# New toy



## Northerner (Apr 10, 2015)

I've just taken delivery today of a 'smart meter' - a device that shows how much electricity I am using. It's fascinating, and a bit scary!  The big test will come tomorrow morning, when I will put the immersion heater, the kettle, and probably the heating on  Not sure I dare look!

Has anyone else got one?


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## Pumper_Sue (Apr 10, 2015)

Northerner said:


> I've just taken delivery today of a 'smart meter' - a device that shows how much electricity I am using. It's fascinating, and a bit scary!  The big test will come tomorrow morning, when I will put the immersion heater, the kettle, and probably the heating on  Not sure I dare look!
> 
> Has anyone else got one?



Would love one, but have a tendency to not use much electric. So suspect it would be wasted. I use a key meter which keeps the usage well under control


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## Sally71 (Apr 10, 2015)

We've got one - and also another that tells us how much the solar panels are generating, so that we can see if we are winning 

Electric shower is the worst - 8,000 watts just on its own 
Haven't managed to beat that yet even with kettle, microwave, grill and a hob ring on all at once! You use about 100-200W all the time just with your background stuff like clocks, fridge, modem, burglar alarm, phones etc.  It does make you realise how much everything uses - coffee filter machine is 1kW which was a bit of a surprise, and microwave rated 800W actually uses 1400W!

Just starting to get nice enough weather that on a sunny day we can boil the kettle for free . We have 12 solar panels which generate max 3kW, in any 24h period we use 10kWh on average, are just starting to generate more than that now the weather is nice - nearly 15kWh today.  Best we ever did was 23kWh, worst in the middle of winter was 0.3!


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## MacG3 (Apr 11, 2015)

OK, let me just put my tin foil hat on ......

Right, that's better...

When you say a smart meter, do you mean a meter which provides you a reading of your consumption or a meter which your electricity provider can take readings from ? These are different things. 

If you have a provider controlling device, then prepare to be cut off when brown / blackouts occur. rather than historically upsetting areas, now they can turn off power at a house level rather than a whole area, which causes can cause organised protests. Unless you lived near a protected resource like a hospital. 

From a consumer perspective (unless you are on a prepay meter where they can now change tariffs on the fly) there are no benefits, for example setting your washing machine to use cheaper tariffs over night etc. 

Neither are they free, with £30 billion pounds being added to bills to pay for the infrastructure to support them. 

Are you planning to use the readings to shower less? Maybe drink less tea? Perhaps as well as paying for the meter you are also going to give your personal consumption data to the electricity provider for free? Wait they'll let you look at it via a web page every 30 mins. What if a company wanted to monitor your insulin usage, would you be happy giving that info away?

Not saying they're evil, but just take care on what you give away and the implications


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## Northerner (Apr 11, 2015)

No, as I said, it's just a toy  I bought it myself from amazon as it was going cheap and nothing to do with the electricity company. I bought it really to understand what my consumption was like day-to-day, as it's something I tend to ignore between quarterly bills - just interested also to find areas where I'm being lazy and could possibly save a little by switching things off or whether it's not worth the hassle


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## banjo (Apr 11, 2015)

Guys if you want a big scare - if i run the induction hob 9.2 kwh max the 2 ovens a microwave and all the other things in the house --- god knows - no gas here so we are reliant on electricity for everything - or wood for the stove.
Luckily we have a converted 2 phase supply ( i think thats what its called) commercial supply as the house used to be a plant nursery so we could probably draw half a power station load. Our monthly bill is eye watering especially in recent months when they were charging me over 200 pounds a month until i pointed out they owed me 1500 lol.
OOh and we burnt 3 tonnes of wood this winter - so 3 tonnes more for me to cut and split for next year lol


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## banjo (Apr 11, 2015)

P.S - does my computer turn off? there is a switch to do that?


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## Vicsetter (Apr 11, 2015)

banjo said:


> P.S - does my computer turn off? there is a switch to do that?



Usually somewhere near the cup holder.


