Thread: Electricity company smart meters rort

Usage in kWH or cost in $?

It's well known that most users see a large increase in cost after smart meters are installed owing to the time of use charging.

As Ron said, how did bill go up?

Maybe they are BILL ESTIMATING instead of READING the actual kWh. Just because it is a smart meter they will still probably have to come and do a manual reading until everyone on the street/sub station has smart meters. (not so smart is it haha)

You will now have peak and off peak power.

Off peak is 11pm-7am, and all weekend (11pm Fri to 7am Mon).

Peak power varies anywhere from 23-27c/kWh (inc gst)
Off Peak from 10-16c/kWh

Prior to smart meters you would probably have been around 20-22c/kWh flat rate.

Do any power intensive stuff on off peak times and you can lower bills. Most modern appliances can delay start, such as washing machines, clothes driers, dish washers etc. Yes its a PITA.

Try Compare Electricity & Gas Suppliers to Save Money | or similar and shop around power prices and deals, they vary considerably.

BUT

Even then how did the bills double or more? Sounds like something is wrong unless they put you on the highest tariffs/plans which they probably did.

Keep a diary over a week of your peak and off peak usage, and sort of watch what power you are using in the house during this time. That should show you if something is wrong.

Talking to a few of those in the game also...

The Smart meters are very accurate... Down to miniscule amounts of energy used.

The old "spinning disc" meters are rather lazy.. And it has been beneficial to have one in that respect.


Also, there are now only J tarrifs for HWS - no other off peak energy rates so no night and day rate differences (SA based here)

We had a predecessor to the smart meter for our frozen foods distribution company and once we rescheduled our all the functions on the rooms, so that cooling, defrost and idle cycles etc coinsided with the various rates we saved hundreds of dollars per month. IIRC there were at least three charging rates at the time (peak, shoulder and off-peak), but can't say if it has changed here in NSW.

We brought the rooms down to -22 to -24 overnight and idled the compressors while the trucks were loading, that way we didn't blow all the cold air out into the open air and the room rarely came higher than -18 which is the storage temp for icecream. You can do the same with household freezers etc by fitting timers so they only run during cheap times, but you have to be careful about when you open and close the fridge/freezer and do it quickly.

Time of day meterig is one contributor that could see you use the same amount of electricity but at a higher cost. The other thing that has happened for us is that the service fee has gone up from approx 25c a day to approx 75c per day. This last bit would affect people with very low power consumption.

Pete, the only way to really prove the meter is at fault is to actually log the power used with a calibrated instrument, which you would have to hire, so they really have you by the nuts unfortunately

But, as Tombie said, they are very accurate and you will probably find that your old meter was inaccurate.

The only way you could now bring your bill back down is to try and find the best deal you can for the time you use the most power...

The whole thing really sucks, and is an absolute crock. Wait until they are fully rolled out, and they will start charging different rates for different days, and you can bet that on hot days the tarrif will go through the roof... And they also have the functionallity so that they can turn off peoples power at will, all from the comfort of thier air conditioned control rooms...

- Gav

new "technology" is forced on you and you're suprised you're getting screwed by it?

I'm there with you BIG TIME!

We used to pay $700 a quarter in a medium sized 3 bed home, rectangular shape 16m x 10m with triple garage, pool, air con etc etc. Then we move to a tiny rental place literally a box 12m x 8m and we use gas heating but storage HWS and no pool, no shed or garage and the bill is $1400!!!!!!

We have tried to monitor the smart/stupid meter and can't seem to get anywhere. It is utterly ridiculous that you can move houses and be extra power conscious and also have heaps less power requirements yet the bill sky rockets!

I reckon they've got us by the balls in a really strong and tight grip! What can you really do but pay the bill and suck it up princess?

Our "out" is that were only renting for 12 months before our next house is built, but as that's like 3 times the size of our rental.... It begs the question... What's the power bill going to be???

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