Smart gas meters

Still on standard meters here - just send my reading in monthly, and I take readings weekly just to see what we've been using. SP have been mithering me for ages, but now have upped the anti by sending letters that my gas meter is 'old' and must be upgraded.  Sod off !

i've had gas & electric updated to smart meters recently.

I find the octopus dashboard/app quite useful and it means I don't have to move the sofa every month to get to the gas meter.

Eon next are trying to get me to upgrade my gas and electric meters. There is a high probability the electric meter won't even be smart as the location is under the house and near solid walls.

I don't think I can save any more gas and electric at the moment anyway and adding a plug in LCD display will cost me money!

There is a high probability the electric meter won’t even be smart as the location is under the house and near solid walls.

That sounds a lot like an E.ON problem rather than your problem. They have the option of an external antenna.

I haven't switched. There's  nothing a smart meter does that's of any interest to me and like the OP, I can't be bothered with the hassle of the physical change with all its scope for missed appointments etc. If you do see no real advantage to you then don't bother.

When the energy market gets nearer to normal and if there's any actual competition again they may incentivise me on to a smart meter by making competitive tariffs conditional on having oner fitted. If I had to move a (heavy) sofa to read a meter I'd be keener too, but until then - nah.

EDF here as well, the DNO needs to fit a new main fuse as mine is 2 doors down, they know this, a survey is booked and yet they still persist in annoying me about it.

When the energy market gets nearer to normal and if there’s any actual competition again they may incentivise me on to a smart meter by making competitive tariffs conditional on having oner fitted.

Octopus have a load of interesting tariffs all bases on having a smart meter, mainly offering cheap night time electricity for car charging etc.

I can't see how a SMART gas meter would work? Aside from 4G connectivity, the gas comes in at a standard pressure from massive tanks or pipelines, ie it can be easily stored. Why would it need to be cheaper at night, for example?

I can’t see how a SMART gas meter would work?

There's surge pricing and incentives for not using fuel at certain times of the day. Currently the focus is on electricity supply but that can easily roll over into gas usage in the future.

Yeah but it's not so critical to balance gas supply and demand on a large scale, in real time, like it is with electric. I mean, any country will have a few days storage on hand, surely?

Storing gas is fairly cheap and easy - just build some massive storage tanks along the network and there's a few days demand covered.

Storing electric - you can't really do it economically with mega batteries, hence the need for instant power from the Hydro/pumped storage stations that provide a few GW in a few seconds.

I suppose it might help gas companies in identifying (illegal) abstraction. Or large users could identify wastage. Can't see the point for domestic users, though.

Under severe electricity supply pressure your gas may not arrive if the pumps are out. (Disaster thinking maybe but it's all possible). Under current conditions a bit of a remote chance but never say never.

A future Tory government with its mantra that the market knows best could leave us exposed to gas shortages. We came close recently before they wised up over storage in the North Sea.

My general antipathy towards energy companies means I’m not inclined to do anything that they want me to. I’m not at any risk of defaulting on payments – it’s a matter of principle more than risk of getting cut off.

I haven’t switched. There’s  nothing a smart meter does that’s of any interest to me and like the OP, I can’t be bothered with the hassle of the physical change with all its scope for missed appointments etc. If you do see no real advantage to you then don’t bother.

So agree with the above posts.  Will soon be inheriting a smart meter for the electricity supply and currently looking into where I stand with removal.  For years various energy companies have been trying to persuade me to change to smart meters and am simply not interested.

They are not your meters, they don't belong to you. Not sure it would ever happen but they could get a court to grant then access to replace - maybe they will eventually do this on the grounds of safety for old meters but not for some years.

In my opinion you are just being a bit of a dick by blocking them from switching with the 'what's in it for me' attitude but live and let live.

Meters are meant to be replaced every ten (I think) years so at some point you may just get one anyway.

A useful bonus of a smart gas meter is that you can be on the Octopus Tracker tariff which is consistently an awful lot cheaper than the standard rate; today it's 6.26p/kwh instead of whatever the cap is, 10.something p/kwh...

They are not your meters, they don’t belong to you. Not sure it would ever happen but they could get a court to grant then access to replace – maybe they will eventually do this on the grounds of safety for old meters but not for some years.

In my opinion you are just being a bit of a dick by blocking them from switching with the ‘what’s in it for me’ attitude but live and let live.

Away with you @db, no need for that.

and giving them the opportunity to switch me or any future owners over to pre-payment if they desire

Sorry to burst your bubble but you realise they can change your non-smart meters over to PP ones already? Yes it's not as quick as changing modes, but they'll just send someone round and physically change it anyway. If they decide you're in a massive amount of debt and you get referred to collections it doesn't matter if you have a smart meter or not, they'll still change your meter regardless.

