Smart Meters - general consensus?

[Kryton]

We are on the list to have a Smart meter installed in a few weeks and wanted to hear from only those how have one already installed in their own premises.

So far im yet to here anything good about them.
I have heard of people being stung with bills that are just ridiculously expensive compared to what they normally used to have.

Since we can decline the installation, i want to make an informed view of if I should delay it or not.

Basically, i just want to know if you have found your power bill has risen since or been reduced - by how much.

Poll away.

[Geez Louise]

We have had our "Smart" meter for awhile now and not once, have we had a correct bill. They are all Estimates. It's not very Smart in my opinion.

What is the point of having these things put in, if they don't relay the correct information back? Waste of time having the stupid thing installed.

[burnz]

the old meter was 8c kwh off peak
22c kwh peak...so simple

smart meter
service to property $13.00 per month
peak 36.6c kwh
shoulder 13.6c kwh
off peak 8c kwh
off peak 7.6 kwh

my bill has jumped on average $180.00 per quater

[GreenR]

haha oh the smart meter. I really do hope that nobody is under the illusion that these things will save money or be a good thing in any way. Trust me when I say they are nothing but a way to make more money

[sneaky]

i have one and my bills are not too bad.

4 people (2 adults, 2 young kids) and the bills have all been $300 a quarter or lower for 2 years now.

i have no idea why it is low, or why others are so high. i have energy efficient globes, i use the dishwasher/washing machine/dryer after 10pm as much as i can and hardly use the air con (split system)...

i don't have a pool/ducted air/leave every light in the house on, so i guess this helps.


i have always had a smart meter here so i can't compare to old bills

[Cam]

Never bothered with one as I don't see the point, Electricity is a necessity so I just use what I need and pay the bill each quarter.. The whole estimating of readings is a joke, but it's just how the system works, electricity is a necessity of life, so I liken it to whinging about fuel prices.. Might make you feel better, but aint gonna change anything

BTW the poll needs a "I kept the $50 and bought car parts" option..

[flappist]

Smart meters, the safety cameras of the power industry.....

[Geez Louise]

I have to agree with flappist on this one. The electricity companies are monitoring usage and pretty soon you will see off peak and peak charges be a thing of the past and they will charge you high rates for whatever time of the day you use it!

[StealthAu]

Originally Posted by Cam

Never bothered with one as I don't see the point, Electricity is a necessity so I just use what I need and pay the bill each quarter.. The whole estimating of readings is a joke, but it's just how the system works, electricity is a necessity of life, so I liken it to whinging about fuel prices.. Might make you feel better, but aint gonna change anything

BTW the poll needs a "I kept the $50 and bought car parts" option..

Not what you are thinking of, the smart meters replace your existing analogue meter in your meter box, power can be monitered remotely by your provider and no need for them to visit your property to bill you.

The $50 thing you are thinking of is worth while, you get the little kwh wireless meter so you can check consumption of items and such which is a bit of a ****, but you also get a dozen or so energy saving lamps which is what makes it worth the $50

[MAD]

We've got one installed at our new place. Havent had a bill yet, but it shouldnt be too far away.
How do they actually read these things remotely?

[StealthAu]

Some info on them in the below link.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_meter

[GreenR]

Originally Posted by sneaky

i have one and my bills are not too bad.

4 people (2 adults, 2 young kids) and the bills have all been $300 a quarter or lower for 2 years now.

Yes but I'm pretty sure NSW rate increases are still behind VIC. Meaning your electricity is cheaper. Also NSW has about 4 different tariffs and considering you have no pools etc you will be on the cheapest most simple.

Originally Posted by flappist

Smart meters, the safety cameras of the power industry.....

Agreed 100%

Originally Posted by MAD

We've got one installed at our new place. Havent had a bill yet, but it shouldnt be too far away.
How do they actually read these things remotely?

You'll notice there is black strip on the front of your meter box. That is how they collect the info.

