Electric company refusing to replace broken electric meter.

unforeseen

They will be used to transmit Covid since the 5G rollout isn't going as quickly as they were hoping for and the public have cottoned on to it. 

matelodave

I bet a fair proportion of the meter naysayers are more than happy to wander around with a mobile phone in their pocket, gently sterilising their gentials or holding them up to their ears frying what little brains they've got left, Not forgetting the wifi router, laptop or tablet.

Not recognising that they are voluntarily being tracked 24/7 by carrying the phone everywhere they go (even to the loo)  and probably having more intimate and personal data collected about them everytime they use it than just when they've put the kettle on.
Their telly is probably logging and sending back info all the data on what they watch and when (think SKY, Netflix, etrc). Every time they use a payment card for a purchase all the data is logged but they don't have the same paranoia about those intrusions into privacy as they seem to have with a smart meter.

Nutters in my opinion

Retired_at_55

I hope it is O.K. and appropriate, to post this here but, if not, I apologize.  I  am supplied by Octopus for both gas and electricity and I have always enjoyed good service  and 'fair' tariffs from them.  There is no pressure to have smart meters installed, although the option to have them installed is available from Octopus.   I prefer to keep my 'standard' gas and electricity  meters for as long as possible although, if smart meters become essential, I'll accept them.

My main reason for not wanting any smart meter at this time is largely because of the experience of a neighbour - not supplied by Octopus.  With no warning his gas supply was cut off - it just stopped working.  After a struggle he learned that there was a problem with his smart gas meter - the battery had failed ? although not 'old' it had become faulty.  His family had to suffer the inconvenience of no central heating or hot water until the problem was identified and remedied.  (I know there can sometimes be power cuts at no notice - but they are not battery related.)  I would be able to boil water on my gas cooker if no electricity temporarily during a power cut.

As a result I have decided not to ask for gas or electricity smart meters until they become essential then I would have both gas and electric smart meters installed.  I feel as if I have control by reading both my gas (M3) and my electricity standard meters and submitting readings to Octopus regularly every month.  I'd prefer not to rely on a battery which can, even if rarely, from my neighbour's first hand experience, fail with no advance warning?  I am not opposed to smart meters but think my present 'standard' system is more reliable and better for me.  Smart meter technology is likely to improve in time but, I think, still has some way to go.  If, in time, by not having smart meters, the cost of my gas and electricity was going to increase significantly by I would reconsider.   Does my decision make sense?
Thank you.
Retired_at_55 

victor2

If you're that concerned, put a faraday cage round your smart meter. You can buy them on a "well known auction site".

Make sure it's fairly easy to remove, as you'll probably need to do so to read the meter yourself to give manual readings.

If ever the power companies want to reduce loads, they'll just cut the power to certain areas as it suits them, smart meters or not.

victor2

Retired_at_55 said:

....
As a result I have decided not to ask for gas or electricity smart meters until they become essential then I would have both gas and electric smart meters installed.  I feel as if I have control by reading both my gas (M3) and my electricity standard meters and submitting readings to Octopus regularly every month.  I'd prefer not to rely on a battery which can, even if rarely, from my neighbour's first hand experience, fail with no advance warning?  I am not opposed to smart meters but think my present 'standard' system is more reliable and better for me.  Smart meter technology is likely to improve in time but, I think, still has some way to go.  If, in time, by not having smart meters, the cost of my gas and electricity was going to increase significantly by I would reconsider.   Does my decision make sense?
Thank you.
Retired_at_55 

Most sensible reason I've heard in a long time!

Must admit I'm hoping my now dumb SMETS1 gas meter is replaced before its battery fails.

brewerdave

Retired_at_55 said:

My main reason for not wanting any smart meter at this time is largely because of the experience of a neighbour - not supplied by Octopus.  With no warning his gas supply was cut off - it just stopped working.  After a struggle he learned that there was a problem with his smart gas meter - the battery had failed ? although not 'old' it had become faulty.  His family had to suffer the inconvenience of no central heating or hot water until the problem was identified and remedied.  (I know there can sometimes be power cuts at no notice - but they are not battery related.)  I would be able to boil water on my gas cooker if no electricity temporarily during a power cut.

