What info can we get from a smart meter

The report reads as though the smart meter was correct, but the Octopus display that came with it was completely misleading.

Are Irish smart meters provided with an Octopus display does anyone know?

Report should probably should be linked to this recent thread:-

What info can we get from a smart meter

Hi, we had a smart meter installed in the second week of April. The installer told me that with the smart meter we could get detailed info on when and how we were using our electricity. I looked up Energia's website and it says the same as does the CRU website. here...
www.askaboutmoney.com
 
According to BGE and Electric Ireland on their current offerings they will monitor your usage over a 24hr/7 basis and suggest what other "tarriffs" might be applicable to you.

Which is fine but looking at the present offerings by way of "Smart Plans" from everyone I found it incredibly difficult to work out if we'd save anything.

Went for Electricity Ireland dual , before the announcement of increases , @22% discount and allowed them to access my usage over the coming 12 months and allow them to "suggest " other tariffs in the future.

Personally I think Smart Meters are great but I wonder if they will save you anything for example all tariffs are huge between 5 and 7 pm, but 60% to 70% cheaper at 4am
 
I hope that it's OK to post a link to this commercial website which provides lots of interesting information about Smart meters; but if not, apologies in advance. (I'm reporting this post so the Mods can check it)

Smart Meters Ireland: All About ESB Smart Meters

Smart meters work by transmitting real time information to your electricity provider so you get accurate and detailed billing for your energy consumption.
selectra.ie
 
All good Groucho.
 
I don't agree @Leo. Can we find some outfit that doesn't have a dog in the fight and that can provide -up-to-date information? Their LPG article is at least two years old and doesn't seem to reflect current installation costs or the recent, massive increases in LPG prices.

The bolding below is mine.

From the website in question:

"The services and products mentioned on this website may only represent a small selection of the options available to you. Selectra encourages you to carry out your own research and seek advice if necessary before making any decisions. We may receive commission from selected partner providers on sales of some products and/or services mentioned within this website. Our website is free to use, and the commission we receive does not affect our opinion or the information we provide."
 
mathepac said:
I don't agree @Leo. Can we find some outfit that doesn't have a dog in the fight and that can provide -up-to-date information?
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You are free to suggest an alternative source, I was just confirming there was no issue with Groucho sharing that link.

Many websites use such affiliate links to provide a modest income to offset the running costs. The return is very small, and not in any way worth compromising the integrity of a site for.
 
But there is a problem; it's a commercial. That's my issue with it, it's advertising to encourage the use of the services listed in the web-site for potential gain. Therefore it's a problem

If and it's a big if, I find a comparison site that isn't advertising, I'll certainly post a link, but so far none of the sites I've seen meet that criterion.
 
How is it that some commercials, like the one linked to above are deemed within the posting guidelines and and others contravene them? What are the differences? I'm asking so as to be enlightened about the issue and to avoid contravening the guidelines and posting stuff that needs moderator intervention.

Thanks.
 
mathepac said:
If and it's a big if, I find a comparison site that isn't advertising, I'll certainly post a link, but so far none of the sites I've seen meet that criterion.
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So you'd prefer that those interested in the subject remained ignorant? What a strange stance to adopt.

I'm in a situation where I may have to install a "smart" meter and I'm trying to find out as much as I can about them first. I'm sure that there are others in the same situation.
 
Brendan Burgess said:
That if you opt for a smart tariff, you cannot go backwards to an old tariff. Is there any advantage of an old tariff over a smart tariff? There doesn't appear to be, so it's not unreasonable to ask people to stay on the new tariff.
Click to expand...
Hmm.... This worries me. So I'm on the old traditional nightsaver e.g. 1/2 price between 11pm and 8am. With the new tarriffs there could be all sorts of different prices at any time of the day and I can't go back to my original ? I wouldn't be trusting a company that sells me stuff for profit to tell me which is my cheapest deal to be honest.
 
Groucho said:
So you'd prefer that those interested in the subject remained ignorant? What a strange stance to adopt.
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No, I'd prefer that straightforward advertising didn't appear as information-giving sources with no commercial slant. If viewers of that site missed the commercial slant it's hardly my fault. People generally don't like when sacred cows turn out to be simply low quality burger meat. Shudda gone to Specsavers maybe.
 

The information regarding smart meters at the link that I provided is both objective and factual. Hence your argument seems somewhat spurious.
 
On what basis do you claim it is objective? Where there may be a benefit accruing to the publisher from carrying information about or reviewing a product or service, objectivity is gone. All commentary must then be viewed as subjective. That web-site in fairness makes this clear by stating clearly they may get paid for products or services they write about. You cannot claim objectivity on their behalf when they themselves say the polar opposite.

Some car reviewers in newspapers, websites and magazines put this subjectivity to bed by saying, in precis, "Maker X provided us with a car for our reviewer's use. This formed the basis of this review. We paid for our own fuel, travel and other out of pocket expenses."
 
Not the smart meter I have. It's pretty dull piece of kit, black led display with kwh displayed, that is it. Seems cheap!
 

You're just posting nonsensical whataboutery now. I'm out.
 
It's really very simple, with a small number of exceptions, we do not allow people to advertise their own services or products.

We do allow people to post links to commercial websites, you have posted many such links yourself. All commercial websites contain advertising, that is their primary purpose. Just because they do so does not mean that they do not contain any information of value here.
 
Welcome to the '90s. The vast majority of reviews in print or online media are supported by the loaning or gifting of products to the reviewers. AAM is in a small minority of sites that do not seek advertising or referral income.
 
Leo said:
AAM is in a small minority of sites that do not seek advertising or referral income.
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This post is missing the point entirely of course as my complaint is not about AAM, but the self-confessed money-making website linked to in this thread being promoted as a so-called objective review site. The post misses the point of my issue with the promotion of the site as objective. Posts like the one quoted above are beginning to verge on repeated, unacceptable behaviour.
Leo said:
We do allow people to post links to commercial websites,
Click to expand...
Another post missing the point by referring to my posting of links in threads unrelated to this one to clearly identified commercial sites that have never been promoted by me as being anything other than exactly what they are.
Leo said:
The vast majority of reviews in print or online media are supported by the loaning or gifting of products to the reviewers.
Click to expand...

That's a ridiculous argument as it's kinda difficult to review a product of which the reviewer has no hands-on experience. My point was about reviewers who don't accept gratuities or gifts from manufacturers and who pay their own way to gain first-hand product experience and who publish that fact. In this context the point of the immediately preceding quote escapes me

To misquote Mr Shakespeare, "The poster-moderator doth protest too much, methinks". Maybe it's time to move on and enjoy the beautiful sunny weather. I've made my point about the lack of objectivity of the site in question, as is openly admitted to by the owners. The "reasonable person" beloved of the Rumpoles of this world could or would accept that matter of fact and let it lie, akin to the much-maligned and perhaps even mythical sleeping dog.

[EDIT] a couple of typos corrected, no additions or other alterations.
 
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