Smart Meter? What can I do with it?

Is it correct that if you switch to a smart meter plan, you cannot switch back, if you find it is not offering any benefit?

Night time rates might make financial sense if you use the tumble dryer, washing machine & dishwasher when you are in bed at night.

But does it make safety sense? People who work in the fire safety area would not recommend it.

There are so many permutations. Its ,ike what they did with mobile phone bills a few years ago and health insurance plans now. They bamboozle you with combinations, but at they end of the day all that does is hide that they have become way more expensive than the simple method of day/night.

Hopefully soon someone does what some mobile companies did and just gives simple (normal priced) plans again.

What’s the standard tariff for a smart meter with ESB?

The smart meter doesn't concern itself too much about the customer, it doesn't even display the power in watts which most people can identify with and watch while they switch different appliances on/off. Its less user friendly in fact than my 50 year old Ferranti meter.

My meter's disc does 225 revs/kwh, so I simply divide the time in seconds it takes to do one revolution into 16000 (16000/t) which gives the power in watts, ie, if it takes 80 secs to do one revolution then the power is, 16000/80, 200watts.

My daughters smart meter flashes a LED at the rate of 1000/kwh so better off taking the time for 2 flashes, (or even 3) Power in watts is (no of flashes)*3600/t. ie 2 flashes in 36 secs = 2X3600/36, 200watts. but disappointing that this power isn't displayed, one shouldn't have to get a app or some gadget to count the flashes and convert to display somewhere.

They are showing shots on sky news (re energy costs) of what I presume are UK smart meters which show far more than just the power, don't know if they are the norm or not.

They are a total scam. I wrote to pricewatch in the Irish times, see if they'll take it up.

Compare the plans when your contract is up. At the moment smart meter plans are all more expensive then current plans. If you move you will likely be paying more for the same electricity.

You don't have to change to a smart plan.

Unfortunately, now that I look again... they have become more sophisticated and expensive.

The nearest I could find to the unit I have is this : https://purchase.ie/product/energy-saving/efergy-engage-hub-energy-monitoring-kit

That costs €99.95 and operates like my unit does, except the display unit is now portable - mine is plugged in. It also now produces fancy usage graphs.

This one at STG£69.99, sends data via wifi to a phone or tablet.

They all basically calculate power usage through a remote sender located at the fuse or meter box, connected to a sensor clamp attached to the incoming supply cable. If you input your unit price for electricity, and add in a calculation for the service charge and carbon tax... you can display a real time calculation of cost of use at any particular time.

In the end though, it is all basic physics and common sense - generating heat or motive power through electricity, is going to cost money - do less of it... or do it for less time with appliances that you can't do without. Graphs and readouts wont save you money... common sense will, but in the end, whatever you do.... we will all end up paying far more for using far less electricity.... even if you end up eating your dinner at three in the morning to save costs, you will only be trying to fight against inevitable price rises, as opposed to actually getting cheaper electricity. :)

Smart meters are a scam to make the consumer think that they have some hope of reducing costs. You can take steps to reduce costs right now, but you can't avoid inevitable unit price rises. The energy companies have to make profits... if we all use less, they are going to have to charge us more, to make their profits.

The government policy is leading us straight into the scam.... to pay more for using less from a national grid... why are individual homes and local communities not being encouraged (grant assisted) more to generate their own power? Is it because the existing market model of private profit enterprises has to be maintained?

Hi Andy,

That looks interesting, how does the app find and connect to your meter? Do you have to give it some info from the front of the meter, eg the serial number?

I had one of these installed recently, and was disappointed to realise that I cannot access the data. There's no way I'm switching to any plan until I can fully interrogate my current (?) setup and make a profile.

I've downloaded the app, but it looks like I need to connect to a central server somewhere to get the data. Or am I doing it wrong?

Yes I'm still on the same plan. 24hr as well.

There is another app for the phone nick called Smart Me app:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.smart_me

it wants to scan a QR code on the wifi module at the top of the meter above the display , but there is no sticker on mine with it on nor barcode ... so I reckon they have not put the wifi module in ... at €125 excl VAT for the wifi module I am not surprised.

https://www.smartred-shop.de/en/p/smart-me-kamstrup-modul-for-omnipower

https://web.smart-me.com/project/smart-me-app/

https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/63b1b1_6c76d25d0e234872b37eb314858be138.pdf

https://youtu.be/BVtkdrsQcrE