Smart Meters

pineapple

LMS123 wrote: »

So, as an EON customer, I arrived home today to find a leaflet posted through my letterbox from EON.
It says "We called round to book an appointment to change your old meter for a free self-reading smart meter." Who is "we"? Sounds like I am being pressured in to this!

You might be interested in this then
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bills/article-5367339/Energy-firm-Eon-tells-customers-NEED-smart-meter.html
It's disingenuous at the very least for energy companies not to make it clear that smart meters are not (yet) compulsory.
The elderly couple next door, who are also with Eon, got what sounds to be the same communication. They have booked an appointment because they don't really understand any of it and didn't realise they had a choice :mad:

mbmonty

I would say that this IS harassment, what happens if your meters are in a communal area do they do it without your consent?

I would be asking EON who is the company that delivered this leaflet, if it had your name on it I would do a Subject Access Request regarding your data and who they have shared it with without your permission for what is in effect a marketing exercise.

The leaflet is advertising so an ASA complaint seems appropriate, especially if they did not advise you that it is not compulsory.

Isn't there a law against people knocking at your door for appointments?

Anyone who knocks at my door without a confirmed appointment usually finds themselves escorted out to the street, including charity door to door chuggers who seem to come to my area in a van and swamp the place.

Does this not remind you of the period of time when the energy companies employed chuggers to get your name at supermarkets and then say you requested to change energy suppliers.

For the harassment aspect I think you need to report EON to the regulator.

It is so typical of them dumping their old not fit for purpose kit on people, did you read the posts about confusing Indian business meters being installed as smart meters.

I would advise your neighbours that it is NOT compulsory.

If they ever put one in my place without my permission I will short it out to make it fail then report it faulty and dangerous.

Meanwhile from the article, contact Rebeca

"If your energy firm is pushing you into installing a smart meter and you think it's sending misleading information, please get in touch with us at experts@thisismoney.co.uk".

Nick_C

mbmonty wrote: »

what happens if your meters are in a communal area do they do it without your consent?

You need to be at home when they come to change your meter. According to Ovo anyway. My meters are outside, but they came in to turn off the electricity at the consumer unit, and they checked that everything was working OK before they left.

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

LMS123 wrote: »

So, as an EON customer, I arrived home today to find a leaflet posted through my letterbox from EON.
It says "We called round to book an appointment to change your old meter for a free self-reading smart meter." Who is "we"? Sounds like I am being pressured in to this!
It then listed all the usual "benefits" of a smart meter and urged me to phone them or go online to book an appointment.
No thanks, EON. I don't want a "free" smart meter (for which I am already paying through my bills).
I am quite happily providing regular readings so my bills aren't estimated and I have no time to rush to the smart meter and watch how much energy I use whenever I turn on an electrical appliance or the gas boiler.
My boiler is past its best, to say the least, and I fear that it may not come on again once it has been turned off to install a new meter. Yes, am in the process of sorting a new boiler, but not yet.
Am I now paying through my bills for someone to trail about delivering these leaflets?
I am reminded about smart meters every time I log on to EON. I will not have a smart meter until/if they become compulsory. As far as I'm aware the 2020 government target for smart meters is that all households should have been "offered" the opportunity to change over, not that all the old meters are replaced by smart meters.
This scheme is a joke, with the phase 1 meters' incompatability , the phase 2 meters roll out, reports of meter redundancy if you change supplier and reports of faulty meters which, by all accounts, only last 10 years at best before they need replacing.

Hello LMS123 and I'm sorry you're unhappy with the material we've left. We're using several different channels to make customers aware of our smart meter programme. One of these channels involves our meter readers. They've begun having smart related conversations with customers when they're in certain areas as part of their routine reading cycle. I suspect this is who left the leaflet.

In these areas, our meter readers can now book appointments directly from a customer's property. Please be assured, we wouldn't fit smart meters without your permission. As you say, these meters are optional and you're free to reject our offers.

Many thanks for continuing to send us your meter readings. It's really appreciated. The more readings we have, the greater the accuracy of bills and related information like payment arrangements. Although smart meters are one way of doing this, there are other channels including online through our website, phone app or Live Chat service, by phone or text, email or letter. Whichever suits individual customers.

Sorry again you didn't like the leaflet LMS123.

Malc[FONT=&quot]
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System

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc wrote: »

One of these channels involves our meter readers. They've begun having smart related conversations with customers when they're in certain areas as part of their routine reading cycle. I suspect this is who left the leaflet.


Malc[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]

Malc

Are you free to say whether the meter readers engaged in this promotion are being paid commission for every E.oN customer that signs up for a smart meter? I cannot see why any meter reader would want to engage in a conversation with customers that could ultimately lead to a loss of meter reader jobs unless there is a short-term financial gain.

