Replacing old dial type electricity meter with unwanted Smart meter - choice?

James_Furze

Supplier says they have to replace time expired dial meter with Smart meter. We would prefer to have non - Smart digital meter. Do we have a choice?

born_again

Several threads about this & the answer is No.

But why do you not want one?

Spoonie_Turtle

James_Furze said:

Supplier says they have to replace time expired dial meter with Smart meter. We would prefer to have non - Smart digital meter. Do we have a choice?

Not realistically.

Why unwanted?

Brie

No.  They are obliged to ensure you have a meter that they know is working properly.

Frankly, in my opinion, there's no down side on this.  You no longer need to read your meter - ours were in very awkward locations.  No one needs to come and read them - though I am told they might occasionally but that's no more inconvenient than the last 50 years. 

They come with an in house display which some people like as it shows (or should show) how much gas and electric you use at any given time so you can tweak your use. 

Frankly the IHDs are the only sticking point for many people as sometimes they simply do not work.  Ours didn't work for whatever reason when we moved in so I simply threw it away.  I'm careful with lights and heating etc so knowing how many watts of whatever I used in the past hour isn't going to help me much.  

Of course if you are never available when they want to install them it may take a couple of years to get them in place....(though that tactic hasn't worked well for everyone if they simply ignore requests for appointments.)

p00hsticks

James_Furze said:

Supplier says they have to replace time expired dial meter with Smart meter. We would prefer to have non - Smart digital meter. Do we have a choice?

No - why not just pretend that the smart meter isn't smart ? Just stick the IHD in a draw somewhere and continue to take regular meter readings and pass them on to your provider. 

dunstonh

What is it with people not wanting smart meters?   SMETS1 you could understand but not SMETS 2.   They can't all be Daily Express/Daily Mail readers.

Scot_39

A recent "non believer" was appearently still offered the option of having the smart communications hub disabled - by EDF iirc.  Found it - see

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/80568367/#Comment_80568367

"EDF's own correspondence has mentioned having the meter fitted in 'dumb mode' (i.e. it doesn't phone home)"

But realistically I am not sure thats fully off network from a few other posters comments here.

And its still listed as an option in this Which article too

https://www.which.co.uk/reviews/smart-meters/article/smart-meters-explained/what-is-a-smart-meter-artlW8n6atdo#do-i-have-to-have-a-smart-meter

But other than that - there's very little chance of getting a non-smart meter these days.

HumberFlyer

Fair enough James... you don't want a smart meter, but i'm curious as to why you don't want one... it's a meter, just like the old one...it will measure your gas and/or your leccy just like your old one does

Baz1878

Always used payg meter, never had any issues , then one day the screen went blank .meter still working, morrisons came to read meter but unable. reported the problem to scottish power
Who were delighted ,as they could now send out an engineer to fix it.Fix it they did he said i am replacing youre old meter for new one, if this fails you will have to accept a smart meter. 4 days later it broke .still have power but it won,t accept payment on key . A  S/P  rep turned up , trying to convince us to have a smet 2 .seems a bit shady to me.

Netexporter

Have you got any logical reason not to want a smart meter? Do you know that not everything you see/read on the internet is true?

Ectophile

With a SMETS2 meter, you don't need any sort of key or card.  You can make the payments online.