Hey OzBargainers!
I am starting my journey on seeing if I can legally revert my electricity smart meter back to the regular analogue one. Has anyone been successful with this?
I'm Wanting to Replace Electricity Smart Meter with a Regular Analogue One (NSW)
Bignudge on 22/10/2021 - 14:54
Last edited 22/10/2021 - 15:15 by 1 other user
Last edited 22/10/2021 - 15:15 by 1 other user
Comments
Also its the control aspect.
Smart meters mostly allow remote disconnection, via 3G radio and also the various providers who use internet-connected systems to gain access. The security is not upgradeable, is questionable and could probably be achieved by a malicious actor on a mass basis.
So remote disconnection is really a national security issue, as well as a personal one for the consumer
Anyone who is worried about radiation can install a shield on their house wall, a grounded sheet of thin metal would prevent most of the direct EMR from the smart meter antenna (usually they install it on top fo the meter box, so that doesn't shield the EMR), so this should alleviate concerns about that. But beware, it can also limit the ability of the meter to send communicate with the billing provider.
Anyone who is worried about radiation
While reading up about radiation on their mobile phone connected to their home wifi…..
@SBOB, so cynical!
They'd more likely be using an ethernet connected device, or reading a paper…
Every time I see a post like this on Ozbargain (Trump social network thread full of em), I picture the Always Sunny Charlie meme
You could put a tiny little tin foil hat on the smart meter perhaps?
Smart meters mostly allow remote disconnection, via 3G radio and also the various providers who use internet-connected systems to gain access.
Smart metres do not work over 3G, they use a mesh network as it's more beneficial.
Actually last smart meter I had removed had a Optus 3G Sim in it so not all are Mesh like you say
@Not SkyNet: Meter monitoring is a dog's breakfast of RF tech- manufacturers support a lot of different radio modules for different customers, globally.
The remote disconnection is super easy to bypass with a strong neodymium magnet to engage the contactor inside the meter. Don’t ask.
Anyone who is worried about radiation can install a shield on their house wall, a grounded sheet of thin metal would prevent most of the direct EMR from the smart meter antenna
Those people should never go outside either.
We have a sun that's shining on us for half of every day.
If you were to lay down in the sun you would be getting about 800w of high energy radiation (light and IR) - 3.2 million times more than from WiFi.
And don't keep bananas in your house! Lethal!
national security issue
LMFAO
Now I've heard it all.
How? Are you suggesting there is no way for an actor on the Internet to run a script that disconnect swathes of Australian commercial, government and residential premises?
Once you go digital, you can’t go back to analog 😷
Yeah no.. A+ for effort though
Pretty low bar for an A+ these days.
You got to keep them motivated
I wouldn't think this is possible.
Eventually everybody will be on smart meters, so then there is one less Aussie meter reading job they can get rid of.
You can also input your NMI number to https://www.energymadeeasy.gov.au/ to see if you are on the cheapest plan as it downloads your history if you have a smart meter.
Meter is owned by the network infrastructure business. No advantage to them of allowing this, so it wont happen.
Very good dream, I want that happen too, after convert to Smart meter, my bill payment more than double then analogue meter, and don't forget now they only paid you 5-8 cents per kWh for solar panel output, so, basically, trasnfer to Digital Meter and Solar Panel just a scam.
So then change electricity plans. Your bill going up has nothing to do with the new meter.
Depends if they changed from a peak only tariff to a different type of tariff… it's unlikely it was caused by accuracy factors but it could be a new tariff that doesn't work as well with their usage profile.
Not a dream and not a rubbish! U have to disconnect yourself from the network though. Then find a licensed sparky who’ll do it. It maybe quite a search but there are few old school ones who will do it as new installation. Your old digital meter must be “broken “ tho.
Did it to mine. Bills dropped $50 pm on average
I have a hard time believing this. My bills have been consistently less with a smart meter vs the old analogue unit.
Rubbish.
All meters have an NMI (National Meter Identifier), and that's registered by the Distributor to the physical property address.
You can't just change meters willy nilly, regardless of whether you break the old one or not.You are proposing the installation of an illegal meter to a house you own, and risk huge fines for tampering with the network, for what- $50 a month (if that amount is actually to be believed anyway)?
To quote one of my favourite movies, "Get your hand off it Daryl".
I am starting my journey on seeing if I can legally revert my electricity smart meter
As a user of a provided service I'll say there is no way to chose what kind of meter is the preferred one.
This includes Water Meter, Gas Meter, Electricity Meter and whatever other meter I'm missing.
Oh you are one of those people.
Just call up Telstra telstra directory assistance using a rotary phone and ask to speak to Energy Australia and say you can't have an smart meter because of you goggomobile
I think you may need to call PMG and speak with Gladys at the exchange and she can connect you with Bill down at the SEC office.
Why?
Why
You can revert back to analogue meter by buying a house that is still using one (mine is, interested?)
