Current Eon Next and EDF customer, ex Zog and Symbio. Don't think dual fuel saves money and don't like smart meters. Chronologically Gifted. If I offend let me know by private message, but I’ll continue to express my opinions nonetheless.
Want a smart meter from E.On Next - try here!
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Level 9125-10-222240 views
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13 Replies
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26-10-22@meldrewreborn A great find here! If customers are eligible, this is the link they get sent to book a smart meter. 🙌
You've got strong views about not having smart meters and there are lots of people who feel the same. I'd love to know why people are apprehensive about them. Do you know why they might be? -
Level 9226-10-22Just my take @Beki_EONNext, but they are
Unreliable. Many of the posts on here are proof of that, but more than 30% of smartmeters are faulty or not communicating.
Reliant on a technology that has already been declared obsolete by the UK Government, other than systems in the top half of the country using LoRa.
Do not save customers any money whatsoever. The customer still has to physically act on any data provided by the IHD...and you really don't need a smart meter to be energy conscious. Any money savings benefit is aimed mainly at the energy companies themselves, not the punters. The mug punter pays for the whole sorry mess as part of their SC, in perpetuity.
The rollout has been a total shambles and at a cost of several £billion spread across all bill payers whether we have smart meters or not, is just a rip-off for the consumer.
They are not capable of anything more 'smart' than total current measurement, they cannot tell you use on individual circuits so other than recording total usage for your whole property, or instantaneous usage, they really don't give the consumer anything much that can't be done manually with a conventional meter. Yes, they can (or are supposed to) 'phone home' to the supplier, but if they can't do that reliably and consistently...
Oh, and the RF (ZigBee) protocol used to communicate between the meter, comms hub and IHD is already fighting for bandwidth in the overcrowded 2.4Ghz band used by Bluetooth, WIFI and any number of other wireless devices in common use within the home. Dual band hubs may be better on the 868Mhz band, to be fair.
But hey...just my personal views on why I think they are a waste of time, space and money. Other peoples mileage and opinions may vary.
Nothing personal against any of the 'pro faction', honestly. Especially you, @Beki_EONNext, @theunknowntech and all the other good folks from Eon.next.
Having worked in the electronics industry for over 30 years and coming from a precision measurement, telemetry and communications background, I just shake my head in exasperation at the whole badly thought out mess. If you really feel you want one of these things, don't let me put you off.Last edited by retrotecchie; 26-10-22 at 22:41.
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Level 9126-10-22@Beki_EONNext
The whole case for Smart Meters was flawed from the off. The saving in the business case will not now be achieved because the programme is running 5 years late, and in government appraisals money today is worth more than money tomorrow As the costs have been borne up front and the notional savings pushed back the system will never cover its costs. Many 1st generation meters still are dumb, and suppliers don’t care about getting non functioning meters on line again . Nor do they care about in home displays when they fail outside of warranty.
the holy grail of smart metering is time of use tariffs for electricity. I personally doubt that these will benefit customers, in fact I think they’ll increase costs
I think the war in Ukraine has probably contributed more to energy savings through pushing up prices than smart metering will ever achieve. Over to the rest of you. -
Level 9226-10-22
Which was developed and rolled out in the 1980s by the Electricity Council and has been running happily for 40 years already. In fact, it's still in use today. As of 2020, over 1.6 million MPAN's in the UK still have a time of use tariff based on the original Radio Teleswitch System. Economy 7 v2 was designed around that very system.Last edited by retrotecchie; 26-10-22 at 23:15.
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Level 9126-10-22I was averse to having a smart meter for a long time as I had never heard a good word said about them. I agreed to have one fitted in order to get a better fixed tariff rate and have never looked back.
It’s a nuisance when they don’t update automatically, as mine doesn’t, and I’m having a bit of difficulty this time. The electricity tariff got updated on request but not the gas so I’ve had to start my request process again.
That aside… I love my smart meters. My family can’t keep their eyes off that IHD and actually switch things off, cut things out or find alternative means of doing things to see lower £££ amounts on there at the end of the day.I'm an Eon Next dual fuel customer with no particular expertise but have some time on my hands that I am using to try and help out a bit. -
Level 4427-10-22I didn't want them but was essentially forced to in order to stay on the tariff I was on.
I've never believed that the £13 billion plus was ever worthwhile funding.
In the 10 months I've had them they haven't saved me a penny, simply because I read my meters regularly and I've been on top of my energy usage for years.
I still find the philosophy that customers need an IHD to show that it saves money if they switch something off, baffling to be honest.
I'm on E7 and it annoys me that the IHD doesn't give me either Day or Night readings, so I still have to go into the garage to get them. I could just rely on the readings when they're taken by eon-next but to be honest I wouldn't trust them and I'd rather read them myself.
I've also had the tariff not update on the IHD, and whilst I don't have the need to use the cost function on the IHD, I expect it to be right all of the time.
If I can't trust a simple thing like tariff updates to happen automatically and on time, then I ask myself what else can't I trust.
I've said this before but I'll raise it again. If energy suppliers really believed in the ethos of smart metering in terms of saving energy, and wanting their customers to save energy, then they would ensure that their customers always have a working IHD at no cost and ensure that it's always up to date.
Whilst I dislike them because they don't do anything for me, I can see that some customers will benefit from directly seeing what it saves in pounds and pence if they switch something off. It's where we are now today though, lowest common denominator and all that. -
Level 9227-10-22Offering cheaper tariffs as a 'bribe' for having a smart meter fitted is a shocking practice and should be outlawed. It's discrimination.
Especially against those who agree to the shenanigans, get all excited about saving a few quid a year, have an appointment to have a meter fitted....and are then told on the day 'oh, it won't work here. No signal...sorry.' and then have to lose your 'discount'. Or folks that live in no coverage areas, like large chunks of Wales. Mind you, we're generally discriminated against here in Wales anyway, when it comes to energy.
On the other hand, offering a slightly cheaper tariff to compensate for the nuisance, hassle and frustration they cause? That would be so much more honest!
I can offer a couple of positives though which some people get hung up on.
1. They don't 'cause cancer' or 'emit harmful radiation'.
2. They don't 'spy on you' and report back your every movement to the Government.
I am sure there are people out there whose experience has been nothing but positive. They've saved a bit of money, their meters have worked from day one and are still working perfectly. I've yet to meet one though...Last edited by retrotecchie; 27-10-22 at 09:08.
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Level 9127-10-22@retrotecchie the suppliers are under a remit to install smart meters - so the authorities are not going to prevent conditional tariffs.
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