Smart meters let you see the cost of the energy you are using immediately. 14 million households already have smart meters.
But how useful are they in practice? And are there any problems?
And is your supplier saying you have to get a smart meter as your meter is dangerous?
There is one big issue you may not have heard of…
This article looks at the pros and cons when you are thinking about getting a smart meter and you pay for your gas and electric by direct debit or when you get a bill.
It doesn’t cover the case where you want to get a smart meter and use it as a prepayment meter. If that is what you are considering, read Will a prepayment meter make it easier to budget? as there are a lot of other points you need to consider.
Contents
The advantages
Keep track of your energy usage and what it costs
The meter can tell you the cost of the energy you have used today, this week, and this month. People find it easier to think in pounds rather than kW (kilowatts).
You can set a target budget for the maximum you want to use. You will then be sent messages such as Weekly budget exceeded if you go over. Some meters may let you set an alarm to beep when you have reached the limit you have set. This is just information for you – it doesn’t stop you going over this limit.
You can also use the meter to see what an individual appliance costs. First switch everything off except the essentials such as the fridge. Then switch one thing on and see how much extra energy it uses.
“Time of use” tariffs
An Economy 7 tariff gives you seven hours of cheap electricity overnight. They are used if you have storage heaters. You used to get two separate electric meters, but if you have this installed now, it may be a single smart meter.
Time of use tariffs allow for a much more flexible charging structure. You have to have a smart meter for these. One example is Octopus’s Agile tariff where the prices varied every day and every half hour – Octopus said this was:
Perfect for electric vehicles, storage heaters, or anyone who can shift their electricity use outside of peak times.
Many of these time of use tariffs have been suspended because it’s difficult to make them compatible with the Energy Price Cap. But they are likely to return now energy prices are reducing a bit.
A new trial scheme started in winter 2022-23 where some families were paid to use less energy at specific times. Customers may be able to save up to £100 a year but they have to have a smart meter and they have to be invited. Last year some people thought they saved £10-20, but I haven’t come across people who saved a lot more than that
No need to read the meter
A smart meter automatically tells your supplier what you have used, so there is no need to have the meter read.
Your bills should then be accurate, not using any estimated amounts.
The disadvantages
Would you use it much after the first week?
Just having a smart meter won’t save you any money. That only happens if you actively use the information to reduce the energy used.
Lots of people don’t seem to find it helpful. Here are some comments I have seen recently:
- Mine constantly looks angry and I keep turning it over as its stressing me out too much.
- The budget keeps resetting and the manual is useless.
- My husband played with it a lot at the start. But it only told us what everyone knows – using the tumble drier is expensive and when heating is on low we don’t use much gas.
Does it actually work?
There are persistent reports of people telling their supplier that their smart meter doesn’t work but being ignored.
It seems some suppliers just want to meet their targets by switching you, but then don’t care if your meter doesn’t function as it should.
A smart meter can be switched to be a prepayment meter without your consent
There are many reasons why having a prepayment meter is a bad idea for most people. Here is a list of the problems with prepayment meters – they make it harder to budget over the winter when its coldest and many people simply run out of money.
If you have an old style meter and your supplier wants to put you on a prepayment meter because you have arrears, they should check one is suitable for you. Then they have to go to court to get a warrant to fit it.
But if you have a smart meter, this can all be done remotely – no one comes to your house, it’s just a change in the supplier’s system.
This used to be very rare. But in 2022 it happened to a lot of people.
Here is one story in a report from the BBC:
Her new provider told Samantha she was in arrears of over £1,600, an amount she disputes because she monitored her usage closely using her smart meter. But suddenly it was switched. “I literally just came in from shopping and realised I had been switched onto a prepayment meter with no notice.”
There is extra protection in winter 23-24 to stop prepayment meters being fitted for the most vulnerable. For example, they now can’t be fitted if all the occupants of a house are over 75, or there is a child under 2, or someone with a terminal illness. These protections also apply to a smart meter being switched to work as a prepayment meter.
But you may not come into one of the “most vulnerable” categories that is protected. Or you may prefer to avoid the possibility completely by not getting a smart meter.
So is a smart meter a good idea?
This coming winter 2023-24 will be very difficult for many people.
The Ofgem Price Cap has fallen a bit. Lower prices will help everyone, but unless you use more energy than average, you may gain less from the lower prices than you lose as the £400 help over last winter with electric bills has ended and won’t be repeated.
I don’t think anyone should decide to get a smart meter at the moment unless they are 100% sure that they can afford their energy bills even if prices rise again.
