Welcome to Tesla Motors Club
Discuss Tesla's Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, Cybertruck, Roadster and More.
Register

Smart meters

This site may earn commission on affiliate links.
i havent taken the leap to smart meters for electricity and/gas (not saying yet either)

However I wanted to know, if not connected to the internet, will it cause any issues? (Or go dumb as they say meaning non smart)

Surely i can go back to submitting quarterly readings?
 
Also worth saying that the supplier is bribing me into going smart or paying £50 to get fuse box tails upgraded to 25mm (which is free if converting to smart meters)
I think this is all work done by the DNO rather than your energy supplier.
Getting your fuse box tails upgraded is a good thing. At the same time they should upgrade your fuse to 100A (it's probably 60A).
It's worth checking to see if you are on a loop supply as well, as it's an opportunity for the DNO to sort that out at the same time. (Search the forum for details of this)
As has already been stated a smart meter works entirely independently and no internet connection is required.
In order to take advantage of the cheapest electricity deals you really need a smart meter.
 
I think this is all work done by the DNO rather than your energy supplier.
Getting your fuse box tails upgraded is a good thing. At the same time they should upgrade your fuse to 100A (it's probably 60A).
It's worth checking to see if you are on a loop supply as well, as it's an opportunity for the DNO to sort that out at the same time. (Search the forum for details of this)
As has already been stated a smart meter works entirely independently and no internet connection is required.
In order to take advantage of the cheapest electricity deals you really need a smart meter.
Yeah the work is two fold, the energy supplier needs to upgrade the tails (£50) and then DNO can upgrade from 60A to 100A
However, energy supplier said it will be free, if I choose to go smart meter they said it will be free

However, this has left me wondering what benefit is there to a smart meter, I am happy to give readings per quarter
 
In the south it's on telefonica masts so equivalent to an O2 connection but not mobile exactly (although it's possible to work out what your reception is like that way). In the north it's a purpose built network by Arquiva and not related to mobile reception at all.. you could have excellent mobile and zero smart meter reception and vice-versa.
 
In the south it's on telefonica masts so equivalent to an O2 connection but not mobile exactly (although it's possible to work out what your reception is like that way). In the north it's a purpose built network by Arquiva and not related to mobile reception at all.. you could have excellent mobile and zero smart meter reception and vice-versa.
I suppose my point is, what if you have zero reception
how will that impact life with a smart meter?
 
However, this has left me wondering what benefit is there to a smart meter, I am happy to give readings per quarter

The main benefits (aside from never needing to submit a reading) are the ability to see your actual usage down to half hour segments & get a smart tariff. Tariffs like Octopus Go or similar from other providers provide a good saving to those who charge EVs at home. The more mileage you do, the bigger the savings become, as you charge overnight on a significantly lower rate.

I suppose my point is, what if you have zero reception
how will that impact life with a smart meter?

Absolute worst case, you get a new meter & still have to submit readings. The amount of data a smart meter transmits is miniscule, so it only has a very low requirement for signal. I've never seen or heard of anyone whose smart meter doesn't work from lack of signal. You'd have to be in a real dead zone for one to not work.
 
The main benefits (aside from never needing to submit a reading) are the ability to see your actual usage down to half hour segments & get a smart tariff. Tariffs like Octopus Go or similar from other providers provide a good saving to those who charge EVs at home. The more mileage you do, the bigger the savings become, as you charge overnight on a significantly lower rate.



Absolute worst case, you get a new meter & still have to submit readings. The amount of data a smart meter transmits is miniscule, so it only has a very low requirement for signal. I've never seen or heard of anyone whose smart meter doesn't work from lack of signal. You'd have to be in a real dead zone for one to not work.
Thanks that made it easier to digest, so the bill payer (not me) has no intention of touching a smart plan, we have a fixed one.
I expect to have a letter this month explaining any changes in price but until then I am stuck waiting
In terms of mileage, I dont do alot, did 6k last year
 
Absolute worst case, you get a new meter & still have to submit readings. The amount of data a smart meter transmits is miniscule, so it only has a very low requirement for signal. I've never seen or heard of anyone whose smart meter doesn't work from lack of signal. You'd have to be in a real dead zone for one to not work.

I spend 2 years with a 'dead' smart meter because there was no signal in this area. About 5 miles south of manchester. There are whole areas of the country with gaps in coverage. Even where coverage exists, meters are often in the middle of houses with stone walls etc.

Then you get to flyingdales, which is a whole other cluster..
 
I suppose my point is, what if you have zero reception
how will that impact life with a smart meter?

They came out several years ago to fit mine. Arrived, got some sort of mobile phone signal strength meter out and said "No signal mate, we're off"

When they said they wanted to fit it a year or two later I said "You may want to check if the signal has improved before you come" and their reply was "We don't care, we'll just fit it anyway"

So I think the current state is to fit Smart Meters anyway .. .regardless of whether they will transmit. And as @Kansalis said, the bandwidth needed is tiny, so to be effective it only needs to succeed on a relatively small proportion of attempts.
 
They came out several years ago to fit mine. Arrived, got some sort of mobile phone signal strength meter out and said "No signal mate, we're off"

When they said they wanted to fit it a year or two later I said "You may want to check if the signal has improved before you come" and their reply was "We don't care, we'll just fit it anyway"

So I think the current state is to fit Smart Meters anyway .. .regardless of whether they will transmit. And as @Kansalis said, the bandwidth needed is tiny, so to be effective it only needs to succeed on a relatively small proportion of attempts.
can they switch you gas/electric off or reduce bandwidth, as in does it have the power to limit your power (no pun intended)
 
can they switch you gas/electric off or reduce bandwidth, as in does it have the power to limit your power (no pun intended)
Get a grip, there's no great conspiracy about smart meters, it just allow half hourly usage, most of us find that very beneficial because we get lower prices at certain times.

There is a feature to allow them to remotely turn off called the HAN Connected Auxiliary Load Control Switch but you would need to have accepted specific terms for that to be enabled (and I don't know anyone that has). Electricity suppliers have legal obligations they have to meet before disabling power, which means talkin to the people at the property and seeing if they can resolve any debt.

If you aren't the property owner or responsible for the electricity supply, consider your right under your tenancy agreement, landlords have tight regulations that they can't do wild things like turning off power.