SSE refusing to repair Pay as you Go meter

DesDixon

Hello,


I am renting my flat which has a Pay As You Go Meter. The meter is faulty (it works but there is nothing on the display. The tenant is due to move out soon and ideally has to sort it before they leave.



I enquired with the tenant and they say they have organised a smart meter replacement as SSE refused to repair the existing meter.


Is this correct? I do not really want a smart meter.


Des

[Deleted User]

Yes.They don`t usually "repair " prepay meters probably because they don t know how to.
A knackered key prepay meter is usually replaced by a new one. If its because the occupier has fiddled/damaged it, they charge for a new one ,over £200
In my experience as a meter reader when a electric prepay has gone blank screen its either had a pulse surge or the last occupant has tampered with it to obtain free electric..
Can you still get power ? You say it works , so that means at the moment you are not paying for your usage. Maybe they will disable the comms so effectively the new smart meter operates as a dumb meter.Smart prepays are much easier to top up by the way and are preferred to the last centuries technology

Eye_Wash

DesDixon wrote: »

Hello,


I am renting my flat which has a Pay As You Go Meter. The meter is faulty (it works but there is nothing on the display. The tenant is due to move out soon and ideally has to sort it before they leave.



I enquired with the tenant and they say they have organised a smart meter replacement as SSE refused to repair the existing meter.


Is this correct? I do not really want a smart meter.


Des

Hello, and welcome to MSE.

I'm not sure how you can expect anyone here to know what your tenant has arranged with their supplier. :huh:

However, it is correct that suppliers tend not to repair faulty meters, just replace them.

I suggest you talk to your tenant about what they have arranged and discuss your concerns in that regard with them.

DesDixon

The electric meter is outside the flat so not even an opportunity to tamper with it.


The tenant says she rang to ask them to sort it out and they said we only replace it with a smart meter. My question is, is this legal? Can I refuse a smart meter replacement and request a 'regular' pay as you go meter replacement?

AndyCF

Voltage spike can do this (there's a similar thread not that old with the same thing) not always a case of 'someone doing something they should not' , the power usually does stay on when it fails like this though.

Only problem is the supplier may estimate what is due, so I've never understood why they would not want to replace it really, to ensure they get their monies due.

AndyCF

DesDixon wrote: »

The tenant says she rang to ask them to sort it out and they said we only replace it with a smart meter. My question is, is this legal? Can I refuse a smart meter replacement and request a 'regular' pay as you go meter replacement?

Difficult as they could only in theory supply a Smart type unless you complain loudly enough. Although it could be set to be a dumb smart (no coms hub) but that partly defeats it if its pre-pay as it then limits the payment methods (as there's no key/token)

I'd explain to them directly its prepay and you -insist- on it being a legacy token type meter. They are still as far as I'm aware being manufactured, just not sold here as such.

Getting rid of a Smart (either with or without active coms) for a legacy token meter is -just- possible but the steps needed for this are quite an undertaking sometimes and its not free to do it this way either.

Best to not have the Smart if you can avoid it, switch suppliers if needed.

[Deleted User]

You cannot be 100% sure of the truth of what the tenant is saying. I wish I had £10 for every story of why a meter was nt operating. Most of the ones with tampered meters came out with some excuse which was nt true. A blank screen meter which was damaged by a surge can operate but not requiring topping it up so many people on low incomes are not that keen to speak to the supplier. New occupiers move into places with tampered meters quite often.
I once found two neighbours with damaged electric prepays from a local surge and they both made no effort to contact the supplier for a long time until I got in and saw for myself. Just because a meter is out of the property its still able to be tampered.
In this case I would expect the meter to be a power surge fried meter.What you cannot be sure of is that SSE have really been informed.
It is not strictly legal for you to remain as you are. I would think there are plenty of new electric key meters for sale on in stock now with SSE ( now taken over by Ovo ) There are three manufacturers of the same key meter used by many suppliers, landis Gyr , Itron and Actaris so they are bound to be available

Eye_Wash

DesDixon wrote: »

...
The tenant says she rang to ask them to sort it out and they said we only replace it with a smart meter. My question is, is this legal? Can I refuse a smart meter replacement and request a 'regular' pay as you go meter replacement?

You cannot refuse anything from the supplier, as you are not the current account holder.

However,

Smart meters are NOT mandatory

As I suggested previously, you need to discuss your concerns with your tenant.

[Deleted User]

AndyCF wrote: »

Difficult as they could only in theory supply a Smart type unless you complain loudly enough. Although it could be set to be a dumb smart (no coms hub) but that partly defeats it if its pre-pay as it then limits the payment methods (as there's no key/token)

I'd explain to them directly its prepay and you -insist- on it being a legacy token type meter. They are still as far as I'm aware being manufactured, just not sold here as such.

Getting rid of a Smart (either with or without active coms) for a legacy token meter is -just- possible but the steps needed for this are quite an undertaking sometimes and its not free to do it this way either.

Best to not have the Smart if you can avoid it, switch suppliers if needed.

Not advisable to switch supplier with a faulty meter which is giving unmetered and unpaid for energy. New supplier will not be happy neither
Smart prepays can have credit added manually

AndyCF

Houbara wrote: »

Not advisable to switch supplier with a faulty meter which is giving unmetered and unpaid for energy. New supplier will not be happy neither
Smart prepays can have credit added manually

Its more 'bluff' perhaps.

There's no 'real' reason why the OP could not have a replacement 'token meter' fitted. They are available. What is difficult is getting one after a smart is present, but as I've mentioned in this and other threads, it is possible but its not easy!

misterbarlow

They are just using this as an excuse to get a smart meter on the wall whilst on site.

SSE are currently in panic mode over this years smart figures.
Also SSE smart paygo are still currently fitting smets1 meters, they started rolling out smets2 this month but have major stock issues..

Just tell them to insist they want another key meter.