First Utility Smart Meters - callers at door

[Sue]

Just had some very smartly dressed people round trying to flog Smart Meters, seeing if I "qualify" blah blah blah, have to change supplier, blah blah blah, we will give you cheque for ?264 blah blah.

But they had no info they could leave, which always makes me immediately suspicious, and they wanted to come in, ditto.

Just googled it and there's some info here

Has anybody else had them call and if so is this actually a good deal? I'm on a capped tariff with Scottish Power at the mo.

[ianr]

Simply compare the tariffs and their changeability.

For checking electricity usage, I've found a single ?8 plug-in socket meter, that measures consumption of one device at a time, plus the ability to read a main meter, record readings, and do a little mental arithmetic, provide all the information I need. For checking gas usage, ditto minus the socket meter. Not even a smart meter is going to tell you how much fuel you use for individual devices or functions, is it?

[intexasatthe moment]

There's quite a lot of anxiety about smart meters ( see here http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/other_subjects/a1327330-Anyone-having-a-gas-leccy-meter-replaced-with-a-Smart-Meter-Something-you-need-to-know ).

Whether that anxiety is justified or not I don't know .

[Sue]

intexasatthe moment Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> There's quite a lot of anxiety about smart meters

> ( see here

> http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/other_subjects/a132733

> 0-Anyone-having-a-gas-leccy-meter-replaced-with-a-

> Smart-Meter-Something-you-need-to-know ).

> Whether that anxiety is justified or not I don't

> know .

xxxxxxx

That's an interesting thread, intexas, I just had a quick skim through it.

The people who came to the door tried to "sell" me the idea by saying my account would be directly connected to the meter and instead of paying a set direct debit amount month by month I would pay exactly what I owed.

But according to the thread, it seems that the meter could be hacked :-S

Think I'll give it a miss, got enough to do without researching this at the moment!

[Loz]

Good lord - who'd have though a mumsnet article would use the word 'brickable'. Bet there's a few people out there scratching their head about that one.