Cable Forum - Smart meter

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Sounds like time to move supplier.

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Originally Posted by Paul (Post 36068640)

Sounds like time to move supplier.

My brother suggested Octopus, but their good tariffs all rely on smart meters too. I suspect most will be demanding you have one soon enough.

I am with Octopus and do not have a Smart meter. They have never put pressure on me to have one.

Providing you are prepared to read your own meters monthly and send in the results via their website (with the chance to win a prize - I once got £1 off my bill!) I can recommend them for reasonable prices and good customer service via email.

Quote:

Originally Posted by oliver1948uk (Post 36068660)

I switched from Octopus, all very nice website/gimmicks, but price is everything and switching is easy.

As for smart meters, none of my cheapskate suppliers has ever bothered me about them.

Quote:

Since installed our electricity bills are 70% higher

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Of course it's possible the previous meter was reading low

If your previous meter was very old or a mechanical one, it could well have been under recording.

You also mention that you have daily readings. Has the consumption gone up, as well as the cost? For a lot of people, price changes coincided with meter exchanges.

Octopus and smart meters

I am with Octopus and have no reservations recomending them. I don't have, nor do I want, a smart meter and, apart from a Smart meter option on my dashboard, they have never pushed me to get one. I like the way I can generate when I get a bill and have a running balence. If you do decide to go with them then let your brother link you to the site and you both get £50. win/win.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tali (Post 36068768)

Yes is the consumption that has gone up by a huge amount. The old meter was electronic and not that old. Gas usage pretty much as expected with teen daughter wanting daily showers off the boiler (she doesn't like the electric one in our bathroom).

IIRC R4 "You and Yours" had found that some old models of Siemens smart meters had a program flaw that added the electricity that you send to the grid to that which you used and billed YOU for both instead of crediting you for your generated.

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Originally Posted by tweetiepooh (Post 36068402)

I hate our smart meter. Since installed our electricity bills are 70% higher. It's been replaced once (10% high reading to monitored). The techie checking meter blames our solar PV inverter saying it's drawing lots of current. A solar PV company we called (installer of ours when out of business) says that's nonsense as inverter will use DC from panels. Our system is still working well (over 100% according to BG) but something is odd.
We have daily readings since 2012 so can see the jump from when smart meter installed. I think I need to get Which? involved as trying myself is going in circles.

(Of course it's possible the previous meter was reading low or supply up to inverter didn't go via meter so if it is drawing wouldn't get monitored but even then it shouldn't draw that much surely.)

Had smart meters installed a few years ago and my bills didn't go up at all.
Changed supplier twice since having them installed and still not had increase in bills apart from standard tariff increases, but that's when it's time to change!