Smart meter

[2006holmwood]

OVO keep pestering me to have smart meters fitted, and as billing has changed from quaterly to monthly I am going to get them .

they want to know if I want it read every minute, day or once a month. which is best.

Cheers Mick.

[gaffa]

Eon kept pestering my mother to have a smart meter and no amount of correspondence saying she wasn't having one would dissuade them from continuing to push to fit a smart meter.

 

I found the best method was to send in meter readings once a month I just used to photograph her gas and electricity meter readings for record and log in to the on line account and type in the readings.

Much simpler and YOU have a record .

 

Smart meters are hairy (google them)and very unreliable .The display units are a farce and everything depends on network communications  so risk of lots of lost comms etc.

Also it doesn't help you the consumer only the supplier. So if yours doesn't work and you don't get billed for say 6 months even when you have notified them that you haven't received a bill that month and then an enormous bill comes through the post it comes as quite a shock.

 

My daughters smart meter for her gas supply has never worked due to communication difficulties,but after 5 years of no gas bills after they fitted a smart meter  they did a manual meter reading and expected her to pay a whacking great bill. Eventually a major portion of this was written off due  to their incompetance.

 

I have had one one fitted for a good number of years Lots of visits from Engineers to attempt to get it working long term.

It was fitted in a moment of weakness silly me.🙄

I take the odd readings now and again to ensure I am not being exploited😄

[plaicemat]

They are lauded as being the answer to lower bills and lower consumption, thus saving the world. I can't for the life of me figure out how they save power.

 

Terry.

[Jim]

If it's on it's using power.

If it's off it's not.

How flipping smart am I ??????

😄

 

[mw]

I have it every min then you can see what you are using and turn things off kettles and toasters will surprise you

[2006holmwood]

20 minutes ago, mw said:

I have it every min then you can see what you are using and turn things off kettles and toasters will surprise you

I only fill kettle with amount needed and don`t over boil, toast pops up when done.

not sure how I can reduce use of either.

[plaicemat]

39 minutes ago, mw said:

I have it every min then you can see what you are using and turn things off kettles and toasters will surprise you

This is the theory that when people see what they're using, they'll turn it off. So, no toast, no oven cooked dinners, no hot drinks. How many people turn these things on when they don't actually need what they produce?

 

Terry.

[Tarlach.]

Dont get a smart meter. The amount of calls I get to properties with no gas is amazing. And 9/10 are down to the meter locking it's self.
You are not legally entitled to have one. Just read your own meter and send the numbers once a month.
Also the displays that they use to tell you how much electricity you are using, use electricity . So straight away you are using more than before.


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[2006holmwood]

That answers all I need to know, not having smart meter .

Cheers all.

[alun j.]

smart meters only really benefit the energy providers.....for billing procedure.

[Steve S]

We have had a smart meter for at least a couple of years, no need to send in meter readings since, one less job.

As for the display it has been used to check how much an appliance is using occasionally, particularly when on standby.

The most satisfying thing is see it say 0 watts used when boiling a kettle on a sunny day, we have solar panels!

FYI over the year the solar panels generate more electricity than we use.

[2006holmwood]

1 hour ago, Steve S said:

We have had a smart meter for at least a couple of years, no need to send in meter readings since, one less job.

As for the display it has been used to check how much an appliance is using occasionally, particularly when on standby.

The most satisfying thing is see it say 0 watts used when boiling a kettle on a sunny day, we have solar panels!

FYI over the year the solar panels generate more electricity than we use.



 

Can you save what you don`t use or do you sell it back to grid.

[Newboy]

I love smart meters (when they work).

I have mine sending data every 30 mins.  By doing this you can also track your half hourly usage on their app or website, it tells you what and how energy is being used. You can fine tune your usage like hot water, I found that it's cheaper to hear my water with electric (I supplement it with solar panels).

Also you will need a smart meter if you move to certain tariff like ev or off peak tariff.

[Death Trap II]

22 hours ago, 2006holmwood said:

Can you save what you don`t use or do you sell it back to grid.

The current government slashed feed back tariffs that you used to get from solar. if you put a new solar installation in now, you get virtually nothing from feeding back to the grid, making it unviable for most.

if you want to store power, tesla have an off the shelf product called powerwall. giant batteries that you can store the electricity to use it when you need it during the night (but obviously pricey). But i have seen a few other providers coming to the market with similar products now too. 

[Steve S]

22 hours ago, 2006holmwood said:

Can you save what you don`t use or do you sell it back to grid.

I was an early adopter of solar panels, so what I get paid  (56p per Kw generated) is far higher than you get installing a system now, on the plus side installations are much lower cost now.

