My Landlord doesn't want smart electricity meters. Do they have a choice with this?

They are not compulsory (yet, or likely to be for some time - but its quite plausible that the only tarrifs offered to conventional meters in time will be exceptionally expensive) - contact ESB Networks and you can decline it.

There is the choice but it makes no sense to decline the offer, its completely free, no mess, no fuss and in time, gives the bill paper more options. As others may say or agree with, they will I suspect become compulsory and I've no doubt the cost could be substantial. I believe (open to correction) all new builds have to have them installed. My own house is 250 years old, I was glad to see the back of the relic I had, the fitter laughed when he saw it, mentioned a possible museum piece 😁

Are you sure they are completely free, I thought you had to pay something like €5 a month for them on your ESB bill?

Absolutely free, no charge whatsoever and certainly no monthly rental added to bill. There will of course be smart tariffs available to you in time but a separate issue and for account holders to decide, I've stayed on old tariff, I'm a low user so no benifit at present to change.

My own was one of the installed almost 2 years ago now.

I find the smart meter thing deceptive. The rate with a dumb meter is 15.29c, but with a smart meter it might be 22.98c for the 'day' rate - 50% more expensive - and 'day' is an astonishing 08:00 - 23:00!

I think it should be up to the landlord, its her/his property and it's not something they can undo.

Fair points but there's a number of smart tariffs that have specific rates, day, night, free weekend day, booster etc. I'm not a heavy user so nothing would appeal to me but customers have a choice to remain on old tariffs also.

I also agree re the landlord and of course its their ultimate decision, I'm just pointing out its absolutely Free (for now), minimal disruption, quite tidy, but also because they give Tenants, in time, greater choice, if of course they want it.

Some first generation smart meters had issues with dimmable led bulbs when dimmable led bulbs were in their infancy.

Bulbs have moved on and only second generation smart meters are used in Ireland.

Yet the "object to everything" fools will keep harping on one small issue where both parts of that issue have been long resolved.

And some eejits will still believe them.

You can choose from ALL rate options.

Btw a 15.29 rate is most likely part of a introductory rate. Current standard rates are circa 23c.

Again, someone using selective information out of context. Hopefully people are more intelligent than to just take some out of context post and will do their own actual check

This is nonsense..., there is no charge. Or are you being all obtuse and saying that there is an extra penny a minute being charged etc etc

More utter stupidity

Next you'll hear the same fools tell you that smart meters will give you covid.

It really is at that level of stupidity and some people are ridiculously gullible.

Completely different scenario..prepay meter is inside the house external to the meter box. E.g on the hall or kitchen .

Not a like for like comparison to this thread.

Anybody get confused when loking at mobile phone plans or health insurance plans the lat few years.

Thats what smart meters will do for electricity plans.

I would hazard a guess from looking at the plans available even at the moment for smart meters, that the consumer will not be winning here.

you can keep the old rate. what you are forgetting in your post is that between 23:00 and 08:00 its cheaper. this suits some people, especially people who use alotat night, e.g charging electric cars.

. Even old dumb meter had day and night rates if you wanted.

stop spreading nonsense, there is no reason to not get one. perhaps the landlord thinks its a prepay meter.

Just to be clear. It's not exactly the same at all. You are adding a device after the meter to monitor usage and a panel inside the house. This is allowed without ESB input it's all post the regulated meter unit.

Entirely different.

Agreed, as an already low level user without an electric car to charge, I can see very little saving opportunities in the current arrangements, unless I decide to risk a house fire by running my washer and drier through the night and get the family to use the electric shower after midnight.

At the moment, I can see no advantage to me in having a smart meter with the tariffs currently offered. The advantage now lies with the suppliers, being able to charge the consumer more for the energy used during the most convenient and necessary times. The refuse collection services went the same way ... introduced as additional competition being of benefit to the consumer and ending up with consumers paying more to dispose of less refuse.

I think there are many people already doing their best with energy conservation that are going to be very disappointed with the lack of practical savings options that the smart meter will provide for an already conservative user.

You mention the electric car.

My parents have one and charge it overnight. Its a 2kwh charger so it takes all night to charge. But it does it fully in the 9 hour night rate at 7c per unit.

Now they looked into smart meter., The period to charge is far less. Car wont charge in that time unless they upgrade to a €1000 charger.

And out of all the smart meter plans, I cant find one that would be cheaper for most users.

That is just going to get worse too, i suspect.

Prepay meters clearly re different, no similarity between them and smart meters.

I was referring to the requirement for landlord approval to change the meter (in my own experience it was from Electric Ireland), a tenant wanted to change to a prepay meter but had to get my permission for EI to go ahead with it, as they said, No charge to change to prepay meter but a charge to go back.

On a seperate note, I hear electricity bills may go up 28?%, seems to negate any benefit to the end user of smart meters if it is all wiped out by price increases, although I did hear a radio advert today saying free saturday or sunday (you just have to pick a day) for those that change over to smart meters, can imagine that wont last long, but they must have excess capacity to use on those days if it is costing them as much to supply the grid and have no usage that they can give it away for free.

I suggest the OP enquire off the service provider, if they require landlord approval, they will say, as the property owner at the time, EI had to get my permission to make a change to the meter.

Read the post first please, I said electricity may go up 28%, ie across the board,

they may go up 60000%.......

I'm intrigued by the line that running the washer and drier through the night might risk a fire.

Is it more of a risk to do this through the night than through the day?

Only asking because I run both of mine overnight using the simple delay timers on both. House hasn't burned down (yet).

Obviously the chances of it happening at night are exactly the same as during the day, but the difference is that if you're awake you'll probably be able to detect any problems early before it gets too serious, or at least be able to get out of the house quickly. When you're fast asleep, things can, and sadly do, get out of control before you manage to get out.

Glad we've cleared all that up, I'll run the tumble dryer when I'm out at work.