Is it really illegal to refuse to have a smart meter?

[ALongHardWinter]

This is what a friend of a friend told me yesterday. Is it true? My electric company have been sending me letters every few months for the last couple of years urging me to have one installed. So far I've dug my heels in,mainly due to all the horror stories I've heard about them - not working initially,or working initially then suddenly not working. I know at least 6 people who've had them installed that have had problems. Now I get told this!

I ignore the letters now. I had a terrible experience in my previous house with e.on. I could never top up!
I've attempted to arrange for one in our new place because their requirements for it to be installed are just not possible.

I don’t want to get one, they kept calling me everyday, I made a complaint and got taken off the list

Thanks for the CAB link - I'm delighted if we don't have to take a smart meter: we're in NI & had solar panels installed 18 months ago. They're great but electric company charge us many times per unit what they pay us when no we have oversupply. I'm not a fan of the injustice & prefer to watch my old style meter going backwards.

They've hunted me for about 6 months & they've been quiet for about 6 months. It's way more beneficial for us to not have a smart meter but I worry I'm in breach if the terms - no idea what I signed

It's not illegal. Your friend is bonkers. I haven't got one and don't want one. It's another lump of plastic I don't need in my life. I don't need to see how much gas or electric I'm using. It's not rocket science to know that if an appliance is being used consumption will go up.

I'm perfectly happy to read my metres each month and load the readings on line. I cannot see any need for one. And when I tell the person at the energy company that I don't want one and the reasons why they agree with me.

I got an email from my provider regarding having a meter installed.
The email was worded in a way that made it sound like legally I had to allow them to install one.
I replied to the email asking for clarification on this alleged legal requirement. They have not replied yet.
It definitely implied it was the law. I do not want one and I don't like being bullied/harassed and lied to.

Bear in mind that, if you don't pay your bill - or if the energy company thinks you haven't paid your bill (maybe confusing you with another similar address), they can cut off your supply with the push of a button at their end; no need for anybody to gain access to your property at all.

Also (and I realise that I will be called a tin-foil hat-wearer for this), social credit will be introduced to the UK at some point. No need for the government to spend money on adverts to try to persuade you to use less energy, when they can just give the utility companies permission to cut off the supply to a specific appliance in your house from their end, if they deem that you've used it too much.

With the Internet Of Things, it will eventually be possible for your energy company to know exactly which appliances you're using and when. Nothing will be anonymous, so they'll know if you spend 'too much' time (and power) on watching TV, gaming, using your tumble dryer even when it's a perfectly dry day, leaving lights on when it's bright and/or you're out, boiling your kettle too often meaning that you're drinking 'too much' coffee, maybe opening your fridge door too often could flag up as a sign that you or somebody in your household may be snacking too much.

I agree with MrsDanvers: they've been pushing it so forcefully, often telling you outright lies, that it makes you wonder for whose benefit it all is.

Compare it with something like smartphones: nobody ever had to fiercely urge everybody to get one, because people can clearly see how convenient and useful they are (albeit not without privacy concerns), meaning that most people rush out to buy them of their own accord.

I also agree with MossStitch: you don't fatten a pig by constantly weighing it. I may not be the Brain of Britain, but I do realise that turning all of my appliances and heating off will reduce my bills... but then I won't be able to use my appliances whilst making the saving. The same as I know I could save a fortune in council tax if I sold my house and went to live in a bus shelter...

To elaborate, you know how people are sometimes busted for growing cannabis in their homes by how much energy they're consuming or even when it's been heavily snowing outside and theirs is the only house with a clear roof?

This is what a smart meter will before long be able to be used to 'catch' you doing much more easily; not necessarily anything illegal (for now, at least), but just for doing normal everyday things more than somebody in authority thinks you should. Introducing and enforcing modern-day rationing - but of energy use rather than food consumption - becomes so extremely simple if you have a smart meter.

It's another lump of plastic I don't need in my life.

Yes, this. It might be more understandable if they were wanting to replace 'expired' 20yo meters with new smart meters, but they're urging everybody to change them immediately.

Other than telling adults that they can learn like a pre-schooler how basic energy consumption works - i.e. appliances that are on use more electricity than those that are off - and promising to save you 1 minute a month in reading your meters and submitting it online, nobody has even bothered to acknowledge the staggering unnecessary waste of plastic, metal and other resources, as well as all of the fuel/power to run all of the engineer's vans for millions of unnecessary home visits; much less attempted to justify it. Why might this be?

Bear in mind: it isn't somebody just not caring about all of these mountains of waste; they've made it official policy that they actively deliberately want to create all of this needless waste. It just makes me think of Biden flying multiple cars cross-continent to an environment summit(!), when there are already plenty of available cars that could be hired in the location, or the royals trying to get the plebs to come up with ways how we (but never them) can live more sustainably!

