Are there any disadvantages to getting a smart meter?

I agree they reduce the energy wholesalers operating costs. But we the consumer never see any reduction in costs.

Well it does help because it tells you what you have used. so not make it high in cost. well my price has come down as l was in credit for the year. so my payments have reduced so quite pleased helps all round with cost of living etc.

Firstly,you will not get any savings by switching to a normal meter. Both types record the same consumption, a smart meter does allow you to take advantage of several tarrifs and offers such as charge anytime, heat pump plus and power save, though they are of no use unless you have an electric car or a heat pump. All the smart meter does is to report the consumption regularly ( when it works!) it also helps to narrow down what appliances are the big users as you can see the rate of usage instantaneously if you have a remote display. Also, if you have a smart meter I cannot believe any supplier will agree to fit a “normal meter” as  they are all obliged to fit as many smart meters as possible. Suggest you shop around for a deal that suits your lifestyle better. You may find this harder than it should be as getting to talk to anyone with any actual knowledge of electricity supply ( as distinct from the poor darlings who get to answer the phone) is a challenge.

best of luck

Tim

You become responsible for paying for energy used from the day you take over the property. People often get the keys a few days before actually moving in, for example. As soon as you took over the property, you should have taken a meter reading (and even a date-stampred photo of the meter) and contacted the supplier to tell them that you were their new customer. Is that what you did?
Moving into a home that OVO supplies - A Guide | The OVO Forum 

Is this a pre-payment meter, that you have to top up to be able to use electricity? Otherwise, how do you know that you’ve been charged for days before you took over?

Just set the meter to send monthly readings if you don’t want to have the 30 minutes intervals and don’t look at the portable display.   That’s how mine was set up until I went on to Charge Anytime for my plug-in hybrid car.   Combined with getting £3 a week from power move flex I’m getting about 43 kWh free charging (about 120 miles) for my car each week so smart meters do have their uses.

That’s not really to do with the type I’m meter, more to do with the admin of taking on power account.

I don’t think that there is a reverse option, changing it from smart to “standard”. Moreover, if you think about changing your supplier, it’s up to them to make any changes. 

Meter doesn’t charge anyone, it is just showing how much electricity is used. If you think that you are being charged more, then you need to ask an electrician to check your house. Or to speak with OVO if they could to check your meter (but it doesn’t matter what kind of meter you have). If you see that they are charging you for days before you’ve moved in, again, you need to speak to OVO asking them to correct their records.

 

Good evening,

Please note that this comment was left by a Forum Volunteer. It should NOT be treated as an official response from OVO

Just wanted to wrap the answer into a bit of a nice neat bundle.

Long story short, the basic answer to this is that there is no downgrade path. Once a Smart Meter is installed, there’s no going back. The Meter is also the property of the Supplier (not the Customer) and the Supplier has absolute discretion over what goes on the wall. As a Customer, you don’t get to pick and choose - it’s basically whatever the Engineer grabs from the van.

Given that stocks of Traditional Meters have pretty much also been wiped out across ALL Suppliers, the chances of being able to get one now are pretty remote. Do not rely on any Supplier saying they can get you one as you risk getting burned later when they more than likely find themselves unable to do so. It must be said once again that manufacturing of them ceased over 10 years ago so there’s no longer any “new” stock, so to speak.

Even if they can, you’ll be hit with a large bill for a Non-Standard Installation - it can be anywhere between £150 and £500+ in some cases… Whereas having a Smart Meter fitted is free.

It must also be said that eventually the stocks of Traditional Meters will hit absolute zero, after which getting hold of one will be completely impossible.

EDIT: I hadn’t refreshed the page and my question isn’t relevant.

I hope I will never be forced by legislation to get a smart meter. I’m 78 years old and ordinary electricity meters have worked for me all my adult life both here in England and for 12 years in Germany when I worked there as a guest worker.

Why change what works? I have heard so many horror stories about smart meters that I just don’t want one. My problem is that the existing meter is getting really close to rolling over to zero in a few months and I wonder whether OVO will be able to cope with this change. Another thread in this forum, a year old, suggested that customers who had experienced rollover also experienced billing problems.

As we’ve said many times, it will happen eventually. ALL meters have a finite lifespan of around 20 years and in the UK, once yours runs out of service life, the next one will be a Smart Meter.

OVO can deal with the going round the clock thing no problem, but that suggests you’ve got an ancient meter that probably needs to be replaced soon anyway.

Those stories you’ve been seeing are often scaremongering at best. I’ve seen literally 20 million+ Smart Meters work perfectly fine - you just don’t see those stories because folks won’t tell you. And the press won’t because it makes for a boring story!

Hi ​@LittleTyke,

Thanks for your post and your honesty. ​@Blastoise186 has made some great points here, and there are many other members of our Community would be able to share their positive experiences. I myself have had smart meters in my last three properties and have never had a problem.

