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[Mr Skrunts]

I woke up to find 2 payments made into my bank this morning, 1 was interest (£1.32(0.1%)) and the other was an overpayment on all the direct debits made.

I had a smart meter fitted many years ago and it was explained that etc etc blah blah that bills would be kept accurate.  So if thats the case, based on the refund value then that means they havent read it for quite a while.

Now looking online for this years birthday treat for myself.

[ronnyd]

I woke up to find 2 payments made into my bank this morning, 1 was interest (£1.32(0.1%)) and the other was an overpayment on all the direct debits made.

I had a smart meter fitted many years ago and it was explained that etc etc blah blah that bills would be kept accurate.  So if thats the case, based on the refund value then that means they havent read it for quite a while. :-X

Now looking online for this years birthday treat for myself.

I thought that the reason for a smart meter was the fact that it doesn't need to be read. The data is there and on going. Anyone shed some light as i haven't got one. 

[Rangie]

My supplier recently contacted me re a smart meter & told me that it eliminates the need to supply meter readings, so obviously they obtain the information directly from the smart meter I presume.

[STEMO]

Yorkshire Water don't supply smart meters, they supply water meters. A chap walks around with a reading device and the meter transmits a signal to it.
I wouldn't have one in this property. We had one in the last (new build) and bills were coming in at around £60 a month, mainly due to wifey having a bath every night. We don't have a meter here and we're paying £41 a month.

[Mr Skrunts]

Yorkshire Water don't supply smart meters, they supply water meters. A chap walks around with a reading device and the meter transmits a signal to it.
I wouldn't have one in this property. We had one in the last (new build) and bills were coming in at around £60 a month, mainly due to wifey having a bath every night. We don't have a meter here and we're paying £41 a month.

Does that not class it as some sort of smart meter then?

Wonder if it has a battery in it and its gone flat . . . . .sugar that mean the next bill might be huge.

[Nick W]

Yorkshire Water don't supply smart meters, they supply water meters. A chap walks around with a reading device and the meter transmits a signal to it.
I wouldn't have one in this property. We had one in the last (new build) and bills were coming in at around £60 a month, mainly due to wifey having a bath every night. We don't have a meter here and we're paying £41 a month.

It's the opposite here, the smart meter is cheaper than before and highlighted a fault: Southern Water sent Dad a letter asking if there had been a change in our water usage, as the meter was suggesting it had increased ten fold. The day after he phoned them to say that nothing had changed, a man arrived to diagnose both a small leak and a faulty meter then fixed them on the spot. While that was a large increase, our actual usage is low enough  that it doubling or even tripling is unlikely to have produced such an immediate response.

[Marks DTM Calib]

Smart water meters can be a bit of a farce, particularly when down the bottom of a hole in the pavement with a metal cover over it 

[Marks DTM Calib]

Yorkshire Water don't supply smart meters, they supply water meters. A chap walks around with a reading device and the meter transmits a signal to it.
I wouldn't have one in this property. We had one in the last (new build) and bills were coming in at around £60 a month, mainly due to wifey having a bath every night. We don't have a meter here and we're paying £41 a month.

Does that not class it as some sort of smart meter then?

Wonder if it has a battery in it and its gone flat . . . . .sugar that mean the next bill might be huge.

That type usually have a small black plastic receiver on the outside of the house which acts as a pickup, look a bit like this and have two wires that go back to the meter :

[STEMO]

Yorkshire Water don't supply smart meters, they supply water meters. A chap walks around with a reading device and the meter transmits a signal to it.
I wouldn't have one in this property. We had one in the last (new build) and bills were coming in at around £60 a month, mainly due to wifey having a bath every night. We don't have a meter here and we're paying £41 a month.

Does that not class it as some sort of smart meter then?

Wonder if it has a battery in it and its gone flat . . . . .sugar that mean the next bill might be huge.

It probably means they're not out and about, covid and all that.

[LC0112G]

Yorkshire Water don't supply smart meters, they supply water meters. A chap walks around with a reading device and the meter transmits a signal to it.
I wouldn't have one in this property. We had one in the last (new build) and bills were coming in at around £60 a month, mainly due to wifey having a bath every night. We don't have a meter here and we're paying £41 a month.

Does that not class it as some sort of smart meter then?

Wonder if it has a battery in it and its gone flat . . . . .sugar that mean the next bill might be huge.