If you do take readings regularly and then also understand what an estimate actually is, then yeah you don't have to get a smart meter, that's fine. Just don't go thinking you're making a stand about the mode switching when they can and do change meter types already, without a smart meter. They just do it physically and with more hassle to you.

If they decide you’re in a massive amount of debt and you get referred to collections it doesn’t matter if you have a smart meter or not, they’ll still change your meter regardless.

not at the moment they won’t. They have to get a warrant and magistrates have been told to stop issuing them, temporarily

just out of interest, do smart meters require a mains electricity supply close?? Where our ( dumb) gas meter is it won’t be easy to get power to it

gas meter has a battery in but only talks to the electricity meter which relays the data on.

I can’t see how a SMART gas meter would work? Aside from 4G connectivity, the gas comes in at a standard pressure from massive tanks or pipelines, ie it can be easily stored. Why would it need to be cheaper at night, for example?

I’m on a gas tariff that the price changes daily to reflect the current wholesale price. To do this, the supplier (Octopus) need readings daily of my consumption so they can bill me the correct amount at each day’s rate. I can’t be arsed to take a meter reading daily, but I’m very happy paying on average 8p per kWh for gas using this tariff at the moment.

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Will soon be inheriting a smart meter for the electricity supply and currently looking into where I stand with removal.  For years various energy companies have been trying to persuade me to change to smart meters and am simply not interested.

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In the street shouting at clouds, probably.  There's absolutely zero incentive (or indeed, reason) for a provider to replace a smart meter with a non-smart one.  I wouldn't be at all surprised if they can't even get hold of them any more.

On the upside, they don't require your interest.  Mine sit quietly in a cupboard and we studiously ignore each other on a daily basis.  They get less interest than my old ones did in fact, now that I don't have to rearrange furniture and crawl about with a torch between my teeth every couple of months.  If you want a meter that you don't have to take any interest in whatsoever, it's the future.

... and of course, good luck explaining to an energy provider that you don't want them to take meter readings.  I'm reasonably sure that they wouldn't immediately send someone round looking for a weed farm. 😁

If you are currently using a lot of gas, then it might be worth switching - (have posted this on here before but..) our old meter was vastly overcharging us, which was confirmed when we switched to a smart meter.. 2 months of back and forth, and British Gas gave us around £800 back. So if you think your bills are out at all, then worth doing.

So agree with the above posts.  Will soon be inheriting a smart meter for the electricity supply and currently looking into where I stand with removal.  For years various energy companies have been trying to persuade me to change to smart meters and am simply not interested.

I'm not remotely interested either. However, that entails not actually giving a crap which seems to be the exact opposite of your standpoint despite claims to the contrary.

Why would you want them removed?

Why do you expect they are going to source and fit a dumb meter just for you?

OMG, so the grand plan is just to have gas supplied completely at the mercy of market prices!

That is really stupid, considering the relatively low cost of building adequate storage. I'd much rather pay more income tax and subsidise the maintenance of a storage facility than pay according to a spot price. As a domestic user, you really just want a consistent price, not to be constantly cacking yourself as to how much gas will be next week. You're not buying in enough volume to make a difference anyway.

gas meter has a battery in but only talks to the electricity meter which relays the data on.

Some of the early gas smart meters have a problem where they start to massively overread gas usage as the battery starts to fail at around 10 years old. I started a thread about it on here about a year ago.

So if anyone is getting insanely high gas readings, and you're on an early gas smart meter, dont take any heed of the energy company telling you the meters are accurate, test them yourselves by turning the gas off at the mains and see if they still register usage.

I have no need for a smart gas meter. The app for our boiler records usage split into hot water and heating. Which is more useful than just a gas total. Only other use is cooking on the hob and I'm not going to change how we cook because of anything a smart meter tells me.

Allowing a bit for the hob the interesting thing (to me anyway) is that the 40 year old gas meter and the app give identical figures.

You have to bear in mind, the gas supply market is pretty much an oligopily. If a few big suppliers decide to collude on pricing, there's nothing you could do. The benefit of having large storage available is that price fluctuations are smoothed out for the consumer - there is always good supply.

Away with you @db, no need for that.

Just db living and letting live. I'm a bit intrigued how declining to put at least half a day aside to hang around for the convenience of a large multinational to do something that's of no interest to me qualifies me as "a bit of a dick" but I guess some people are keener on big business than I.

I do sympathise with all of you who've had to go crawling in the dark behind furniture or have had to hide your meters behind heavy sofas and I fully understand that a meter benefits you. My meters are on the front of the house and open onto the pavement so I can't get a wardrobe in front of them without the neighbours looking at me funny.

We've got smart gas and electric ones. The display thingie's never really worked so that's in a drawer but it's nice to have the info on the app and it ensures that billing is always correct.

Although I'd wager it's just being badged as beneficial for us when the main reason they want us all on smart meters is for the detailed usage data in order to properly manage the supply at their end.