How accurate are they? Day before yesterday we were in all day cooked and had heating on sparingly. According to smart meter we spent £5.50. Yesterday we were out all day, heating off and no cooking £8?
I’m flat out refusing one me, I’ve started taking a monthly reading on the first, that’s as accurate as it can get. The first few million metered that were installed a few year ago were faulty so needed swapping!!!!
I’ve got one but never used it it was useless. Constantly dropped connection and I just found myself constantly watching it. Was no good for my noggin. I just take readings from the box and submit every month
There's no doubt in my mind that our smart meters - or to be more precise, the in-house display unit - save me money. I can track our costs in real time and it's a constant reminder not to have heating on for any longer than necessary. I recently had an 18 month spell where my display had stopped working. It's since been replaced and although it's difficult to be accurate, due to differing temperatures outside, I'm sure that my usage is lower when I have a gadget in my face showing me the money mounting up minute by minute. Whether the meter itself is accurate is another thing entirely, but I've not noticed any adverse impact since our traditional meters were replaced.
It’s easy enough to check. One day stay up until midnight and check the number on the meter (the actual meter not the smart meter) then stay up until midnight and check the number at the end of the day. Check how much you pay per unit and multiply it by units used. Check if the amount matches what the smart meter said. In terms of the amount spent on the second day: You don’t have an electric shower do you? They can add loads on to your bill if you get carried away and stay in a while or multiple people in the house use it on the same day. Also, what appliances did you use? Anything that generates heat is expensive, so hair dryers, full kettles, tumble dryers, oven etc. The type of thing you use makes a huge difference.
I think smart meters give an illusion of saving you money when any savings at all are very minimal...power companies lose money if you use less so why would they give you a product that helps them lose coin.
I am with you on this one, my company went bust & I was put with Eon who are constantly putting me under pressure to have one fitted,with their latest effort being a message telling me that they are going to make me an appointment for the engineer to arrive & fit one, to which I promptly replied via e"mail telling them not to bother & no engineer will cross my doorstep until I make an appointment, the cheeky tw-ts
This! Even though our shower is a relatively simple one (8kWh) it is still far and away the most expensive appliance in the house, on a cost per minute basis. Almost 4 times more expensive per minute than our main oven! I reckon the shower costs us 25-30p each time - and that's with us still on a relatively low fixed cost (until the end of April. After that, its down to the river with a towel and bar of soap).
I got that message of Eon but they haven't as yet tried to make me a appointment. We'll all end up with one eventually as they will just deny us the better tariffs (when/if competition returns). I just can't be bothered with any inconvenience as I know it won't have any impact on my usage so won't save money.
I’m not going to pretend it’s a fun way to shower but, for anyone struggling with costs who has one, you can save a lot of money by taking the same approach as when brushing teeth i.e. turn it off in the middle. Fully get your body and hair all wet, turn it off, shampoo and soap up, switch it back on and rinse. Also, don’t start it a few mins before you get in to warm up (like I do, I can’t handle cold though due to my Reynauds so it is what it is). Shower clocks help keep track of time. If you’re on a water meter it saves money there too.
You can get timed shower valves that cut off after a preset time, but I don't think they could be used with electric showers. They save water, and also save the energy that would be used to heat the water. https://www.notjusttaps.co.uk/push-action-timer-valves.html
Over recent years I have been a member of Martin Lewis"s energy club & have received advice as to when to switch & they basically do it for you ,but at the moment with everything being so volatile its a risky business swapping however if I keep getting pressure off Eon then I will be off & switching again.
Once we are all on smart meters they will be able to introduce surge pricing; i.e. charge more at peak times. The upside is if you are savvy enough you can use your washer and dishwasher on a cheap tariff overnight, Junior Didcot Red 1 has an Electric car which he programmes to charge between 11pm and 5 am taking advantage of the off peak tariff.
