A Strong Coffee

We had the smart meter put in early last year and it's one of the older one's nothing as fancy as that....Does the same job though!


Mine has three lights which are green, amber and red.....It goes onto red when we're using a lot of electricity and gas.....Usually when I'm in the kitchen cooking tea the kids always mess about in the living room....For months I convinced the kids that when it went onto amber or red that the fairies and Santa were watching and it they didn't like how my two were behaving....hehehe

Yes ours has the traffic lights too. Why did I not think of the Santa thing? May come in handy on the lead up to Xmas. Just need to make sure that the tumble dryer and washing machine are on when they are naughty ;-)

Great review thanks!

fab review

Sounds like a great idea

It sounds like a good idea but how quickly can these go faulty and how would you know?

I have one of these. It's great for showing you how much energy you are using. I do into meltdown if the light goes red :) Unfortunately it is supposed to pass your usage directly onto the supplier and this function isn't working so we still have to have the meters read but I'm sure this is just a glitch. Overall it's a good idea.

They do sound like a very clever idea. We're not with British Gas though.

I know - now what shall I spend it on.....

Well I can let you know if mine packs up, So far so good. I imagine it would turn itself off?

I think it is a great reminder of how much everything you do impacts your overall bill. Give them a call - sounds like yours might need swopping

yeah that would be good thanks :) yh I suppose if the data doesn't change and the screen fades it's a sign that it's on it's way out.

Sounds like a good idea, thank you for the details

Thanks for the info. I'll sign up now.

Sounds like a good idea

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What a great idea. I wonder if other providers offer this?

good idea

Great idea x

Good idea.

What a great idea :o)

Great idea x

this looks great

Looks good

i try to be careful not wasting energy

I know I do waste energy a lot but I'm trying to cut down lol

I think although this a good idea for some, I think for me not so much I'd be checking it constantly ha

I think this is a great idea, to help families especially save money on their power bills, especially since the price hikes yet again! I'm not with British Gas, so would love to see these rolled out by other companies.

great idea to save money

fantastic idea

thank you

I had one of these as a free offer from somewhere. So, I knew what it cost to make a slice of toast or cup of tea - but so what? I still have my tea and toast. For someone already careful (mean?) with money, I reckon the device is pretty useless. The transmitter end needs new batteries from time to time. I have given up on mine.

Are you sure your not talking about the one that has a collar that goes around the cable. This new version replaces the meters completely.

Firstly, it is real time monitoring your energy use, so any hacker can see if you are on holiday, or at work by reading your consumption on line at any time.Secondly, it enables the power company to switch all your power off by remote control if they decide you should have a power cut but not your neighbour. They have control of your power supply, and know what you have switched on and what you have not switched on. Why do they need this control over you?

Why would British Gas want its customers to use less fuel? The smart meters have been ordered by government at extraordinary cost. They are not fitted free; from figures I saw it will add about £100 to an energy user's bill. Don't be brain washed.

I think smart meters need to be proved safe before they are used in my house, The same principle technology used is from the original technology for the first mobile phones, Where will they place the mast to transfer the information?

smart meters "DO NOT REDUCE CONSUMPTION" they only tell you what you have used, its just more profit for the gas companies to make more profit, They say (BG) will save £170 million a year, but that saving is at the cost of human beings being thrown out of work, Sorry its a con and a threat to privacy and a threat to health from radiation.

What the companies are trying to do is change the usage to time to a dip in the usage which is late evening.

I too am cynical as to why smart meters are being introduced - and wary of the security issues when going on holiday.


BUT my 2 main reasons for resisting are different:

a) it is yet another nail in our levels of human contact, and
b) the reduction in paid employment .
- I also object to the assumption they can do what they like in my home without asking me.


I still have milk delivered, and the post of course, but every time a machine is substituted for a human being (doing a job for which they quite rightly receive a salary), human interaction is reduced. We could easily spend our lives without physically talking to another human being for days, weeks or months. I know, which is why I now resist every new onslaught.


A huge %age of the calls we make now connect to machines, not humans. The local shop has self-checkout, or we can shop on line for almost everything.


