Since Globird likes to over-estimate my bills on their monthly cycle, I think smart meter would be a good way to combat that.
I think some states already have mandatory smart meters so it's good for other states.
Good thing with Globird is customers can request for upgrade, doesn't need to wait for energy companies to decide when to upgrade.
$50 account credit for referrer & referee.
Please explain
Once you have a smart meter your electricity consumption will be billed at "Time of Use with different ratess for different times of the day."
@PainToad: I'm guessing you're with Energex? My issue with their smart meters is their Demand Tariff, where between 4-9pm they calculate the highest 30min usage period in a month, then the double that number, times it by the number of days in a month and times it by 10c.
e.g. if I'm cooking in the oven & decide to vacuum the house on a single Sunday arvo in a month, I might use 2.5kWh in 30mins. they then change me for 5kWh x .10 x 30 days on my next bill plus charge me for the power as well. It's a scam. Especially since they're so backwards and won't provide real-time data. In Vic we used to be able to access the data from our Smart Meter in real-time with 15min intervals. Up here you have to apply to Energex who will send you a spreadsheet several days later.
People who refuse to get with the times should be charged a huge admin fee to cover the manual reading.
they do, connections/disconnections/special readings all cost more with an old meter. I believe you also have to wait for your meter to be read to switch to a new retailer.
@SpeedAU: yeah, that's exactly what I did.
But of course it takes just one 30min period when it's raining and two ovens on to get a one month penalty. Which is the same punishment as someone who cranks up two ovens for hours everyday. it's just a money grab that does nothing to help solve the problem it was designed to solve (make heavy peak users pay for the network upgrades to support their usage).
<rant over>
Yes, so how does it affect your pocket? There's no guarantee that your bills will increase or decrease if you switch to TOU. It purely depends on the individual's usage patterns and the provider. To be honest, my bills reduced considerably after moving to a smart meter and TOU billing without solar. You have to analyze your usage with the rates and time slots.
I don't understand this. Doesn't it depend on your energy plan? I've had both tou and flat rate plans the last few years. For instance, I'm in Sydney with dodo and I'm being charged 30c kWh flat rate currently.
@boretentsu: It’s just a fear of technology. “Oh no a smart meter will read my mind like 5G”…”I refuse to use self checkout because I’m a 🦖”.
@PainToad: Stop making up strawmen. The fact is that in many cases, switching to variable rate plans leads to a very large bill hike. Your smug but ignorant mockery wins no arguments.
Ideally we'd all have home batteries, charge our EVs on solar, and have well-insulated homes so the aircon never needs to run at peak times.
But for people without the ability to shift their load times, smart metering achieves nothing, and may raise their bills. How much depends on where you live and what plans are available.
@PainToad: Not at all, I love to get smart meter and remain on my existing tarrifs. When AGL tried to install a smart meter I ask for to be put in writing I could keep my existing tariff structure and I could have the option switching to TOU when it suited me and response was they could couldn't guarantee I would immediately switched to TOU on change over. So I denied to request and refused access to my property.
TOU doesn't work for a lot people, if I had solar and battery I'd go TOU in a heartbeat by using battery in the super peak time.
@boretentsu: It depends on what tariff your electricity provider (not retailer) offer. Ie in one building I have four meters connected to Ausgrid (or whatever they're called now), two are TOU, one is flat rate single tariff, and the other is peak/off peak. All have similar usage patterns and surprise surprise the TOU bills are higher.
Once you have a smart meter your electricity consumption will be billed at "Time of Use with different ratess for different times of the day."
No, not necessarily true. have you actually gotten a Smart Meter? I've had one in numerous houses in Vic & Qld and I have single rate billing. Stop making stuff up. Just because some fwit on FB posts something, doesn't make it true.
I have a smart meter. My billing is flat rate.
@sponson: I also have a smart meter in QLD and pay flat rate, but also the demand surcharge. I believe it varies by retailer. I'm with Energy Locals at present.
Fake news. Load of propaganda bullshit. You can have a smart metre and be on single rate tariffs. I've had smart metres in Victoria for the past 12 years and been on single rate. Only changed to time of day when I got solar.
The house I bought, at the time of building, was permitted to have central air conditioning on a permeant off-peak metered rate regardless of time of day. AGL and Origin has both tried to replace my metering to the smart meter, so they don't have to send someone out every time they send me the bill.
The downside of this, for me, is that I will lose my central air conditioning privilege and my electricity bill will be 2.5x in winter.
