'Misleading' smart meter ad banned - MSE News

EachPenny

Houbara wrote: »

Most of the smart meters I see exchanged, especially for the UKs main supplier BG, are when old Imperial meters and analogue meters have reached end of life. The smart gas meters don t cost much more than a dumb metric gas meter.So no real extra costs are levied when they are exchanged like this.Meter fitters would have had to be engaged in this activity anyway. All this nonsense about the roll out costs are highly inflated because they do not take natural wastage of old meters into account.

That would be true if smart meters were installed as natural replacements for life-expired meters, but we all know that isn't the case.

Hence the reason why consumers are being misled* by adverts encouraging them to get 'smart' meters fitted regardless of how old their existing meters are. People being 'encouraged' to apply for 'smart' meters aren't being told they are only available as replacements for 'older' meters.

The waste of money and energy involved in replacing/dumping perfectly servicible metering equipment is one of the many valid reasons why some people (like me) oppose the 'smart' meter programme in the form it has been delievered in.

(*To save the argument, the fact people have been 'misled' is proven by the ASA judgement)

[Deleted User]

.The silly article repeated by MSE was also misleading in saying that current smart meters will not work after switching and will remain dumb. MSE are guilty of misleading info.
.Not true. Majority of SMETS1 meters being installed now will work after a switch of supplier once the DCC gets underway in a few weeks time.
SMETS1 meters will be fine anyway. SMETS2 is just health n safety useless upgrades concerned with anti hacking and security..when no one will be engaging in hacking. They have nt been hacked anywhere in the world up to now and are never likely to be , because there is no money it for them.. Unlike my PC or phone with my banking and online purchasing.
.All a hacker will ever find out, if one wants to waste his time, is what my meter is recording..useless info.

miller

Houbara wrote: »

.All a hacker will ever find out, if one wants to waste his time, is what my meter is recording..useless info.

...so, like, when people are out for example

[Deleted User]

miller wrote: »

...so, like, when people are out for example

How does that work. ? In summer my gas is off and I m using next to no electric bar from a 70 watt tv.
My local villains try the tried and tested method and will .knock on your door to see , "if they have seen a lost dog " or "do they need any gardening services " or any other made up excuse to knock to establish an empty property. Not a viable hacking reason.

EachPenny

Houbara wrote: »

SMETS1 meters will be fine anyway. SMETS2 is just health n safety useless upgrades concerned with anti hacking and security..when no one will be engaging in hacking. They have nt been hacked anywhere in the world up to now and are never likely to be , because there is no money it for them.. Unlike my PC or phone with my banking and online purchasing.
.All a hacker will ever find out, if one wants to waste his time, is what my meter is recording..useless info.

Do you have a reliable source for that? I.e. that nobody has yet hacked a 'smart' meter? (bearing in mind the people doing the hacking might not be shouting about it (yet), and those responsible for manufacturing, specifying, and installing 'smart' meters will almost certainly try to avoid letting anyone else know they have been hacked.

Houbara wrote: »

How does that work. ? In summer my gas is off and I m using next to no electric bar from a 70 watt tv.
My local villains try the tried and tested method and will .knock on your door to see , "if they have seen a lost dog " or "do they need any gardening services " or any other made up excuse to knock to establish an empty property. Not a viable hacking reason.

How about remotely disconnecting your gas/electricity supply?

Especially if that involves disconnecting large numbers of electricity supplies at the same time, and just for fun, seeing what happens when all of them are suddenly reconnected at the same time?

TPTB decided there was a real risk of hacking with real consequences. As has been documented on this forum on more than one occasion.

[Deleted User]

Suppliers are not allowed to remotely disconnect..at the moment in the UK and I can t imagine why some prat would want to waste his/her time doing that either..Any gain to anyone to cut off supply ?. i ve seen a couple over the years where a neighbour at war had pulled the control valve in an outside gas meter. Personally if a hacker shuts my electric off I ll be out like a shot to bypass the meter and take it out of the game.
Hackers are shouting about devices to hack smart meters ! I ve seen one today. for sale A convincing looking box with a screen and a wire with a plug at the other end, only £25 quid .! but don`t expect your money back when you find out its yet another fraud from the WWW of lies.
I must admit that I only researched hacking of smart meters thoroughly a few years ago and no genuine examples were found except an internal fraud by energy company employees in Puerto Rico I think it was.
Other than that its just case of the usual fairy tales from Stopsmarters.uk where no one would ever believe a word which comes out of that outlet.

PennineAcute

Would love to be able to hack my meters.

Then my spreadsheet would be fully automated.

bonus2010

Could it be energy suppliers are having to resort to making misleading claims about smart meters being able to save energy because they’re under so much pressure to meet targets to fit smart meters? Perhaps the best way would be for the government to make the fitting of smart meters compulsory.

EachPenny

bonus2010 wrote: »

Could it be energy suppliers are having to resort to making misleading claims about smart meters being able to save energy because they’re under so much pressure to meet targets to fit smart meters? Perhaps the best way would be for the government to make the fitting of smart meters compulsory.

Or simply scrap the targets for companies to waste bill payer's money by installing the things for no discernible benefit. (other than to the manufacturers and installers of such devices)

bonus2010

EachPenny wrote: »

Or simply scrap the targets for companies to waste bill payer's money by installing the things for no discernible benefit. (other than to the manufacturers and installers of such devices)

I couldn't agree that there isn't a benefit to having smart meters fitted.

(1) Ignoring the smart meter compatibility problems just now, when they are all working as they should, all energy suppliers will obtain accurate meter readings.
(2) Enabling more accurate readings will ensure all customer's bills are more accurate.
(3) Customers will not need to be bothered by meter readers needing access to meters in their home (unless its a battery change for a gas meter)

These are just a few benefts of the top of my head but I'm sure there's more.