This absence of casual, quick, conversations with strangers is exactly the environment in which fear thrives, and isolation increases, producing a poorer, mentally unhealthier society. We are an ageing population as they keep telling us. It would be good if we are not even more isolated than currently.

It is MOBILE.3G tech, the meters have a mobile SIM card inside & the data is uploaded via the internet. There's no extra masts involved, it's simply a 3G or 4G mobile device.

Hi tenretnitb, we’d like to put your mind at rest by answering your concerns about smart meters. The entire smart meter system has been designed to a very high security level and everything is protected with cryptographic keys, the same secure technology used in online banking. Only British Gas and yourself will be able to access your readings or smart meter settings. Smart meters send real-time readings to British Gas via GPRS, the same technology used by a mobile phone. The advantage of this wireless communication capability is that your smart meter can be upgraded without having to arrange for a smart meter expert to come to your home. We won’t be using smart meters to control your power supply or enforce power cuts. You can learn more about smart meters and how they work here: bit.ly/1gtXCpQ. Many thanks, Simone from British Gas.

So you are saying that smart meters cannot be remotely switched off? and that the supply can only be switched off manually. ?

you pay £15 a month on dual-fuel from the get go, not for "What you use" as the cheery girl smilingly misinforms. I'm changing providers. Ebico don't charge a standing rate, so you really do only pay for what you use. Your claims in this advertisement could well see you in Court BG.

I'd like to put a collar around Cable..the silly old fart

My local Co-Op has been sold off. Was like a large corner shop but better than dealing with the robots that manned the Sainsbury's conveyor belt. They resented you as much as they did their god-awful job.

Any idiot knows that photo-voltaic cells will crap out in 10 years and wind-turbines will be hugely inefficient given the maintenance costs. Thing is (I mean domestic PVCs and turbines) are draining the grid (doshwise) rather than enriching it (yay, everyone kisses unicorns' arses). If and when Russia turns off the tap, we'll be kicking ourselves for not being fracking quicker.

We'll still get wildly inaccurate bills and see our direct debits hoiked up for a moment until we complain and in the meantime, a nice little earner. Enough for several dead-beats to go off on a Maldivian jolly.

They're well aware of the Eastenders' moment

"I'm gonna make a nice cuppa tea for the fairmly"

With smart meters, energy suppliers have no more powers to disconnect than with a standard meter. On those extremely rare occasions when this is necessary, it will be possible to disconnect the meter remotely but for customers in payment difficulties, we will always look for alternatives to disconnection. With smart meters it should be possible for us to help customers having difficulty paying much earlier. Also anyone with a smart meter will be able to choose pay-as-you-go to help them manage their budget. If a customer is having difficulties paying their energy bills, we ask them to contact us at the earliest opportunity so that we can help them as soon as possible.

British Gas follows Ofgem's rules on disconnection and this will not change for customers with smart meters. Many thanks, Simone from British Gas.

Hi British Gas Team - you don't seem to understand that we WANT an 'expert' to come to our homes - or at least someone who can communicate with other humans and get paid for doing a job (instead of being on near starvation level Welfare benefits).

Yes it might cost more - no evidence has been provided either way (and please don't bother trying to persuade us otherwise as we know that, like any FTSE100 company - or Government, Centrica - BG's owners - can afford the most expensive accountants and 'spinners', to bend any facts to say what they believe will improve their profits).


No-one wants an ever-growing population of the unemployed on welfare benefits, reduced to choosing between food or fuel. Except, it seems, our Govt and the already hugely wealthy.

But the 'extra costs' should come out of excessive profits - by which I mean Centrica's excess profits. Centrica is reported as having threatened to withdraw it's 'investments' if it is forced to accept a short term limit on cost increases, rather than reduce its payouts to shareholders and some of the highest paid employees in the land ... http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/02/20/uk-centrica-results-idUKBREA1J0FD20140220


Credit where it's due - Centrica does appear to be a British company, and it provides gas to 40% of the British market from what I can see. Which is probably why this Govt wants to break it up; to make smaller - but still huge - companies with big profits, which a few years down the line will buy each othe out and become ......


But Centrica should be evolving and supporting renewable forms of energy, not draining the non-renewable underground reserves of the world . And returning to the point - people add quality to a service, never just machines.

