Feeling a bit harassed by meter installation people

[Nuggett]

Can I stop the text messages from EON? It’s getting a bit annoying.

I pay by DD, take my own meter reads, never had an issue. It ain’t broke, I don’t see why I need a meter.

So it can be done without switching the meter.

Yes. A pre payment meter literally has a key or card that you have to top up and insert into the meter, so it needs to be physically installed to use it. But even that doesn't really happen much any more.

No they don’t. My mothers smart prepay is app or a barcode on a letter she scans in the shop. No key or card.

Oh, that's not a pre payment meter though if that's what we're talking about.

With some new types of smart meters I think they can switch between the two, however, that’s not cutting off your power. That’s changing your payment method.

I thought we were talking about the key card pre payment meters, sorry. The smart meter ones yes are different.

Yes but that's not my point though. If an energy company has the capability of switching you to prepayment remotely. Then they have the technology to switch it off. Whether they're allowed to do that or not isn't my point

No company should have that kind of control at their fingertips.

Totally agree

Switch by stealth - re Ofgem last year

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/smart-meter-cut-off-prepayment-meter-switch-by-stealth-warn-campaigners-142534893.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAD1-kl8jKonwMWh1diZY29ZTb2lhMyzjMjwNugkcjYvdFNY62_yDLsMRLQVRR065LBooYJD9QoRaVcxvmjOOoqWGqjZwcOJfdmwTIpphPxdLMPqlTlqyV5rZSCisU_2rYlmK1biQ9JuMjwjVMqncwh6m8JEHZTDfiiEjNpz9G2dB

Yes they keep doing this to me too

It tells me my meter has reached the end of its life

My meter is working fine thanks

This article is clickbait, and quite frankly, bollocks.

Disconnecting a supply is a totally different process (which includes removal of the meter completely) than switching to a prepayment meter.

A prepayment meter is a different payment method, like having a pay as you go phone. No one is ‘cut off’.

If you’re in quite a bit of debt with your energy supplier, you might be able to get a grant to help you pay it off, it’s worth looking into. We got help a few years ago when our supplier messed up our billing and then refused to allow us to set up a payment plan.
https://www.stepchange.org/debt-info/grants-funding-for-energy-bills.aspx

I can assure you they don’t have the tech to switch the meters off. And there would be no reason to. Energy suppliers don’t cut off the supply to domestic properties unless there is a safety concern, such as the occupier illegally tampering with the meter, in which case it would be removed.

To clarify, if the smart functionality on your meter stops working (ie switches off itself due to signal failures), then it simply becomes a ‘dumb meter’ and operates the same way, for example, doesn’t automatically send readings to thencompany. It doesn’t switch off your supply.

My old fashioned wheel meter is staying put. I love watching it whizz backwards on sunny days when the solar panels are doing their thing.

About 25 years ago in a rented house the gas meter started going like crazy. It was a new type of meter at the time. Gas use being recorded by the meter at least 10x actual gas used - think £400 per month rather than £40, going round and round when all gas switched off (not a leak). We had to get the Gas Consumers Council, as it was back then, involved. They fought our corner, and fighting together we won. I still have the file of paper letters and faxes exchanged. Lovely, helpful people, I will never forget the Regional Manager who got involved and ensured this type of meter was discredited and a reliable type was installed.

With that experience see no reason to change, not trusting smart meters to be accurate so will stick with our dumb meters and take readings to keep an eye on our usage and to give to the energy company. So people should complain if meters go haywire like the PP whose bills went up and up at a time when the unit prices weren't increasing.

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/about-us/about-us1/media/press-releases/millions-left-in-the-cold-and-dark-as-someone-on-a-prepayment-meter-cut-off-every-10-seconds-reveals-citizens-advice/

People are cut off.
For those struggling with bills.
First step switch to a smart meter.
(Some gas meters are in the home and this disables remote cut off, smart meters can be remotely cut off and replaced without 'customer' engagement).
Second step replace smart meter with prepayment meter.
Third step effectively cut off energy supply.

This required Offgem intervention for over 75s.

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications/new-prepayment-meter-rules-extend-protections-vulnerable-people

@Nuggett fyi re articles here

Citizens Advice

• New analysis from the charity reveals the stark reality for people who pay for their energy through a prepayment meter
• In 2022 Citizens Advice saw more people who can't top up their prepayment meter than in the whole of the last 10 years combined
• The charity is now calling for a total ban on forced prepayment meter installations until new protections are brought in.

New research from Citizens Advice found that 3.2 million people across Great Britain ran out of credit on their prepayment meter last year because they couldn’t afford to top up. That’s one person every 10 seconds - cut off from their energy supply as the cost-of-living crisis left people struggling to keep the lights on. For most it’s not just a one off. Citizens Advice has found more than two million people are being disconnected at least once a month. And more than one in five (19%) prepayment meter customers cut off in the past year then spent at least 24 hours without gas or electricity, leaving them unable to turn the heating on or cook a hot meal. Citizens Advice - the consumer watchdog for the energy market -is particularly concerned about disabled people and those living with long-term health conditions. Nearly one in five (18%) households including someone in this group, who ran out of credit last year, went on to spend two days or more without energy supply.

I was regularly getting phone calls and emails about getting a smart meter. My son managed to get to the phone before me one time and had a "chat" with the guy in the call centre. Guy thought it was hilarious, said it had made his day and would he would put a note to pause the smart meter calls. Not heard anything for a while touch wood.

Some videos people might be interested in:

A word of warning: Smart metres aren’t necessarily compatible with older boilers. My boiler died when EDF installed a smart meter (motherboard, fuseboard or something) and I had to spend thousands on a new one.

In the future, I’d only ever switch meter if I was about to install an new boiler. Not for an existing one, especially not an old one.

Our smart meters stopped working but I didn't know because the IHD was making up figures and maxing out at 14£ each day - I had threads on here about it and was so stressed all the time. They came and I made them turn them to dumb mode and take the IHD away. Much less stressful.

Nope, while I absolutely agree that vulnerable customers need more assessment and a proper process in place, there is still a difference between having a prepayment meter installed and being ‘cut off’ and being ‘disconnected’. This article is still incorrectly describing the same thing as all 3, which it’s not. Same thing as if you have a pay as you go phone. If you don’t top up your phone, you don’t have access to calls. Your calls haven’t been ‘cut off’.

Our meter is only 3 years old and getting harassed by Eon also to change it. Surely 3 years old it’s fine!

When they cannot afford pay their bill for example due to the cost of living crisis, people are disconnected, and those on prepayment meters are cut off from the energy supply when they cannot afford to top up their prepayment meter.

From EON

www.eon.de/content/dam/eon/eon-de-zwei/documents/Privatkunden/energie-disconnection.pdf

"1. What happens if you do not pay?
· If you do not pay, your meter will be disconnected.
· If we are unable to access your property, access rights will
be obtained in court. This may result in additional costs for obstruction, court fees, legal fees and bailiffs. Any wasted journeys will also need to be paid for."

thats not the power company cutting them off though is it? It’s the fact your partner hasn’t put any money in the meter to pay for it

Just go for the smart meter they work fine and save reading meters