[sneaky]

ahh, hang on i might be thinking of something different..

do you mean ones that send usage remotely, as StealthAu said...

or

do you mean the 'time of use' smart meters?

i have the time of use option.. so we have 3 rates available - peak, shoulder and off peak.. so when everyone wants to use power (cooking dinner, watching tv) it is peak, either side of peak times is shoulder and 10pm to 6am is off peak..

[GreenR]

What happens is when you get the smart meter installed you are put onto "time of use" automatically which you may have noticed is a considerably higher rate c/kw. For the regular home who do not change the usage it will result in more expensive bills.
However you have obviously done well to keep them low with your usage and times when you use appliances.

[EgoFG]

I did some regular meter reading to see what 'time of usage' would mean to us.

It actually worked out 10-15% more expensive (based on the rates at the time). But with a little adjusting of when you do things I would think it *COULD* be cheaper for some.

[Matty4]

I wanted to revive this thread for a couple of reasons.
We have also just received the info in the mail that we are due to have a smart meter installed this month.

As has been stated by the OP, can I decline to have one installed?
If so, do I need to contact them prior?
If not, is it legal for me to refuse them access to my place to conduct the instal? Can I lock my meterbox, or should I just ensure my front gates remain closed at all times?

I really don't want one, nor need one. My bills are high enough without having constant battles over estimates and bad readings etc.

[Kryton]

Yes, you can refuse.
Either leave a note on the meter box (incase you arent home) or verbally inform the installer that you dont want it.
Ours didnt care either way.
I did notice that whenever there is a power flick, the rest of the neighborhood blacks out (goes onto reduced power useage from the smart meters) but our house still has full power.
Im still happy that i refused the meter.

[xisled]

People in Victoria rates work completely different to NSW and QLD. In Victoria we do not have shoulder use.

In Victoria the rate on which you get charged is exactly the same as the old meter. The smart meter reads the actual consumption of the home, where the older meters are a continues read.

In Victoria the rates are not regulated by the government, so each retailer can have a different rate and supply charge. In NSW and QLD, the rates are all regulated by the government.

A time of use Tariff is is good and bad, the reason you pay for a higher peak rate is that your whole home becomes peak and off peak. If you are on the standard tariff, unless you have hot water, slab heating pool pump your house is charged at a peak rate any time, and the big appliances are only attached to the off peak meter. This is for Victoria.

People in this post need to post what state they are from because every state works differently. I look at this stuff everyday, and I would suggest holding off getting a smart meter. But in Victoria by 2013 you will have one anyway.

[brydie76]

We didn't get a choice in ours being installed, we were the "test house" on our street so I don't think we had to pay for it either. Our bills did rise at first, but we're smarter (no pun intended) about our usage now. Most non-essential appliances (eg dishwasher/washing machine) only go on after 8pm or on weekends, and that definitely did help (bearing in mind my mum owns a salon hence the washing machine is frequently used). So you can make it work to your advantage to an extent, but I still don't like the idea of them, given the way it was forced upon our house.

[xisled]

Originally Posted by brydie76

We didn't get a choice in ours being installed, we were the "test house" on our street so I don't think we had to pay for it either. Our bills did rise at first, but we're smarter (no pun intended) about our usage now. Most non-essential appliances (eg dishwasher/washing machine) only go on after 8pm or on weekends, and that definitely did help (bearing in mind my mum owns a salon hence the washing machine is frequently used). So you can make it work to your advantage to an extent, but I still don't like the idea of them, given the way it was forced upon our house.

No one pays for the actual installation unless your getting solar panels. What everyone should know is, that even if you do not have a smart meter, you still pay for it with your quarter bill. It is usually included in the supply charge. So everyone in Victoria who does not have a smart meter is still paying for it currently.

[ebxr8240]

I wouldn't have one.. They save money for the elect company ..
NOT the customer...
I'm in the industry...