I’ve been reading my water, gas and electric meter on the first of every month for years. No error so far.

I'm lucky enough to still be on a fixed rate with EDF that expires next May. Their pester letters now say that only those with smart meters will be offered new fixed-rate deals. Bullies.

Of course it's not illegal. I work for an energy company.

Some of the replies here are verging on tin foil hat and flat earth territory though.

I told them I would have one when they removed the random man's name off their mailing list as I live alone and always have while I've been their customer so they called me and asked to speak to him I said he who? I live alone you added a stranger apparently they can do nothing unless he asks to be removed he isnt on my bill just my mailing list I don't know if he is a real person

Still no smart meter as they cannot sort this out

@Theunamedcat wtf? How bizarre!
I don't want one either.
Mainly because I'd be far too obsessed and end up huddled in one room under every blanket I own (MH issues)
I tell them my landlord won't allow changes (half truth) . They continue to email, send letters and postcards. They don't call me thank goodness, I'd tell them to gtf I think.
I read my meters and pay my DD every month.

Our energy company told us our old meters were out of certification over a year ago . I wasn’t that bothered about having a smart meter , no issues with sending readings over myself and couldn’t see any benefit. However arranged two appointments, both no shows on behalf of the meter fitters , compensation paid the second time to us .
We need a Saturday appointment as WFH means we can’t loose electric at an unspecified hour or two during the week days . A year on we are still waiting for them to arrange a new fitting and I’m certainly not chasing .
Although I guess I do have a slight question as to how reliable my meters are now as definitely over 35 years old .

I've got one (it's not compulsory), I like it as it means I can keep track of what I'm using. I'm finding I'm switching things off at the wall more often now too (kettle, toaster, blender,). But I can also check my daily and weekly usage and compare week on week.

Nope I have not got one and they are fine about it

It's quite difficult to find out exactly what consitutes a 'faulty meter' (when one's meter seems to be running just fine, despite being old. I did stumble across this Belgian energy site:

https://www.energyprice.be/blog/faulty-meter/

It could be:

1. Your consumption hasn't changed but your bills have doubled/tripled.
2. You've reduced your energy consumption but your bills stay the same despite prices being stable.
3. You feel your consumption is higher than usual when you haven't changed your habits.
4. Your meter is noisy.
5. Your meter turns too fast or inconsistently.

For me, if none of that is happening then why try to replace something that's working fine? Plus I am unimpressed by the marketing tactics which is some cases border on harassment.

Shop around then, other companies do. 👍

I'm paying 12 pence per unit for electricity today and 4 pence for gas thanks to my smart meters and Octopus tracker tariff which tracks wholesale prices. Saving a fortune

You lot are missing out

There is so much misinformation in this thread it's unbelievable

I don't have one either- don't want one. I ignore the e mails.

The offers you get on the electric from Smart meters like half price Sunday 11-4 and getting money back on peak save are much more useful for folk that are not at work, we are retired so just have dinner early on peak save evenings and I use a lot of electricity on the half price Sunday as we go out in the week rather than weekends but if you were working it would probably be quite disruptive to not have dinner in the peak evening hours. No gas offers so we keep our dumb 1980 meter, I just submit readings for it

Really, which replies?

When we moved into our current house in July 2021, I immediately arranged for a smart meter to be installed. They’d been sending the older lady who lived here letter after letter; we found them stacked in the cupboard under the stairs next to the meter.

EDF came and installed the meter, then said they couldn’t commission it due to lack of signal in our village. I pointed out that the neighbours either side of us have working smart meters. Our friends across the road have one. My father, who lives further out of the village and in a terrible area for signal, has one.

Following several visits by different engineers, the meter still isn’t commissioned. EDF say we have to wait for 5G to come to our village (so about the year 3000 I’d say). In the meantime they keep messing up our bills because their system says we have a smart meter, and every single time we contact them about it we have to have the same flipping conversation.

So I guess my advice would be to check if your area can support a smart meter if you do give in and have one installed. Otherwise, just carry on as you are in blissful simplicity!

@sliceofapple I think you’re probably referring back to my remark about no room to install the smart meter due to solid walls, ceiling & front door. I didn’t bother expanding in my original post but I actually had a video call with the latest company to demonstrate the issue as they wanted to send another installer. They agreed that there’s nowhere to move it unless it’s relocated to the other side of the house. I said they were welcome to do so as long as they footed the cost and made good any damage to my house including decor. Clearly they didn’t fancy that 🤣

So I’ll happily remain as I am. No need to replace something that works perfectly well, and we’re very much in control of our usage. Interestingly they haven’t asked to install a smart gas meter yet . . . .

What age is too old for a meter anyway, our gas meter is about 40 years old, it's been looked at each time the boiler is serviced and no one has said anything, it's obviously old as it's one of the old grey Parkinson Cowen ones