How did you get this arrangement? And why would you want to change the meter if you had that? Would save you heaps in winter and summer. If I had that I wouldn't think so much about turning it on or off.
permeant off-peak metered rate regardless of time of day
this is called "Controlled Load" tariff
I've heard similar stories too
Only if the bulk of your usage is in Peak periods.
Peak is usually most of the day
During the day is the "shoulder" which is usually the cheapest. Peak is morning and evenings.
During the day is the "shoulder" which is usually the cheapest. Peak is morning and evenings.
Again you're just making up stuff.
Every Distributor has their own TOU schedule. Some have Off Peak/Shoulder/Peak times. Some don't have Shoulder, just Off Peak/Peak.
Then on top of that, some retailers have different periods for their TOU.
Here's a pretty good place to Start for distributors TOU periods
https://wattever.com.au/time-of-use-periods-electricity-netw…
@Bruceflix: yep, you never said for SAPN, which is only 1 of 15 distributors.
Peak is morning and evenings
AusGrid don't have AM peak for any of their 3 TOU's.
Endeavour Energy don't have AM peak for any of their 2 TOU's.
Essential Energy don't have AM peak for 1 of their 3 TOU's.
Northern Territory Electricity only has 6am-6pm peak
Energex don't have AM peak for any of their 2 TOU's.
Ergon don't have AM peak for any of their 2 TOU's.
South Australia Electricity don't have AM peak for 1 of their 3 TOU's.
Ausnet don't have AM peak for any of their TOU.
CitiPower don't have AM peak for any of their 2 TOU's.
Jemena don't have AM peak for any of their TOU.
Powercor don't have AM peak for any of their 2 TOU's.
United Energy don't have AM peak for any of their 2 TOU's.
Western Power don't have AM peak for any of their 2 TOU's.
Then we can get into those who only have it on weekdays, some don't count public holidays.
Again you & others here are posting wrong or misleading information.
@M00Cow: My comments relate to my experience through my looking glass. Where I live I can only use SAPN so my comment is factually correct. I did not, "you're just making up stuff".
@Bruceflix: your TOU on the SAPN, there's is a non morning peak opinion on the SAPN. But you didn't preference the statement with "here on SA, my TOU…" you made it sound like it was how all* TOU's operate. That's blatantly untrue as I demonstrated above. in fact it's blatantly untrue for **most distributors.
Originally you stated
Once you have a smart meter your electricity consumption will be billed at "Time of Use with different ratess for different times of the day."
which is blatantly untrue for most distributors. If you had said "here in SA…" sure it might be true Like an American you've just assumed that the whole world operates the same as your little bubble. It doesn't.
and then we get to
Bruceflix:
During the day is the "shoulder" which is usually the cheapest. Peak is morning and evenings.petal666:
@Bruceflix: Off Peak is usually the cheapest.Bruceflix:
@petal666: Not in SA
That's a SA anomaly I believe.
Tas & NT don't have Shoulder, Vic, ACT, NSW, Qld,
& WA, Off Peak (super off peak in WA) is cheaper then Shoulder.
@Bruceflix: So peak is
6am -10am
And
3pm - 1am
You have a 5hour window in waking hours with cheaper power.
And by most of the day you mean 4-6 of 24 hours.
it is 3pm-9pm everyday in VIC at our previous place, depends on the retailer though
@bazingaa: I know that AusNet (east outer Mel metro to the east-most VIC) is doing 3-9pm peak. Probably United (E-SE Mel metro) is also doing the same.
F
I upgraded 2 years ago, no difference in bill
Depends on electricity retailer.
PowerShop - installed smart meter free. No difference in bills as they don't have time of usage (demand) billing.
Advantage was usage shows every 30 min on app & bill was not estimated (requiring me to correct it by sending in meter readings).
BUT SWITCHED RETAILER & they could only put me on time of day billing. Dictated by energy distributor (not retailer), due to smart meter installed.
Evenings (cooking, aircon, etc) suddenly became much more expensive due to high demand rates!! Rest of day had low usage & low rates.
Overall - bill was much higher💰
Am with PowerShop again - much lower stress due to no demand billing.
Retailers are free to put you on whatever tarriff they want.
Sometimes you just need to push for it.
@SuiCid3: No. You can only be put on tariff available for your meter. Set by local electricity distributor.
Discussed this with multiple electricity retailers. Believe me, I pushed, but failed.
Retailers have multiple plans. But as soon as you supply address, retailer can see what plans are available for your meter, set by distributor.
Was told I would have to pay distributor, for change to meter / meter classification to get a different plan.
