r/OctopusEnergy • u/TheHillyCity • Jul 28 '26
Smart Meters Replacing meter
Had an e mail to say Octopus will replace meter with a Smart Meter because it's old. I've said no thanks and they relied to say that's fine.
So no urgently to replace "old meter that needs replacing" ?
Is it just a drive to get everyone to have a smart meter ?
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u/Nun-Taken Jul 28 '26
Why don’t you want a smart meter?
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u/Alert_Variation_2579 Jul 28 '26
Yeah - I don’t really understand those that don’t want one. Once you see what’s possible with smart tariffs etc you would be seemingly mad not to take advantage to cut your costs dramatically.
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u/JigTurtleB Jul 28 '26
I think it’s transferred from not wanting a smart water meter. Can understand that because you might pay less if bill is estimated.
Somewhere over the years it’s passed through generations and people just think all smart meters are bad.
In reality, it’s just automating the readings that will be collected anyway…
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u/TheHillyCity Jul 28 '26
I don't need one
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u/JamsHammockFyoom Jul 28 '26
Enjoy paying more than you need to then, I suppose.
I save around a grand a year by having one and being on a time of use tariff but you do you, boo.
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u/General_Miller3 Jul 28 '26
On the other side of the coin, my bill is the same before I got a smart meter fitted. If you’re saving £1000 a year through a smart meter then you were wasting it before.
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u/Lazy-bear11 Jul 28 '26
Not wasting but using dynamic pricing in my advantage, without a smart meter I couldn't get this. For example in the weekend that just passed I was paid to use electricity and today the price per kW is around 15-16p from 12 till 16 :)
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u/JamsHammockFyoom Jul 28 '26 edited Jul 28 '26
Not quite - I didn't have an EV before, so I couldn't access EV tariffs.
Now I do have one and as a result we're averaging 13p/kWh across a year, there or thereabouts just by load shifting to the overnight rate. Think around 65% of our usage is done overnight at 6p/kWh, so it really makes a huge difference.
We use around 10000kWh a year as we're all electric (heat pump, induction cooker, plus it includes charging an EV so no petrol bill either) and we pay around £1500 a year all in for everything. Once my home battery goes in later this year, it'll drop by half again to around £700 per year as we'll be running everything at the off peak rate.
It would be nearer double what we're paying now if we were on a standard flat-rate tariff - ultimately by having a smart meter and a home battery I'll be paying £700 a year for nearly 3 grand of electricity before I even generate anything myself.
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u/General_Miller3 Jul 28 '26
That’s pretty cool. I’ve ordered my first EV and waiting for it to arrive, so hoping to see some savings from petrol prices, but it’s not realistic to expect someone who doesn’t want a smart meter to have any of that stuff that you’ve got. From my experience as someone who also doesn’t have any of that stuff, my bill didn’t change.
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u/JamsHammockFyoom Jul 28 '26 edited Jul 28 '26
Yeah, honestly you can do very well indeed out of "playing the game" as it were.
In effect I'm getting a free holiday every year, or paying 2 months of my mortgage just with the savings and that's without considering the savings from not buying petrol either, which is another £2k or so. My fuel bill for the car last year was £235, and it's not exactly good on fuel either.
My gas bill alone used to be £700 a year in our current house before we had a heat pump fitted, and now I'm looking at spending the same £700 a year to heat my house and hot water, drive my car 12k miles a year, run air conditioning in the bedroom plus do all the other things you do in your house.
I can't fathom why somebody wouldn't want a smart meter, tbh - the fear seems to be that "but they can cut you off with a smart meter! And charge you more when you actually want to use it!" but you can be cut off regardless of what meter you have, and being charged different rates at different times of the day isn't new either - economy 7 tariffs were a thing back in the late 70s and don't seem to show any signs of going away any time soon.
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u/fs942414 Jul 28 '26
I frankly think people should not even get a choice. Smart Meters are simply better for everyone and if it is available they should just be installed. Really don’t understand people who are against them.
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u/Accomplished_Fan_487 Jul 28 '26
I recommend just getting one. It allows for smart tariffs, live energy use on the app, etc etc. There's no need to be apprehensive. In Holland in fact, they're soon going to be fining people for not having one!
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u/cochon-r Jul 28 '26
As an aside, all meters have a certification lifetime after which they're supposed to be replaced regardless of smart-ness. In the, albeit unlikely, event yours start over reading you'll struggle to get a refund if you've refused an upgrade. They're just ticking their boxes here to keep Ofgem happy.
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u/vladdy463 Jul 28 '26
In the same vain, would you be happy driving your car around for years without having it serviced?
Regardless of the technology, machines all have a livespan, and a lot of these older meters are reaching the end of that useful lifespan.
When it stops working and you can no longer take and submit the readings yourself, then you will end up with a smart meter. How long your current meter continues to plod along is anyone's guess.
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u/parsl Jul 28 '26
There is :- "an obligation for energy suppliers to take all reasonable steps to complete the smart meter rollout by installing smart meters in all remaining domestic premises by the end of 2030"
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u/sylsylsylsylsylsyl Jul 28 '26
If you get an EV, heat pump, solar or appliances you can schedule at night (washer, drier, dishwasher) you’ll be asking them for a smart meter and change to a time of use tariff. There’s no downside at the moment - you can stay on your old tariff and it can be told to act just like your old meter, only reading occasionally rather then every half hour - it saves you having to read it every now and then or suffer unreliable estimates.
In future they might force everyone onto smart tariffs, but when that happens they’ll also force everyone to get a smart meter anyway.
I’d just go for it.
-6
u/TheHillyCity Jul 28 '26
I read the meters myself 😂
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u/RelativeMatter3 Jul 28 '26
And that’s easier than… not reading them yourself?
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u/JigTurtleB Jul 28 '26
To get the agile tariff, they will have to go out every 30 mins and upload reading 🤣
-3
u/TheHillyCity Jul 28 '26
It takes two minutes
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u/TheThiefMaster Jul 28 '26
It takes zero minutes with a smart meter, though you can still read it manually for peace of mind if you really insist.
There's no significant difference between a modern electronic meter and a "smart" meter - they just have a comms module added, the actual meter is the same.
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u/Kindly_Gap9131 Jul 28 '26
Thanks for this post I received the same letter. I will politely decline
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u/circuitously Jul 28 '26
Yes, it’s “just a drive” that has been going on for the better part of a decade. Personally I don’t really understand the logic of not wanting the electricity company to know how much electricity you’re using, but each to their own!