smart

[Jim GM4DHJ ...]

just has my lecy meter read...the man said smart meters get read manually twice a year as a check...can this be true? ......

[Jethro_uk]

So that's one "saving" of smart meters pissed away then.

[Brian Gaff]

Well probably for the moment. I would not know they have not had much luck selling these as an idea to the public and if they cannot even produce a talking one after so long the whole idea seems to be a non starter. brain

[Chris Hogg]

My 'traditional' meter only gets officially read once a year as it is, twice a year in total - they rely on me to give the second reading every other six months. As a result I see no benefit in my having a smart meter whatever version number it is.

[Chris Green]

I'm not convinced ours even gets read once a year.

[Harry Bloomfield]

Jim GM4DHJ ... explained :

Yes, at least twice in my experience.

[Max Demian]

My "spinning disc" meter was last read in January 2017.

[Steve Walker]

For normal meters, where they rely upon estimated readings and customer readings inbetween, they are supposed to see the meters at least every two years. I would have thought that they'd want to cut visits to close to that limit with smart meters.

SteveW

[Steve Walker]

Spinning disc? Our last spinning disc one was replaced by an all electronic one, which in turn was replaced by another of the same type when it reached the end of its certified life.

SteveW

[Robin]

not since 2016 when Ofgem abolished that requirement

[Max Demian]

I can work out how much power I'm using by timing a single rotation. Which is all that 'smart' meters can do.

[Dave Liquorice]

Two of our meters are spinning disc dating from 1967 and 1980. Which would match the years those supplies where installed...

[Dave W]

Thames Water changed my meter recently because there was a bad leak around the old one (thankfully on their side). When I went to look at it I found it was a smart meter! I don't know if it has as much range as a mobile phone, but at least they would only have to drive past now without the bother of looking.

However the stopcock is now lower than the bigger meter, and I can't get my arm down to turn it. I complained and they said they would send me a key, but they sent a tiny plastic allen key that was obviously for something else. I complained again but got no reply, so I gave up and made my own out of a fence post with a groove in the end to go over the tap, which is incidentally now only a quarter-turn type.

[Steve Walker]

The electronic ones can give you the same info by timing the flashes of the led.

We have stayed away from smart meters so far.

SteveW

[Steve Walker]

Have the meters never been changed? They are supposed to replace them every 10 years or so, as the certification expires. The replacements can be the same type, just reconditioned/recertified.

SteveW

[whisky-dave]

No smart meters can record the data for viewing too, and you won't have to calculate anything. They can produce graphs and charts and do predictions or rather it's an app to do that , a friend is writing one at this very moment. A smartmeter can tell you how much electricity is being used at almost anytime of the day and night without you having to get out of bed find a torch and count revolutions of a disc at 3am.

Not that I'm saying this makes smarmeters better.

[Graham.]

"Check" is a euphemism for fraud prevention and the frequency of visits may well depend on where you live