Different electricity distributors may have different rules, so may vary by your location.
@INFIDEL: The distributor doesn't determine what plans you can or can't have. The type of meter will first, then the retailer works with the capabilities of the meter. If you are on an old style meter with the spinning disc they run a cumulative counter with no time bounds.
Interval meters log usage in time intervals but need to be manually read via a plug-in device. Smart meters are interval meters with remote management so they can be read remotely by the distributor and turned on and off remotely by the distributor.
@rodericb: Thanks for correction.
As you say, it depends on type of meter - what plan can be applied by retailer
I agree. Was just incorrectly worded by retailers that distributor determines that…
As I said…
Was told I would have to pay distributor for change to meter / meter classification to get a different plan
@INFIDEL: I worded it incorrectly, but yes, the distributor sets the tariff, the retailers can put you on different plans that doesn't necessarily reflect the tariff.
Also received a text this morning from AGL confirming a smart meter upgrade is scheduled for us in July this year.
Check the rates and do the sums.
In my house with while home consumption meter, solar and usage already skewed to maximise consumption of our own generation, going smart meter would have put us way behind financially.
As such I rejected the upgrade.
It's insane that TOU pricing is inflated, but this is the world we live in.
Electricity market is sort of demand - consumption regardless of which meter you have. IMO, providers will eventually replace all old meters with smart meters for their own business needs. But, I do agree that TOU pricing is bit more expensive compared to single rate :(
Decline this invitation. Power bill goes up.
Yes this, and put a padlock on your metre box; or they will just come and install the 'smart' metre regardless of your wishes. They will simply pretend they were unaware that you didn't want a 'smart' metre.
not hard to pick the Victorian.
Meter
Ignore anyone making a flat statement like this. Everything will depend on personal usage and the plan that you're on
What a easy way for energy companies to just switch you off at the stroke of the keyboard.
And they do.
You are. Asically handling them control of your house.
Do I need to also pay for any electricity required to power the smart meter?
They're giving them out for free because it benefits them…. not you.
Smart Meters are installed free by your electrical provider. Just confirm with them that you DON'T want to go on time of use(TOU) plan.
My provider put me on TOU when we had repeatedly told them fixed rate only please. Took a few phone calls to go back to fixed rate. TOU rate put it up to 58 cents kW in peak times. Back down to flat rate of 32 cents kW. Plus 8 cents overnight on EV plan.
Weve had to upgrade our meter, with ovo so we can go on this plan.
you hit nail on the head, Anytime Use tariff is still available so you do not need TOU
Why does their logo look like a male genitalia?
Very unfortunate for the Chinese energy company to be compared to a knob
I did Google a bit when I chose my energy retailer.
https://www.finder.com.au/energy/australian-owned-energy-com…
Globird claims itself as an Australian owned company. Since it's a private company, we can't tell whether it's 100% true or not.
It does offer Alipay as a payment method, but we can't really tell whether they are just trying to target Chinese background customer or they are Chinese owned.
Many non-Chinese owned company offer Alipay as a payment method as well.
On the other hand, Energy Australia is 100% owned by a Hong Kong Company, CLP group.
While it may sounds like it's Chinese owned, CLP is 35% owned by a Jewish family, 34% publicly listed and 31% owned by international institutional investors.
https://www.clpgroup.com/en/investor-relations/investor-info…
Its what they use to f*** you
I had a bad experience with Globird. On their site they offered a single usage plan, I applied for the plan and came back with a TOU. When I call up they told me the single usage plan not available. Lucky I checked.
A few retailers don't have TOU plans
so there is no Demand rate, even if smart meter installed.
Supplying your address (shows meter number) when asking for rates, will show what plans are available for your meter.
As pointed out above, it is the meter installed that dictates the plans available at your location, not the distributor
I understand, but Globird shouldve told me and confirm if I wish to move to another plan inside of just moved into it anyways.
Globird still charged me for electricity even though our power went out due to the Christmas Day Tornado - https://ibb.co/wg201K9
Are you saying the charts you linked to are incorrect? Eg. on 25/12 there should be no usage at all? How did you resolve this with Globird?
didnt resolve it with them, just got a new provider
the Christmas Night storm (it wasn't a whirlywhirly) kicked off around 8pm… plenty of time for power to be consumed during the day. I see you didn't use any for 26 and a good chunk of 27th.
we didnt get power back until the thursday evening (28th) - so somehow got charged for a full day power on the 28th and a half day on the 27th?