Thank you for confirming the accuracy of my statement that smart meters give you two additional abilities. Firstly you have real time (I.E. at any time of day or night that you desire) you can observe power consumption, and from that information you can tell if my home is occupied, I might be at work or on holiday, this information being useful to would-be burglars. Secondly: smart meters can used to remotely switch all power off to my home at any time of your choosing. This new ability enables you to select individuals for selected power cuts, leaving neighbours` power still on. Furthermore, this ability renders burglar alarms ineffective because a would-be burglar can hack the system and switch power off, rendering home alarm system useless. Please state if you intend to charge home owners differnt rates if they decline to have a smart meter fitted? Will you charge a higher price for electricity if the home-owner declines to have a smartmeter fitted.Thank you for your help.

When has a corporation
ever introduced a new product out of feelings of altruism toward the customer?



This ‘Smart Meter’ will be
able to report on what device you use in your home and when, as it communicates
with other ‘smart’ appliances. Most home electrical devices will soon be fitted
with compatible spy chips and many already have. We are profiled every time we
shop at a supermarket. Devices like these can and will be updated to spy on you
in your own home. Make no mistake; this technology is for corporate benefit
sold to us on the back of very spurious benefits. If you think the data is safe
from people who may wish to use it for nefarious means, research how many
breaches of private, so called ‘Protected Information’ have already taken place
in other areas?



If we want to monitor our
electricity use you can already buy cheaply a meter, which simply plugs in
between your device(s) and the mains. These ‘smart meters’ may be offered
‘free’ but who will really pay for them in the end?



The argument may soon be
used “if you haven’t got anything to hide, you will not mind”. Important people
and their families will of course be excluded from compulsery compliance for
“security reasons”. If you want to want everyone to know what you are up to in
your own home why not install cheap webcams and put your entire life on line
for all to scrutinize?



This “smart’ technology can
and will be used to scrutinize even more of our private lives. There are added radiation risks as well as the
ability of power companies to introduce selective power cuts at the touch of a
button. I.E. less important people will be cut off before more important people
in the event of power shortages. Poorer people will be sacrificed before the
rich, just like on ‘The Olympic’ AKA ‘The Titanic’ (read up on the identity
switch of these ships). Third class passengers drown while the rich are floated
away to safety. ‘Smart Meters’ will be able to do much the same with our electricity
supply.

The time of day we use
electricity can and inevitably will be charged differently and there will be
several different tariffs each day, probably different at weekends and holiday
periods. We may only be able to afford to put our washing machine, heating or immersion
heater after midnight or early Sunday morning once the price has been raised
for peak hours. Social control or what?



Are we going to accept the official line or do
our own research?

How much energy does a smart meter use a year please?

All you conspiracy theorist must be driving yourselves crazy. Just relax and go with the flow... Who cares if they can monitor your energy consumption? It's no worse or better than being monitored by CCTV at every street corner, or paying by credit/debit card at a store and having every transaction you have ever made on some record in a dark corner of an office no one has seen in years. Do also consider that your lives might actually be as dull as you seem to come across in your rather delusional arguments as stated below; in which case you have nothing to worry about with people monitoring you (as most will be asleep from the drab statistics you produce on a daily basis)... you only really have to worry if you are actually hiding something... In which case I hope they find you!
And for all you people who are concerned about this being another step towards lessening contact with other human beings... have you ever thought that this might just give you a little more time to spend with a loved one rather than reading your gas meter/dealing with an incoherent technician... yes it may only be nano seconds; but with the increasing development of contactless technology and 'god forbid' the robots doing the jobs those nano seconds of time saving soon add up across your life... so instead of spending time worry about what is inevitably going to make your lives better in the long run, give your lover, son, daughter, auntie, uncle, cousin, friend some of that time... Time is short on this earth; stop worrying!

If you can hack these meters, then you wouldn't have any need to go around robbing houses.
If someone wants to burgle your house, they will find a much easier way then hacking into a highly secure device.
As for turning your power off remotely, apart from the fact all power companies follow strict rules, you could always just make sure you pay your bills!

