Has anyone, anywhere had one actually supplied yet? Ofgen claim they are available but EDF who I'm with say they are not. Who is telling porkies. I have put my foot down with a firm hand and told them, I'm not getting a smart meter fitted until you can demonstrate to me you have and can supply a talking display. It is not rocket science heck, LLoyds and other banks have been giving away talking card readers for years.
Brian
A talking smart meter could well be useful to you, but if you want want it would be better to have a SMETS 2 meter which should still work if you move suppliers.
Michael Chare submitted this idea :
Last I heard, SMETS 2 are not yet on general issue yet - still only in the limited issue for testing purposes. Some SMETS 1's they say might be able to be upgraded to a SMETS 2 spec.,
I regard them a a security weakness as it allows the supplier to determine when the house might be unoccupied.
Michael Chare wrote on 29/05/2018 :
The entire days data is sent once per day, at around midnight. At best it only suggests when the house 'might' not have been unoccupied (past tense), rather than when it will be unoccupied. However, what use would such current knowledge be to an energy supplier, for those who are less paranoid?
They're supposed to be going to convert all SMETs 1s to be able to be used by all suppliers by October. I didn't say will...
Someone on the suppliers staff might make use of the information. Much less energy is used when the property is unoccupied. No fridge or cooking.
What and drive maybe 2-300 miles to burgle my home? Seems a bit of a long shot that anyone might even consider that being a viable way to determine when an address might be empty, when they could simply knock on a local door and see if anyone answers.
Another way would be to watch the gas flue for steam in winter. No steam, no heating on - potentially unoccupied.
In message , Michael Chare writes
I'm not convinced by that argument. When we go away, things like alarm, fridge and freezer are still running, as are lights and radio on timer. OK, we will not be running the washing machine or dishwasher, or have laptops etc. charging, so yes, our consumption would drop, but looking back (I take meter readings same day every month), the difference is not that obvious.
Graeme used his keyboard to write :
Yes, but - the smart meters are capable of logging the reading every
30minutes, which they then report back at around midnight. Differences between occupied and not occupied are very obvious, but only you and the suppliers staff have access to the data. So it seems rather unlikely to me, that anyone might bother watching my consumption as a means to determine the place was unoccupied to break in - quite simply, there are much easier ways to determine that.
Smart meter readings typically every half-hour.
When you are away, you will be using far fewer lights, no washing machine, no tumble-dryer, no electric oven or hob, no air-con (if you have it), fewer lights, no TV, no immersion heater. In a few years time, no car charging each night.
All very obvious.
SteveW
Before my meters went dumb after I changed supplier, I had the choice of half-hour, daily or monthly readings. AIUI, it's an OFGEM requirement to obtain customer consent for more frequent than daily readings.
Even daily would reveal a lot.
SteveW
Or anyone who has your login details for the suppliers site... B-)
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