Severn Trent Amey duped me into a meter upgrade

melita · 10 January 2018 at 5:07PM

:mad:We have been resisting the march of the smart meter. We had a water meter installed some years ago (in the house) with a remote external reading point. ST have been trying to get us to upgrade our meter to a smart meter but without success. I was about to go out earlier today when there was a knock at the door from an Amey engineer to replace the battery in our meter - it would only take 10 minutes. As he was finishing the work I noticed our old meter in his toolbox and that a new one had been installed (Aquadis+ with Everblu Cyble enhanced). I challenged him and said that this was not a battery change but a smart meter and that I didn't want wifi in the house. He told me that it was a mechanical meter, not smart and no wifi. I foolishly believed him. Subsequent online investigations seem to imply that it is indeed a smart meter and potentially sends daily readings wirelessly (isn't this wifi?). Can we get this meter removed now or are we stuck with it?

Swipe · 10 January 2018 at 10:55PM

I believe the data is sent via a mobile data sim

anna42hmr · 10 January 2018 at 11:13PM

According to this http://www.moneyguideireland.com/irish-water-meters-are-they-dangerous.html the data is sent via radio waves, to a meter if held nearby.

System · 11 January 2018 at 11:09AM

melita wrote: »

:mad:We have been resisting the march of the smart meter. We had a water meter installed some years ago (in the house) with a remote external reading point. ST have been trying to get us to upgrade our meter to a smart meter but without success. I was about to go out earlier today when there was a knock at the door from an Amey engineer to replace the battery in our meter - it would only take 10 minutes. As he was finishing the work I noticed our old meter in his toolbox and that a new one had been installed (Aquadis+ with Everblu Cyble enhanced). I challenged him and said that this was not a battery change but a smart meter and that I didn't want wifi in the house. He told me that it was a mechanical meter, not smart and no wifi. I foolishly believed him. Subsequent online investigations seem to imply that it is indeed a smart meter and potentially sends daily readings wirelessly (isn't this wifi?). Can we get this meter removed now or are we stuck with it?

Out of interest, are you so worried about wifi that you are posting on this thread using a wired connection to your router? I ask only because my wifi router log is currently detecting 38 other sources of wifi from adjacent properties. There really is no practical way to protect yourself from wifi; TV signals; mobile phone signals et al. The good news is that expert authorities across the Globe do not believe that wifi; RF etc pose a significant medical risk.

All that said, I do think that you have the right to raise a complaint against Severn Trent. I would copy it their CEO who has said that ST takes customer feedback seriously.

JJ_Egan · 11 January 2018 at 11:36AM

Even wired a router broadcasts wifi unless its turned off.
But maybe OP has a wifi free household and used another source to post .

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth · 11 January 2018 at 1:55PM

Tin hats everyone, the Death Ray has been spotted

badmemory · 11 January 2018 at 7:08PM

Regardless of tin hats, they should not be obtaining access by lying about what they are going to do. I do think that a letter headed complaint about that issue, and only that issue, should be written to Severn Trent.

melita · 11 January 2018 at 10:53PM

We have complained and hope to have something sorted soon. Thanks to all for your comments. It helps to be able to let off steam on here and get other points of view.

We are as far as possible a wifi free household - apart from mobile phones. I know we can't control external wifi, but we can at least minimise exposure. It's not just the radiation but the security aspect. Our router has wifi switched off and we feed broadband round the house using the mains. I have also switched wifi off in my car.

matelodave · 12 January 2018 at 10:00AM

If you use a mobile phone you will be getting far more radiation right next to your brain than any meter in a fixed location unless it's under your pillow and even then not as concentrated as using a phone.

As said above you cannot escape wifi and unless you live in an isolated farmhouse miles from anyone else you'll be irradiated by next door or even over the roads wifi. We are detached by at least 30 meters in all directions and can still see five other routers.

badmemory · 12 January 2018 at 1:19PM

We too feed broadband round the house via the mains but for the simple reason that it gives a better outcome than wifi does. It no longer goes "down" for no apparant reason, which is always when you are in the middle of something.

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth · 12 January 2018 at 1:42PM

melita wrote: »

We are as far as possible a wifi free household - apart from mobile phones. I know we can't control external wifi, but we can at least minimise exposure. It's not just the radiation but the security aspect. Our router has wifi switched off and we feed broadband round the house using the mains. I have also switched wifi off in my car.

Yet you use a mobile phone next to your ear. And all that nasty electricity that goes with it? What about the lithium that is in the mobile phone battery and the fires they cause?

Tell you what, I will just check my ICD, it its emissions! They directly affect my heart, and every so often, it is read using wifi. I will ask my cardiologist next time to switch it off in case I sterilise my work colleagues with its emissions!

Severn Trent Amey duped me into a meter upgrade

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free