Some extra information from a smart meter on the cost of the energy you are using may be nice, but it isn’t worth taking the risk that you could be one of the people switched to a prepayment meter when you don’t want one.
Does your supplier say your old meter is dangerous?
Suppliers have to install a certain number of smart meters in a year. But you do not have to accept one!
In autumn 2023, British Gas and possibly some other energy suppliers seem to be using scare tactics to get people to switch. Customers have been send emails saying that their old meter is unsafe or may catch fire… but when they have called up, alarmed, they have been told this is just “marketing”.
Some customers have complained to the Advertising Standards Authority that this is misleading. The Energy Ombudsman says you can decline a meter replacement request and that suppliers “should not give the impression that an analogue meter must be replaced”.
Steps to avoid having a prepayment meter
Pay on the monthly bill, not by DD?
Car finance affordability complaints
Options when you cant pay bills & debts
John Duddigan says
Hi Sara
I have a Smart Meter with SSE.
The problem is that no Data has been sent from my Smart Meter to SSE since beginning of May.
Surely SSE should of noticed there was problem with Smart Meter.
It was to I went into SSE App to check Usage that I noticed the problem.
I have reported it on numerous occasions to SSE
They are finally coming to replace Smart Meter.
Am still getting estimated bills. I pay by Direct Debit Monthly
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes they should have noticed!
A khalik says
I had experience with SSE recently after the they meter it took them nearly 5 month sort it out, it was nightmare connecting to the right person after so many hours on phone over several days.
Justin says
Hi Sara
I had reservations about getting a smart meter from early on but thought I would make it easier for everyone, finally getting them some 2 years ago. I wish that I had realised that they could be switched to pre-payment much easier, at the time, as it now seems. Not an issue at the moment, but would have been good to have been told by the industry that they could even do this. Have they and the government failed to actually give a good understanding of the ultimate implications that could occur? In all other purposes and products, this would be a clear case of mis-selling. I’d like to see the data on the number of people who die in the winter on pre-payment versus usual meters, and smart meters versus legacy manual meters. I think it would have meant a great number of people who voluntarily switched to think again before they did so. It just removes yet another safeguard to keeping the lights on. As for the £100 for off-peak energy usage….this is small fry compared to the costs now in involved energy.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I agree that people should have been warned in advance that this change could be made without the customer agreeing.
Switching someone in financial difficulty to a more expensive way to buy energy which is harder to budget for may sound good for the supplier but not for the customer.
John Roberts says
If as seems likely we have millions of people in substantial energy debt then the providers could themselves go bust.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Possibly. A lot of the weaker companies have already gone under. but a lot depends on the prices and government support from April
Charlie H says
I have a prepayment meter also due to a disputed bill which has been going on years due to an outdated there phase meter being in my property when I moved in. We are all electric heating water the lot. I don’t mind the prepayment meter as it lets you pay as you go. The biggest drawback from my point of view is the way you have to top up. . The maximum credit you can have on the meter is £250 and the key can also hold £250 which you have to pay for in cash. If you had topped the key up you can’t then use that credit until the meter is empty. I would like to be able to add credit and accumulate a larger credit balance over the summer when my usage is very low. You can’t do that. So in the winter I am constantly going to the shop to top up. Our new estimate for electricity is around £7500. I have no clue why it’s so high. The house just seems to be expensive.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes a lot of people say they could budget better with a prepayment meter if they could load it up over the summer more.
I think you should go to your local Citizens Advice and get help re the disputed bill AND that electric amount which sounds like a lot.
Andi Anderson says
Hi
My folks have smart meters via British Gas.
Last time a reading was sent 03/12/2020, the smart Monitor doesn’t work either. When connected to power it switches it’s self off after a few mins, new batteries are drained in less than a day.
Ever since then it’s been estimated readings, or I’ve taken a reading.
Each time I’ve rang/chatted over the last 18mths I’ve been told that “identified a common error which has affected a small number of our smart meter customers. Rest assured, they are currently implementing a fix and is expected to be resolved sooner.”
My folks are OAPs with my mom disabled, they have advised for them to do the readings themselves – the gas is on the floor and the elec is low down, both are difficult for myself to read.
BG don’t seem to give a toss about it – it’s been 36days since I last corresponded with a promise of someone being intouch within 21days!
Rod S says
Are your folks on the Priority Services Register? If not, get them added. https://www.britishgas.co.uk/priority-service-register
BG should then treat them with a little more consideration.
If that does not help, try contacting your local Citizens Advice who may be able to help.
Andi Anderson says
Hi ya
Yep, on the register and it is noted on the account they are vulnerable.