That type usually have a small black plastic receiver on the outside of the house which acts as a pickup, look a bit like this and have two wires that go back to the meter :

You could always fit a Faraday cage over it 

[STEMO]

Yorkshire Water don't supply smart meters, they supply water meters. A chap walks around with a reading device and the meter transmits a signal to it.
I wouldn't have one in this property. We had one in the last (new build) and bills were coming in at around £60 a month, mainly due to wifey having a bath every night. We don't have a meter here and we're paying £41 a month.

Does that not class it as some sort of smart meter then?

Wonder if it has a battery in it and its gone flat . . . . .sugar that mean the next bill might be huge.

Not really, it's dumb as fûck 

[ronnyd]

Yorkshire Water don't supply smart meters, they supply water meters. A chap walks around with a reading device and the meter transmits a signal to it.
I wouldn't have one in this property. We had one in the last (new build) and bills were coming in at around £60 a month, mainly due to wifey having a bath every night. We don't have a meter here and we're paying £41 a month.

Does that not class it as some sort of smart meter then?

Wonder if it has a battery in it and its gone flat . . . . .sugar that mean the next bill might be huge.

That type usually have a small black plastic receiver on the outside of the house which acts as a pickup, look a bit like this and have two wires that go back to the meter :

Yorkshire Water don't supply smart meters, they supply water meters. A chap walks around with a reading device and the meter transmits a signal to it.
I wouldn't have one in this property. We had one in the last (new build) and bills were coming in at around £60 a month, mainly due to wifey having a bath every night. We don't have a meter here and we're paying £41 a month.

Does that not class it as some sort of smart meter then?

Wonder if it has a battery in it and its gone flat . . . . .sugar that mean the next bill might be huge.

It probably means they're not out and about, covid and all that.

Guy from Siemens  came to read my meters yesterday, gas/elec, Some around here having large bills due to smart meter malfunctions. Think i'll wait before i let them fit one in mine.

[Lizzie Zoom]

I have a smart water meter with Southern Water which communicates it's readings direct o the company and it has given me no hassle whatsoever.

I also have smart meters for both gas and electric with SSE, which again give readings direct to the company and give me no problems.

Both these sets of meters have reflected my true use with the expected seasonal fluctuations, and have saved me the hassle of letting people in to read the meters, and in the case of the water meter especially has saved me a lot of money compared to my pre-meter water bills.

[YZ250]

........
Both these sets of meters have reflected my true use with the expected seasonal fluctuations, and have saved me the hassle of letting people in to read the meters,

I submit my readings online so not really a hassle to me.    My gas and electric are supplied by different companies so the gas meter can't be 'smart' apparently. When I extended, I had to relocate the gas meter so I contacted the gas supplier and asked if they wanted to fit a smart gas meter while the opportunity was there but they said they couldn't as they needed to be the supplier of the electricity to make that work. So, change the supplier of one and you lose the 'smart' function of the other, or both.    In my case it was all hypothetical anyway, as they've tried to fit a smart electric meter three times over as many years and they can't read the signal. It doesn't respond to the ping test or whatever they do. On each visit the engineer says " Don't worry mate, I'll be in and out in fifteen minutes".  Two and a half hours later and they take the new one out and put the old one back in.   

[Sir Tigger KC]

I'm supposed to have smart meters fitted a part of my contract. 

They send me a text occasionally giving me appointment options which I ignore and their contractor phoned me the other day to say that they were in the area, so I told them I was self isolating! 

[Rangie]

I've not bothered with replying to my supplier re smart meters only takes a minute to read my meters every quarter.

[Andy B]

smart meters are offered to also give the user an idea of what appliance uses what amount of power .... so that you can see that the kettle use around 50p per hour etc

[STEMO]

smart meters are offered to also give the user an idea of what appliance uses what amount of power .... so that you can see that the kettle use around 50p per hour etc

This is the discussion I had with the stupid uneducated poor girl who had a bad upbringing on the phone. I said that I knew it cost money to produce heat and I didn't need a smart meter to tell me that.

[ronnyd]

smart meters are offered to also give the user an idea of what appliance uses what amount of power .... so that you can see that the kettle use [/highlight]around 50p per hour etc

When my late sister in law had hers fitted, she used to sit there watching the thing rack up what she was using and worrying the life out of her. Perhaps that's why she died suddenly.

[deviator]

Wonder if it has a battery in it and its gone flat . . . . .

I believe there is an impeller on the source water which keeps it topped up on power.

