UK Smart Meter - Alternatives?

[Nimiq1]

Hi All, we have just had our 5th Smart Meter installed and once again, it is not communicating with "Big Brother"....

A little history, we had our first Smart Meter installed when we were with Robin Hood Enery of Nottingham, nice clean install, and within a few minutes a Display in our front room, showing all the data we needed to see what we were using etc, great. Thanks to this we saw our Fridge Freezer was drawing a lot of power, so new one installed, so we were already seeing a benefit. Then after about 6 or so months the Display just froze, no live data and no idea of anything else, it was just frozen, could not communicate. Called them, they said it was the Display, so got a new one in the Post, no change, not a thing. Called again, "Oh it must be the Meter that has gone bad, we will change it for you". In all fairness they did, new meter installed, well, he tried 3 actually and he said none were communicating, so there was nothing that could be done, until I either went to another Supplier, who might just have the next generation of Smart Meter or just accept it.

A few years go by, Robin Hood Energy close down, we are moved to SSE, so we give it a few months and make the call to say, Display not working, tell them the history, which they did not really care about and a service call was generated to fit a new, up to date latest and greatest Smart Meter and another Display. Sure you can guess, guy arrived, meter installed, removed, another out of the box, installed, repeat one more time then he concludes that it is the Communications "module" that is the problem, so he changes that, then changes it again, nope, nowt works, it can't make contact, so here we are, with a Smart Meter installed, then is not, can not be read by SSE/OVO, whoever. We send readings every month but I just want a working display, showing live or almost live usage.

So after all that preamble, my question is, Does a device exist that can be put at the consumer unit or wherever that can supply me that live(ish) Data? In my mind a simple (OK not simple but you get the drift) device that goes between the Consumer unit and the Breaker, that can be addressed by ? and displayed in home. Do things like this exist?

 

[littlespark]

Quick Amazon search picks up this….

Smart WiFi Meter Energy Monitor, For Tuya Real-time Power Monitoring Module With Clamp CT, KWh Current Transformer App Electricity Automation Monitor, KWh Power Consumption Monitoring Meter (1CT)
https://amzn.eu/d/1T70EmM

That’s a simple one, there’s lots more giving phone access, more precise.

The issue you have is the supplier not giving what you’ve asked for. Keep at them.

 

[Nimiq1]

Quick Amazon search picks up this….

Smart WiFi Meter Energy Monitor, For Tuya Real-time Power Monitoring Module With Clamp CT, KWh Current Transformer App Electricity Automation Monitor, KWh Power Consumption Monitoring Meter (1CT)
https://amzn.eu/d/1T70EmM

That’s a simple one, there’s lots more giving phone access, more precise.

The issue you have is the supplier not giving what you’ve asked for. Keep at them.

Thanks for that, it is a good starting point I must admit. I would like to hear real world experiences with something like this though. Appreciate it.

 

[Alk]

Thanks for that, it is a good starting point I must admit. I would like to hear real world experiences with something like this though. Appreciate it.

I have an "old school" electricity monitor similar to this one: https://www.amazon.co.uk/FUWIND-Wir...f=sr_1_69?c=ts&s=diy&sr=1-69&ts_id=1938287031 which I have had before smart meters were available. There are 2 issues with it: 1. The batteries in the transmitter don't last very long (just a few months). 2. Mine has an update lag, so with all of the devices in the house, it can be hard to know which appliance has caused the spike and by how much exactly. However, if you can get an average baseline and no one uses any additional devices and you just switch on the device that you want to monitor, then you can then get a good approximation as to how much energy the device is using. I am sure that this is just the same with smart meters.
Consequently, I don't use it anymore. Instead, I use a plugin energy monitor which can accurately tell me the energy usage for the specific device only (and much quicker). I only use the "whole house" energy monitor when I need to tell how much energy a fixed wiring appliance is using....eg. when I swapped from fluorescent to LED bulbs (that was really interesting to see), or the tumble dryer, whereby I cannot easily get to the plug.