[RainbowChazer]

I've been getting endless emails saying E-on want to fit a smart meter. They seem to be becoming increasingly abrasive too, unfortunately.

I know our current meters are old, but they stlll work. And in any case, my husband and I do not want a smart meter.

The emails say that 65% of people who have one are happy with them. That means over a third are not happy, and from the threads here it looks like most members here are in that number. These things are not smart at all. They're stupid and overly reliant on other services such as connectivity, which as we know is not a strength in this pit. Too many competing signals and too many areas where signal is low or fluctuating.

Does anyone know where I can find figures on how many people have been switched over, willingly or unwillingly? Compared to how many people have metered premises for electricity and gas in the country?

Is there any option to get a new meter that is NOT a smart meter? I am not willing to surrender control of my readings to a mere machine, especially while the meters we have here are working correctly. It's not a problem to submit readings monthly, but if we end up being incorrectly billed because the supposed 'smart' meter we are forced to have is not working correctly, then I can't see us getting back any money owed any time soon. More likely we'd be hit with a demand for a large amount that we would be unable to pay. Not through our fault but because the machine screwed up. Could really live without the extra hassle, if I'm honest.

[MonsieurRoo]

I am not here to convince you, but by your own logic most of the modern world must terrify you. Computers run the world. What's stopping the amazon computer charging you 10,000 for an item instead of 100? What stopping the computer controlling the plane your on to deciding you need to be at 10,000 ft and not 30,000?

Smart meters aren't perfect and the old ones were daft because you couldn't change provider, but the newer ones seem half decent and they take the faf out of having to constantly send in readings, though you can still submit readings manually if you want.

A lot of the people on here want things fixing, that doesn't mean to say they don't want a smart meter, they just want it to work better.

[meldrewreborn]

@RainbowChazer

you can have a smart meter work in traditional mode. There are statistics on the roll out of smart meters on the .gov website published quarterly the next set of figures are due out within 14 days. But just ever half of all meters are smart meters but 15% at the last count were in traditional Mede , that is dumb.
there are other downsides to smart meters like credit meters being remotely switched to prepayment so there are good reasons for being in the refusenik brigade.

[RainbowChazer]

@MonsieurRoo Actually, I am quite techy. I just don't adopt things simply because they are new. I wait to see what happens. In this case, I want to see these smart meters working better before I take one on. 65% of people liking them is not enough of a selling point. Nor is the take up among the rest of the population.

I've now done some digging and there seem to be around 23m smart meters fitted. On the figures E-on themselves give, around 15m of those are working fine, according to their owners. That still leaves 8m people who are unhappy with theirs. There are 67m people living in the UK. So that means only a third of the total population have one so far. Compare that to the numbers of people who own smartphones, or computers, or cars.

I'll wait on, I think. We're already paying enough for our energy, without adding a wayward meter to the mix!

[meldrewreborn]

@RainbowChazer

there are about 28 million households, almost all of whom have an electric meter, but somewhat less have a gas meter. So just over half of households have a smart meter - working or not.

EDIT make that about 29 million.

There are no statistics on how long meters have been dumb, which I would guess means that most of the dumb meters are SMETS1 meters that cannot be enrolled onto the DCC network. Also no data on the the types of problems causing meters to be dumb, nor any data on IHD issues, which given their prominence in the "Einstein" ads is surprising. To me the hype isn't lived up to in real life - and that represents false advertising. There are no performance standards relating to smart meters and if aspects fail after installation no compensation either - so long as they can still act as traditional meters do - provide a reading.

[RainbowChazer]

Originally Posted by meldrewreborn

@RainbowChazer

so long as they can still act as traditional meters do - provide a reading.

I think that's part of the problem though, isn't it? That at least some of the malfunctioning ones don't even provide a reading, from what I've seen. Some of them provide their own interpretation of a reading, which may not match the tariff the property is actually on. If the dumb smart meters at least provided a likely reading the owners could submit readings manually.

[meldrewreborn]

@RainbowChazer

the tariff details are irrelevant - so long as the meter provides a visible reading so that consumption can be measured - that's the factor. Once that is gone then a replacement is essential.

EDIT government stats here:

Smart meters in Great Britain, quarterly update September 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

[JoeSoap]

@RainbowChazer
Like @MonsieurRoo, I am not here to convince you. I too subscribe to the, 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it', mantra. My latest fight is against my internet provider who is trying to force full fibre on me. It also baffles me that some who want smart meters can't get them whilst those who don't want them feel as though they're being forced on them.

I fought against smart meters for a while until I was satisfied I would get SMETS2 meters fitted. I signed up so I could get a better fixed tariff... those days may come back soon. I now feel that most problems are with SMETS1 meters and as regards SMETS2 the problems are mostly around tariff updates and IHD issues. Although a nuisance, these issues do not leave you in a worse situation than you would have been if you had not had smart meters fitted and can be rectified.

I really like my smart meters and IHD. I have been able to download the Bright app to see my historical consumption and also have been able to participate in the DFS scheme which, for little effort, has seen several pounds credited to my energy account. Also, although energy saving is as simple as switching things off, the IHD and app has helped focus the whole household's attention on how much is being consumed in £££s every day and has helped reduce bills.

Each to their own, but it helps to get different views on such matters.

[Arms]

i've been looking at multiple tariffs for once my fixed ends. The ones I'm most interested in require a smart meter.

[meldrewreborn]

@Arms

My fix required a smart meter. It runs out 1 march. I still don't have a smart meter.