 

You can sell what you don't use back to the grid, however, using it to heat your hot water or charge a powerwall for use at night makes more use of it and the payment to feed into the grid is quite low compared to what you pay to buy electricity.

 

You would need to get it all costed up from a reputable installer, given the ever increasing cost of electricity and gas it's getting more and more attractive but it is still a long term investment, solar installations tend to be very reliable, unlike the sun!

[Death Trap II]

2 hours ago, Steve S said:

I was an early adopter of solar panels, so what I get paid  (56p per Kw generated) is far higher than you get installing a system now, on the plus side installations are much lower cost now.

 

You can sell what you don't use back to the grid, however, using it to heat your hot water or charge a powerwall for use at night makes more use of it and the payment to feed into the grid is quite low compared to what you pay to buy electricity.

 

You would need to get it all costed up from a reputable installer, given the ever increasing cost of electricity and gas it's getting more and more attractive but it is still a long term investment, solar installations tend to be very reliable, unlike the sun!

yup, the payback period has gone up significantly based purely on feedback tariffs.

 

i am looking at getting a powerwall installation when i eventually get round to doing extension works to get around this too.

 

Rough costing for two powerwalls (which would allow enough storage for heavy usage) and solar panels is between £15 and £20k. That used to work out at about a 10 to 15 year payback period, but with energy prices tripling, looks a lot better value right now.

[Newboy]

15 hours ago, Steve S said:

I was an early adopter of solar panels, so what I get paid  (56p per Kw generated) is far higher than you get installing a system now, on the plus side installations are much lower cost now.

 

You can sell what you don't use back to the grid, however, using it to heat your hot water or charge a powerwall for use at night makes more use of it and the payment to feed into the grid is quite low compared to what you pay to buy electricity.

 

You would need to get it all costed up from a reputable installer, given the ever increasing cost of electricity and gas it's getting more and more attractive but it is still a long term investment, solar installations tend to be very reliable, unlike the sun!

I too had mine installed years ago and has the original FIT tariff (50+p per kWh). The smart export guarantee/SEG hardly worth doing as it pays 4-5p per kWh exporting to the grid, bear in mind a 4 kw system will only generate around 20-25 kw in a cloudless day at peak of summer, so unless you cover every single inch of your roof with panels you will never recoup anywhere close to what you paid out. You are better off installing an iboost to use the excess power to heat your water.

I recently had 3 x 6.5kw growatt battery installed for 10k. I only had it for about a month, but it's working really well, my past consumption was about 6kw per day with help from the panels, now it's around 1 kw daily. Obviously in the autumn/winter/spring when the panels aren't generating as much electricity the usage will increase, but I'm planning to sign up to an EV tariff after the summer so I can charge the batteries off peak to use during the day. I reckon I can recoup the cost in about 7-8 years.

[Ohgreatone]

On 7/20/2022 at 8:37 AM, Death Trap II said:

 

if you want to store power, tesla have an off the shelf product called powerwall. giant batteries that you can store the electricity to use it when you need it during the night (but obviously pricey). But i have seen a few other providers coming to the market with similar products now too. 

 

We've got a duracell linked to our solar panels, had it for about 3 years, only issue is it does have a noisy fan.

[Steve S]

On 7/21/2022 at 12:38 AM, Newboy said:

I too had mine installed years ago and has the original FIT tariff (50+p per kWh). The smart export guarantee/SEG hardly worth doing as it pays 4-5p per kWh exporting to the grid, bear in mind a 4 kw system will only generate around 20-25 kw in a cloudless day at peak of summer, so unless you cover every single inch of your roof with panels you will never recoup anywhere close to what you paid out. You are better off installing an iboost to use the excess power to heat your water.

I recently had 3 x 6.5kw growatt battery installed for 10k. I only had it for about a month, but it's working really well, my past consumption was about 6kw per day with help from the panels, now it's around 1 kw daily. Obviously in the autumn/winter/spring when the panels aren't generating as much electricity the usage will increase, but I'm planning to sign up to an EV tariff after the summer so I can charge the batteries off peak to use during the day. I reckon I can recoup the cost in about 7-8 years.

Very good, that's the next step for me I think.

[Death Trap II]

On 7/23/2022 at 10:39 AM, Ohgreatone said:

 

We've got a duracell linked to our solar panels, had it for about 3 years, only issue is it does have a noisy fan.

thanks, managed to find a link to the costs of all the systems.

 

https://www.which.co.uk/reviews/solar-panels/article/solar-panels/solar-panel-battery-storage-a2AfJ0s5tCyT

 

seems like the latest power wall has the best per kwh price, plus it can be installed outside.

 

with our electricity price currently at £200 per month, the payback period on a total £10k system is substantially shorter than it was.

 

Plus, i cant see the cost of electricty coming down any time soon. Seems like a sensible investment right now.