Eminently sensible decision in my opinion. Not the first time that the difficulty in getting a gas meter battery replaced has been brought up on this forums. Even prior to covid ,utility cos. didn't want the expense of sending a fitter out just to replace a battery. Apparently meter readers were suppllied with spare batteries to fit in the past - but they are an (almost) extinct species !!
Also reports of Utility Cos. replacing the whole meter rather than replacing the battery, possibly to justify the cost of the engineer visit !!!!
I'm in a similar position to you, I'm not a member of the tin hat brigade but don't want smarts until virtually all the problems are ironed out. Happy to carry on reading my well positioned standard meters until then (or the cost penalty of not having a smart meter becomes too great to ignore) ..

Gerry1

niktheguru said:

I seriously don't get these conspiracy theories regarding smart meters.

They're not conspiracy theories, everything is in the public domain if only you care to have a look.  If it was only about taking basic remote electricity meter readings this could be achieved with most existing meters simply by bolting a simple device on to the optical port.  That would be far cheaper, so what is the rationale for spending far, far more on smart meters?  The £13 billion rollout can only be explained by the Demand Side Response facilities, which is Plain English means you'll be made to shift your peak usage to times that suit a wonky network, enforced by ToU tariffs for all, Load Limiting and Load Shedding. 

niktheguru said:

I understand the specifications and the possibility of load limiting and shedding but in the 10 or so years of smart meters has there been any evidence of this in practice in the UK?

Well, of course not !  You have to keep your powder dry otherwise the punters won't bite.  Mixed metaphors but you get the point.

The old power stations haven't yet been taken out of service, but when they're gone and most people have smart meters then that's when DSR will kick in and the lights will go out if you don't comply.

niktheguru said:

Saying that for those that are still adamant they don't want one then they should just be charged £100 for the change to a standard meter if they are insistent they don't want a smart. Then it would allow everyone to get what they want.

Why??  It's not a change from a smart meter, everyone already has a standard meter.

Successive Secretaries of State misled MPs and the general public with repeated promises that smart meters would be voluntary, i.e. everyone would get what they want.

That promise turned out to be utterly worthless because it's been watered down ever since, firstly by restricting competitive tariffs to smart meters and now by making them compulsory when existing meters become life expired.  The whole smart meter project has been less than honest, from the promised savings that it's admitted will never materialise through to the voluntary compulsory nature of the take-up with the OP now being threatened with potentially huge estimated bills that they can't challenge.

[Deleted User]

Retired_at_55 said:

Does my decision make sense?

Retired_at_55 

Not a lot. I have had SMETS2 meters now for nearly 2 years. I am with Octopus Energy and their smart meter team is first class. Yes, there are some ongoing issues but less now than there were 2 years ago. I get detailed 31 day consumption statements. I am also able to achieve an electricity unit price of less than 8p/kWh by sensible demand shifting. I am not an eco warrior just an OAP who tries to embrace technology - ‘warts n all’.

Gerry1

Dolor said:

I am not an eco warrior just an OAP

'Senior', please ! !

niktheguru

Thanks gerry1, I'm fully aware of the specifications of the smart meters. You may well be right and the apocalypse may come in the future when demand side response facilties are enforced. I just don't think it will be the end of the world if the changes are made. Just my opinion, and I appreciate your opinion too.
The current way utilities are billed are just inefficient. For those of us that are up to date and compliant its absolutely fine, but there is a huge  percentage of the population on estimated bills and with massive credits and debits, which smart metering solves.

I completely agree with you that the rollout has been farcical and the amount t spent has been absolutely ridiculous and us as the consumers will have to foot the bill in the long run. If we could do it all again  it would be done massively differently, but we are where we are.

I completely agree that people with working standard meters that work well, who are supplying regular readings shouldn't necessarily be forced to change meters until they are end of life. What I disagree with is with end of life meters not being changed to smart meters. If smart meters are the standard we are moving towards why delay it. Its a bit like people with sky refusing to move to sky q even tho it is now a legacy discontinued product. Things move on. They're not even charging you "directly" for the replacement.

When I meant "charge" people if they want a replacement standard meter I meant for people who have broken or end of life meters. If the government have set targets for smart meter installation, what incentive is there for providers to install a standard.