Electric meter faulty - energy supplier wants to fit smart meters

Mrs_Arcanum

Bizarrely even smart meters are still not transferrable (at least not PAYG).
This needs sorting.

[Deleted User]

Mrs_Arcanum said:

Bizarrely even smart meters are still not transferrable (at least not PAYG).
This needs sorting.

It depends on the type of meter and a supplier’s ability to accept smart meter data into its billing systems. Not all SMETS1 meters have been enrolled and adopted by the DCC: this process is ongoing. SMETS2 meters and adopted meters are no longer supplier dependent; however, they have built into them GCHQ level layered security. To access SMETS2 data a supplier has to develop or get access to sophisticated/expensive software known as an Adaptor. This Adaptor allows the supplier to accept readings; receive and send messages from and to the meters etc. They then have to adapt their own billing systems to accept smart meter data. As some small suppliers are nothing more than a man and a dog in a basement flat, then I would imagine that smart meter management poses both a cost and a challenge.  SMETS1 meters pose less of a technical challenge/ risk which is why one well known PAYG supplier is fighting back over Ofgem’s direction that it has to fit SMETS2 meters. There may also be a commercial reason for the SMETS1 meter preference.

vacheron

I've just had an e-mail from Scottish Power (my new provider) telling me that they need to come and upgrade me to the latest smartmeter.

If I just agreed blindly to this, this would be the FOURTH time I have had new meters fitted in the last 7 years (the last time the installer turned up in a facemask which gives you an idea how recently that was! 

Ridiculous!

[Deleted User]

vacheron said:

I've just had an e-mail from Scottish Power (my new provider) telling me that they need to come and upgrade me to the latest smartmeter.

If I just agreed blindly to this, this would be the FOURTH time I have had new meters fitted in the last 7 years (the last time the installer turned up in a facemask which gives you an idea how recently that was! 

Ridiculous!

If your supplier has informed you that your meter is deemed end-of-life then the Government has said that suppliers now have the right to fit a smart meter. The Government’s position on this quietly changed in Jun 20.

Gerry1

Dolor said:

vacheron said:

I've just had an e-mail from Scottish Power (my new provider) telling me that they need to come and upgrade me to the latest smartmeter.
If I just agreed blindly to this, this would be the FOURTH time I have had new meters fitted in the last 7 years (the last time the installer turned up in a facemask which gives you an idea how recently that was!
Ridiculous!

If your supplier has informed you that your meter is deemed end-of-life then the Government has said that suppliers now have the right to fit a smart meter. The Government’s position on this quietly changed in Jun 20.

https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2019-03-05/228547 You can always trust a politician... NOT.

In fact, Ofgem's advice still says 'Consumers can choose not to accept an offer to have smart meters installed', and that 'if your existing meter is need of replacement your supplier should replace this meter with a smart meter unless there is a good reason not to', so it's at least debatable whether you can be forced to have one against your wishes.

brewerdave

[Deleted User] said:

vacheron said:

I've just had an e-mail from Scottish Power (my new provider) telling me that they need to come and upgrade me to the latest smartmeter.

If I just agreed blindly to this, this would be the FOURTH time I have had new meters fitted in the last 7 years (the last time the installer turned up in a facemask which gives you an idea how recently that was! 

Ridiculous!

If your supplier has informed you that your meter is deemed end-of-life then the Government has said that suppliers now have the right to fit a smart meter. The Government’s position on this quietly changed in Jun 20.

But in this case ,the meter was changed during the pandemic ,so hardly end of life !

vacheron

Dolor said:

vacheron said:

I've just had an e-mail from Scottish Power (my new provider) telling me that they need to come and upgrade me to the latest smartmeter.

If I just agreed blindly to this, this would be the FOURTH time I have had new meters fitted in the last 7 years (the last time the installer turned up in a facemask which gives you an idea how recently that was! 

Ridiculous!

If your supplier has informed you that your meter is deemed end-of-life then the Government has said that suppliers now have the right to fit a smart meter. The Government’s position on this quietly changed in Jun 20.

I am not one of the conspiracy theorists, so I have absolutely no problem with them fitting a smart meter 

It's the fact that it would be my fourth smart meter installation in 7 years (with all the unnecessary e-waste, time and labor this represents) which I find objectionable.

By comparison, the non smart meter which was here when we first moved in in 2010 was the original installed when the house was built in 1989! 

Telegraph_Sam

Taking a synthesis of all that I have read for and against smart meters I would still opt for keeping my non-smart one. The extra work in taking and submitting readings manually really does not add up to much, and doing this gives me greater ongoing insight into the state of my account. Apart from the hassle with smarties when changing suppliers and / or moving house.

vacheron

Telegraph_Sam said:

Taking a synthesis of all that I have read for and against smart meters I would still opt for keeping my non-smart one. The extra work in taking and submitting readings manually really does not add up to much, and doing this gives me greater ongoing insight into the state of my account. Apart from the hassle with smarties when changing suppliers and / or moving house.

There isn't any real "hassle" to smartmeters, when changing suppliers, at worst they work the same as a normal meter.

The problem I have is that for the majority of the time I have owned them I have had to take readings manually anyway for loads of different reasons (in chronological order since 2013) and these are exacerbated if you switch suppliers regularly as I do:  

• Supplier 1 Installed SMETS1 meters which worked fine (meters 1). 
• Supplier 2 this cheapest market tariff was not a smart meter tariff, so readings were done manually
• Supplier 3 could not read supplier 1's meter so fitted their own SMETS2 meters (meters 2) 6 months after switching to them.
• Supplier 4 was also not a smart meter supplier at first, but then was later able to support them, but for some reason needed to replace the Supplier 3 SMETS 2 meter with their own (meters 3). This was the one done just last year during COVID, however even after fitting their own meters almost a year ago, they still asked for manual readings right up until I switched away from them!
• Supplier 5 IS a smart meter company however they have never taken the readings remotely and keep asking me to do it manually. This is the supplier who is now telling me that they need to fit new smart meters (meters 4)!

So I can safely say in the last 7-8 years of owning 3 different sets of meters so far, I have been taking manual readings for at least 6 of these years!

Bravo energy companies and government policy! 

Gerry1

vacheron said:

Telegraph_Sam said:

Taking a synthesis of all that I have read for and against smart meters I would still opt for keeping my non-smart one. The extra work in taking and submitting readings manually really does not add up to much, and doing this gives me greater ongoing insight into the state of my account. Apart from the hassle with smarties when changing suppliers and / or moving house.

There isn't any real "hassle" to smartmeters, when changing suppliers, at worst they work the same as a normal meter.

Nope.

A normal meter can't apply a massive Time of Use surcharge from 4pm - 7pm, nor limit your load to just a few kWh, nor cut you off remotely if you don't comply.