Should I opt for a dumb smart meter?

[Deleted User]

Phones4Chris said:

Verdigris said:

MWT said:

It was like this in the USA when smart meters first rolled out there, it died down after a year or two.

I imagine it will be the same here until some other technology change attracts peoples attention...

We had this nonsense when mobile phones first became affordable, in the 1990s. Everybody was going to get brain tumours. I've never read of a case of mobile-induced tumours, even unto the 5th generation.

I think that's a little disingenuous of you. It could be that you aren't reading in all the right places, I've no idea myself, but I think I'd rather take the word of an ENT Consultant than that of the occasional reader of medical documents (are they?), since retiring as a meter reader! I'm not trying to be nasty, just pointing out the facts.

Verdigris said:

If people are worried about being fried by EMF they shouldn't have electricity in the house, what with all those wires radiating all the time.

Oh dear, have you not appreciated that mains electricity is a rather low frequency (50Hz) compared to the frequencies used for smart meters, phones and the likes!

Verdigris said:

There is no EMF hazard from smart meters. They communicate in much the same way as mobile phones. You don't put a smart meter to your ears on a regular basis.

Deleted_User said:

.............. No danger of EMF from a smart meter. Its not a microwave.

It doesn't have to be a microwave. ANYTHING that transmits radio waves creates an EMF. Different frequencies can affect different people in different ways, it's not necessarily just (if at all) a cancer risk. My suspicion is that there isn't sufficient research to draw any hard conclusions. I thought a few years ago I saw something about cancer clusters in areas where people were living right under very high voltage power lines.

Whatever your view and opinions on the matter, and you are welcome to have them, the OP has the right to minimise or eliminate any EMF fields that they feel or have been advised may make their condition worse. The OP has said nothing about using mobile phones, so that's an assumption that may have been incorrectly made. It's @littlewren 's choice, they've just asked about making the meter "dumb". Based on other comments here and my earlier comment, to be certain, the comms unit should NOT be fitted.

I said in an earlier post that I wouldn’t speculate. Having asked the question on another forum, a member of a supplier’s smart meter installation team responded by saying that smart meters CANNOT be installed without the comms hub even in dumb mode. The meters have to be commissioned before they will record usage. I can confirm from personal experience that when my GWi G4 failed to install properly there were no meter readings showing on the display. Moreover, if the comms hub wasn’t installed I am told it would leave terminals on top of the electricity meter exposed. 

Phones4Chris

[Deleted User] said:

Phones4Chris said:

Verdigris said:

MWT said:

It was like this in the USA when smart meters first rolled out there, it died down after a year or two.

I imagine it will be the same here until some other technology change attracts peoples attention...

We had this nonsense when mobile phones first became affordable, in the 1990s. Everybody was going to get brain tumours. I've never read of a case of mobile-induced tumours, even unto the 5th generation.

I think that's a little disingenuous of you. It could be that you aren't reading in all the right places, I've no idea myself, but I think I'd rather take the word of an ENT Consultant than that of the occasional reader of medical documents (are they?), since retiring as a meter reader! I'm not trying to be nasty, just pointing out the facts.

Verdigris said:

If people are worried about being fried by EMF they shouldn't have electricity in the house, what with all those wires radiating all the time.

Oh dear, have you not appreciated that mains electricity is a rather low frequency (50Hz) compared to the frequencies used for smart meters, phones and the likes!

Verdigris said:

There is no EMF hazard from smart meters. They communicate in much the same way as mobile phones. You don't put a smart meter to your ears on a regular basis.

Deleted_User said:

.............. No danger of EMF from a smart meter. Its not a microwave.

It doesn't have to be a microwave. ANYTHING that transmits radio waves creates an EMF. Different frequencies can affect different people in different ways, it's not necessarily just (if at all) a cancer risk. My suspicion is that there isn't sufficient research to draw any hard conclusions. I thought a few years ago I saw something about cancer clusters in areas where people were living right under very high voltage power lines.

Whatever your view and opinions on the matter, and you are welcome to have them, the OP has the right to minimise or eliminate any EMF fields that they feel or have been advised may make their condition worse. The OP has said nothing about using mobile phones, so that's an assumption that may have been incorrectly made. It's @littlewren 's choice, they've just asked about making the meter "dumb". Based on other comments here and my earlier comment, to be certain, the comms unit should NOT be fitted.

I said in an earlier post that I wouldn’t speculate. Having asked the question on another forum, a member of a supplier’s smart meter installation team responded by saying that smart meters CANNOT be installed without the comms hub even in dumb mode. The meters have to be commissioned before they will record usage. I can confirm from personal experience that when my GWi G4 failed to install properly there were no meter readings showing on the display. Moreover, if the comms hub wasn’t installed I am told it would leave terminals on top of the electricity meter exposed. 

Well I won't question that, as my remarks were based on what happened several years ago, obviously not the current situation.
@littlewren so there you have it, if you are concerned about detrimental effects, don't have a smart meter fitted.

Phones4Chris

@littlewren I don't know if you'll see this which I've just stumbled across -

45002 said:
Read more at: https://www.smartme.co.uk/customer-rights.html

Now there is an interesting bit in that document -

A Customer's rights:

1. To refuse to have a Smart Meter (in later years this will probably mean you have a SMETS2 Smart Meter without a communications module, which will be the closest thing to a traditional meter).

That seems to support what I said about not having the comms module fitted!