Those stories you’ve been seeing are often scaremongering at best. I’ve seen literally 20 million+ Smart Meters work perfectly fine - you just don’t see those stories because folks won’t tell you. And the press won’t because it makes for a boring story!

There is indeed a lot of stories around smart meters. One thing I’ll say - having worked in the Industry for eight years I’ve seen far more (and more serious) issues with traditional meters, which aren’t as highly calibrated and lack some of the features of more modern smart meters. There’s some great info on the Ofgem website, and on this previous Forum topic:

• Smart Meters - What makes them so smart?

Have a think - smart meters aren’t mandatory, but they are all that is produced by the Industry now, and traditional meters only have a certain lifespan before they must be replaced.

Hi ​@LittleTyke, you expressed concern about being forced by legislation to replace your meter with a smart meter, and also you wondered why change something that works.  
 

There is pressure on energy companies to install smart meters, and so they encourage us as consumers to help roll out smart meter adoption.  But the idea of legislation to force individual consumers to influence their energy provider would be approaching the whole thing backwards! We, the individual consumers, do not, after all, own our electricity or gas meter, so to legislate or to penalise us with regard to an energy provider’s metering shortfall would be somewhat arbitrary to say the least.
 

I’m just a few years behind you at 73, but I’m very happy with my smart meters, especially the electricity one: it hasn’t changed in the slightest the essential element of “what works”: it still records, using the same familiar units of kWh, exactly what electricity I consume. But it enables me to access other additional information about that usage, should I want to avail myself of that information (which I assuredly do). I don’t have to access that information if I don’t want to, but personally I like to check (for example) what my precise consumption at any given time of day (or night) might be, and similarly a running check of my usage to date each month in £ or in kWh is useful and saves having to worry about daily or weekly checking my OVO online account (although I usually do that as well!). Also, I no longer physically have to go into the porch, for example and unlock the gas meter cupboard to read my gas meter any more, like I had to with my old traditional analogue one; now I freely admit that is laziness on my part, but for other elderly or infirm folk, or those with a disability, or indeed for many hale and hearty citizens, rooting about in dark cluttered cupboards or on landings above dangerous stairwells is not always something to be welcomed, 
 

So the smart meter doesn’t change the essence of “what works” at all, it simply enhances (for those that want to access that enhanced level of information) the kWh info that it provides and that traditional meters have always provided. Most of the horror stories one hears about are to do with problems accessing that enhanced information (such as one’s tariff information, or perhaps an often temporary failure to communicate with the provider or with the consumer).  A smart meter actually failing, though, in its basic function as a meter that measures what a consumer uses, could not be tolerated by any energy company or indeed by any consumer: I would recommend you to consider getting a smart meter for yourself at some convenient stage soon.

All the very best, do let us know which way you decide to go, we are all consumers on this forum and always very interested to hear from each other…

Even without legislation forcing customers to get a smart meter, they are effectively being forced, because there are hardly any new non-smart meters available any longer, so the electricity supplier has no choice other than to install a smart meter.

As far as the existing meter rolling over to zero is concerned, I hope I can be confident that Ovo will continue to manage my billing correctly, even after the meter has rolled over to zero. I don’t understand why rolling over has proved such a problem for electricity suppliers. Any electricity supplier, not just Ovo, can bill up to meter reading 99999, then the meter rolls over to zero, and as electricity is still being consumed, within just a few minutes the meter will read 00001 or 00002 and the supplier can just resume billing with those readings. From a programming point of view (I am a long-retired programmer), it’s a doddle to work out.

How much domestic upheaval is involved when a smart meter is installed?

Hi ​@LittleTyke,

Just to put your mind at rest, our systems are designed to recognise when a meter clocks back round to ‘00000’, so there shouldn’t be any issue there - your billing should carry on as normal. 

As for what work is involved when installing smart meters, it’s generally a simple job that takes around 45 minutes per meter; just removing one meter from its fittings and installing the other one in its place. However, sometimes work must be carried out if the meter is in a hard to reach area, or if any of the fixings need changing etc. If you like you could always send over a picture of your meter set up and we could let you know if any work would need to be carried out.

• OVO SMETS2 (S2) Smart Meter installation - Member Guide Tutorial

Thanks for your very informative reply.

Referring to “..you could always send over a picture of your meter set up...” where would I send a photo? I can take a photo later on my Android tablet. Briefly, the property was built in 2004 and the electricity meter is housed in a small box with a door on an outside wall of the garage, easily accessible. There is no gas supply here, only electricity.

​@LittleTyke from the sounds of it that should be a very easy replacement with minimal work. You can send a photo in a Forum post using the ‘insert image’ icon (See below):

In addition to what Ben wrote ...

I’ve suggested this before, and no-one has complained … 

Use the webchat option to contact Support and make sure the agent you eventually make contact with has your account details in front of him. You can then upload your photo(s) in the chat and ask him to include them in your account notes, so anyone at OVO accessing the account can see them.