[meldrewreborn]

@wevonbr

I get the strong impression that so long as the actual consumption is being accurately metered, suppliers are not that bothered that smart metering isn’t performing as advertised

[retrotecchie]

@meldrewreborn

According to @PeterT_EONNext, "A meters one and only job is to record the energy being used within the property. That's it." ~ Pete, December 2022

Anything over and above that is not a mandatory requirement. That job can be accomplished perfectly adequately by a non smart meter.

[PeterT_EONNext]

@retrotecchie That's right! 😄 it's important to make sure that everyone's bills are accurate and not over/under estimated, or that the meter isn't faulty in any way.

If anyone has a Smart Meter, they should be able to adequately check/monitor their usage closely though.


@wevonbr There are some issues at the moment with the displaying of tariff info after a change to some prices in January which are currently being updated, it sounds like this isn't related to your issue though. Do you have a HAN light that is flashing on your electricity meter's communications hub? This is what "talks" to your in home display, and if it isn't there, there may be another problem that will need to be addressed in order for the meter to communicate your real-time usage to the in home display.

[retrotecchie]

Originally Posted by PeterT_EONNext

@retrotecchie That's right! 😄 it's important to make sure that everyone's bills are accurate and not over/under estimated, or that the meter isn't faulty in any way.

If anyone has a Smart Meter, they should be able to adequately check/monitor their usage closely though.

My bills are always perfectly accurate thanks to me submitting manual readings regularly.

Anyone with an ounce of savvy is also able to track their usage closely enough using nothing more than a pencil and paper and a pocket calculator or even a very simple spreadsheet without a smart meter. In fact, I believe young @Mailman does this, even with a smart meter.

I'll lay money that my energy tracking without a smart meter is as good if not better than any smart meter that can't get it's act together with accurate tariff information!

I still have not seen one single piece of hard evidence to convince me of any benefit whatsoever that so-called smart meters bring to the consumer. Not one!

Posts on here have only continued to reinforced my belief that they often cause more headaches and problems to consumers rather than confer any actual advantages. I think @meldrewreborn is of a fairly similar opinion.

[Mailman]

Just to chime in WRT smart/non-smart metering.

For us consumers, monitoring and recording REGULAR meter reads is the key for taking ownership of one's usage. Without such regular reads you are literally stumbling around in the dark getting a wake-up call when unanticipated bills bills are generated and/or estimated readings are used. I totally agree that being smart/non-smart makes no difference if the customer is pro-active about how much they energy they use (and how they use it) and irrelevant if they don't.

The spreadsheets that I use have been going for over 4 years now and started when I had ordinary meters. They were generally easier to physically read except when it was pouring with rain and the gas meter was outside and at ankle height! In the early days they were just used to establish my Annual Consumption rather than relying on the supplier's often dubious EAC (Estimated Annual Consumption) and gave me good information in the days where there were plenty of decent fixed-price tariffs. The automatic reporting of meter reads (that I currently enjoy) only means that I don't need to grab manual reads and upload them online (not time-consuming at all as I check my online account assiduously every day).

For me the only real advantage is being able to monitor my daily usage faster via the IHD (energy used in kWh for both utilities) recording the previous day's usage in my spreadsheet, see if I am on target or better, and project what the monthly usage is shaping up to be and only then work out an anticipated £ cost. I go by the rates that I see in my account rather than the IHD. Many of the complaints on the IHD revolve them showing wrong tariff information but seldom do complaints revolve around the actual usage in kWh rather than in £. For those that need to budget on a £ daily basis having a wildly incorrect IHD tariff info is as useful as not having a working IHD! This is the reason why many of us bang on about budgeting in terms of kWh instead.

[meldrewreborn]

@retrotecchie

None of us is the same, we have different outlooks and priorities. While I don’t see any merit in smart meters for myself, I can see that other people find the in house display useful, and automatic meter readings save some effort. But I firmly believe that the so called benefits are illusory and the costs of the system, which are ongoing and significant, outweigh the benefits to consumers who are actually paying for it all

However I realise that the juggernaut will roll on and so I think suppliers must be forced to make the system work, something that can’t be said at present as at the last count 15% of smart meters were dumb. And even if the meters themselves are working and communicating that doesn’t mean that the IHD’s are functioning- we see the evidence here, and I suspect a lot of calls are made to customers services about them, clogging up the system so that other more important matters are not able to be addressed.

[meldrewreborn]

@retrotecchie

While you may not think so, most people are not prepared to manage their energy consumption as many of us here do. There is no right or wrong way to do things, and have to respect that.

People are able to make their own decisions and have their own priorities and abilities as to how to manage their lives, and their personal circumstances.

thank god we are all different - otherwise every criticism we made of others would apply to us as well.

[BillB]

I have the same problem my ihd isn't showing the correct information although the tariff changed months ago

[meldrewreborn]

@BillB

we suggest an email with “tariff update required” in the subject line and your account details in the message.

[wevonbr]

The IHD. But I have solved it and I am stupid. It's because the IHD was set to dual fuel.