Forced to have smart meter

[Coatanger]

morning,

i’m Constantly being bombarded by Scottish power about having a smart meter fitted. I’ve consistently said no thank you and now the letters have changed, telling me that my meters are out of date and need changing.

is anyone else experiencing this?I feel like it’s just a ploy to fit a smart meter!

my gas meter was actually checked fairly recently with no concerns raised!

can I just keep saying no or will they escalate it?

I personally find my smart meter a bit shit, it hasn't led to accurate bills or stopped meter readers coming round and has actually given me more work trying to sort out the wrongs.

Fortunately there doesn't seem to be any pressure to get a smart gas meter, as long as you have an electric one they don't seem to care about the gas meter.

They can't force it on you. They will try, but just ignore it. I guess they might try and make your bill so expensive you feel you've no choice.
But we've not got one. I just don't like the idea that they are using us to save money for themselves. And gather data to extort more money out of us. They don't pass the savings onto the consumer and try and make us feel guilty for using energy!
I had the same with water firm recently. They actually legally can force it on you.
I managed to get round it though, but had to involve the CEOs office! The guy there was actually really nice.

Never occurred to you that if these gadgets were called what they really are - remote meter readers and REMOTE ON/OFF SWITCHES - anyone rushing to get them would have been considered having a rather "bizarre" conception of personal freedom?
If you think that the REMOTE ON/OFF SWITCH is there for nothing, just by accident, do a really thorough web search and you'll find on very official but rarely visited websites explanations in a boring obfuscated bureaucratic jargon about what these remote ON/OFF switches are for: to be used in future by the nanny state to cut off your supply if you misbehave and use too much energy when there isn't enough available.
And there will be sooner or later a point when there's not enough energy available - no one is building enough capacities for the future, planning instead how to arm twist reduced usage.

But if they wanted to cut off your supply in the future because there wasn't enough fuel, they would do it anyway just by changing laws and stuff like that, not having a smart meter isn't going to stop them, you only have to look at what happed in Covid times with different laws to see this.

The devil in the technical details - an individual remote switch makes it ways easier and quicker, and it can be done very selectively - by individual properties (otherwise it can be done only by cutting off a whole substation, by teams that need to physically go to the substation)

And as of right now, it allows energy companies to simply change any tariff to prepayment on a whim and collect any trumped-up supposed debt, without bothering with giving a plausible justification to a judge. Which they were doing with abandon, until OFGEM told them to calm down few months ago.

Surely, what's not to like with these remote control devices - if you're an energy company.

I had that with Octopus. I'm generally quite a fan of them but I did think they were CFs about this.

They sent me an email saying my meter was nearing the end of its life and needed replacing. So I logged in and looked for a slot for them to come to replace it, and they didn't have any available in my area. So I left it.

Then I got an email saying you haven't booked a slot.

Well no, funnily enough, because you didn't have any. I looked again and they still didn't have any.

Then I got an email asking me if I wanted a smart meter. Guess what, still no slots.

That was at least six months ago and I am still providing readings from my allegedly out of date meter.

Oh well.

Oh and I know my gas meter is ok because it was replaced relatively recently. I don't dispute that the electricity meter is probably quite old, though. But if it was genuinely near the end of its life I would have thought they'd be phoning or knocking on the door as well.

Lol don't get a smart meter!!!!! ,whatever nonsense they tell you

I won't do it. They say they can't talk to me and I say "well I can't talk to you".

They either say they'll write to me instead or they magically find a way around it.

How do you know that?

How do you know that it is accurately recording each unit of electricity correctly?

Meters should be calibrated every few years.

When my mum died, everything switched off apart from a freezer, it was saying almost as much electricity used as my house with 2 people in it, a few miles away, both on Octopus Variable tariff.

Both meters couldn't be correct.

If you have an RTS meter (switches between peak and off peak readings) then the signal is supposed to be shutting down in June. So you will need to change your meter if you want to continue having peak and off peak readings.

www.ofgem.gov.uk/information-consumers/energy-advice-households/replacing-your-radio-teleswitch-electricity-meter

You seem to have an extremely low bar for what qualifies as ‘coercion’.

We received a letter today from Scottish Power about the switch off. Basically said they would advise by March how they were going to deal with this.

So i wonder what happens if a smart meter isn't suitable, due to no mobile signal, do they have a built in timer? and what about day light saving?

My energy company has a 6 month wait for SM installations.

Bastards at Eon keep phoning and phoning several times a WEEK Final straw was when they phoned during sex. Call got ignored. They are now blocked but he has blocked the cunts before and they somehow got round it. The calls are relentless

I’ve just received the your meter is out of date email - and can’t prove otherwise as I’m not sure how old it is
any advice anyone as I’m still not wanting a smart meter if possible

EDF have locked me out of my account and I can only get back in if I text them from a mobile. Trying to get round the block. So now it's emails to give meter readings and of course the emails have started. But they're easier to ignore.

Theres no way I'm giving them a live phone number to start the constant harassment again

I'll be ignoring the meter is out of date emails as well.