It has been nearly five years and they still have failed to fit a new meter.

The problem for my energy supplier is that our meter is the old fashioned disc type with two digital readouts, one for cheap rate and one for peak rate.

This meter slows down when the solar system generates power, and goes into reverse when it generates more than we use.

I wasn't talking about the smart metre. I was talking about the "internet of things" which is a big project with a far wider scope than smart metres. How the internet of things will force us to invest in gizmos and use more (scarce) power in the future when we are doing fine as we are.

That is one of the reasons why you need a smart meter because it can cope with power going in or out and knows the difference.

Doesn't the electricity company pay you for the surplus power you generate and feed into the grid?

That is one of the reasons why you need a smart meter because it can cope with power going in or out and knows the difference.

The electric companies here were stalling on fitting smart meters because they were getting the surplus power for free so the government had to legislate to make them fit a smart meter promptly once a solar system was installed.

Power units have been doing that for as long as I can recall without smart meters.

Mine don't, power going in or out is all the same to it.


The only difference between my meter and this one is that one of mine has two phases the other a single phase but off peak.

Some do. Certainly in the industrial field that I have encountered.

Mine don't, power going in or out is all the same to it.


The only difference between my meters and this one is that one of mine has two phases the other a single phase but off peak.

I don't want a smart meter because it will cost me money. In fact, the threat of having one has already cost me money, even though one has yet to be installed.

We had solar panels installed nearly ten years ago. Being an honest sort of chap I told my energy supplier.

The energy supplier said, "Ah, we aren't charging you enough. You need to haver your meter changed."

Not knowing any better I said, "Okay, change my meter."
They came. They looked. They said, "Ah, you will need to extend the tails from the main fuse at your expense because the new meter needs to be repositioned. We will arrange for Alec Trician to visit and and extend the tails."

That cost me sixty quid.

The power company returned to inspect the extended tails and said, "That's all okay, we will arrange to fit a new Smart meter on X date."

It has been nearly five years and they still have failed to fit a new meter.

The problem for my energy supplier is that our meter is the old fashioned disc type with two digital readouts, one for cheap rate and one for peak rate.

This meter slows down when the solar system generates power, and goes into reverse when it generates more than we use.

The power company know this because I have told them, and because they have visited our home. Their problem is that they failed to replace the meter when they said they would.

Fitting a new meter would mean I only pay for the power we use, whereas at the moment we pay for what we use less what we generate. The consumption and generation rates are drastically different.

We should pay a lot more for the power we use compared to the amount we get paid for what we generate, but this is not our problem.

Until and unless we are forced to replace our sixty year old meter, we will quite happily accept the power company's errors on how much we are charged.

By the way, there is a time clock such that we are charged at a lower rate for off peak electricity as opposed to high peak charges.
Unfortunately for our power company, that clock has slipped over the last sixty years and now it sets off peak from early morning to early afternoon.

Guess when we decide to use most of our electrickery.

I have kept all correspondence and communications to and from our energy supplier just in case they ever say, "you ain't paying enuff."

My reply will be T U uff, Tuff!