Why am I being harassed to get a smart metre?

Gobsh

Why am I being harassed to get a smart metre? It started with an email from my power company Shell, once a month then it became an email once a week now they started phoning me weekly and I'm refusing to answer, I've got no intentions of having smart metre, I am just wondering why are they literally harassing me. I've had to ban their phone number from my phone

theoretica

Because the power company has targets/incentives/penalties to install them.

And as a point of detail, the meter belongs to the power company, not you - they want to change their property.

MWT

Gobsh said:

Why am I being harassed to get a smart metre?

At least one of the Shell tariffs required customers to accept a smart meter, and was a little cheaper as a consequence, you might want to check and see if that is what you are on... ?

Verdigris

Why wouldn't you want a smart meter? It could give you access to more favourable tariffs, once we are out of the current energy crisis. Before the crisis some suppliers were offering very attractive rates if you adopted a smart meter.

prowla

Why would you want a smart meter?

The hassle of being in for a day so they can come around and do their work isn't worth it.

[Deleted User]

Hi,

during the various lockdowns energy companies fell behind with smart meter installations.

Now that covid restrictions are easing they will be trying to get installations back on target.

MWT

prowla said:

Why would you want a smart meter?

The hassle of being in for a day so they can come around and do their work isn't worth it.

It is the tariffs and information that the smart meter enables you to access which delivers the real benefit.

... and for many, 'being in for a day' has been the new normal for the last year or so anyway  

Personally I'm very pleased with the low electricity costs I've been able to access since having a smart meter installed, I couldn't be happier with that decision.

It is one part of larger changes, but a very important one...

Verdigris

Personal choice, of course, but I put being able to access TOU tariffs, to make optimum use of solar, batteries and electric vehicles, ahead of some minor inconvenience for a day.

[Deleted User]

prowla said:

Why would you want a smart meter?

The hassle of being in for a day so they can come around and do their work isn't worth it.

When a supplier deems your present meters to be end-of-life then it can fit smart meters without your approval. At the moment, the Government seems to be happy that voluntary take up is high enough without the need for a change to the regulations. That said, Ofgem is encouraging suppliers to offer more (cheaper) smart meter only tariffs. 

Shedman

prowla said:

Why would you want a smart meter?

For the £30 credit when they miss the appointment 😅 ...as they seem to do a lot

(or as the guy fitting my gas smart meter this week said "we had one customer very upset when we actually turned up as she already had had 6 £30 missed appointment credits and was hoping for it to carry on so she didn't have to pay for winter gas usage)

jimjames

[Deleted User] said:

prowla said:

Why would you want a smart meter?

The hassle of being in for a day so they can come around and do their work isn't worth it.

When a supplier deems your present meters to be end-of-life then it can fit smart meters without your approval. At the moment, the Government seems to be happy that voluntary take up is high enough without the need for a change to the regulations. That said, Ofgem is encouraging suppliers to offer more (cheaper) smart meter only tariffs. 

I'm waiting for this to be raised by my supplier but they don't seem to be coordinated with the infrastructure. Our meter is at least 40 and probably well over 50 years old so long overdue for replacement if you check the guidelines.