Full disclaimer: I nonetheless have not buckled beneath the strain from my vitality provider to have a wise meter fitted, nor am I prone to, regardless of fixed hounding via cellphone calls and textual content messages.
There are a number of causes, the primary one being: I do not imagine it’s going to profit us as a family. We’re already thrifty on vitality use, as indicated by our annual assertion which all the time places us beneath the quantity used versus these in similar-sized properties.
I’d a lot fairly stick on an additional jumper and preserve the thermostat at 19 levels within the night, than whack it up any greater than mandatory and preserve a beady eye on the sensible meter. I have already got sufficient expertise on my life.
I do know they’re the very epitome of Marmite gadgets and in case you are somebody who has a wise meter and it really works for you, that is nice.
Marmite: Smart meters are one of the crucial divisive areas of contemporary life
But I imagine the expertise is not utterly foolproof – and it seems it may be a ache to place proper.
In latest weeks, we have had dozens of readers contact us to say their sensible meter is not working correctly – and it entails a Kafkaesque nightmare with some vitality suppliers to try repair the issues.
Indeed, final week Octopus Energy boss Greg Jackson criticised in-home shows for sensible meters on social media web site X.
He stated: ‘We’ve had one million such periods taking a look at these darned issues. They’re so unhealthy.’ And hats off to him for being sincere.
Since then, we have had Octopus (and different vitality provider) clients write in over issues. One, who we wrote about earlier within the week, believes hers is defective and the invoice is way too excessive.
It is price mentioning right here this is not completely the fault of Octopus – and I imagine its response to our questions was the right strategy to deal with such a question, with our reader receiving a complementary electrical blanket from them because it investigates.
Energy suppliers are beneath strain to hit sensible meter set up targets. But they do not seem like beneath as a lot strain to take a look at and repair defective meters and tech.
And that tech, particularly for the early adopters, is beginning to really feel dated. When will the devices begin to want changing? Will we see even greater standing expenses – the ever-increasing prices which might be soaked into our payments to fund sensible meters.
I believe we already know and have seen the reply to that.
Our family standing expenses are up practically 200 per cent in eight years. I’d wager that it is seemingly yours has gone up by an analogous quantity.
And because the Post Office/Fujitsu scandal exhibits, in the event you do imagine a bit of expertise just isn’t correct, it may be an especially laborious course of to place proper.
I attempt to preserve private knowledge handed to any agency to a minimal. Sending out half-hour readings from a wise meter appears overly extreme to me, and I’m not all that desirous about collaborating within the Demand Flexibility Service.
In abstract, I simply can’t see any purpose to have a wise meter put in.
I’m at the moment toying with having photo voltaic panels fitted to the roof. We have a south going through backyard with loads of sunshine, and as such, they would not destroy the kerb enchantment from the entrance.
I’m in full investigative mode to determine whether or not they’re price having. Indeed, installations in 2023 hit a seven-year excessive.
That could be the one strategy to tempt me into having a wise meter, to see how a lot energy is being generated by the photo voltaic panels – and preserve my fingers crossed it’s correct.
In the meantime, it seems the vitality worth cap will fall in April and once more in July. I wrote in September that I had chosen a set tariff, and that runs out in November 2024.
With the next January cap, and extra utilization presently of 12 months, I nonetheless imagine it was the proper transfer. But, with 35 fixed-rate tariffs at the moment on supply, it appears sensible NOT to repair now.
The worth cap for typical use is at the moment set at £1,928 by Ofgem. Experts at Cornwall Insight imagine this might drop under £1,500 by the summer time.
If the time does come that higher fixes arrive, keep in mind to examine the small print… some require a wise meter as a way to take benefit.