We Need to Change your Meter

CSI_Yorkshire

gbhxu said:

I'm getting the same thing from Eon Next.

Their carrot to get my meter changed is a measly Costa Coffee or they'll plant a tree for you somewhere. A few thousand quid and I might consider it.

My old "clock" meter works perfectly.

As the saying goes, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

Are you sure?  When did you last test it against a calibrated check meter?

Do you enjoy being excluded from several tariffs on offer, with others being able to get access to much cheaper energy than you can?

Stubbornness just for the sake of it isn't big, clever or useful.

Why should your supplier pay you "a few thousand quid" to change something that they own for something else that they own, when they have been told to by the government, backed up with legislation?

powerful_Rogue

gbhxu said:

I'm getting the same thing from Eon Next.

Their carrot to get my meter changed is a measly Costa Coffee or they'll plant a tree for you somewhere. A few thousand quid and I might consider it.

My old "clock" meter works perfectly.

As the saying goes, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

How do you know it works perfectly?

It's their meter, not yours.  If it needs changing, they can do this without your consent, so nothing really for you to consider.

[Deleted User]

Why do we have a Government Office of Product standards and Safety which, inter alia, certificates energy meters. OPSS then periodically reviews reported meter faults and tests in use meters to decide whether the certificated life of any particular meter model should be changed.

Clearly, £Ms of our money is being wasted when the only test needed is ‘it works perfectly’ says the end user. As stated above, people need to get real. These meters do not belong to homeowners. The responsibility for deciding when a meter needs to be changed sits solely with the supplier. Suppliers now have the right to fit a smart meter in meter end-of-life situations. Our Government needs to make smart meters compulsory as is the case in most countries in the World. Governments are not investing £Bns in smart grids because they are nice to have: smart grids are necessary to keep the lights on. 

mr_stripey

[Deleted User] said:

Suppliers now have the right to fit a smart meter in meter end-of-life situations. 

Not only that, but in practical terms they have to fit a smart meter since old style meters are scarce or non existent.

As I've pointed out in previous threads, meter manufacturers don't make the dumb meters any more. 

Zandoni

Smart meters have cost us all a fortune, the original series of smart meters were introduced with very little thought. If the government controls that were in there a few years back were still in place they wouldn't have been approved.

I can't speak for electricity meters but gas meters have a very long life span and I'm horrified that they have all been scrapped at our expense.

jrawle

[Deleted User] said:

Why do we have a Government Office of Product standards and Safety which, inter alia, certificates energy meters. OPSS then periodically reviews reported meter faults and tests in use meters to decide whether the certificated life of any particular meter model should be changed.

Clearly, £Ms of our money is being wasted when the only test needed is ‘it works perfectly’ says the end user. As stated above, people need to get real. These meters do not belong to homeowners. The responsibility for deciding when a meter needs to be changed sits solely with the supplier. Suppliers now have the right to fit a smart meter in meter end-of-life situations. Our Government needs to make smart meters compulsory as is the case in most countries in the World. Governments are not investing £Bns in smart grids because they are nice to have: smart grids are necessary to keep the lights on. 

Yes, we do have such a government office and I linked their document with details of the certificated life of particular meter models. The original question on this thread was whether suppliers lie about meters needing to be changed as they are end of life, and the answer is that they do. "£Ms" of our money is being wasted by replacing meters that are not end of life. I have no issue with smart meters, and people that do are a little misguided. However, I don't like waste and I don't like people lying to me.

This smacks of the way energy companies lied after privatisation in order to get people to switch. "British Gas have run out of gas". Or Npower knocking on my door, "This is the last time we will be in your area so you will never be able to sign up for our prices again." Did you agree with those tactics? MSE is supposed to be a consumer-oriented site, not one that supports companies that lie to consumers.

As for paying people to have a smart meter, just before fixed tariffs etc. disappeared, one of the best deals around was only available for people without a smart meter who agreed to have one fitted. With competition maybe starting to return to the energy market, it may be worth waiting until there are such deals again rather than having a smart meter installed for nothing on the back of a misleading letter.