing charges for everyone would go up.

Tim

[alan_m]

Those who switch are likely to be the ones that have no objections to smart meters, monthly DD and paperless billing. It's those customers that the utility companies probably want to attract and will offer the better deals.

The customers they don't want are those who don't pay by DD and don't want smart meters.

[Davey]

Why should I have a 'smart' meter installed? I cannot see what advantage it would give me, I read and log my meter reading every morning. I cannot see why subjecting myself to a dubious technology would improve my lifestyle. There are many, many stories of these things failing. It is the government's fault for insisting that the companies fit 'smart' meters, I still don't see why I need one. I have successfully changed my useage patterns based on MY readings. If not for my benefit, whose? How?

[Tim+]

Indeed there are. Without a smart meter though you’re stuck with “dumb” tariffs which will become increasingly expensive as the drive to persuade consumers to “time-shift” their consumption away from peak demand periods increases. If you ever buy an EV a smart tariff will almost certainly save you money. If you toss in solar and batteries you’d be insane not to be of a smart tariff if possible.

Reading a standard meter daily is absolutely no substitute for half hourly readings collected by your power company. You may well know your daily consumption but you will get no reward for time shifting your load to off-peak times.

Tim

[Jeff Layman]

Of course, it was all a lie from the start that it would save us all money. It was supposedly part of the movement to save energy by making you aware of what you were using, and so would save you money if you turned it off. Well, that might have worked for a fraction of people who never turn lights off or have their room heating at tropical temperatures all the time. But for most people, if you want to watch TV you turn it on, and off when you've finished viewing. If you want to light a room at night you turn it on, and off when you no longer need it. Etc, etc.

It's cost us /all/ money for this poorly-implemented installation, and it's now an albatross round the neck of the energy companies. I would be reasonably content if the damn things worked all the time and sent a monthly/quarterly reading to the company who would then bill us for what we've actually used. Yes, some companies do have tariffs which do exactly that, but why so few this many years on? If I was cynical (moi?) I'd say it allows them to use our money paid for by excessively high DDs to line their coffers by investing it at high interest rates for *their* benefit.

[charles]

Ignoring your questiom - what harm would it do to you?

[Tim Lamb]

In message [e-mail]>, charles [e-mail]> writes

Perhaps it is just to save the cost of meter readers? The Water suppliers would clearly like something similar:-(

>

[Davey]

I will ignore your ignore until you have answered my question.

[Davey]

I agree that the suppliers will keep loading costs onto non-'smart' meter users. Unfairly, in my view, but that is rather the fault of the government than the suppliers for insisting on this device.

There is no chance that I will buy an EV, unless my current car dies before I do., or I cannot drive any more, I am of an age, and the car is young enough, that I do not think that will happen.

There has been no mention in the OVO e-mails of any economic benefits to me of time-shifting, it has not been mentioned, so I have reason to consider it.

I am extremely unlikely to install solar panels on my several-hundred year old thatched house. Even if the Council or natural England allowed it, which I doubt, but also it would require extensive work to build a support framework for them. 'Ugly' does not even begin to describe the visual effect that solar panels on a thatched roof would have.

And as far as I can see, so far, the meters' reliability to send half-hourly readings to the Mother Ship is still an unproven technology.

If I agreed to go with one of their plans, and have a 'smart' meter installed, would they agree to my legally-binding add-on clause about how they would respond to and rectify any problems that occurred with the meter? And if not, if they are so reliable, why not?

[Chris Green]

Unnecessary cost.

[charles]

I benefit from overnight cheap electricity used for charging my car. Also, if it's sunny, my solar panels export power. A Smart meter allows for these benefits.

[alan_m]

So far, since having a smart meter it hasn't failed to send the data to the utility companies.

Octopus are experimenting with sending electricity readings at one minute intervals over the Internet. I have one of their devices plugged into their system at the moment and can see near real time (electric) consumption.

https://octopus.energy/blog/octopus-home-mini/

And what legally binding add-on clause have they agreed to with your traditional meter?

[charles]

What cost?