Electricity Smart Meter

[OSIRUS]

Hi guys, (sorry if this is not in the right forum section)

They have just informed me from Energy Australia that they are going to upgrade my electricity meter to a smart meter on 28th November 2024.

I have peak and off-peak meter readings at the moment and my bill is reasonable, (I am happy with it)

do I have to change to a smart meter? can I say no? or not?

Is there anything I should know about smart meters? are they good or not?

is my bill likely to be higher or lower or the same with a smart meter?

just wondering what your experiences are with smart meters and can I or should I say no? or not?

thanks

[fandtm666]

If you are in nsw and your meter is in good working order you can advise them you dont want it installed,
not sure about other states.

" Do I have to have a smart meter? "

As of 1 December 2017, national rules require that all new and replacement meters are smart meters.

If your retailer is actively installing smart meters in your area, they will send you two notices telling you about their plans.

If you do not want a new meter, you have the right to refuse one if your meter is still in working order.

However, if your old meter is faulty or has reached the end of its life, it must be replaced with a smart meter."

But makes no difference apart from the fact that it is read remotely. Depending on who
you use for supply some also allow you to monitor the usage through
their portal so you can see what you are using.

[wotnot]

On their website...



All we care about there, is the words "replace your meter by law".... chasing that angle up....



There's likely answers to some of your other questions there....see ->

..yes...had to dig deep for that =)

Our story....we live rural -- Energex came out to survey our installation to define whether or not to fit a smart meter. The power meters in this place were replaced with new back in 2015 ; as the meters are relatively new and within their expected (calibrated) service life, Energex xhose not to install any smart meters ...(but I reckon the truth be told, they couldn't get any datalink happening way out here =)

Personally, I think it's all BS .... the only thing I've seen about this, was from a recent UK television ad ~ if you move all your typical usage to the off-peak hours, they charge less...ie; do all your clothes washing/drying/ironing/house cleaning ...cooking.... during off-peak...which in the UK is between 22:00 -> 08:00 hours....

[OSIRUS]

Thanks guys, appreciate your replies.

[Al Bundy]

Beware, energy retailers use the opportunity of installing a Smart Meter to swap you from any tariffs that you maybe on to new time of use tariffs, if you don’t want this to occur be clear to state that you wish to remain on your current tariff/s, either that be via voice recording or by email.
They are required to get your permission to change your tariff to time of use, but unless you complain they will ignore you.
There is an article here from the AEMC with proposed strengthening of the safeguards around transferring to Smart Meters

But I have no idea where it is sitting at the moment.

[shred]

My place was changed to smart meters a year or two back.

No difference in the bill (they’re accurate). No more “estimated readings” (strangely enough, these always come in much higher than the actual reading) because the meter reader couldn’t be bothered with our place.

I’ve been able to install a couple of zigbee wireless energy monitors that count the blinks of the LED on the front of each meter (one blink = 1 watt-hour of energy used), so now I can see how much power we are using in almost real time.

[Al Bundy]

They didn’t try to move you to a time of use tariff Shred?
I am assuming Aurora Energy (being Tas).

[Al Bundy]

Found this, gives a good explanation, apologies in advance seeing as it is from the ABC;

[shred]

They didn’t try to move you to a time of use tariff Shred?
I am assuming Aurora Energy (being Tas).

I’m with Aurora, but nothing changed.

The option to go to “Aurora Plus” was offered. If I wanted to use a smartphone app to see how much power I was using, I would have had to switch to Aurora Plus and get the time of use tariff with it.

[Al Bundy]

I’m with Aurora, but nothing changed.

The option to go to “Aurora Plus” was offered. If I wanted to use a smartphone app to see how much power I was using, I would have had to switch to Aurora Plus and get the time of use tariff with it.

I can tell you through recent experience with a family member that they moved them to a time of use tariff when they installed the Smart Meter without getting their permission nor even advising them it was happening.
I have received 3 letters from their metering provider saying my meter will be changed to a Smart Meter on a specific date and 3 times I have had to contact them and opt-out, I will hang on as long as I can to the meter I have, hopefully until at least 2030.

On a seperate note if you have solar installed be prepared to see it switched off by AEMO via your Smart Meter when they have a glut of solar feeding back into the grid, that is, on top of the Solar Levy that is also coming. They are going to screw us any way they can.

Nobody is ever going to convince me that Smart Meters are going to be to the consumers (collectively) benefit, Electricity retailers are there to make money any way they can, not try to save the consumer money… no such thing as a free lunch.

[Ma_Baker]

Hi all,

I thought this English show may be of interest "Ch5 Smart Meters Are They Really Worth It 1080p HDTV "

Luv and kisses

[Al Bundy]

British not Australian but the point is still the same.

[Au_radio]

Don't listen to the rubbish,
I got one installed 3 months ago , tariffs rolled over to new smart meter , no issues , prices still the same , monitoring features are good , set budgets alerts , hourly / daily breakdown ect ect .

You can't refuse installation, it's a federal mandate , you may be able to delay install but that's about it.

Don't worry !

[shred]

Nobody is ever going to convince me that Smart Meters are going to be to the consumers (collectively) benefit,

Yes. It’s a funny thing, but I understood that one benefit to consumers is that the electricity supplier knows when there is an outage, since all the smart meters in the area stop reporting in as soon as the power fails. I live in a semi-rural area at the end of the line, so to speak, In the August storms, on multiple occcasions, we lost power for extended periods and our little group of houses did not appear on the Tas Networks Outages page until I had phoned it in. We all have smart meters now.

