Smart meter calls. Anyone else?

[PassingStranger]

Happening to anyone else?
Keep getting calls from electric company asking if we want a smart meter.
How to get rid?
Are they on commission or something?
It's like harrassment!
No is a complete word.
Am I alone?🙄😫

E-On Next cost me 3k last year because they ripped out an old meter system without telling me because the tenant had not paid his bills. To get any redress for this I have to go to the Ombudsman. Energy companies do what they like, in reality.

Well yeah, they will have tried to make contact with the tenant to get the bills paid first though.

I agree with this. I’m on top my energy bills but who knows what the future holds! I once spent a very unpleasant three days with no electric as the batteries had gone on the pay as you go meter, rented flat I didn’t install it. Conincided with a bad snow storm and power outages all over the place so took ages to fix. They were utterly rubbish about it too kept on giving me time slots and then delaying so I’d have to wait in ( I had a young baby). If they’d of been honest I’d of decamped to my mums and returned when they said they’d be there.

I don’t really trust them not to fuck up tbh so ancient reliable meter stays.

Have you tried resisting the urge to ring back?

I've blocked my energy company. Nothing pushed so aggressively is for our benefit. Anyone who thinks they need a little machine to make them turn stuff off isn't really a good advert for the things. Common sense dude

No energy company is going to get remote access to my power supply. Just no.

Watch out for the end of life lies. The fact they're lying makes you wonder why, it's not for our own well being.

I didn't want one but my meters were very old so had to have new ones. I must say it's good to see how much we are spending. And get perks like free coffees, cinema tickets and free electricity hours

I don't pick up any numbers I don't recognise but checking afterwards I can see that it's the energy provider. I'm almost at the end of my contract so will be jumping ship soon anyway.

I only did once to find out who it was and known I just let it ring through and ignore them.

The end of life thing isn't lies, it's always been the case. Meters, like everything else, wear out. It's only since smart meters came along that people started getting so het up about this.

However you never had companies contracting you prior to the roll out (and quota) of smart meters, saying your meter is too old.

Ours is extremely old, house had been lived in for many, many years without any contact about the old meter, then suddenly loads of calls about smart meters, when you say no, then the calls about your meter is too old. Coincidence, I think not.

That's true, they weren't great at fulfilling their legal obligation, probably because replacing meters costs money, plus their records of who has what meter are often incorrect. However, everyone is entitled to be billed via an accurate, certified meter. Petrol pumps, for example, are required to be checked regularly for accuracy, and no one would suggest that's a bad idea. If the smart meter roll-out has given suppliers a kick up the backside and means more of us receive a modern, certified meter, that's a very good thing.

We used to get these a lot.
A little annoying, but as we weren’t totally against smart meters and could see some benefits, we agreed. Unfortunately they could only give us an appointment window of 72 hours. There’s no way we can afford to stay in waiting for 3 days so declined.

We now just ignore. But haven’t had a call for a while now. I guess that end of quarter means they’re ramping up calls to hit targets

Ours were checked when someone came to read the meter. We were advised it was fine and accurate, we were happy when we checked the amounts and our bills. The meter reading only stopped recently and we read it ourselves then pass on the readings, all of which we are happy with.

We were called and told it was mandatory to have a smart meter - when correcting the company it was not a mandatory requirement, we were happy with the tarrif we are on etc, we then, as I said previously, were called (and written too) many times to be told our meter needed replacing. As I said previously, it is not a coincidence. What makes me even more convinced it is all about installing smart meters - we were constantly told how unsafe our gas meter was as it was over 40 years old as it has recently been inspected, therefore under OFGEM regulations a smart meter must be installed. The only issue, we have no mains gas or a meter.

Those who want a smart meter, no problem at all, those of us who do not and have perfectly functioning meters should not be constantly called.

Meters are not tested for accuracy or calibrated by meter readers. They have a certification period from new, which is their useful service life, ie how long they’re likely to remain within prescribed accuracy tolerances. The government conducts tests on samples of various meters over time, and their certification period can be revised up or down based on these results. It’s not mandatory to have a smart meter. However, it is mandatory to allow an uncertified meter to be replaced with a certified one. Smart meters are standard now, just as your current meter was when it was installed. You can ask for a non-smart meter, but stocks are running low, and suppliers can charge for the work. It’s worth remembering that meters belong to the utility networks, not the householder.

I look forward then to someone turning up for the "booked" appointment to change my out of date, unsafe gas meter which I don't have.

That’s clearly an administrative error. It doesn’t change any of the facts I’ve mentioned. Does your electricity meter have a sticker with a year printed on it?

Firstly the only advantage of a smart meter is IF your supplier has a cheaper package only available to smart meter users. Otherwise the savings come from you switching off switching down.

There are many disadvantages. 1) Millions of them don't work properly and (surprise) they often report fake high usage. 2) Info on your daily habits is being collected and will potentially be available to Government & other authorities (this is why they are pushing for it). 3) You lose control: your supply can be switched off 'by mistake' and it takes weeks to sort out your 'complaint'. 4) There are concerns about radiation esp children, elders, the sickly.

The current pressure is about older meters coming to "end of life". As this is not a health risk, and accurate readings can be tested, if it's not broke why meddle?
They say non smarts no longer manufactured so cannot be supplied. Refurbs available on ebay.
They will tell you replacement by smarts can be "disabled" so they only work like old manual meters. But this means you have a smart installed and they can enable it easily. At most a quick change of the rules. The core issue is you're not in control.

If you can't avoid it and you'd prefer not, the cunning way round it is let it install, but you install a Faraday cage (£25 ebay) which cuts out its remote connection with the supplier. Just continue giving manual reads.

Theoretically they can obtain a warrant to force entry to access their own equipment, although that’s highly unlikely. I’d be more concerned about inaccurate measurements and missing out on cheaper tariffs.

They keep writing to tell me that
my electricity meter (which is dual tariff) is not going to work after May because ‘the radio signal which drives it will be switched off’. No idea how much truth is in this

Gas meters usually have longer certification periods than electricity meters. Non-mechanical electricity meters wear out too, their solid state components degrade with age, and they run 24/7. You're right, they probably wouldn't, but it's no conspiracy, they're simply killing two birds with one stone.

If your meter is a radio teleswitch, it's 100% true.

Gas isn't regulated in the same way electric is.

Let me give them the benefit of the doubt and accept it is an admin error, why then when we have advised many times, by various different means, we do not have a gas meter are the databases or information, never amended? Why each call we receive the scripts become even more alarmist about how dangerous our meters are? Why do companies not accept smart meters will not work for everyone?

In answer to the question about the sticker, yes, one was always put onto it, once a year when it was inspected at the same time as a reading was taken - yet apparently that doesn't happen as per other posts on here.