If you read and understood BGas answer you would see that the information is passed via the ordinary mobile phone system. Isnt there a court trial going on at the moment about hacking the phone system?. Are the accused innocent because you know the phone system cannot be hacked.? As for the ability to turn your electric off at the mains without your knowledge, and without entering your house, why would they want to do that? You should also have read in BG answer that the system can be "upgraded", which means they can add other capabilities to their control of your electricity supply As we have managed so far without the obvious need for these capabilities, then what are they planning for the future which requires these additional powers they are taking.? Have you read 1984 by Orewell?. At the moment smart meters are optional. Next they will apply coercion by charging more for your electricity if you don't have a smart meter, and finally it will become compulsory. Then you will find out their intentions: too late. Better to have it in the open now.

Have you also noticed that BGas have not replied to my question? Why would that be.?

Yes , the info is passed by the mobile phone system. Therefore someone can hack the system and secretly watch your power usage as a guide to when you are away on holiday, or out at work. Valuable information for a burglar. How can you be sure it wont happen to you? Or they might just turn your power off to ruin the food in your freezer, or to switch off your burglar alarm. Why do they need to pay £ 600 to install a smartmeter to give them those capabilities to affect your families life ? Why are they doing this ? Do you know, or can you guess?

There not free and they will factor in the cost at a later date in your gas supply. Also they have done no long term testing of the device and the very high frequency exposure promotes tumour growth if constantly exposed to the Radio Frequency (RF) emissions. In America where they have deployed some of these devices in some of the states (not all yet) the meters always over charge and the public are up in arms over it over there. By the way I am a Amateur Radio Full Licence holder and we know what VERY HIGH radio frequencies to the body and we take precautions not to expose our bodies or people to any prolonged transmissions from our station using VHF, UHF UUHF (required under law in fact) yet these meters will be on all day, all night, all week, all year ON 24/7 exposing you all to all sorts of horrors with regards to ill health in the future. The gas companies wont tell you this information you will have to look it up yourselves for confirmation. They will tell you anything to get the meters in and IT IS about total control of your power supply. Even now they are realising cell phone towers are making people sick...they never did any exposure tests on them either...and now we are getting cancer clusters around them...surprise, surprise. I will be going to court and demanding they leave the analogue system in that way your not denying them the right to meter your gas or electric and have no legal recourse.

Plus they will ration your gas or electric, or even switch it off if your a naughty boy upsetting the powers that be. Its all about control in the end people. Never going to admit it tough are they? They will make a lot of money on savings on manpower and overcharging and by making you sick because they also have shares in the pharmaceutical companies and the government will have just one more terror weapon in their arsenal to use against you. Paranoid am I? You wait and see hey?

Well noted tenretnitb. Nice to see you have been doing your homework.
Not pulling the wool over your eyes are they T? They ever manage to get one under my stairs the bicycle will be smashing into it and breaking it very often.

I am wondering if you could saturate the signal with a more powerful one operating at the same frequency thus preventing the transmission of the data from the meter to the satellite? Or would the data go via the mains over the net?

Signal goes over the mobile phone network, if they are to be believed. Observe that getting the whole truth out of B Gas is like getting blood from a stone. The whole story is not volunteered, which arouses suspicions. Why are they being deceitful.?

I had the smart meters fitted because I was fed up getting overestimated bills. I was a bit cynical about the whole thing but in fairness to British Gas I have found it to be a great product. I had one or two delays in getting the thing fitted but the British Gas staff were great on the phone and we sorted it out. All in all, I was impressed.

OMG smart meters mobile microwave wi fi your all killing us slowly.

The sheeple are dumb they and their children will get sick.

With all the microwaves involved they create a virtual radiation zone in your home because of the microwave signals they emit. So if you also factor in mobile phones, WIFI, and other electrical devices you begin to build a picture of the of the environment you are creating in your home. In addition, the meters emit controlled bursts of radiation to the 'receivers' (locally installed monitoring towers) on a frequent basis throughout the day. So if you have a small community that all have smart meters installed then, again, you are changing the environmental dynamics within that community. The human body is electrical and can be vulnerable to the cumulative effect of electrical interference/radiation = dis-ease.
We now have more phone masts and they are talking about 5G, which basically means faster streaming of music/films on your 'smart phone', but this also means more towers emitting more microwave radiation. The power companies such as British Gas do not tell about some of the potential harm these meters can cause, so get informed before making a choice. Go to youtube: The truth about smart meters - Brian Tiesen for a really informative presentation backed by credible research.

