Mine has been fine, although it has stopped sending readings back to base which is annoying.
The only people who should avoid one are those struggling to pay bills as it seems they can switch you over to prepayment.
this post was submitted on 15 Nov 2023
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Given how easy it is to become struggling, I wouldn't risk it.
No, it really only benefits them, which is why they keep harassing you.
If it benefitted you they would hide it on a hard to find corner of their website.
It does benefit you though, it's more convinient
MSE have a guide:
on the face of it, there's no reason why you wouldn't get them. They make sending readings easy, and also show your spending and how much energy you are using, to help you cut down your usage.
EcoExperts have a guide called Are Smart Meters Good?
And various websites have guides to help people when switching energy:
ours was a bit shit on range but once it was sorted totally fine. make sure its smets2, maybe even ask for the latest model. you basically get two units, one at the old fuse board and the little reader you put in the kitchen or wherever.
the advantage is, once youve had the unit installed you can switch very quickly for free to another operator. Some operators are very slow like Eon, they are still sending letters to the old owners of our house over a year later. Their database systems are clearly not talking to each other and im assuming the old lot have electricity so this is just junk mail for us.
i think these old companies blame the upgrades, and customers accept this bullshit. Its costing them a fortune and customers can immediately switch away so its good for them to create confusion to delay or distract.
Some operators are very slow like Eon, they are still sending letters to the old owners of our house over a year later.
Ovo are the same - I'm clearly paying for the energy used so you'd have thought that they might get the idea that they don't live here anymore. If nothing else it's a waste of paper.
I really like my smart meter. Never have to do meter reads and the bills are always correct. Plus I can see how much I'm using, if I've left the oven on, etc.
Depends on your energy use.
I'm on Agile Octopus so the rate varies every half hour, with a price spike between 4pm and 7pm.
My electric bill halved. It's worth looking into.
They can remotely put you on to prepayment if you have a smart meter, they can't do that with an old one.
I didn't want one, but to get cheap power for my EV, it was the only option.
The smart meter display they provided, gave wrong costing from day one because it doesn't do the night rate. There is no update, so half it's use was never there. I setup my own metering that works. If their was open source, I'd have at least looked at fixing it. I count their's as e-waste at birth right now.
I know this is an old thread but just my two cents. The best reason for me was when it came to switching. With a smart meter I have all my year's worth of data online and ready to hand: consumption, KWH used, cost, which month was the worst, what time.of day, etc. This makes is so much more easier to just do a proper price comparison online rather than guessing your usage.
Plus I don't have to send manual readings back to the energy company and there's nobody knocking on my door anymore to check up on me. Couldn't be happier.