[Jason[98.EL]]

Originally Posted by davway

Yes, you can refuse.
Either leave a note on the meter box (incase you arent home) or verbally inform the installer that you dont want it.
Ours didnt care either way.
I did notice that whenever there is a power flick, the rest of the neighborhood blacks out (goes onto reduced power useage from the smart meters) but our house still has full power.
Im still happy that i refused the meter.

you can not refuse anymore

we had ours put in about a month ago and I had rang my supplier and they said not a problem but i would have to pay for the people to come down from melb to have my meter read I think it was $50 per hour

the reason that you could refuse the meter was due to investigations into the house fires that occured after the meters were installed the investigation is over and it has been prooved that the fires were caused by bad wiring in the house not the meter

I had the note on my meter box as did 3 or 4 of our neighbors and they installed it anyway I rang my supplier and they informed me that you can no longer refuse the meter due to the ruling of the investigation

hope that helps

[Jack91]

Closing gates wont help you, I was told to jump fences to install them. Once my drill contacted the box theres no going back and you're getting it whether you want it or not. If you live in a unit complex you're safe for a fair while (even though there isnt relaly anything so bad about the SM) until it can be figured out how to get 50 metres in a 1m box to transmit data wireless without conflicting eachother. I havent been installing them for about 3 months but let me just say dont get angry at the installer,we're just doing our job, and we dont have to knock on the door and let you know we're there. We could, but a lot of people are know it all's and its a huge waste of time. Its funny though, removing one wire from the back of it meant free power but with the metre still looking like it was on. I wonder if theyve rectified that yet.

[Pub247]

Originally Posted by DAVO_XR

Closing gates wont help you, I was told to jump fences to install them. Once my drill contacted the box theres no going back and you're getting it whether you want it or not. If you live in a unit complex you're safe for a fair while (even though there isnt relaly anything so bad about the SM) until it can be figured out how to get 50 metres in a 1m box to transmit data wireless without conflicting eachother. I havent been installing them for about 3 months but let me just say dont get angry at the installer,we're just doing our job, and we dont have to knock on the door and let you know we're there. We could, but a lot of people are know it all's and its a huge waste of time. Its funny though, removing one wire from the back of it meant free power but with the metre still looking like it was on. I wonder if theyve rectified that yet.

Which wire is that??

[Jack91]

Not going to be responsible for your death when you touch the wrong one. There aint no safety switch on the grid.

[Stazza_Brendan]

Seen on whirlpool forums that a few people have had outragously large bills after smart meters have been put in. Power companies refuse to do a proper investigation.

[michael_ozzie]

The main reason for the fluctuation of prices in Victoria (can't speak for other states) is that the old meters either span too fast (hence overcharged) or too slow (undercharged for power). So all those who were undercharged, and are now being charged the correct power consumption for their household, but it seems from the customer point of view, that they are being overcharged.

The new meters are much, much more accurate than the old disc style meters, (as I am involved in the batch testing of these smart meters before delivery to customers) and at the end of the day your options will be:
a) Pay for a smart meter, have remote data collection and billing; or
b) Refuse a smart meter, pay for a data collector to come and read it incorrectly anyway.

Can't fight change forever.

[flappist]

DO NOT post on here how to disable the smart meters.

Apart from that it is criminal fraud as well as breaches whatever electrical act applies to your state it is very dangerous and in the big picture anyone who can't work out how to do it themselves is not qualified to touch anything electrical.

[naughts]

Cant believe nobody has mentioned the radiation these things emit. They have been banned in other parts of the world due to the radiation. Like having a mobile phone next to your head!!!! I have padlocked my meter box and put in a perspex windo so they can read the existing meter.

[Whitey-AMG]

Yes - very smart indeed......so smart in fact that ever since ours was installed in March/ April this year, we have yet to see our Bill !!!!!!

We are calling these idiots monthly asking for the Bill and they keep telling us they haven't yet had a reading provided to them...........so they don't know how much to Invoice............

This is the automotive equivalent of the BROCK Polariser.........only the people that make them think they work........

If this product and service was something you purchased from a retailer........you'd have your money refunded - the business would be investigated by the ombudsman and they would be shut down........Hmmmmm............Ombudsman........