Why
Where is the MS Paint diagram of this situation?
The op has another post about solar? I wonder if it is to do with that. It's easier to "maximise" fit with analogue meters and solar.
Obviously a troll post just to get people indignant and virtue signaling… and a whole bunch of armchair warriors fell for it
virtue signaling
Over power meters?
What a time to be alive….That’s how they are getting us to take the vaccine. Only those with tinfoil hats are escaping!!!
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(/s)
There are few so easily triggered to the point of indignation than those who think "virtue signalling" is a thing
Of course, virtue signaling doesn't even exist, nobody puts their best foot forward on social media, everyone is completely real, no one cares about how their peers view them, nobody pipes up about how they support this cause or that cause to feel part of the tribe, social acceptance is not a thing, Maslow was all wrong… crazy talk yeah?
Electrician here,
There's a high chance this user is asking this because he's recently has had a very high power bill and doesn't trust the technology. I for one don't trust it either depending on the age of them, they're all made in China and they aren't exactly sending people out to calibrate these things every year if not ever.
calibrate these things every year
As an electrician, when was the last time you calibrated ct clamps or a power meter?
If it was an issue, the calibration could swing either positively or negatively, so you'd have a 50 50 chance of being in benefit if they had a likelhood of becoming innacurate.
Every year, it's a requirement as part of your licence (South Australia)
You are right there, it could go either way.
I for one don't trust it either
I don't trust you either
depending on the age of them they're all made in China
No they aren't.
Elster make metres in in Romania
Kamstrup make metres in Denmark
etc.and they aren't exactly sending people out to calibrate these things every year if not ever.
Just like they don't do for analogue metres
I wanna replace my phone with analogue wheel dial
But I don’t want to waste everyone’s time by posting about it on Ozbargain
Easier to sell your house and get estate agent to find you a
newold home with those hypnotic spinning dials. Once you have them fight like mad to keep them, get yourself a big dog with a bad attitude, and try to get a heritage order on your historic meter box.Don't forget the mote
Moat?
Moat! Thanks, had never had to spell it before :D
No access? They'll just disconnect the meter from the pole or underground junction.
Would analogy dial stickers suffice?
Why would you NOT want a smart meter? Personally I love the convenience of checking my retailers mobile app to see if I'm being given credit for the right amount of solar generation.
Remote shutdown ability and questionable accuracy.
questionable accuracy.
Compared to an analogue spinning dial?
You're joking right….Lol, wait til you find out the kid next door can use a camera, some batteries and assorted parts to make an EMP to (profanity) with your power.
Far more likely that occurs than a national security incident.
if i was still on an old meter i wouldn't want to upgrade to a smart meter. you will get put on a demand tariff. one heavy usage in the demand period and you have to pay $$$ for the whole billing period
you will get put on a demand tariff. one heavy usage in the demand period and you have to pay $$$ for the whole billing period
So change to a fixed tarrif plan.
The government is trying to control our lives and take away our freedom through digital meters that spy on us 24/7. Of course the OP would want to go back to an analogue meter.
See my comment above!
Perhaps it's something to do with the number of so-called "smart" meters that catch on fire.
If you're referring to the highly publicized event in Melbourne, it was later proven to be arson by the home owner.
Not up to you. Your provider owns the installation, and they are ALL changing to digital.
You can NOT tamper with the meter.
No chance
OPs name is "Bignudge"
OP has asked something that makes no sense
OP has now gone MIA
OP is a trollCheck OP's post history. OP looks like someone who lacks basic research skills rather than a troll. It is a simple question with a simple answer that the OP now has. The rest is people poking fun or asking why, so OP has probably left with hurt feelings.
OP seemed to have done a runner after this smelly fart of a thread.
I’m sure his family is proud of his achievements.
just cancel the service.
oh hold on thats step 3.
step1 get a renewable energy source (solar)
step2 get a bunch of energy storage
step3 go off gridThen OP reeeeeeeeee's when the off grid system is digital lol
no explanation, ghosted after posting. This is obviously nothing more than a troll!
OP not even commenting, probably a troll post
The reason for me and I'd assume the op is that Time of Use metering is on average significantly worse.
Time of use is logical and done fairly lots of people should be saving. But the energy companies are scamming it hard, few will save, most will pay more
There's a reason why after Victoria did it, NSW abandoned it, what 7-10 years ago?
It costs a thousand to install a new meter. Might as well put that towards solar and that would beat a lot of the TOU problems. Other than when the sun goes down until 11pm when off peak kicks in again.
OP has a previous post from last year about getting paid more for solar feed in than he/she would be paying for controlled load 1. My guess is that OP was simply trying to figure out how to save money by maximizing the value of his/her solar generation.
Victoria introduced legislation that allowed power companies to upgrade all existing meters to smart meters by 2015. In NSW it seems to be mandatory for all new constructions from Dec 2017 as well as when installing solar panels or if requested by the owner. We got over the conspiracy theories pretty quickly in Victoria, in NSW they could be dealing with them for the next 30 years.
