Peter Sarf
Established Member
We have had a smart meter for a while. I occasionally wonder what it is measuring and this evening I did a little test.
Just after 8pm three of us had showers. They added up to 30 minutes. I had noted the energy usage that day so far came to £2.25 before the showers started,. I forgot to check until after the last shower and the usage was £2.31. I thought 6p is stunningly low !. So re-read yes it is £2.31. I then wondered if I had misread the £2.25. I then validated by calculating that 6p for 30 minutes equated to £2.88 for a day - our daily average is roughly £3 so obviously 6p was rubbish. Anyway I waited and at least ten minutes after the last shower the reading jumped to £2.71. So 45p for up to 30 minutes of shower seems plausible. But why did it take at least 10 minutes for the useage to be reflected on the screen ?.
So my questions are :-
1) Is there some sort of delay from the gas usage to the figure appearing on the smart meter gizmo box ?.
2) Is it that the meter only reports a movement of a whole unit and our showers had finished just before a whole unit ?.
3) Is the problem an intermittent signal ?.
4) Are the meters only reporting avery 10 minutes or longer ?.
5) Are smart meters worth taking any notice of.
I will also say that if we are averaging £3 per day in the summer that would be £1,000 for twelve months. That is a bit more than we have paid in the past in a real year with winter thrown in. So our bills are already higher than last year without seeing what winter does !. I am not surprised but I cannot get my head round it.
Just after 8pm three of us had showers. They added up to 30 minutes. I had noted the energy usage that day so far came to £2.25 before the showers started,. I forgot to check until after the last shower and the usage was £2.31. I thought 6p is stunningly low !. So re-read yes it is £2.31. I then wondered if I had misread the £2.25. I then validated by calculating that 6p for 30 minutes equated to £2.88 for a day - our daily average is roughly £3 so obviously 6p was rubbish. Anyway I waited and at least ten minutes after the last shower the reading jumped to £2.71. So 45p for up to 30 minutes of shower seems plausible. But why did it take at least 10 minutes for the useage to be reflected on the screen ?.
So my questions are :-
1) Is there some sort of delay from the gas usage to the figure appearing on the smart meter gizmo box ?.
2) Is it that the meter only reports a movement of a whole unit and our showers had finished just before a whole unit ?.
3) Is the problem an intermittent signal ?.
4) Are the meters only reporting avery 10 minutes or longer ?.
5) Are smart meters worth taking any notice of.
I will also say that if we are averaging £3 per day in the summer that would be £1,000 for twelve months. That is a bit more than we have paid in the past in a real year with winter thrown in. So our bills are already higher than last year without seeing what winter does !. I am not surprised but I cannot get my head round it.
