EON - Smart Meters and switching suppliers

arlowood

Just used Uswitch a few days ago to initiate a switch away from EON as they could not offer me a decent tariff when my existing one comes to an end in October.

Received an email saying "Sorry you're leaving us" and asking to check their tariff offers to see whether they can persuade me to stay.

Next day I received another email stating "We need to change your meters" and inviting me to call to arrange an appointment for them to come and install smart meters. This is to meet government targets for smart meter adoption by 2020 apparently.

As far as I can establish, I am under no obligation to accept a smart meter if I don't want one but the chance to opt out is tagged on almost as an afterthought to their email where I have to call and tell them if I don't want a meter at this stage.

Can anyone confirm that I am correct - ie I don't have to have them install smart meters if I don't want them. My main concern is that I am still reading reports that they can be unreliable, may cause issues with my WiFi and most importantly they can make switching suppliers problematic as they are not yet fully cross compatible with all the technology used by different energy providers.

As I'm in the middle of a switch I certainly don't want EON messing with my meters at the moment. My cynical head is wondering if it might be a ploy to stymie my switching attempt based on the smart meter offer coming so soon after I opted to switch away.

Sorry this was originally posted in the sub-forum on LPG etc

spot1034

The letter was probably generated before they knew you were switching away from them.

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena

Good morning arlowood,

Sorry to see you've decided to leave, but fully understand you have to get the best price.

You're spot on, you don't have to have the smart meters if you don't want them.

The emails offering smart meters just come out automatically, so that's why you got one.

As, your leaving, you won't need to let us know that you wouldn't like a smart meter at this stage, the emails and correspondence will stop when the account is closed.

Thank you

Helena

Raxiel

It's likely just a coincidence. If you don't call them to arrange a swap nothing will happen, you'll have left before any follow up occurs.


I've not heard of smart meters causing any problems with wi-fi or being less reliable than non-smart digital meters. Not to say there are no issues, but they're certainly not widespread.


With regard the cross compatibility, its a non-issue, they just go dumb when you switch, making them no worse than the meters they have now. That said, the particular smart meters E.ON fit (Secure Liberty) are unnecessarily fiddly to read manually, which is a good reason to reject them if you're switching away (I speak from personal experience).


In the same way commercial fusion power is always 20 years away, making smart meters cross compatible is always coming by the end of next year.


If E.ON just offered the swap for their Smart targets it can be ignored. If your existing meters are reaching the end of their certification period they'll have to be swapped (nothing to do with the smart meter rollout), and your new supplier should contact you about that after the switch.