As a side note, when I bought my first house in 1995, the Hydro as it was in Tasmania had a special offer, where if you paid extra to have a special smart meter installed, you could get a discount on your power if you agreed to never exceed a given instantaneous power use (eg never exceed 10kW consumption). I lived by myself, had gas heating and could see that this would be of great benefit to me.

I spoke to my father about it and he said something like: “Don’t do it - I re-wired my house for off peak power in the early 1970s because they said I’d save heaps and then those bastards put the off peak prices up and I never got my money back!”.

I took his advice and did not change over. Sure enough… a year or two later the Hydro abandoned the special deal because not enough people had taken it up. If I had spent the $600 (big money back the ) to change over to an early model smart meter, I would have never made my money back, let alone made a saving.

[Al Bundy]

Don't listen to the rubbish,
I got one installed 3 months ago , tariffs rolled over to new smart meter , no issues , prices still the same , monitoring features are good , set budgets alerts , hourly / daily breakdown ect ect .

You can't refuse installation, it's a federal mandate , you may be able to delay install but that's about it.

Don't worry !

Mate, I will just say it’s not rubbish, I work in the industry I’ve seen what goes on, good for you that you may have a more scrupulous retailer, maybe you are one of the lucky ones, but open your eyes and see what is happening around the country, (if you are in fact in WA then your point is irrelevant, you are not part of the NEM) and I will say it again, just for your benefit, there is no way electrical retailers are going to introduce any apparatus that saves YOU money, at their expense, it isn’t going to happen for everybody, in fact it’s not going to happen for most, and “double” in fact it isn’t happening now for many.

So well done on your good fortune, but I wonder if you will have the same opinion in 2 or 3 years time?

Watch this spot.

[mi_tasol]

I've had one for a few months, no issues, the only change was that I now get a monthly "bill". I'm in credit so I don't pay anything. In north QLD if you don't opt in then you risk an install charge when they finally come to install the mandated smart meter - we only have one supplier here.

[Au_radio]

Mate, I will just say it’s not rubbish, I work in the industry I’ve seen what goes on, good for you that you may have a more scrupulous retailer, maybe you are one of the lucky ones, but open your eyes and see what is happening around the country, (if you are in fact in WA then your point is irrelevant, you are not part of the NEM) and I will say it again, just for your benefit, there is no way electrical retailers are going to introduce any apparatus that saves YOU money, at their expense, it isn’t going to happen for everybody, in fact it’s not going to happen for most, and “double” in fact it isn’t happening now for many.

So well done on your good fortune, but I wonder if you will have the same opinion in 2 or 3 years time?

Watch this spot.

I'm not interested in saving money , I expect to pay for what I use , no more and no less . No conspiracy here

[freakee1]

We had 3 single phase plug in meters - they were 25 years old. I used to install these things back when I was a young meter fixer for my Electricity Authority. The things would bounce around the back of my van and I drove the work van like I stole it........ Being someone who had a fair idea how these thing work and I soon worked out my my current home had a white phase meter that was a "little" inaccurate. Of course I decided to rewire my switchboard, all the single phase circuits went to the phase that was a "little" cheaper.

As most smart meters do belong to the DNSP's and our DNSP has invested in replacing all of the old watthour meters to the new smart meters, my bill is 100% accurate and I get billed monthly - of course I pay more - but it is accurate - can't really complain, had a few years of "awesome Bills"

In saying that - I can see why they are changing to accurate smart meters, it allows Retail companies to bill accurately and correctly and can contact the meter and confirm power outages, loads etc and forecast loadings, and save erroneous call outs.

now I need to install some solar panels to reduce my actual footprint.......... bugger

[Uncle Fester]

Back in the days when I installed solar I got a so called Gross Meter that could only meter ALL the solar energy that was sent to the grid.
As I got 60c per kWh that way it was literally money heaven sent.

When this generous feed-in tariff ended, the electricity company was kind enough to install a smart meter for no cost at my request.
This allowed me to use my solar first and only any excess went to the grid however for very poor returns but nevertheless with some juggling and timers to use as much solar in the day time and relative little feed-in, I manage to keep our bill around $70-80 per month, for a 3 person household and an electric car. While it is mostly charged with an off-grid system, I sometimes use the grid connected solar to charge it so I can keep the off-grid batteries full, which then can be used in the night in the house for some loads.

In any case I would not be able to have such a low bill WITHOUT a smart meter.
I also appreciate that I get correctly billed for what I actually use and NOT an estimate.

So far Alinta has not tried any tricks with me but if they do I will just change the retailer, which I might threaten to do when my 12 month discount wears out. They might give me a new discount to keep me, although I wonder why they would bother with my low metered consumption.

I do find ONE disadvantage with the smart meter, it stuffs up AM radio reception, Shortwave and Airband.
The meter box is only 4m away from my 'cave'.

[Al Bundy]

I'm not interested in saving money , I expect to pay for what I use , no more and no less . No conspiracy here

I understand that’s your view and that’s fine, some choose to bury their heads in the sand and believe everything is hunky dory and that anybody who even suggests otherwise is a conspiracy theory nut, how do you think we have got to where we are now with this country?
You keep your head where you have it, but don't start whining and asking how did the place get like this? in 5 years time…