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

pineapple wrote: »

You might be interested in this then
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bills/article-5367339/Energy-firm-Eon-tells-customers-NEED-smart-meter.html
It's disingenuous at the very least for energy companies not to make it clear that smart meters are not (yet) compulsory.
The elderly couple next door, who are also with Eon, got what sounds to be the same communication. They have booked an appointment because they don't really understand any of it and didn't realise they had a choice :mad:

Hello pineapple.

If your neighbours are unsure about this please ask them to contact our smart meter teams (contact details are on our website and their bills) as soon as possible. We can go through how the meters work and what they do. Should they decide they no longer want them, the appointment can be stopped. If it goes ahead, there's little we can do after the meters are fitted. It's unlikely we'll change them unless there's a fault.

You mention your neighbours are elderly. Is it easy for them to read their existing meters? If not, smart meters might help. Although, if they're on our Priority Services Register (register of vulnerable customers), they might already be eligible for special reading visits before each scheduled bill. There's more information about this on our website.

Thanks pineapple.

Malc

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

mbmonty wrote: »

I would say that this IS harassment, what happens if your meters are in a communal area do they do it without your consent?

I would be asking EON who is the company that delivered this leaflet, if it had your name on it I would do a Subject Access Request regarding your data and who they have shared it with without your permission for what is in effect a marketing exercise.

The leaflet is advertising so an ASA complaint seems appropriate, especially if they did not advise you that it is not compulsory.

Isn't there a law against people knocking at your door for appointments?

Anyone who knocks at my door without a confirmed appointment usually finds themselves escorted out to the street, including charity door to door chuggers who seem to come to my area in a van and swamp the place.

Does this not remind you of the period of time when the energy companies employed chuggers to get your name at supermarkets and then say you requested to change energy suppliers.

For the harassment aspect I think you need to report EON to the regulator.

It is so typical of them dumping their old not fit for purpose kit on people, did you read the posts about confusing Indian business meters being installed as smart meters.

I would advise your neighbours that it is NOT compulsory.

If they ever put one in my place without my permission I will short it out to make it fail then report it faulty and dangerous.

Meanwhile from the article, contact Rebeca

"If your energy firm is pushing you into installing a smart meter and you think it's sending misleading information, please get in touch with us at [EMAIL="experts@thisismoney.co.uk"]experts@thisismoney.co.uk[/EMAIL]".

Hello mbmonty and to confirm my post above in reply to LMS123, we wouldn't fit smart meters without a customer's consent. Also, as Nick_C says, customers need to be at home before we can start the installation. The power will be off for a short time and customers need to turn off all sensitive equipment.

As above, I suspect the leaflet was left by a meter reader during their routine reading cycle.

We like to keep in touch with customers so we can send details about important changes to their accounts and tell them about our other products and services. We won’t, though, share personal data with other organisations, including those in the E.ON group, for marketing purposes unless we've a customer's permission to do this. We're also not involved with door to door energy sales.

I'd encourage any of our customers who are unhappy with what we're doing to use our complaints process. If we aren't able to sort out their issue, we'll let them know how to approach the Energy Ombudsman for an independent review. There are more details about how to do this on our website.

Malc

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Hengus wrote: »

Malc

Are you free to say whether the meter readers engaged in this promotion are being paid commission for every E.oN customer that signs up for a smart meter? I cannot see why any meter reader would want to engage in a conversation with customers that could ultimately lead to a loss of meter reader jobs unless there is a short-term financial gain.

I'm afraid I don't know Hengus. To be honest, it's not the sort of thing I would be able to post on a public forum as it involves sensitive personal information.

I do know, the aim of this project is to reduce the number of job failures and increase the rate of first time smart installs. Having someone familiar with metering carry out a site survey at the premises will help identify potential difficulties.

Sorry I can't help with this Hengus.

Malc

System

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc wrote: »

I'm afraid I don't know Hengus. To be honest, it's not the sort of thing I would be able to post on a public forum as it involves sensitive personal information.

I do know, the aim of this project is to reduce the number of job failures and increase the rate of first time smart installs. Having someone familiar with metering carry out a site survey at the premises will help identify potential difficulties.

Sorry I can't help with this Hengus.

Malc

Thanks Malc. My worry here is that Ofgem states that suppliers have to 'take all reasonable steps' to get consumers to accept a smart meter by 2020. Sadly, 'reasonable steps' has not been defined and saying 'No - I do not want a smart meter' to a supplier doesn't actually mean 'No' as Ofgem has made clear to all suppliers in a recent policy letter:

Quote: We expect suppliers to consider their approach to customer refusals and how they will address these. Suppliers should think about how they will handle both implicit refusals (for example, customers who do not respond to contact attempts) and explicit refusals (for example, customers who actively do not want a meter exchange). Such customers should be re-entered into the engagement strategy, with that strategy evolving to reflect lessons learned on consumer engagement. Unquote

I read this paragraph as meaning that any customer who has declined to accept a smart meter as a result of Initiative 'A' is immediately re-entered into the smart meter engagement programme when a supplier comes up with Initiative B - the chatty (incentivised) meter reader; or Initiative C -............

