British Gas and Smart meters

forgotmyname

No rush to have a smart meter fitted here also. EDF are now getting rather pushy and the last phone call the woman hung up on me
when I said this month was not convenient.

Maybe they have it on file not to tell me it will save me money because they stopped that spiel.  It's OK them saying it will be less
than an hour or even less than 30 minutes but they are not the ones having to shut everything down and reboot everything whilst
making sure the UPS's have enough power.

HillStreetBlues

forgotmyname said:

No rush to have a smart meter fitted here also. EDF are now getting rather pushy and the last phone call the woman hung up on me
when I said this month was not convenient.

Maybe they have it on file not to tell me it will save me money because they stopped that spiel.  It's OK them saying it will be less
than an hour or even less than 30 minutes but they are not the ones having to shut everything down and reboot everything whilst
making sure the UPS's have enough power.

UW haven't contacted me about getting mine replaced, but I will just refuse as I don't need one.

powerful_Rogue

JetpackVelociraptor said:

I had a similar issue with British Gas. Remember, you have the right to refuse to have a smart meter installed at all! I cancelled my appointment, and will continue to cancel every appointment they make until it actually becomes compulsory. At the moment, it isn't.

I was able to cancel mine online, I received an email from them with a link to "change or cancel" the appointment. The link was britishgas.co.uk/smartbook if that helps?

For anyone wondering why someone might not want a smart meter, just have a think about how much you trust your electricity supplier. For me personally, the answer is not at all, and it's the same for all of them because at this point I've had poor experiences with every electricity provider I've ever had. I don't pay via direct debit for the same reason. I'm happy to let someone read the meter, and I'm happy to supply meter readings, but I sure as hell won't trust them to make an accurate recording of the usage no matter what technology they claim to be working with.

Not if the current meter is 'end of life' and approaching or passed it's certified date.

sheramber

 
We had  been getting numerous calls daily from the same number , from morning to late evening.

After coming home from a few days away and finding the answering machine literally full of silent calls we installed Call Guardian.

We could list accepted numbers- friends and family and businesses we knew. 

 Where the number was withheld or were not on the accepted list the caller  was advised to state who they were. We were then asked if we wanted to accept a call from xxxx and could accept or decline. 

We also blocked international numbers as we had no known callers from abroad.

This stopped the unwanted calls as  genuine callers  were happy to comply and state who they were.

NBLondon

British Gas have called me two or three times to ask if I want a Smart meter and I've told them repeatedly that I'm not interested unless they are offering me a better tariff.  I've also told them that they don't have my permission to make sales calls by phone.   Which shuts them up for 6 months.

powerful_Rogue said:

Not if the current meter is 'end of life' and approaching or passed it's certified date.

Mine might well be - and if they actually said that (in writing)  I'd probably have to agree.  But the approach is all wrong - I don't need a display to tell me when I'm using more gas - I can tell because the heating and/or the cooker are on.  I don't need a gadget to tell me that leaving a light on in an unused room uses electricity - my father taught me that 50 years ago!

Making an appointment without the customer's knowledge/agreement and threatening a penalty fee for missing it - that's way out of order.

Renman

With most energy companies, no one just turns up as it costs them money to send someone to an appointment.  If BG hasnt contacted you personally and your cintact details are up to date on their system then by all means tell them your not interested and i believe they remive you from the system for 6mths or more.  The smart meter works off long range frequency and dies not interfere with your interner. In this energy dilema of prices your smarr meter just helps both consumer and cimoany make sure your not over or under paying. At the end of the day its down to the consumer to make sure the meters are read and the bills paid.  All the smart meters are compatible that are fitted now with all energy companies. So once in you should never need to get changed over unless an issue happens. 

TELLIT01

Renman, the problem is that 'issues' seem to happen far too often and can be far too difficult to get resolved.  I acknowledge that as a percentage of meters instally the numbers may be small, but the inconvenience and difficulties created for those who do have problems is enough for me to avoid them for now.

lincroft1710

EON Next are the same. Every few months an e-mail " we are ready to fit your smart meter" even had phone calls. Phone calls have now stopped

willrog

British Gas September 2023. Still unable to open app on iPhone. According to BG website my electricity and gas accounts are closed. All this started after Smart meter fitted.

TELLIT01

willrog said:

British Gas September 2023. Still unable to open app on iPhone. According to BG website my electricity and gas accounts are closed. All this started after Smart meter fitted.

the BG app on Android doesn't work either.  When I received my last message I clicked on the link on my phone which took me to the app.  I logged in and it said something to the effect of "Oh dear.  You don't seem to have an account with BG" despite being a customer for decades.  We don't have a Smart meter, it's simply BG not being able to get apps working properly.