[Mr Skrunts]

Wonder if it has a battery in it and its gone flat . . . . .

I believe there is an impeller on the source water which keeps it topped up on power.

Makes sence and keeps costs down.

[BazaJT]

I don't have a smart meter yet in the nearly 7yrs I've lived here no one has ever called to read the meter[it's in the bathroom] when I get the bill it always says it's an estimated reading but it's only one or two units out either way so at least I'm not racking up a huge underpayment bill.

[Mr Skrunts]

My last house I had a water meter fitted shortly after moving in (24/5 years ago) and my bill dropped from £365 PA to £240/250ish.£20 a month.

When I got ill the bills dropped to £11 PM and 1 phaze due to being laid up it droped to £4PM  for a tad.

[ronnyd]

I don't have a smart meter yet in the nearly 7yrs I've lived here no one has ever called to read the meter[it's in the bathroom] when I get the bill it always says it's an estimated reading but it's only one or two units out either way so at least I'm not racking up a huge underpayment bill.

I thought that the power companies were only allowed to send a certain number of estimated bills and then the meter had to be read. Think it's in the Ofgem regs they have to abide by.

[Mr Skrunts]

I don't have a smart meter yet in the nearly 7yrs I've lived here no one has ever called to read the meter[it's in the bathroom] when I get the bill it always says it's an estimated reading but it's only one or two units out either way so at least I'm not racking up a huge underpayment bill.

I thought that the power companies were only allowed to send a certain number of estimated bills and then the meter had to be read. Think it's in the Ofgem regs they have to abide by.

EON once told me that they had to visually inspect thier meter and have a meter reading at least every 2 years, obviously having the smart meter they are getting thier readings, but it cant be that smart that it safety checks itself.

[BazaJT]

No idea on the rules and regs. but certainly my meter has never been looked at or read in the years I've lived here.Can't recall off hand who the supplier is as I get two different bills one is from Anglian Water and the other from Severn Trent one is for water supply etc and the other is for the run off water from the property.

[STEMO]

No idea on the rules and regs. but certainly my meter has never been looked at or read in the years I've lived here.Can't recall off hand who the supplier is as I get two different bills one is from Anglian Water and the other from Severn Trent one is for water supply etc and the other is for the run off water from the property.

Water meters don't have to be checked, gas and electric ones do.

[Kevin Wood]

No idea on the rules and regs. but certainly my meter has never been looked at or read in the years I've lived here.Can't recall off hand who the supplier is as I get two different bills one is from Anglian Water and the other from Severn Trent one is for water supply etc and the other is for the run off water from the property.

Water meters don't have to be checked, gas and electric ones do.

.. and water meters have supported remote reading since long before "smart" leccy and gas meters. Saves the meter reader having to clear out all the ants nests for pavement meters.

[deviator]

I know it's been years since anyone looked at my meters as my electrician cut the seals on the master fuse 10 years ago and no one has been near it to even notice the seals aren't there.

I will add, the meter is in a room I'm using for storage and it's a 5 minute job for me to get a meter reading. They aren't going to be sending anyone in that room for a while.

[dave the builder]

I know it's been years since anyone looked at my meters as my electrician cut the seals on the master fuse 10 years ago and no one has been near it to even notice the seals aren't there.

I will add, the meter is in a room I'm using for storage and it's a 5 minute job for me to get a meter reading. They aren't going to be sending anyone in that room for a while.

Your "Electrician" should have put a temporary seal on and notified the D.N.O If he removed the seal to " isolate the supply in an emergency" (the only reason NON DNO authorised personal are allowed to break the seal)

It's a common problem ,people pull the DNO's head/ main fuse to make dead to fit new consumer units.

technically even real ,qualified ,certified electricians are NOT allowed to remove DNO seals 

if the seal is missing when the electricity supplier does a safety inspection (every 5 years on Gas or electric IIRC ) then you could be fined and billed £££££ for meter tampering 

I advise you get your "electrician" to purchase and fit  seals clicky 

[STEMO]

Lot's of DNO's in there.

[dave the builder]

Lot's of DNO's in there.

Sorry 
distribution network operator

Who is my distribution network operator clicky

[deviator]

if the seal is missing when the electricity supplier does a safety inspection (every 5 years on Gas or electric IIRC ) then you could be fined and billed £££££ for meter tampering 

If they looked at my bills, I'm either honest and pay for the energy I use, or I'm fiddling it so badly that my bills are the same.