excossack wrote:

Do these have any kind of radio type comms built in to them? I think not.
Reason I ask is I had SMS PLC on behalf of Shell call me asking if I wanted a smart meter. (TBH, I'd rather not) and then chap told me that the old meters have radio type device in them and the system they talk to is being turned off....? Really?

Told him I was happy with the meter I had now and could I get a non smart one installed. Nope was the answer.

views?

Some do, called a teleswitch. https://www.energynetworks.org/industry-hu...f%20rates. 

gilarion wrote:

Only get a smart meter installed if you can get a strong mobile phone signal in your property, as this is how a smart meter sends its data. I say this because I live in a rural area and the phone signal is a bit hit and miss. This has led to a nightmare with BG sending crazy bills. In the end I have had to have the smart meter removed and older meter fitted and lots of phone calls to BG to have my bills re-adjusted.

gilarion, my friend has had exactly the same problem. And electricity meters are in cupboards under the stairs so probably the worst place possible in a house to get a mobile phone signal!

My Dad had a smart meter fitted. It was installed by a contractor who installed for various electricity suppliers. The one they fitted him had an O2 sim in it. I enquired about the connectivity problems. It was a couple of years back, but they had an arrangement with O2 that if they couldn't get a satisfactory signal, O2 had (I think eight weeks from memory) a certain amount of time to get it sorted or they were penalised. He said that he had never had many issues, but he didn't live in rural Norfolk and I guarantee he never went anywhere near the north Norfolk Coast

shropshiredefender wrote:

If you have an Economy 7 tariff it would be a good idea to see if the smart meter offered supports that tariff.

When I enquired it didn't.

You are absolutely correct shropshiredefender, most of the suppliers are trying to kill off Economy 7, and they will do it without your knowledge even without a smart meter. I have that bitter experience. I need to read the small print, don't I?

Why this is absolute rubbish (from the electricity suppliers) is the whole idea of smart metering is so they can charge different prices for your electricity at different times of the day. This is why smart meters were brought in. It will be a way of smoothing out the max demand. If you are charged a high rate between 5-7pm, a proportion of people will put the tea in the oven (or Air Fryer ) at 8pm, thus reducing the load at the time of peak demand. Obviously if you are rich, just like the London Congestion Charge, you won't give a hoot and carry on as you were.

And yes, I know, that is exactly the reason for Economy 7 was introduced

We do not have enough electrical supply in this country for our move to electric vehicles and electric heating. We never did, and even with a load of wind farms and a couple of Nuclear Power Stations, we still won't. Only today, one of the large off shore wind farms off the Norfolk Coast has been mothballed as prices have risen 40% and it doesn't make the project cost effective. I wonder if this is a ploy to get more money out of the government as they are desperate for every kW they can get!

https://www.edp24.co.uk/news/23667775.vatt...me-halted/

DonH2000 wrote:

If you have a Economy 7 billing then it receives a timing signal via radio. That system is being stopped soon.

Good luck and stay safe,

Don