''All homes fitted with smart meters by 2020''? You "WILL" in the next few years! Do people even have a choice? Or is this just another example of the dictatorial nature of the EU; and the profits driven nature of energy companies. Notice how everything is linked to 'saving the planet' and that ordinary people are responsible for so called 'climate change' (used to be global warming but they change this due to there being no credible evidence). Make no mistake the energy companies would not introduce anything if this meant customers would save money because ultimately, as we have seen with their price fixing tactics, they are driven by profits. Do not fooled by the slick advertising used here, because if they really cared about you they would inform you about the RISKS to your health. Do your research and get informed before making your choice.

What about the health risks?

I don't trust any of them. This is all about more power and control over your daily lives. The EU say 'everyone' will have smart meters by 2020. That is dictatorial and evades the issue of health risks, which they conveniently don't mention in their promotional video.

AGENDA 21. Interesting that my previous comments about health risks and background radiation have been removed. Matters not for the people will learn the truth about why these meters are being ENFORCED onto people, collecting personal data which can be sold on to other companies, such as what items are in the fridge, how often you use those items (such as orange juice). Then imagine being on the internet and seeing ads about orange juice coming at you 24/7.

Ok what about freedom of choice? Do you want to forced into something you don't want? Oh it must be good because British Gas says so. We are talking about genuine health risks here, not just unnecessary and intrusive monitoring of your personal lives. Eventually they will chip every electrical item in your home so they can know when you turn on your TV, when your out and when you return home, when and what you eat.
Your argument about 'more contact with loved ones' is simplistic insofar that technology is not bringing people together... playstations, internet, smartphones actually discourage genuine 'family time' together. Enjoy your smart meter, your WIFI, smart phones, internet etc... and know that you are turning your home into a low level microwave oven. And by the way, the term 'conspiracy theorist' is used against some people who are actually seeking the truth for the betterment of humanity.

Cute, happy looking cat being bombarded by radiation. British Gas: 'we do more to look after our profits - your world no longer yours'! Notice the '1984' language 'smart'. Know that when this language is used there is always an hidden agenda... like David Cameron's 'where all in it together' which, translated through the 1984 BS interpreter, means 'you own the debt and will pay the deficit'.
The information does not tell you 'how' the information is sent to BG. Again, this is done by microwave radio signals (pulsing information) sent to monitoring station receivers or masts. AGENDA 21: changing the planet to a more radioactive one.

Please advise exactly what updates you have in mind and specify the additional capabilities which the updates enable?

Did they tell you that anyone who can hack a phone will be able to know if and when you are at home, and when you are not at home and therefore it is a good time to break in and steal your TV etc.? or was that in the small print ?

Since you keep bleating on about phone hacking tenretnitb, i think its about time you were told : the phone hacking you keep referring to regards the interception of voicemail messages left at a remote server by dialling a number used by the persons phone and accessing the mailbox, thats a totally different matter from intercepting the 3g/4g signal that the smart meter uses and reading the data live. As far as im aware the only way that would be possible is to clone the sim and imei number for each individual meter, not to mention crack the data encryption. seems a bit resource-heavy for someone who could just go and knock on your front door or peer through the windows to see if youre home or not.

Thank you. I referred to the current phone hacking trial as a current example of what is possible.Why do you think hacking applies only to voicemail? Any transmission can be hacked. Also , there is more than one way to aquire control of your power supply, or your current usage. Cracking your code would be doing it the hard way. Far easier to aquire the access to your smart meter by obtaining a copy from BGas when some disgruntled employee either sell the data or just publishes it on u-tube. Have you never heard of mass failures to protect sensetive data? Further, BGas has not yet stated why it needs this information and control over its customers. Nor what it can also gain when it chooses to , remotely, upgrade the capabilities of their smartmeter. What more capabilities do they plan to use, and why?