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## KookyCat (Apr 12, 2015)

We had smart meters where I used to work and I had to do the environmental impact returns, great tool but had me marching down the office one day checking for illegal fan heaters under desks, they used to cause a spike when turned on and were usually the result of radiator wars (hot soul turns it off, cold soul gets a fan heater, hot soul turns air con on, cold soul turns fan heater up.....).  I miss those things . They also led to people having to turn of their PCs because of the consumption overnight from standby, which in turn led to a drop in core temperature of 5 degrees in the morning requiring less aircon use which saved money in the spring and summer, offset by more heating in winter but still a significant saving.......such a nerd, I always knew on some level but now I really know because I really really miss those meters


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## Northerner (Apr 12, 2015)

KookyCat said:


> We had smart meters where I used to work and I had to do the environmental impact returns, great tool but had me marching down the office one day checking for illegal fan heaters under desks, they used to cause a spike when turned on and were usually the result of radiator wars (hot soul turns it off, cold soul gets a fan heater, hot soul turns air con on, cold soul turns fan heater up.....).  I miss those things . They also led to people having to turn of their PCs because of the consumption overnight from standby, which in turn led to a drop in core temperature of 5 degrees in the morning requiring less aircon use which saved money in the spring and summer, offset by more heating in winter but still a significant saving.......such a nerd, I always knew on some level but now I really know because I really really miss those meters



Hehe! I used to work for a software house and we sold payroll and personnel systems to other companies. One company kept complaining that their overnight processes were not running, which meant big delays each morning as they had to run them before commencing the day's business. After some investigation we discovered that the MD, a cost-conscious soul, was walking past the computer room, seeing that there were lights on the mainframe, and switching it off to save power (and money)...


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## KookyCat (Apr 12, 2015)

Northerner said:


> Hehe! I used to work for a software house and we sold payroll and personnel systems to other companies. One company kept complaining that their overnight processes were not running, which meant big delays each morning as they had to run them before commencing the day's business. After some investigation we discovered that the MD, a cost-conscious soul, was walking past the computer room, seeing that there were lights on the mainframe, and switching it off to save power (and money)...



Classic!  Bet he was embarrassed in that meeting


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## Highlander (Apr 14, 2015)

Well, I don't use a smart meter.  I am on a fixed tariff with Scottish Power and put in monthly meter readings for both gas and electricity, so to check that they don't change my monthly payment without my agreement, I keep a spreadsheet, which also give me my daily average usage in kilowatts as well as the monthly cost.  It works for me.


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## HOBIE (Apr 21, 2015)

Being an "spark" be careful switching to many things on. Times have changed. Kettle 3kw 12.5 amp. Washer 12.5amp. Dishwasher 12.5 amp. Toaster /odds & sods. Very much more than 30amp fuse/breaker.


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## Northerner (Apr 21, 2015)

Highlander said:


> Well, I don't use a smart meter.  I am on a fixed tariff with Scottish Power and put in monthly meter readings for both gas and electricity, so to check that they don't change my monthly payment without my agreement, I keep a spreadsheet, which also give me my daily average usage in kilowatts as well as the monthly cost.  It works for me.



I'm actually stuck at the moment when it comes to paying my bills. When I dropped my landline and fixed BB, I lost access to the email I had used to register with the power company. I could still log in though, so just checked when the bill was due and paid it. However, I tried to do this recently as I had had the meters read so knew a bill was due, and discovered that they have changed the website and I needed to re-register. Problem is that, when I try to do this, they send an email to my now inaccessible email address. Not a problem, I thought, as they have a method of getting the needed info by typing in my 'memorable' information....but it won't accept it. Knowing the information to be correct I rang the helpline - an 0800 number, but costing me money on my now mobile-only phone. They told me the website was not working and could give me no date when it might be fixed. So, two weeks ago I contacted their customer support via email explaining and requesting a paper bill. No reply after a week so I wrote again and have threatened to move suppliers if no response in 5 days - they have two days left...


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## HOBIE (May 9, 2015)

Any change Northy ?


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## Vicsetter (May 10, 2015)

HOBIE said:


> Being an "spark" be careful switching to many things on. Times have changed. Kettle 3kw 12.5 amp. Washer 12.5amp. Dishwasher 12.5 amp. Toaster /odds & sods. Very much more than 30amp fuse/breaker.



