Smart meters! Who or what are they good for?

Michele Severn spoke to Bridget Ginnity about her expectations when she had a smart meter installed and how her actual expereience has played out

We got a new Smart Meter installed a few months ago and I wanted to avail of the new information that I thought the technology would provide.

I wanted to know, for example, how much boiling a kettle or having the shower on, or Immersion actually costs me. I wanted to know my real time consumption.

With the old meter I could go outside, stand and observe the meter. I could see the disk faster or slower when an appliance was in use and I could see the fractional unit change.

When the Smart Meter was installed I thought I would at least get all the functionality of the old meter and hopefully without having to go outside – but no.

There is no longer any spinning disk, just a digital number which has no fractional unit. I stood and watched and waited for the full unit to move. Nothing happened.

I switched on the kettle, shower – no movement. Rang the electricity call centre and was told that I had in fact used 45 whole units in seven days so I could have been waiting some time before the unit moved. Outside in the cold!

I had thought that I would be able to interact with my meter perhaps through a web browser or app. But I was informed that I would have to sign up for a Smart plan – which had a dearer price per unit then the two-year Value Saver Electric plan I’m on. That just couldn’t be right – but it was!

I also have to give the company permission to extract the data from my meter every 30 mins so that they can build a picture over time of what appliances they guess I am using.

I will then be able to view their analysis a few days later. Not in real time. A disappointing application of science at best.

In disbelief I rang the ESB Networks, thinking they could give more information about the meter or how to connect to the meter to extract the information about my usage. I was told that they just install the meters and that each electricity supplier has their own individual plans and ways of accessing the meter’s data.

Surely with similar electricity meters being installed into millions of homes in Ireland one basic app could have been provided showing real time usage without going outside.

In order to find this information I held on the ESB Electricity “free” phone line for 50 mins before speaking to two agents who tried their best to help and which took a further 43 minutes.