Smart meters

GRAMDAV

I received a letter from my supplier informing me that my existing meter has reached the end of it`s service life and they will be coming to "upgrade" it to a smart meter soon, is this compulsory or do i have the right to refuse ,as i do not want a smart meter (i have heard of problems if i may wish to switch suppliers in the future) can anyone offer me some advice on this matter ?

[Deleted User]

Hi,

the only problem you might have if you want to switch supplier is that the smart meter might not communicate with the new supplier and will become a dumb meter, which is what you have now.

You will still be able to read the meter and supply regular readings to your supplier, which I hope you do now.

macman

So you are quite happy to continue with a meter that is old, and may be inaccurate or unsafe? Why would that be?

Sterlingtimes

macman said:

So you are quite happy to continue with a meter that is old, and may be inaccurate or unsafe? Why would that be?

... and you place yourself in a difficult position with your insurance company if you resist having a modern compliant meter fitted.

Gerry1

Sterlingtimes said:

macman said:

So you are quite happy to continue with a meter that is old, and may be inaccurate or unsafe? Why would that be?

... and you place yourself in a difficult position with your insurance company if you resist having a modern compliant meter fitted.

A modern compliant meter does not have to be smart.

Carrot007

Gerry1 said:

Sterlingtimes said:

macman said:

So you are quite happy to continue with a meter that is old, and may be inaccurate or unsafe? Why would that be?

... and you place yourself in a difficult position with your insurance company if you resist having a modern compliant meter fitted.

A modern compliant meter does not have to be smart.

Though it will be the same meter either way smart enabled or not.

Sterlingtimes

Gerry1 said:

Sterlingtimes said:

macman said:

So you are quite happy to continue with a meter that is old, and may be inaccurate or unsafe? Why would that be?

... and you place yourself in a difficult position with your insurance company if you resist having a modern compliant meter fitted.

A modern compliant meter does not have to be smart.

I didn't say it did. The end customer could presumably request that the supplier does not collect data. I am not so sure that the energy company would agree to have the radio communication modules removed completely at the end user's request. 

Carrot007

Sterlingtimes said:

Gerry1 said:

Sterlingtimes said:

macman said:

So you are quite happy to continue with a meter that is old, and may be inaccurate or unsafe? Why would that be?

... and you place yourself in a difficult position with your insurance company if you resist having a modern compliant meter fitted.

A modern compliant meter does not have to be smart.

I didn't say it did. The end customer could presumably request that the supplier does not collect data. I am not so sure that the energy company would agree to have the radio communication modules removed completely at the end user's request. 

Depends on the company. Some meters have it inbuilt so would just have it disabled and no sim. Should it be a seperate unit they would probably not fit it.

Ectophile

Sterlingtimes said:

macman said:

So you are quite happy to continue with a meter that is old, and may be inaccurate or unsafe? Why would that be?

... and you place yourself in a difficult position with your insurance company if you resist having a modern compliant meter fitted.

Where does this idea come from that anything you do, or don't do, in your home instantly invalidates your insurance?

It keeps coming up on this forum, and never makes any sense.

Carrot007

Ectophile said:

Sterlingtimes said:

macman said:

So you are quite happy to continue with a meter that is old, and may be inaccurate or unsafe? Why would that be?

... and you place yourself in a difficult position with your insurance company if you resist having a modern compliant meter fitted.

Where does this idea come from that anything you do, or don't do, in your home instantly invalidates your insurance?

It keeps coming up on this forum, and never makes any sense.

If your house burnt down becuase you refused to change the old meter and the company found out they may not want to pay. Seems reasonable. But never gonna happen. The out of certification is for accuracy not safety (which the physical read requirement is for (even for smart meters)). The supplier would get a warrant to change the out of date meter eventually and charge you for it, well unless you stick to the small companies and change a lot.

Gerry1

Carrot007 said:

Ectophile said:

Sterlingtimes said:

macman said:

So you are quite happy to continue with a meter that is old, and may be inaccurate or unsafe? Why would that be?

... and you place yourself in a difficult position with your insurance company if you resist having a modern compliant meter fitted.

Where does this idea come from that anything you do, or don't do, in your home instantly invalidates your insurance?

It keeps coming up on this forum, and never makes any sense.

If your house burnt down because you refused to change the old meter and the company found out they may not want to pay. Seems reasonable. But never gonna happen. The out of certification is for accuracy not safety (which the physical read requirement is for (even for smart meters)).

It's more likely that your house will burn down if you have a smart meter !  Fires caused Saskatchewan to replace 105,000 smart meters, and forced the resignation of SaskPower's CEO.

70,000 smart meters also had to be replaced in Oregon apparently because of the kill switch overheating, and 100,000 were replaced in Philadelphia.

Closer to home, there have been similar disastrous fires in North London and Wales.

But when did an anaogue meter ever catch fire because of its spinning disk getting red hot?