We’re supposed to be having them fitted tomorrow, but Mrs H has been reading horror stories on the web about them. Anyone got them? any good or bad stories to tell?

No one lived to tell the tale….

The leccy one that I have seems to do its stuff. There’s a little red light that flashes intermittently, which is the only reason I notice it’s there.

What’s the mobile reception like where you are? We should have had an electric one fitted a week or so ago, the chap fitted it but couldn’t commission it because of the poor signal strength.

Mrs H has been reading horror stories on the web about them

Really? Like what? 😕

We’ve had a smart meter installed since Feb…we sat the ‘In-Home Display’ somewhere visible and vaguely watched it for the first few days, then it went in the draw and there its stayed with all the other odd electrical gadgets like the One4All remote 😐

Mobile reception is good, so no problem there.

@Nuke, gawd knows what she was looking at, I’ve found it best not to ask anymore 😀
We shall see tomorrow then, no horror stories here so that’ll do for me.

There seems to be lots on the internet about “aaaargh evil radiation, children and baby robins will die”, which seems a bit OTT given they just use boring old mobile data to upload once a day. The battery in gas meters is supposed to last for ten years, it must be a big battery if it’s frying your brains for all that time.

I like not having to worry about whether the meter reader is checking out the bikes in the garage as well as reading the meters.

They stop working when you switch suppliers, had them 5 years, not worked for 4

^^ this, I think the only benefit is to the supplier. It takes me 2 mins to take my meter readings and send them off via the phone app

I’ve not bothered so far because of the above. Each suppliers are different, so change supplier and it stops working. Until they all become standard seams pointless to me.

Although at some point soon all homes have to have them apparently 🙄

Yup, until it’s standardised I’m not interested.

Mrs H has been reading horror stories on the web about them

They can tell when your on holiday and [insert group of hate] will come round and rob you, they can also tell which bedroom you are in and if your watching TV, the TV power consumtion will change so they can tell what your watching too. Best order some more tin foil.

They can tell when your on holiday and [insert group of hate] will come round and rob you, they can also tell which bedroom you are in and if your watching TV

Enough about Theresa May and The Snoopers Charter, this thread is about smart meters…..

We bought a new build last September with one on the electric meter.
Seemed to work OK and displayed price etc.
Then I rang British Gas to formally register with them and select the most appropriate tariff. Since then it no longer actually displays the price and just shows £0.00. I’ve tried going through their customer service and resetting various times to no avail.
So, as being able to see how many units I’m using has not real world meaning to me, it’s now unplugged an shoved in the back of a cupboard somewhere.
I think to the domestic user they’re a novelty for a few weeks and then they just get forgotten and ignored.

It’s ludicrous bullshit. Smart meters are like plastic money, a great idea….if you sell/make them.

skids – Member

They stop working when you switch suppliers, had them 5 years, not worked for 4

Could you not just ask for a new one?

You still get somebody coming round every year to make sure you’re not on the fiddle.

We don’t really look at it tbh.

That incompatibility between suppliers is being solved now by a centralised/standardised company called Smart DCC. If you get offered Smart meters now, check they are compliant with this standard. If not, wait a bit for the reasons above. Think it’s mandatory later this year.

At the moment, and once the novelty of the in home display has gone, no more estimated bills is the only real benefit.

Had British Gas fit smart meter, main difference was the direct debit got put up from 75 quid to 100. Thanks welcome to smart!

Had them fitted by OVO a year ago, no issues here.
Fitted the Display on the wall behind my TV, it gets looked at probably once a week mainly to make comparisons with the previous week, month.
In contrast to the above post OVO suggested I decrease my monthly payment.

We read our meters monthly and get monthly bills (GB Energy) so there is no benefit to a smart meter. I can read my Leccy meter remotely via my iPhone using http://www.neur.io