Everyone seems to want to shove you onto a smart meter

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Alloneword
Alloneword Posts: 368 Forumite
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I'm with ExtraEnergy and they say everyone with them will be forced onto a smart meter by 2020 and all the supplies i have checked seem to want to shove you on this as well, it seems like they are leaving us with no choice, any suggested suppliers who won't shove me onto a smart meter
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  • Carrot007
    Carrot007 Posts: 4,534 Forumite
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    Alloneword wrote: »
    I'm with ExtraEnergy and they say everyone with them will be forced onto a smart meter by 2020 and all the supplies i have checked seem to want to shove you on this as well, it seems like they are leaving us with no choice, any suggested suppliers who won't shove me onto a smart meter


    Why are you so bothered?


    No they pose no more health issue than a mobile phone and you will not be as close.


    You get accurate bills. At least until you leave at which point you are no worse off (and there are some smets2 going on).


    You will get a smart meter eventually as that is all they will be fitting. However the smart part can not be activated if you wish and if you do set to your data collection preferences.


    Why do you want a second class system?
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 0 Newbie
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    Accurate bills? I currently submit my readings, and i am billed for what i've used?
  • [Deleted User]
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    Alloneword wrote: »
    I'm with ExtraEnergy and they say everyone with them will be forced onto a smart meter by 2020 and all the supplies i have checked seem to want to shove you on this as well, it seems like they are leaving us with no choice, any suggested suppliers who won't shove me onto a smart meter
    They will all attempt to fit a smart meter. At the moment they are not mandatory so you can request a meter, if and when the replacement time comes for your old meter, for one which operates in dumb mode. That may well be a smart meter with the comms hub disabled so it is in effect a dumb meter
    . I think that will be the full extent of what rights anyone has in choosing which utility meters for their properties are installed.. a weird concept IMO.
    The Tory Minister who gave the population of the UK public rights to refuse smart meters opened up just another unnecessary expense to the roll out costs. I wonder how much all these TV adverts will cost as they try to sell the system to the public.. another billion ?.
    Why not just do what the rest of Europe (minus the Swedes/Germans ) did and make them mandatory to begin with. The Spanish, French, Italians all complied without any fuss
  • Alloneword
    Alloneword Posts: 368 Forumite
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    I just don't like them as i have my own theories as to why they want to shove them on us, as for paying the right amount each month i have no issues sending a reading every 30 days, i wonder what sticking a huge magnet on these new things will do? Just a thought you understand.

    All1
  • matelodave
    matelodave Posts: 8,608 Forumite
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    edited 13 September 2018 at 6:48PM
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    You dont have to have a smart meter however you wont get the better deals unless you have one as suppliers are being fined if they don't install them.

    BTW
    The UK’s smart meter scheme was introduced by Labour leader Ed Miliband, when he was energy and climate change secretary. The labour government had a habit of chucking big technology schemes at problems; the difference is that this one made it off the drawing board – unlike a 2006 brainwave from Ed’s brother David for carbon rationing credit cards – and survived the current government’s cull of such schemes.
    Never under estimate the power of stupid people in large numbers
  • lewisa
    lewisa Posts: 301 Forumite
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    Energy companies are invariably horrendously idiotic and can't be trusted to run a bath. They often make billing or accounting errors and it can be an extremely Kafkaesque process in resolving such matters.



    Forget any tinfoil hat nonsense. The reason I'm avoiding one is that while a dumb meter is located inside a residential property then it cannot be disconnected without judicial oversight.



    Having had Scottish Power take a previous occupant of my home to court while the property was under my ownership, leaving me to appear in court and explain the situation, i'll be avoiding them as long as possible.
  • System
    System Posts: 178,093 Community Admin
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    lewisa wrote: »
    Energy companies are invariably horrendously idiotic and can't be trusted to run a bath. They often make billing or accounting errors and it can be an extremely Kafkaesque process in resolving such matters.



    Forget any tinfoil hat nonsense. The reason I'm avoiding one is that while a dumb meter is located inside a residential property then it cannot be disconnected without judicial oversight.



    Having had Scottish Power take a previous occupant of my home to court while the property was under my ownership, leaving me to appear in court and explain the situation, i'll be avoiding them as long as possible.

    I share many of your concerns but, as things stand, I believe that consumers will increasingly see that the cheapest deals on the market will be restricted to consumers who agree to, or have a smart meter. It will be interesting to see how many people will continue to put their principles before their wallets.
  • lewisa
    lewisa Posts: 301 Forumite
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    Hengus wrote: »
    I share many of your concerns but, as things stand, I believe that consumers will increasingly see that the cheapest deals on the market will be restricted to consumers who agree to, or have a smart meter. It will be interesting to see how many people will continue to put their principles before their wallets.


    The irony of this being that once a critical mass of smarts are in-situ and variable pricing kicks in with gusto, it will become an even more obfuscated comparison between the cheap smart deal and the apparantly expensive dumb.


    I'll be in the avoid camp forever.
  • teddysmum
    teddysmum Posts: 9,471 Forumite
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    Last year, Npower told me that they were doing my area and asked me to choose a date. I called to say I didn't want one and they said they would add my name to the list of people not wishing to be pestered and they kept their word.
  • System
    System Posts: 178,093 Community Admin
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    teddysmum wrote: »
    Last year, Npower told me that they were doing my area and asked me to choose a date. I called to say I didn't want one and they said they would add my name to the list of people not wishing to be pestered and they kept their word.

    Sadly, 'no' doesn't mean 'no'. This is an extract from the policy direction given to suppliers by Ofgem:

    Quote:

    While consumers are not obliged to have a smart meter installed, suppliers should consider appropriate re-contact strategies based on customers’ preferences, contact history and reasons for not previously accepting a smart meter. Unquote

    This policy needs to be seen in terms of the strategic policy set by Ofgem:

    Quote: Energy suppliers are required to take all reasonable steps to roll out smart meters to all their domestic and small business customers by the end of 2020 Unquote
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