e-on

[missprim]

Have just received a leaflet from e-on asking me if I would like a free smart meter.
Have read the leaflet but must admit I don't understand it well enough to decide whether to have one or not.
Anybody else received one and decided to have one?

[firewatch]

i got one and it was more hassle then its worth
xx

[missprim]

In what way firewatch?

[ChuckFickens]

You won't have a choice soon, by 2019 it will be a legal requirement to have one fitted.

http://www.eonenergy....t+Meters.htm?WT.svl=4

[firewatch]

i got really stressed out with the thing that showed how much electric we were using we were on a key meter which e-on were charging stupid prices for. Plus it can be quite fiddly to fit to the incoming electric line as there are 2 units one to be attached to main electric which talked 'wirlessly' to the unit you keep in the house. when we moved we didnt bother reconecting it.

[missprim]

Thanks for the link Chuck. I f we all have to have one eventually I suppose I might as well get it done and out of the way.
Thanks firewatch for telling me what you don't like about them x

[daffy654]

How do these things work as pre-payment meters?

[ChuckFickens]

What firewatch is describing isn't a smart meter, it's just a monitoring device that tells you how much electricity you're using in real time. A smart meter will also do this, but it also does more.

[missprim]

No daffy, it;s not a pre payment it's a meter that let's you know how much gas and electric you are using and sends that info to the energy company so they don't have to come out and read your meter or estimate your bills.
I think that's right but it may do more than this as Chuck says.

[daffy654]

I know that missprim, i'm trying to work out how they can insist that everyone has one when some of us are on prepayment meters. I fail to see how my meter communicating with the energy supplier is any use as we don't need to have the meter read as we pay up front.

[ChuckFickens]

I still get a bloke turn up to read my meter and I'm prepay too.

[gingejbee]

Perhaps there are plans to phase-out pre-payment meters, too?

[mccfluff]

my pre pay send an auto read to eon, but its not a smart meter, or at least it doesn;t look like the one in the link

[missprim]

Sorry daffy I thought you were asking if it's pre payment meter.
Don't know if you can have a smart meter with a pre payment meter.

[daffy654]

Our gas meter gets read every now and then (also pre pay) but the onlt time anyone has been out to the electric one was last year when it needed replacing.

[dotty.]

I have one but it's not worht havuing iot after a few weeks as you suss out what costs the most to run and you know you need to run it anyway so there's no point ghetting panicky that you're spending money on the electric.

[daisya]

As far as I know, the smart meter is to help the energy companies read your meters remotely by it sending the data of consumption to them. This in turn will probably do away with meter readers as the companies will have the information at hand with no need to visit your house.

[rowanwitch]

trouble is a lot of companies seem to like 'actual usage' billing once they can do distant readings this meant in my last home we were hit with a bill one month for £195 and around £160 forthe other winter months yes it evens out over the year with very low bills in the summer but its no help when you are used to paying fixed direct debits ..... there was also a lag in payments between installation and the payments going out so the first payment was for around 10 weeks usage (£380 ish)

[McMouse]

We have a smart meter and it highlights consumption. Has enabled us to realise how much a dishwasher, wasting machine cycle and power shower costs and adjust accordingly. We save money.

[bongoboy]

i was reading up on smart meters a few months ago and in if i remember rightly it was in Holland the people kicked up a fuss due to security of the smart meters, they were saying that the companies receiving the data know when you are out of the house or on holiday as you obviously don't use any or hardly any electric if your not there due to the electric readings being sent to the companies every 15 or so minutes 24 hours a day.
Plus they were concerned about this information being passed onto 3rd party companies saying you may get hasseled by security alarm companies etc. if your electric data is being passed on to such companies.
I personally don't want one but if they are to become compulsory by 2019 i will have to have one but not until that year.