So the OP says such smart meter may help avoid inflated bills.
And then there are comments, incl. two downvotes so far stating the opposite - one gives no reason really, and the other seems like a "I had a different experience", like most of the comments. Seem to be sort of arbitrary downvotes.
So what I get is: You're going to be charged correctly after switching to a smart meter, but it's not a rule of thumb that it's going to work in your favour, so do you research beforehand.
It's both!
As OP stated - "Globird likes to over-estimate my bills"
They have estimated billing. That can result in 'inflated bills' with some retailers.
A smart meter avoids that, as retailer doesn't have to wait months for meter reader to read analog meter. Bills would then be corrected.
But if you are on a Time of Usage (demand) plan - bill will likely be more expensive as most households use of electricity (early evenings) is high at high demand rate times!
If on solar, day time consumption from grid would likely be negative, so off peak billing would be of little benefit.
My experience with PowerShop, the initial estimates were ridiculously high, based on high average usage in area. Reduced after few bills & request to lower estimate. But easily corrected by sending your meter reading.
After supplying free smart meter, bills were unchanged. Because PowerShop don't have demand billing.
But changing retailer, was locked into demand billing if they had that. Bills were higher💰
globird underestimates in my experience, you get price rise, then they do a read and BAM. all that missed usage charged at the new rates
you may send them a Customer Read with a photo proof before the price rise, or anytime.
they will then calculate the cost of missed usage on a pro rata bases.
thats good to know. sadly our meter room is locked up (townhouses) and i have no idea where my key got to!
So firstly people & bots are banging on about Smart Meters, but not saying which state they're in.
Secondly, don't pretty much all state which have Solar installated.in the past decade require a smart meter? (this I'm not sure of). So quite a few would already have it.
Now if you're renting. Having a smart meter reduces connection/disconnection costs significantly as they can turn on/off your power remotely and do a final read remotely, so if you're say a student moving every 12mths it's cheaper.
Time Of Use billing. It has it's pro's & cons. I prefer single rate myself, and guess what! I've lived in Vic & Qld, had smart metering and I alway choose single rate tariffs. Not all retailers offer it, but it can be done..
That is such a bad logo.
Not a deal. I called my supplier and needed the upgrade to a "smart meter" so I could change to an EV friendly plan and it was done in about a week at no charge.
In NSW you just call your electricity provider and tell them you need the upgrade so you can change to a better supplier and they will forward this request to the supplier and they will come and change out your meter.
Side note: holy shit, does this myth still persist? Installing a smart meter will increase your bills?? Each time I have upgraded to the latest meter type, my bills have always gone down. If you want a "single rate tarif", then you just ask for one. That's the best part of smart meters, they will also do dumb metering… This is some cooker level conspiracy theory bullshit half of you are spouting… FMD.
Check out the ABC News report into dramatic price increases after smart meters were installed
Of course it's the Time-of-use tariffs, made possible with smart meters that causes the bill to increase. Not the smart meter.
Depends on your electricity retailer.
Not all retailers use a demand tariff.
But many say that's the only one possible with the meter installed at your location.
Changing retailers, it increased bill cost for me on similar usage & made me cautious of electricity use in early evenings - due to the much higher demand tariff at that time.
Moved back to provider without TOU tariff for me - PowerShop. On same plan as before smart meter was installed free by them.
So in that case, smart meter did not cause a bill increase!
If you don't use electricity when its most expensive (early evenings) but use it at cheaper times…
Smart meter + Time-of-use tariff can make bills decrease!
So possibly good for shift workers.
Avoid avoid avoid.
Yours bills will skyrocket
They can turn off your power at a moments notice too.
Privacy issues to as they and hackers can telll when u r home etc.
It’s a waste of time and a nightmare with all the plans too
I bet that there is a large correlation between those who have old meters and the unvaccinated lol
Globird is a horrible company, hidden charges for everything especially if you have solar, they charge you to change tariffs where as the bigger companies absorb this cost.
DO NOT UPGRADE EVEN IF YOUR LIFE DEPENDED ON IT!!!!
Just did the numbers (after considering the Alinta deal with 5 TOUs) and we can manage the M-F 4pm-10pm 36.14c to access the other TOUs.
TOU = works for us
On demand = a big "no" for us
![[VIC, NSW, SA, QLD] Free Smart Meter Upgrade Upon Customer Request @ GloBird Energy](https://files.ozbargain.com.au/n/60/843460.jpg?h=dc0ec673)
Don't upgrade unless you're prepared for your electric bill to soar.