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.

*Some videos people might be interested in:
'Smart' meters: Admission of IN-HOME SURVEILLANCE FOR PROFIT - YouTube

The Role Of Utility Meters In Mass Surveillance - YouTube*

Conspiracy Theories

Normal meters also work fine. Reading them and putting in the values on the website takes about 2 minutes each month.

For all those saying they get constant communication from their gas/electricity providers - contact them about the constant messaging and complain.

Are you sure it's not a new normal meter and not a smart meter?

Ordinary meters last approximately 20 years and need replacing. Companies have a legal right to put new ones in. Nothing to do with smart meters

Normal meters also work fine. Reading them and putting in the values on the website takes about 2 minutes each month.

Yes but with a smart meter you don't have to bother, it makes sense

We kept being nagged about getting meter changed out (apparently it was 'end of life') until I sent them a picture with explanation that we'd been told our electrics would need moving around to fit the smart meter in place. Suddenly they decided the current meter was fine and stopped nagging. That's left me very cynical.

This is from Eon’s process is Germany (hence the domain name and leaflet content), not the UK. I don’t know what their policies or processes are.

Again, a prepayment meter is not cutting off or disconnecting an energy supply. It is a change of payment method. A disconnection is a totally different process whereby no energy is accessible by any means because the meter has been removed completely, and that is only done when requested (eg due to property being derelict or demolished) or when removed for safety due to illegal tampering.

I've been harrassed for a couple of years by OVO for a smart meter. Now my original meter is 'out of calibration and we cannot guarantee it's accuracy'
The thing is, I know they cannot install a new meter, due to the access to where the meter is currently housed.
The only thing that has stopped them, is me agreeing to a date for installation, despite me telling them on the phone there was no access, and them sending out an engineer. When he arrived, he told me that he couldn't fit anything due to access, and suggested he start taking down the partition wall for the meter cupboard. Which I obviously refused, as they weren't going to repair it.
I haven't heard from them since!

My supplier said my electricity meter was old and needed replacing which would be a smart meter. The reason given was that it probably wasn’t energy efficient anymore and could be giving incorrect readings. They also said it was part of a Government scheme.

Does anyone know, is this the Government’s way of getting everyone on a smart meter? A few years ago it was a choice so are they now telling everyone that it’s to ensure the meter is efficient. Do I HAVE to have a smart meter?

I have the same from eon.

I think people have been brainwashed. It’s ridiculous for me to have to throw out a meter that works and replace it with more plastic and a hand held presumably battery operated device. Having a smart meter won’t stop me using my oven or kettle, even if they are greedy appliances. I need to feed my family and wash their clothes and light the house. It’s a load of bullshit saying smart = eco. Smart meter = check out functioning appliance to tick govt box. They say they want it for projections - well project me the same number of units as last year you numbskulls.

This says they can, after going to court, in most cases. There are exceptions:

https://energy4.co.uk/ufaqs/can-my-utility-supplier-cut-me-off/

There is a lot of misinformation here.

Regardless of your meter your energy company can disconnect your suppy for debt. It is very rare for residential customers though and they are more likely to fit a pay as you go (or pre pay meter).

Energy companies actually own your meter, not you, and have had significant rights to enter your property and disconnect the meter for decades The only difference between smart and dumb meters is with dumb meters they have to get a court warrant to enter your property.

However regardless of the technology there are a lot of regulations governing who can be disconnected from supply, when and how.

It doesn't happen.

It doesn't happen. Especially not to people who can't afford to pay the bills.

😂 they can switch your power off without a smart meter!

The energy companies don’t cut off/disconnect residential properties because of non-payment. When I say disconnect, I don’t mean fit a prepayment meter, because that’s not the same.

Companies have internal policies not to disconnect residential properties, but as I’ve said further up the thread, they have the right to do this in certain circumstances for safety, the main one being when the occupier has illegally tampered with the meter, making it unsafe. There have literally been cases where the tampering has caused an explosion and killed other residences in the block of flats. I used to deal with complaints from MPs who wrote in saying ‘you’ve cut off my constituent’s electric, put it back on’. Once we explain the reason, the MP has backed off as they have no leg to stand on. Therefore certain allowances do have to be in place for disconnection, but energy companies don’t disconnect residential properties otherwise. Only businesses.

That’s not the energy company, that’s the Distribution Network Operator :)

Scottish power are hounding me to get a smart meter - telling me it is mandatory. I don’t care either way, they are welcome to fit one, but when the man came out to try last year he realised that there isn’t space in our meter cupboard. You’d think they would make a note of this but no. So periodically, when I get the messages, I go on the online chat and they tell me it is mandatory and I say there isn’t space and they say oh well we will make a note and stop sending messages. (To be fair, the most recent time does seem to have stopped them at last) So I say oh, so it isn’t mandatory then? And they say yes it is …
ive suggested they would be welcome to come and re-build the cupboard to make room, if it truly is mandatory. They say, when I have had my cupboard re-built I should let them know and they will come and fit the smart meter. I say, but you want me to have it I’m not worried either way - why would I get my cupboard changed. Impasse 🤦‍♀️

That sounds like quite a dodgy explanation to me. If the meter is actually ‘end of life’, then yes it needs replacing. But a meter itself doesn’t involve actual ‘energy efficiency’.

As part of the standard smart meter roll out where we’re all getting these texts, we don’t have to accept them yet.

I read online that a new policy came into place in 2019 that a company did now have the right to replace an end of life meter with a smart meter.

I now work in the water industry and they have now been granted legal right to fit smart meters, so the energy sector may go the same way eventually, but until then, you don’t have to have one. I don’t :)

The first link is an actual advert a company made to showcase what they can do with smart meter data, which they withdrew (but someone managed to copy it first). So it’s not a conspiracy theory.

The dude in the last video has the makings of a conspiracy theory though, although I have no doubt companies could get this information if they wanted to. I mean if you use a clubcard they aren’t giving you vouchers for free. They are building a profile of your spending habits and monetising it.

So my smart meter is watching me from the under stairs cupboard?! 😂

How hard is it to just ignore text messages?

Still missing my point.

Smart meters are 2 way, if a company can remotely change you to prepayment. There is absolutely nothing you can say that can convince me they can't do anything else. The tech is already in place. I don't give a toss if they're 'not allowed' or other fluff. The full throttle hassling to get these things put in is alarming and doesn't say much about it being for our benefit at all.

Meters, prepayment or credit, smart or dumb, do not have the tech to turn off your supply.

Your supply can be disconnected by 2 ways:

Total removal of the meter

Disconnection by the Distribution Network Operator (who is different from the energy supply), eg when a powercut happens

If you want to believe incorrectly otherwise then that’s fine.

I’ve also said several times in my posts that i am also holding off getting a smart meter. However this doesn’t change the factual process of disconnecting a supply.

What is alarming about it? I don't really understand the issue you have.

Now you’re just being silly. It’s collecting information about your usage. This could be used to see what time your peak usage is for example. From this they could tell if a high energy consuming device is being used and build a profile (like they do with club cards). It’s very unlikely as the industry is regulated, but this could in theory be used to charge you more during those specific times. It’s not going to report back what you had for tea.