All I keep getting is BS, saying someone will be intouch/ they are working on a fix
I would tell them to switch the Smart Meter but parents are worried that they’d put a payment meter in.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Does it matter that much apart from being irritating?
Stephen Murphy says
My I.H.D unit from shell energy has never worked 7 months of emails and nothing.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You get the impression that as soon as the supplier has ticked you off as having a smart meter, they have little interest in sorting out the ones with problems
Mark says
There is one other reason for the push to ‘smart’ meters that not many people know about.
In many countries there is a thing called LOAD SHEDDING, this is where certain neighborhoods have there electricity turned off for several hours every day so important buildings can keep the lights on when there is a shortage of power.
These ‘certain’ neighborhoods just happen to be the poor ones, and somehow the important buildings tend to include the rich houses of government officials and so on.
With smart meters they can easily create a premium rate, where if you want to keep your lights on during shedding you pay an extra amount. If you can’t afford the premium you can just manage with candles.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I described “time of use tariffs” in the article above.
Mike W says
Wouldn’t be without my Smart meter.
Has been a great help over the years and helped me save a considerable amount.
Amanda konya says
Can I download this please
Sara (Debt Camel) says
what, the article? If you want to keep a record of it, you could copy the text and email it to yourself? Or bookmark the link?
qq says
I could feel straight away, that those meters were just one, big scam. We have resisted free tickets, £20 cash, vouchers – everything that the suppliers were offering to coax us into installing this state of art ..meter. We pay bills on time, but I really do not want anyone to have the possibility to cut me off remotely, nor to analyse my usage pattern.
Anne says
Hi Sara,
My energy company want to give me a Smart Meter because they say the meter I have is old.
I do not want a smart Meter and have asked them for a dumb meter (I thought I heard Martin Lewis say this was possible) but they say these are no longer available.
Is it true they are not available and do I have to have one?
Thank you.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Citizens Advice says (https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/energy/energy-supply/your-energy-meter/getting-a-smart-meter-installed/ :
You can ask your supplier to install your smart meter with the extra functionality switched off. This means it’ll work in the same way as your current meter, and won’t send any information to your supplier. Contact your supplier to check if they can do this.
DonkeyKong says
It always amazed me how many people were so desperate to get one of these awful smart meters, the whole programme was not fit for purpose because it was obvious that the “hoped for benefits” would not be realised.
Add to that the fact that they installed awful SMEG1 meters that became dumb if you switched and there are still people waiting for the so called software update to SMEG2.
So many people I know who were pushed into switching found their usage increased in read amounts, the energy companies blamed the victims and eventually made a statement saying they charged more because they are more accurate (to the benefit of the energy company not the consumer).
The fact that we had to pay for the IHD and the IHD itself did not tell you if your fridge was consuming 300 kWh a year instead of the expected 180 kWh or that your boiler had a setting that was making you use more than you needed. This is why the IHD ended up in a drawer or in landfill.
The only real beneficiaries were the energy companies who we paid £15bn for the programme, so they could sack over 10,000 meter readers, at the same time they migrated moved most people from quarterly bills in arrears to monthly budget in advance.
Peter Z says
Another great article Sara, I think that there is a bigger problem, you could write an article on it, email me if you want some suggestions on that.
The fundamental issue is that people do not know how to measure their usage, they think in terms of a direct debit and Smart Meters do not help at all.
My comment was too long, not sure what the limit is but here are snippets.
Credentials; I have cut my Electricity usage from around 200kWh to under 100kWh and that includes the increase from cooking with Electricity.
For Gas I have cut from between 16m3 to 29m3 for August to 4.9m3. and am likely to get to 4m3 for September.
However, I am still paying much more.
A few years ago I was paying zero for Standing Charges and now we will all face £305 before we use a single watt or cubic millimeter
My concern is that people have not learnt how to cut back, they have taken the handouts we all got, but do not really understand their energy usage, the billing system or how they can make the best of the situation. You can’t manage what you do not track and sadly a Smart Meter is no use in this.
Jim Treacle says
People also don’t know, because information is withheld without deepdive research, that you have every right to contact all energy and water suppliers to remove their meters and have your own installed. This saves you the ever increasing hidden increases we have all suffered in the form of increasing “standing charges” .. no one speaks about those extortions. Yet they’ve shot up 35% in rate across water, gas, electricity & for what? No one visits to read meters … ever! So why the increases? Also. Water charges you “,standing meter readings” for inlet, drain and sewerage! But there is only ONE meter! How do they measure what falls from your roof ? This is the madness and we have to fight this nonsense.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
you have every right to contact all energy and water suppliers to remove their meters and have your own installed
This sounds unlikely – where have you read this?