Bully tactics Smart Meter

How_am_I_fixed?

Hi,


I am have my dual energy supplied by NPower...as I am retired I have plenty of time on my hands to send in monthly readings and as such do not have estimated bills.


Today I wanted to remind myself when my tariff plan expires....not until next July, I thought I'd have a look at the few plans they have at the moment.


I see that you now cannot have a less expensive tariff unless to agree to having a Smart meter installed....if you don't want one you can only go on to the standard rate.


I thought it is a voluntary thing to have one of these meters fitted?
Surely being excluded from all tariffs except the standard one is nothing but bullying.
I see too that NPower are not the only ones to have taken this stance.


The reason I'm not keen on these meters is hearing the problems people are having with them...not being that smart. My neighbours have had one for around 18 months (with BG) and meter reading have never matched the email bill reading, their D/D changes every couple of months and they are really getting stressed that after this length of time things are still not right and BG seem to not really be doing anything about it.


Neighbours further along have a three month old SMETS2 meter and their first bill has increased and again the reading on the email is way out from what's on the meter.


The only thing they have been told is that they (BG) are aware that this area is prone to signal drop out....that is true as mobile phones don't work around here unless you walk down the road.


My neighbours used to send a monthly reading like I do at the moment they and never had an issue.
I really don't want to volunteer myself for stress when the new meter will not improve anything for me.


As for showing me how much I am spending I cant cut my use any less.
So it looks like standard rate for me or loads of anxiety/stress.


Still doesn't seem to fit in with it's up to you if you want one though.

UnclaimedEnergy

What's wrong with switching suppliers?

Beis have set companies targets to get smart meters rolled out and therefore companies are offering incentives and their cheapest tariffs to customers to try and get them to agree to a smart meter install.

If you read the small print it's likely you can cancel a smart meter install after you sign up to the tariff though.

Gerry1

Ditch and switch !

npower aren't cheap so it's probably worth paying the exit fee as there's a fair length of time left to go.

Avro and Yorkshire Energy are worth investigating because they don't browbeat you to have smart meters.

nPower

How_am_I_fixed? wrote: »

Hi,


I am have my dual energy supplied by NPower...as I am retired I have plenty of time on my hands to send in monthly readings and as such do not have estimated bills.


Today I wanted to remind myself when my tariff plan expires....not until next July, I thought I'd have a look at the few plans they have at the moment.


I see that you now cannot have a less expensive tariff unless to agree to having a Smart meter installed....if you don't want one you can only go on to the standard rate.


I thought it is a voluntary thing to have one of these meters fitted?
Surely being excluded from all tariffs except the standard one is nothing but bullying.
I see too that NPower are not the only ones to have taken this stance.


The reason I'm not keen on these meters is hearing the problems people are having with them...not being that smart. My neighbours have had one for around 18 months (with BG) and meter reading have never matched the email bill reading, their D/D changes every couple of months and they are really getting stressed that after this length of time things are still not right and BG seem to not really be doing anything about it.


Neighbours further along have a three month old SMETS2 meter and their first bill has increased and again the reading on the email is way out from what's on the meter.


The only thing they have been told is that they (BG) are aware that this area is prone to signal drop out....that is true as mobile phones don't work around here unless you walk down the road.


My neighbours used to send a monthly reading like I do at the moment they and never had an issue.
I really don't want to volunteer myself for stress when the new meter will not improve anything for me.


As for showing me how much I am spending I cant cut my use any less.
So it looks like standard rate for me or loads of anxiety/stress.


Still doesn't seem to fit in with it's up to you if you want one though.

Hi there

Thanks for your post.

I appreciate your concerns around signal in your area - if it's not strong enough then it may drop off and we won't receive the readings. We are working on an update to help improve this but if you do have any concerns then you can have a smart meter fitted (which is just a normal meter with an add on which sends the readings through to the display and to us) and you're free to choose how often we retrieve the readings (half hourly, daily, monthly or off) so you deactivate it or make it "go dumb" at any time and it'll work just like a normal credit meter (and similarly can turn it back on again at any time if the signal/tech improves). This way, you can choose the best tariff for you, have the smart meter but choose whether or not to use it. You can still send us meter readings if/when you choose.

If you have any further questions, please feel free to get in touch.

Regards

Jess

Gerry1

nPower wrote: »

you can have a smart meter fitted (which is just a normal meter with an add on which sends the readings through to the display and to us)

Not quite. A normal meter can't disconnect the supply remotely, nor can it limit the load remotely.

nPower wrote: »

you're free to choose how often we retrieve the readings (half hourly, daily, monthly or off) so you deactivate it or make it "go dumb" at any time and it'll work just like a normal credit meter (and similarly can turn it back on again at any time if the signal/tech improves). This way, you can choose the best tariff for you, have the smart meter but choose whether or not to use it.

Are you really saying that the customer can switch the smart meter's communications facility off and on whenever they like?? :huh:

Ectophile

A smart meter can't limit the load remotely, either. There is a lot of talk of meters that can ask your fridge to turn off for an hour or so if there's too much demand. But the current meters have no way to do that. But there is a remote-controlled switch in every SMETS meter - it's in the specification. It's there so they don't have to break your door down and remove the supply fuse, if you don't pay the bills.


There's no way the customer can make a smart meter go dumb. It is possible for the supplier to do that. Whether or not you could persuade them to do that after the meter has been installed is down to them and their policies.

Jakubk

You are spot on, I asked on here the other day for a comparison website that allows you to request tariffs that do not try to blackmail you into having a dumb meter.

Changing supplier will not help much, but as nPower have one of the worst reputations for customer service it could be worth a change.

I found using uswitch and selecting the option to include suppliers where you can't switch, I am not recommending the suggestions that come up as suppliers, merely as an idea of figuring out the best rates.

I have a relative in London in a first floor flat conversion, it is with British Gas, the gas meter on the ground floor does not talk to the dumb meter which is on the first floor.

You have only to look on you tube to find countless videos about issues with dumb meters, quite a few in Canada and a big scandal there. Also been issues with them featured on BBC Consumer show on radio, one where after trying two dumb meters they were forced to go back to a normal meter. Of course in the process they screwed up the readings and tried to charge them £120 more for energy because they did not count the credit they already had.

No doubt you will get a band of sycophants on here soon saying you should have a dumb meter, that there is no problem with them blah blah blah, but stick to your guns.

Gerry1

Ectophile wrote: »

A smart meter can't limit the load remotely, either..

Oh yes it can ! Take and look at Section 4.7 of this User Manual and you'll see how just how wrong you are. Hardly surprising, because they've kept very quiet about it. I wonder why?

Ectophile wrote: »

But there is a remote-controlled switch in every SMETS meter - it's in the specification. It's there so they don't have to break your door down and remove the supply fuse, if you don't pay the bills.

That's a half truth, as the Load Limiting is enforced by the remote disconnection switch. "The load limit value for the customer is set at 5kW. When the customer exceeds the threshold value in the first instance power supply is cut. Customer reduces load and power can be reconnected. When the customer exceeds the value in the second instance, the customer again has to reduce household load to reconnect power."

Bigphil1474

IMO, get a smart meter. They aren't really for the customer's benefit anyway, they are about the energy network and the future of the supply system. Data is good. Don't worry about it.