British Gas smart meters, a warning.

[UncleFester]

The only way you can make your residence physically cheaper to heat / light is to USE LESS ENERGY TO DO IT.

Either that or get cheaper energy.

A smart meter will do fuck all other than to confirm this. There is no way it can do it for you.

And unless you address the reason your residence costs a fortune to heat ( which will also cost money ) you won't be any better off.

It's snake oil and nothing more.
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Module 1 and 2 passed - October 2014. Happy owner of a 2017 Z1000SX, ex owner of a YBR125 / CB500 / VFR800.

[garth]

They've now based my usage on the last month (since the meter has been installed) brought both readings up to date, and refunded me £265.

£115 for gas and electric since December. 2 bed semi. I don't use alot.
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You ain't a has been if you never was

[Bozzy.]

[grr666]

Oh they can alright. But when they are running the National Grid at over 90% all of the time then they need some
way to get people switching stuff off if no more power stations are forthcoming. Artificially inflating the price of a
modern day necessity such as electricity seems a good way to get the skinflints running round taking things off standby
and unplugging appliances which in turn reduces the pressure on the creaky, delapidated, barely sufficient grid.

Ultimately, they are after individual pricing plans. Do you know how much your next door neighbour pays per
KWH for electricity? Me neither. So it's fair to say that if they pulled your or my pants down on the price, we
would have absolutely no idea if you or I are getting a better deal. It's a licence for them to take the living piss
out of those who they have deemed they can get away with ripping off via the information these smart meters are
quietly gathering on the side as well as metering the electricity. And there's NO WAY that I the consumer can tell
if I am getting the same prices as the bloke over the road, which if you think about it suits the utility firms just
fine thank you very much. They will profit very nicely and I'm sure they have already run those numbers.

It's like Magnet or Benchmarx kitchens. No prices in the trade only catalogue I might pay x for a 1000
base unit , whereas you pay y. It all depends how many kitchens I buy per year versus how many you
buy, ultimately it's that which dictates my individual terms.
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Currently enjoying products from Ford, Mazda and Yamaha
Ste wrote: Avatars are fine, it's signatures that need turning off.

[Rogerborg]

I don't think it's too tin foil to suggest that one goal of "smart" meters is indeed to make people fret and worry about the cost of the electricity that they're using, and to use less.
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Biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding.
GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike

[Suntan Sid]

[Rogerborg]

You know they're being mandated by the State, right, not the energy cartel?

I know, military industrial complex, corrvpt scvm.
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Biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding.
GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike

[Suntan Sid]

[hellkat]

What's all the fuss about?

I've had one for a couple of years now, and I don't really give a monkeys what it is or isn't supposed to do. I keep fairly erratic hours so they can't really quantify when's my most profitable time of day for them, cos I might not do today what I did yesterday.

For example, today I have on a bedroom light, a bathroom light, a kitchen light and a living room light, and I am running the heating with the french windows open, whilst cooking on a gas cooker and having had a shower. BUT ...as I am dogsitting, I am doing all that on someone else's dime. If I were at home I would have just put a cardigan on and made some toast.

All I know is that if I put 30 quid in each meter, it lasts long enough for me not to think "Where did that go?" the way I do with petrol*. Sometimes I put all the lights on and the heating, and sit there in my knickers and a t-shirt with the heating going full blast because I paid for it myself, I'll have it on when I bloody well want.

*I get quite enraged by the going up and down price of petrol and would drive to a cheaper petrol station but I guess I wouldn't bother to change to a different supplier every time I wanted to top up my smart meters.

I hated the surprise of quarterly bills anyway, and I hate direct debits even more. I've never checked the price per kw, nor how much I use per day/week/month, I never read the annual summaries. Why would I?

I pay them some money and they give me gas.
Whateverrrrrr.
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Not nearly as interesting in real life.

[Wonko The Sane]

[Ste]

[Ste]

[chris-red]

I got an £1800 bill because the moron that fitted my 2nd lot of smart meters (the first weren't put in properly) missread the numbers too.
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Well, you know what they say. If you want to save the world, you have to push a few old ladies down the stairs.
Skudd:- Perhaps she just thinks you are a window licker and is being nice just in case she becomes another Jill Dando.
WANTED:- Fujinon (Fuji) M42 (Screw on) lenses, let me know if you have anything.

[M.C]

[Bozzy.]

[UncleFester]

[Ste]

How it's going for them depends what angle you're looking at it from.

[UncleFester]

[M.C]

[Fizzer Thou]

I had a phone call the other evening from my energy supplier.

"When can we book you in to have one of our engineers along to fit your smart meter for you?" says the phone person.

"And why would I want to have a smart meter fitted?" says I.

"Because it is the law.It is compulsory!" says the phone person.

"Since when is it compulsory?" says I.

"Well it will be soon!" says the phone person.

"Maybe when pigs learn to fly?" says I.

Phone person disconnected the call
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Just talk bikes.What else is there?

Always have a 'Plan B'

[Wobbling Dog]

quite a cost saving from reducing the number of meter readers and another minor cost saving of just reprogramming not changing a meter for a different tariff (economy 7 etc). Can throw up a fault code with certain tamper situations(imbalance of current). Cheap to buy compared to the old stuff that used to be refurbished/recalibrated and not just thrown away. I miss the old 3kg bakelite Sangamo's rated at 25amps but could safely handle 4 times that.

[dydey90]

Utility companies already know when the high demand periods are. For commercial use there’s a day tarrif, an evening one and a night one. The evening one is most expensive by a long way.

https://gridwatch.templar.co.uk

The evening spike isn’t too noticeable at this time of year, but in winter the usage increases massively 16:00-20:00.
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This post is probably not serious and shouldn't be taken literally.
Past: CBR125,ER6f NINJA 650, ZZR600 Current: VFR750

[crghsam]

Until they become compulsory we will not be having one!

and sadly i think they will make them compulsory
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CRGH

[Ste]

[Rogerborg]