Very much depends on the power cycle.  The washer and dishwasher do not use anything like 12.5amp all the time.  
When I bought my Guest House it had 5 electric power showers, 2 washing machines, 2 dishwashers, 2 immersion heaters and a tumble dryer  all running of 5 consumer units with so many wires you couldn't get the front panels on properly and a normal domestic electricity board fuse.  1 full rewire later and we have 6 10kw power showers, 2 washing machines, 2 immersions, 2 dishwashers, 1 tumble dryer and a three phase supply with three electricity board fuses (so 3 times the capacity).
I also cannot use a power meter because of the three phases.  Not that I want to anyway.


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## Vicsetter (May 10, 2015)

Northerner said:


> I'm actually stuck at the moment when it comes to paying my bills. When I dropped my landline and fixed BB, I lost access to the email I had used to register with the power company. I could still log in though, so just checked when the bill was due and paid it. However, I tried to do this recently as I had had the meters read so knew a bill was due, and discovered that they have changed the website and I needed to re-register. Problem is that, when I try to do this, they send an email to my now inaccessible email address. Not a problem, I thought, as they have a method of getting the needed info by typing in my 'memorable' information....but it won't accept it. Knowing the information to be correct I rang the helpline - an 0800 number, but costing me money on my now mobile-only phone. They told me the website was not working and could give me no date when it might be fixed. So, two weeks ago I contacted their customer support via email explaining and requesting a paper bill. No reply after a week so I wrote again and have threatened to move suppliers if no response in 5 days - they have two days left...



a) switch to 3 for your mobile as 0800 numbers are free.
b) do you not have a library with internet access?
c) I have just been having a battle with a new electric supply company called ExtraEnergy and have paid them £1600 over the last year in Direct Debits for £800 electricity, raised a complaint (with threat of the ombudsman) and am expecting a refund, but a lot of their customers appear to be in a similar position, so I shall be changing back to one of the big boys.  1 year without a bill is a bit much.


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## Northerner (May 10, 2015)

How would having a library with internet access help Vic? 

I shall avoid ExtraEnergy. My problem is with Co-op Energy. Used to be on Southern Electric and British Gas, but moved because SE tried misselling tactics to ge me to move my gas, and British Gas tried to defraud me. Are there any left? 

Hobie, I've been switching things off a lot more, so it must be saving me something!


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## robert@fm (May 10, 2015)

Too late now, but the present situation could have been avoided by using an independent (non-ISP) email service. I figured nearly 20 years ago that it's best to use an ISP only for internet access, and get everything else (email, web-page hosting, Usenet...) from independent suppliers, so that you don't lose anything if you switch ISP.

Also, from 1 July, 0800 numbers will by law be free from all phones.


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## Copepod (May 10, 2015)

Calls to 0800 numbers are free from phone boxes - if you can find one!


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## Vicsetter (May 10, 2015)

Northerner said:


> How would having a library with internet access help Vic?
> 
> I shall avoid ExtraEnergy. My problem is with Co-op Energy. Used to be on Southern Electric and British Gas, but moved because SE tried misselling tactics to ge me to move my gas, and British Gas tried to defraud me. Are there any left?
> 
> Hobie, I've been switching things off a lot more, so it must be saving me something!



Sorry, misread your posting, thought you couldn't get email and not that you had lost your address.


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## Northerner (May 10, 2015)

Vicsetter said:


> Sorry, misread your posting, thought you couldn't get email and not that you had lost your address.



Probably won't have a library, never mind internet access, after the other day's shenanigans!  Although I might be able to ask the government to tell me what my emails say, I suppose, now they can go ahead with their 'snooper's charter'


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## Annette (May 11, 2015)

Just want to give a high recommendation to Ovo Energy. Not one of the big 6, but do keep appearing on best buy type lists. We changed last year, and they have been excellent - customer service is second to none!


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## Northerner (May 11, 2015)

Annette Anderson said:


> Just want to give a high recommendation to Ovo Energy. Not one of the big 6, but do keep appearing on best buy type lists. We changed last year, and they have been excellent - customer service is second to none!



Ah, thanks Annette! I was trying to remember that name  I will investigate!


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