OP probably lives in Melbourne, ran out of DIY projects with the longest lock down. This is the final straw.
Only valid reason I can think of is in Sydney it seems once you get a smart meter you can't change it back to a peak only tariff with some distributors. In Victoria you get to choose between TodFlex (3 tariffs) or Peak Only for residential.
In Victoria you get to choose between TodFlex (3 tariffs) or Peak Only for residential.
Wow when did this happen, this is probably why we havent heard of crazy bills in Vic for a while now
TOU is so abusively bad
OP, I see you've discovered what I've known for a long time.
No, wait, I know what you're thinking. Not the old "put a magnet in there to make it spin slower or backwards" trick. Friend, that's old news. Let me tell you the REAL secret THEY don't want you to know.
If you put special magnets in your analogue power box, they can harness the energy created by the spinning disc to create FREE PERPETUAL ENERGY.
Only I can sell you the SPECIAL magnets. As a bonus to help out a fellow truth seeker, I'll include a FREE HARMONIC RESONANCE CRYSTAL that can harness the power stored in the magnet to block 7G signals from entering your home.
Wait, 7G? That's right - you've never heard of it, and you can't even detect it. That's exactly how THEY like it.
Love it! Lol'd. Thanks @Grue :)
tell me why
OP here, holy this post blew up and I didn't even get any notifications for it. Usually I'd get like 4 replies and my post sinks to the bottom. That's why I didn't log onto Ozbargain lol.
I just don't trust the smart meter. My bills have gone higher without explanations since my smart meter was installed. I don't have any new aircons/fridges/pumps…. and the number of people living at the property remains the same.
I feel like the analogue system was much more accurate. It spins proportionally to how much current is flowing through. Opposed to the smart meter having to poll and log it. I'm not professional and it was just a though haha.
Time to invest in solar and batteries then.
So what your saying is you were underpaying before, and want to go back to that.
Well I mean like, I'm overpaying now and I'd like to go back to paying what I was/should be paying :)
So your saying your meter is faulty? Have you reported that?
See my comments on first page. I got some negative votes. But the reality is my bills tripled under smart meter with same usage.
Luckily I ended up moving to a new house and I have the standard meters and my charges are back to normal.You may elect to dispute with your retailer. That will you get you a limited goodwill discount for the short term.
Then your old meter was faulty and replacing wont make any difference now, you would have the put the old one back in which wont happen
Look at your contract.
It tells you how much you pay for each time period.
Every contract I've seen is dodgy as fk.
Very few people would save under it.
By rote, you should be renewing/starting a new contract at least every 12months to ensure you get the discounts
Thanks for checking back in OP. Many thought you were trolling, it's nice to see a genuine interest.
Your smart meter has to meet a bunch of standards and tests before it's allowed to be connected to the network. Some of those standards will pertain to it's accuracy and quality, it's very unlikely that the new meter isn't measuring accurately.
What's more likely is that your electricity tariff model changed when the meters changed. You may have switched from a fixed tariff to a time of use tariff causing your costs to rise with your usage patterns. You'll need to scrutinise your old bills to see if this has happened.
Have a look at EnergyAustralia's page on tariffs to see what a typical tariff models are offered by electricity retailers.
https://www.energyaustralia.com.au/home/electricity-and-gas/…
Different retailers have various tariff offerings and it really pays to shop around. The government site Energy Made Easy will help you find a retailer and plan that works best for you
https://www.energymadeeasy.gov.au/
The bills should also show you if your total energy usage (measured in kwh - kilowatt hours) has changed, if it has gone up since the new meter installation, it's very likely the old meter was under measuring your consumption. There's not much you can do about that now except be grateful for the years of under billing.
Write a letter to your pm to ask them to de-privatise electricity billing.
No sure what the mystery is, I like having a "dumb" meter as it means I pay less for my electricity as a whole. There is no on or off peak rate as I recall the off peak price was 12cents per kwh and like 36 cents for the peak, but my flat rate was 18cents given more of my usage was on peak this was a no brainer for me. This is probably why OP's bills are higher.
I reckon that you will start to see a lot more "stick" aimed at persuading the analog meter hold-outs to convert to a digital meter.
Maybe a $30 on-site meter reading charge? An annual $300 recertification/recalibration charge? A 20% increase in the usage tariff?
It's already at the stage where I live in Sydney, where the energy company will normally just do an "estimated" reading based off previous usage, and the ask you to submit your own meter reading if you want an accurate bill.
Regarding changing the meter, my guess is that they'll just send prior notice that they're coming to change the meter, and that will be that. I doubt they need permission to swap it.
Does anybody know how to reverse a water meter ???
Piss into your faucet, the pressure reverses your water meter
Gold !!
Are you going to let us in on why ?? The only reason I can think of is you want to reverse the dial occasionally