A place for random rants to get it out your system.

So my energy supplier, Bristol Energy, who I had a sweet fixed deal with until well into 2023, is one of the latest casualties of the energy crisis. Bah. Just in time for big increases, double Bah. It sucks but this is not the main thrust of today’s rant. Today’s rant is about bloody “smart” meters.

I’ve been auto switched to British Gas. This should be nice and simple, we have a smart meter that BE made us wait for to make sure we had the right type. It doesn’t work with British Gas’ systems though, so I need to provide meter readings. The little doobery that sits in your living room tutting at the energy you are using doesn’t give meter readings to you, I need to go to the meter itself. This is an impressive looking readout with a full number pad and additional A and B buttons. The readout by default is blank. So to get a meter reading I press what exactly? No help on the multitude of stickers and warnings, no obvious “Meter Reading” button. I try A … nope, I try B … nope. I search the internet. Oh, I have to press 9 then wait until it switches to the right bloody reading and take a quick picture before it switches to the next bit of info I didn’t want - all whilst huddled, cramped under the stairs with my phone torch on. Seriously. It’s an energy meter where the display’s primary bloody purpose is to display the fecking reading, and they hide it under the least likely of 12 buttons and make you wait for it before switching quickly to some other crap. And it’ll all need switching out for British Gas just because? Maybe/hopefully it just needs a new doobery.

Additional rant - my energy bill is likely to go up by nearly ₈₀% from my sweet deal and what it will be come April’s prices. Thanks Sid, you bastard.