So in truth, consumers do not actually have the right to say "no" in the knowledge that by saying 'no' that is the end of it unless the consumer contacts the supplier. We will have to keep saying 'no' to every marketing scheme that a supplier's smart metering team comes up with.

mbmonty

Hengus you are right on the money!

Today the BBC R4 MoneyBox programme was discussing the disgusting behaviour of NPower who were sending out so called "deemed appointments" for when they will come and install a smart DUMB meter WITHOUT CONSENT.

In some cases they will turn up at people's homes without being invited!

The DEEMED appointments did not inform consumers that they had a choice of NO DUMB METER only that they could CONFIRM or AMEND the appointment. Contributors to the programme said they ignored the communications because they had already told Npower that they did NOT want a DUMB meter and were then told that they were coming to change the meter on a given date that they had not agreed to.

Of course they were furious, they pointed out that they are Adults who have decided they DO NOT WANT ONE OF THESE DUMB METERS.

As usual OFGEM was as USELESS as it always is; in report to MP's last year they actually encouraged deemed appointments and then they say some BS along the lines of "if the customer experience of deemed appointment is found to not be positive we hope Npower would take that into consideration. WT?

OFGEM use Blairishly stupid terms like "Installation Journey", don't they get it, we do not want it installed so they is no bloody installation, as for the so called journey, it is harassment. The more they harass and push the more people will push back.

We all know they are trying to dump a load of crap SMET1 meters that were defunct before they bought them and if we change supplier they will become bricks until they are updated at the end of 2019. You can be SURE they will not be updated by the end of 2019, think about it, what is their priority, putting in naff meters or updating millions of naff meters they already put in. So of course consumers DO NOT TRUST the idiots forcing these Dumb Meters on them.

Honestly, I have always said that these OFxxxx organisations are completely USELESS but this takes the biscuit. They are imposing the costs of these DUMB meters on us but not FORCING the industry to pass on the billions they save to us.

So far they have installed under 10 million of the 46 million target for DUMB meters and because they face fines they are ramping up the pressure with this dodgy practice of deemed appointments.

Considering when the programme started and the deadline of end of 2019, it is clear that they are going to fail to reach the target, so let!!!8217;s just fine them with a credit of £200 for every customer now and then scrap the project.

It is bad enough the pointless Smart Energy GB waste £43 MILLION per annum of our money. Their repetitive gave a bunch of stupid comments ignoring the points put to him. He even had the audacity to compare the Smeg1 update to an IOS update on his phone, what a twit.

The programme pointed out that the Government's own cost-benefit analysis estimated that the Energy Industry will save most of the savings and consumers get sweet FA, apparently the energy companies save between £8bn and £10bn but there is no commitment to pass this on.

Their representative confirmed THAT IT IS THE INDUSTRY THAT BENEFITS NOT THE CONSUMER with some LAME HOPE that once the meters are all installed the energy companies will reduce prices.

Steve Playle of Chartered Trading Standard Institute said that they feel that this is an "Aggressive Practice that could fall foul of consumer protection for unfair trading regulations because they are

· Significantly impair consumer freedom choice.

· Limit consumer!!!8217;s ability to make an informed decision.

· Do not stipulate that it is an option to refuse.

· Restrict customer choice;

OFGEM did say that they should not be given to vulnerable customers, they have no idea who is and is not vulnerable when they send these deemed appointments out.

They use BS terms like "Respond accordingly"; what the hell does that mean, it is about as subjective as you can get!

They say that suppliers are obliged to act fairly and honestly, but if you say NO they put you on a "higher pressure to be applied" list as confirmed by Hengus above.

We should be able to inform the energy company once and for all that we DO NOT WANT a DUMB meter and that should be that. I am going to tell my supplier that and inform that they any further attempts to contact me on the matter will be considered as harassment and they do not have permission to "market" smart meters to me in future as I am OPTING OUT.

I am going to build an industrial strength enclosure around my meter and supply then put a massive padlock on the door to meter cupboard. Plus pin a notice that consent and permission is NOT granted to change the meter and any attempt to do so will be deemed as harassment.

I do not want Smet1, Smet2 or any of these cheapo Indian commercial meters that have been mentioned in this thread. If they manage to sneak one in I will turn off my power and apply 390v to it from a device I got off ebay for projects, that should fry the innards and make it useless.

Oh and if you thought it was just Npower, sorry, no, they quoted 4 other companies that have done it or plan to do it, so this is just the start.

When you listen to this you really get an idea of what we are up against

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09z06z7