Smart meters

Loraine267

I have an elderly mother who needs to switch energy supplier but I’m finding it very difficult to find suppliers that are willing to supply her without insisting on installing a smart meter. She has heard more negative feedback about smart meters than good and is adamant she doesn’t want one. She lives on the borders of Norfolk and Suffolk so not as much choice as Londoners. Does anyone know if there’s an easy way of finding out which suppliers are willing to supply without meters please?

worried_jim

I switch every year and have never encountered this.

Would never have a smart meter fitted.

sevenhills

Loraine267 wrote: »

I have an elderly mother who needs to switch energy supplier but I’m finding it very difficult to find suppliers that are willing to supply her without insisting on installing a smart meter. She has heard more negative feedback about smart meters than good and is adamant she doesn’t want one. She lives on the borders of Norfolk and Suffolk so not as much choice as Londoners. Does anyone know if there’s an easy way of finding out which suppliers are willing to supply without meters please?

I have had smart meters fitted, you can still read the meter in the same way by looking at the dials, not a problem. Just let your mother pay more if she does not want a smart meter.

Robin9

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She has the same choice of suppliers - about 70 - as the rest of us. Depending on which tariff she is on.

A Smart meter is a meter - it records consumption and sends it back to the supplier - simple. Yes the replacement programme is a farce but its no reason not to take advantage of good tariffs.

dunstonh

She lives on the borders of Norfolk and Suffolk so not as much choice as Londoners

As do I and the choice is similar to Londoners.

Our meter was faulty (E7 hours out of sync) and the guy that came to the house to replace the meter put a normal meter back in again and said that a smart meter wouldnt work in our area as there is no signal. He said that was the case in most of the rural properties.

Anyone that drives in Norfolk and North Suffolk will know that getting a signal south of Norwich and north of Ipswich, bar the towns and larger villages is very hit and miss. Mostly miss.

reeac

dunstonh wrote: »

As do I and the choice is similar to Londoners.

Our meter was faulty (E7 hours out of sync) and the guy that came to the house to replace the meter put a normal meter back in again and said that a smart meter wouldnt work in our area as there is no signal. He said that was the case in most of the rural properties.

Anyone that drives in Norfolk and North Suffolk will know that getting a signal south of Norwich and north of Ipswich, bar the towns and larger villages is very hit and miss. Mostly miss.

Very true. Some years ago I agreed to have a SM fitted as I had no Big Brother fears about people knowing our useage pattern. I didn't realise then that they used the mobile phone network ....I probably assumed that the data were fed back via the National Grid. Anyway the man installed it and then discovered that it didn't work so I give approx. quarterly readings to our supplier. (frankly I'd rather give annual readings and settle up one way or the other then but of course everything is based on regular monthly payments now except for Income Tax). All a waste of money then but no doubt the installer got paid.

matelodave

I'd suggest that you go for the best deal, smart meter or not and let the energy compnay worry about whether it works in smart mode or not. If they install it and it doesn't actually act as a smart meter then you've fulfilled your side of the bargain by agreeing to have one.

Dont tell them that you dont have a mobile signal, thats for them to find out.

Actively refusing a smart meter will cost you or your Mum money in the longer term because although they may not be compulsory, the enegery companies will be still be able to make one a condition of getting a better deal.

As Robin says, you need a meter so what differnce does it make whether it smart, dumb, green, yellow or red.

If you Mum is elderly then surely it's got to be to her advantage to have her meter remotely read and to get accurate bills rather than her having to take regular meter readings herself and send them through to her supplier.

brewerdave

matelodave wrote: »

Dont tell them that you dont have a mobile signal, thats for them to find out.

If you Mum is elderly then surely it's got to be to her advantage to have her meter remotely read and to get accurate bills rather than her having to take regular meter readings herself and send them through to her supplier.

Except that most of these smart meters currently being installed ,are not as easy to read (so I'm told) manually.

So if the installer fits without checking whether the mobile signal is adequate (which occurs more frequently than it should) then an elderly person may find it difficult to supply monthly readings.:)

Carrot007

brewerdave wrote: »

Except that most of these smart meters currently being installed ,are not as easy to read (so I'm told) manually.

So if the installer fits without checking whether the mobile signal is adequate (which occurs more frequently than it should) then an elderly person may find it difficult to supply monthly readings.:)

Reading it manually has been for both of my crappy smart meters just a mater of looking at it for the electric or pressing one button to activate the display for gas (which since they are battery powered surely is the same for digital non smart meters too).


Some require multiple presses. Multiple rate meters especially.


Nothing I would consider hard. The handheld unit can also display the reads but often this is far harder as they tend to push the pointless monetary display no one wants.