Current Shell customer: SMS Plc knocking on my door re: smart meter installation

Spoonie_Turtle

BobT36 said:

Spoonie_Turtle said:

At the time of posting it was not known whether the OP's meter was nearing certification expiry.  (Still not 100% certain, but they have stated nothing was said about it.)

Then why would anyone just presume that and omit the default? 
Surely the default is "you don't need to accept". And the exception / caveat is "If at end of life" (or faulty). 

Who omitted the default?  Some (posters and web articles) omitted the caveat which, based on the situation described by the OP, suggested to potentially be applicable.

And unless it's clear that a caveat does not apply, it's just good practice to give full and accurate information, not omitting important parts of it.

FreeBear

EssexHebridean said: And if the third, then personally I’d be inclined to wait for the change to Octopus then make the appointment at your own convenience as there are lots of advantages to smart metering - not least the ability to save money, perhaps! (No - not from watching the little In Home Display as “Einstein” would have you believe, but from the access to cheaper tariffs!) 

I had a SMETS2 meter installed a couple of months ago, replacing a dumb SMETS1 meter. Have now switched to one of the Octopus smart tariffs, and am paying 18.5p/KWh for electricity and 4p/KWh for gas (rates do go up & down). If the rates stay around that level for the next six months, I will have saved a good chunk of money.

MultiFuelBurner

QrizB said:

Gerry1 said:

prowla said:

Who says you have to accept a meter change?

Which says you can refuse...

https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/advice/do-i-have-to-accept-a-smart-meter-aLLKl9O63dbM

Ofgem also agrees.

"You can choose not to accept an offer to have a smart meter fitted. You can also request to have one at a later date without being charged. Choosing not to have a smart meter might mean you have a limited choice of energy tariffs. Some smart tariffs could be cheaper."

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/information-consumers/energy-advice-households/getting-smart-meter

Selective quoting there, Gerry!

You can choose not to accept "an offer", but Ofgem make it clear there are circumstances where it isn't "an offer" but a requirement:

This is very important, the amount of disinformation on the board is growing in my opinion and from long term members which new members may view as fact because of their history here.

Poor response imo @gerry1

BellaBlondykeTheThird

prowla said:

Who says you have to accept a meter change?

Which says you can refuse...

https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/advice/do-i-have-to-accept-a-smart-meter-aLLKl9O63dbM

That link contains this information

It is a shame that long standing members appear to bend information to suit their agenda.

If you don't want a smart meter, make this clear to your supplier. It may be able to set up a meter to work in 'dumb' mode, with all communications switched off.

Your energy company may contact you to change your meter to a smart meter. It may tell you your current meter needs replacing because it's too old. If your provider claims there is a safety risk involved, you can ask it to provide evidence of this.

QrizB

While the Which article talks about smart meters being installed in dumb mode, there's no evidence of this being possible in practice. Smart meters need to connect to the DCC as part of the commissioning process, and (barring faults) will continue to communicate thereafter.

GingerTim

BellaBlondykeTheThird said:

prowla said:

Who says you have to accept a meter change?

Which says you can refuse...

https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/advice/do-i-have-to-accept-a-smart-meter-aLLKl9O63dbM

That link contains this information

It is a shame that long standing members appear to bend information to suit their agenda.

If you don't want a smart meter, make this clear to your supplier. It may be able to set up a meter to work in 'dumb' mode, with all communications switched off.

Your energy company may contact you to change your meter to a smart meter. It may tell you your current meter needs replacing because it's too old. If your provider claims there is a safety risk involved, you can ask it to provide evidence of this.

If the much missed @Dolor was still around, he would point out that the idea of a 'dumb smart meter' is an oxymoron:

Dolor said:

When I was last in discussion with someone who knows about smart metering, he told me that there is no such thing as a dumb smart meter: it is simply, a supplier not using smart meter readings for billing.  Installers need to fit a comms hub to install and commission a smart metering system, and it is self evident from the OP’s post that the comms hub was linked to a network - otherwise it could not be updated OTA.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/80320924/#Comment_80320924

EssexHebridean

And this is one reason why the issue we had a while ago with malicious reporting by trolls leading to longstanding forum members being banned really needed tackling at the time - we’ve lost a huge amount of solid knowledge with the loss of Dolor and several others. 

MultiFuelBurner

EssexHebridean said:

And this is one reason why the issue we had a while ago with malicious reporting by trolls leading to longstanding forum members being banned really needed tackling at the time - we’ve lost a huge amount of solid knowledge with the loss of Dolor and several others. 

Sadly as we have been informed it is not about the quality of advice and overall helpfulness it is just about being friendly all the time with no exceptions.

For context for those that do not know the history of losing helpful members of the forum

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6435239/interpretation-of-site-rules-moderation-and-safeguarding/p1

Qyburn

frosch411 said:

I don't want the hassle of no heating/electricity for a day when it's still cold and I work from home. 

Ours was installed last January. Power wasn't even off for an hour.

Spoonie_Turtle

Qyburn said:

frosch411 said:

I don't want the hassle of no heating/electricity for a day when it's still cold and I work from home. 

Ours was installed last January. Power wasn't even off for an hour.

Ours was in July, but same - power was off for less than an hour.