Isn't technology wonderful

[GUMPY]

This year we’ve had around £50 rebated by usage reductions when requested. Plus we had half price electric on many Sundays between specified hours. Not possible without the Smart meter.

I did well last winter on Octopus "savings sessions" managed well over £100 they haven't been signed off this year yet so still waiting to see what will happen.
As for half price, don't get that as on a time of use tariff however the price does go negative for about 15 days a year or so depending on the wind, its great, they pay me to use electricity and pay me to export. just looked back at the figures and that explains why August was so cheap for me, there were several days when my average unit price was minus 1.5p/kWh and export was on top of that.

 

[RogerL]

I don't ever remember having to have the tariff changed on my non smart meter and I was a tariff junkie, swapping whenever it was advantageous. All the old meters were was a readout of kWh used so the actual tariff was irrelevant as the cost was calculated from the number of kWh. Occasionally there would be a need to swap the time clock if you had economy seven.
My smart meter along with my TOU tariff and solar has completely changed the way we use electricity in this house it has become a game to see just how far down I can get the bill. The best so far was last August £1.31 plus the standing charge which was more than covered by the £48.15 I got from exporting.

Pre-payment meters have to be changed whenever the tariff changed - remotely with a functioning smart meter but needs a visit to the property if it's not functioning proerly or it's a non-smart meter.

 

[RogerL]

This year we’ve had around £50 rebated by usage reductions when requested. Plus we had half price electric on many Sundays between specified hours. Not possible without the Smart meter.

The big reductions from usage reductions are only possible if you previously had "excessive" consumption - we saved just pence on these rebates.

 

[GUMPY]

Pre-payment meters have to be changed whenever the tariff changed - remotely with a functioning smart meter but needs a visit to the property if it's not functioning proerly or it's a non-smart meter.

that explains why ive never seen a tariff changed locally, I've never had a pre payment meter

 

[otherclive]

The big reductions from usage reductions are only possible if you previously had "excessive" consumption - we saved just pence on these rebates.

I don’t consider our usage “excessive” as shown below

 

[RogerL]

I don’t consider our usage “excessive” as shown below

If you were able to save £50 by changing your consumption pattern, it surely must have been excessive previously.

 

[Mr Plodd]

Not excessive, just a little higher would be a more accurate description I think! Besides Clive is doing exactly the sensible thing, he reduces his consumption at critical times!

My time of use tariff rockets between 16:00 & 19:00 (35p/kwh) but I have battery storage so never draw from the grid at those times. I charge my battery overnight at about 15p/kwh or even better from my solar panels if the sun is shining (during the day of course)

Smart meters work wellfior some, but not others, so there is no right or wrong answer as to whether they are "good" or not.

 

[otherclive]

If you were able to save £50 by changing your consumption pattern, it surely must have been excessive previously.

If you care to search my posts going back some years you will see that our energy usage has always been low. In fact just prior to Ukraine we were still on low tariffs from BG, and it's only this last couple of years that our tariff and standing charges have risen. Here's one post for starters.

British Gas acting as a bank on my behalf

My fixed low rate tariff ends at the end of April so I thought I would claim my energy credit which has built up to £584.40, in part due to HMG's largesse, but even without that money our £80 per month would have still seen us in credit. Normally you can obtain a refund by the online account...

forums.practicalcaravan.com

 

[GUMPY]

My use is anything but excessive, yet I managed to "save" 47kWh over last winter Savings Sessions by moving any consumption out of the peak periods and exporting during the sessions. This paid a total of £117 so Octopus paid me an average £2.50 a unit to save. You can't assume because someone saved during these sessions that it was paid at the standard rate and they were excessive users.

Oh and I got my 15p a unit for export on top of that🤭

 

[GUMPY]

As an aside, if it wasn't for those of us selflessly curtailing our use there may well have been power cuts 😱

 

[Buckman]

We don't have solar panels, battery etc but we managed to reduce our consumption significantly over the past several months. On checking a few weeks ago we were over £750 in credit so requested a refund of some of it.

 

[Dustydog]

We don't have solar panels, battery etc but we managed to reduce our consumption significantly over the past several months. On checking a few weeks ago we were over £750 in credit so requested a refund of some of it.

Clearly you have been away many months in the caravan 🤪

 

[Buckman]

Clearly you have been away many months in the caravan 🤪

We can only dream. LOL!

 

[Dustydog]

Too many infrastructure projects run into problems - HS2 anyone.

Way over budget.
Started at the wrong end
Totally mismanaged.
Has the Worlds most expensive Bat tunnel £100 million!

 

[ProfJohnL]

If you were able to save £50 by changing your consumption pattern, it surely must have been excessive previously.

Your not comparing apples to apples!

The consumption is a physical quantity, the saving is a monetary value, and as this thread has amply indicated the cost (i.e. the £ per kWh) can vary with the time its used. By changing the pattern of usage meaning delaying using some power from high tariff periods to low tariff periods means you can reduce costs but still having the same overall consumption.

 

[Tux]

The irony, without space exploration and satellites would that phone in your hand exist?

I don't know anyone who uses a satellite phone on a daily basis. A typical smart phone uses terrestrial radio. Satellite phones do exist but very expensive and used in very remote places with no terrestrial signal for 100's of miles.

 

[Tux]

T

I don't get all this space exploration, is it so that we can destroy other countries from the comfort of our own? Or inhabit other planets and destroy them? Money would be better spent on sorting out our own problems.

We can and should do both.