Smart Meters

[GboroRam]

7 hours ago, Wolfie said:

We've had a smart meter for about 4 years and no problems - PFP Energy & then British gas, when they went bust. At least now I don't have to try & remember to do meter readings.

The screen thing that comes with it has never left the box and is in one of the kitchen junk drawers. I don't need to see how much electric & gas I'm using in real time. I'm quite likely to obsess about it and piss off the household (more).

They are good if only to see how much it costs on a typical day. Or if you've done lots of cooking or washing, to see how unusual a day it was. 

[Wolfie]

2 minutes ago, GboroRam said:

They are good if only to see how much it costs on a typical day. Or if you've done lots of cooking or washing, to see how unusual a day it was. 

To what end, though?. If it's just out of curiosity, then that's fine of course but I don't see the point of knowing that I've spent an extra couple of pounds today than yesterday because I've maybe done an extra load of washing or two and had a few extra boils of the kettle for visitors.

To me, that's not useful to know. Washing needs to be done. If I hadn't done it today then I'll have to do it tomorrow. I'm not going to tell people they can't have a cuppa when they call in.

Of course this might just be me 🤷‍♂️

[GboroRam]

1 hour ago, Wolfie said:

To what end, though?. If it's just out of curiosity, then that's fine of course but I don't see the point of knowing that I've spent an extra couple of pounds today than yesterday because I've maybe done an extra load of washing or two and had a few extra boils of the kettle for visitors.

To me, that's not useful to know. Washing needs to be done. If I hadn't done it today then I'll have to do it tomorrow. I'm not going to tell people they can't have a cuppa when they call in.

Of course this might just be me 🤷‍♂️

I have plenty of power hungry appliances, and to just understand how much leaving a couple of PCs and games consoles on is enlightening. 

I've got solar panels and a battery, so understanding the benefit of using the dishwasher a little later when I get a little sun on the panels is very effective for saving money. 

It was very informative, having the display. It also shows current usage, so if something has started using energy you can see it immediately. 

[Ram-Alf]

25 minutes ago, GboroRam said:

I have plenty of power hungry appliances, and to just understand how much leaving a couple of PCs and games consoles on is enlightening. 

I've got solar panels and a battery, so understanding the benefit of using the dishwasher a little later when I get a little sun on the panels is very effective for saving money. 

It was very informative, having the display. It also shows current usage, so if something has started using energy you can see it immediately. 

I've bought one of these and plugged it into the grid...Had to send it back as one of them is broken

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ghost of Clough]

On 13/06/2024 at 18:07, GboroRam said:

I have plenty of power hungry appliances, and to just understand how much leaving a couple of PCs and games consoles on is enlightening. 

I've got solar panels and a battery, so understanding the benefit of using the dishwasher a little later when I get a little sun on the panels is very effective for saving money. 

It was very informative, having the display. It also shows current usage, so if something has started using energy you can see it immediately. 

The PC consumption would be interesting to see. I often leave my work PC on just in case I may want to do a bit of work a few hours later... and then it stays on over night because I forget.

 

Thanks to smart meters, I've been tracking my gas and electricity usage for a few years now - partly because I find it quite interesting, but also because it helps me estimate how much I'll be paying in the future. With Octopus, I can decide what I'll be paying, rather than going with what they think I'll use (which is always an overestimate)

A few things you'll notice:

1. As you'd expect, gas usage is cyclical - high in the winter, very low in the summer (due to more heating)

2. The big dip in electricity in Feb 2022 (I had a large kitchen renovation which meant I wasn't living in my house for 3 weeks)

3. The blue vertical signifies my house move which coincided with the end of my electric car lease. You can see an electric car adds 50-100% on to my electric bill (I did around 12k miles a year). My gas bill has also dropped 40% from now living in a better insulated house.

[alexxxxx]

On 13/06/2024 at 20:21, Archied said:

We have them , they are set to pre pay now the tariff is the same ( should be lower in my book as we pay in advance ) , like it that way , no big bills and you know what your spending , easy to just go online and pay for what you use 

Much better than going down the shop... Hated that so much.