While our smart meter monitor is too old to display the tariff explicitly, it does take account of changes in rates. And the latest monitors do offer an direct display. See eg
As regards data protection, the industry has naturally been consulting the ICO about the manifest issues (including eg especially sensitive issues such as how to identify people who might need particular help to use smart meters). So - while I accept entirely there are risks with smart meters, and that their potential benefits have been hyped - I don't think the industry have been total numpties.
I've been using E.on for six years. They have bene pretty good, revising the DD twice a year, always reasonable values. They usually end up owing me a bit at the end of the mild winters we've been having, but I get an automatic bank transfer around Aprile each time.
I do switch a lot to retain the best tariff, but that's OK.
The meter/display also knows which particular tariff to use which is data specific to that particular supply.
Which they already transmit to PAYG smart meters - else PAYG smart meters wd not be able to display how much credit the customer has left. And they do that. See eg
Sorry. Please scrub the example above. I grabbed it at speed. Coming back I see it is an internet-based system.
For a PAYG smart meter which does not use the internet but does display credit see eg
"If you have a Smart PAYG meter, it acts in the same way to send meter readings to your supplier, and it also uses those readings to work out how much energy you?re using. That means you can view your credit balance ? as you do with other pre-payment meters ? and check when and how much you need to top up."
"Another good thing is you can see your remaining credit and how long it might last right in front of you on your smart energy monitor. "
PS They do bury in the fine print that the remaining credit on a smart meter for gas is subject to adjustment later for the actual calorific value of the supply. But that is usually no more than a few pence.
Same here (longer since when they were powergen). People moan about the "big six" but I have no problems with them.
I've taken every tariff change that's saved even a few quid they've made available (either direct or through the Martin Lewis thing) in the hope that it sends them some sort of message that I'll leave if they cease to have the best deal available.
I notice that BP(?) are having to shut down the UK's largest gas storage down until next spring, so if anyone's not got a price fix until at least then, now might be a good time ...
Centrica and the Rough Storage Facilty. 70% of the UK's storage capacity and capable of supplying about 10% of the peak gas demand.
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Spring! It was going to be shut for 40 odd days about a fortnight ago and there was some doubt about having enought time to fill it before the winter. If it's going to shut until spring that could make things very interesting, taking into account how much we now rely on gas for electricity generation.
I have just been in touch with OVO, about the Smart Meter simply incrementing the amount I owe them, without taking any account of what I have paid. Their response was to just ignore that displayed amount, it was intended to be a general purpose indoor display, but it has limited use in many respects - one being for the current bill. Rather I should use their web site, which seems quite useful and accurate.
There is no way for me to reset the value, the only time it might change is when they change the tarrif.
I had also been wondering, why if I requested 30 minute updates, there seems to be no means to see any 30 minute consumption figures - so I asked. Their reply was that it had been wrongly set at their end, to just grab a daily total from the meter, hence their site could only show me daily/weekly/yearly consumption figure graphs.
They have now set it to what I asked for, readings every 30 minutes. They say it will not report back any more often - it reports back once every 24 hours, with a full days batch of figures taken every 30 minutes.
Prior to the SM installation, their site offered a 'useful' comparison of my consumption versus an average for similar properties to mine. Since the Smart Meter was installed, that comparison has gone completely - I can only compare my current figures against my previous figures and only since the SM's were fitted.
Being rather anal about such things, the comparison against others seemed useful.
Depends, I think it's pretty much garbage-in, garbage-out, eon compared my usage (1.5MWh/y elec and 11MWh/y gas) with other supposedly similar or greener customers in a rather "sniffy" tone, so I kept adjusting my profile (1 occupant, 7 bedrooms, no heating, to 5 occupants, 2 bedrooms, washer dryer, electric heating, etc) to screw their their figures ...
BTW just checked their website, 1yr and 2yr fixed deals currently available are 33% higher than my current fix :-(
Judging by the recent news stories of how many people you can get into a semi, you could really screw them up by stating there are 26 poles in the house. Brian
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