Visit to check the safety of the electricty and gas meter

[Dumdidums]

Hello i have just had a letter from e.on energy saying that they are sending someone round to check the safety of my electricity and gas meter .

In all my years of living i have never heard of an energy company sending someone round just to check to make sure the meter is in a safe position. Even when i was a child i don't remember this ever happening. The position of the meters has never ever changed . The letter says they want to make sure the area around the meter is safe ? what exactly does this mean ? Do they want me to rearrange my furniture and what is the criteria for safety

Has anyone else had this sort of visit and should i be concerned ?

They're 2 way meters. They like to sell it to you that it's for your benefit. Get the better tariffs, see how much you're using in real time and other tripe but in reality. It means they don't need to go to court to cut you off or turn you into a pre pay and better still, they can ration your energy in times of stress on the grid. No company should have that kind of control.

Nothing pushed so aggressively is for your benefit.

I got a letter like that a few years ago. I ignored it. Nothing happened, but they now bombard me with smart meter "offers".

Eta: my letter didn't mention anything about the position of the meter. Just that they wanted to do a check.

Exactly what has just been said. Smart meters are for the benefit of the company not the people or the bloody environment. Sooner people understand this the better.

Eon are particularly aggressive in their approach. It’s like the intimidation of the bbc licence lot. Don’t succumb!

you’re gonna be paying more for your utility bills thanks to that utter clown Ed miliband anyway so buckle up.

It is so the electricity companies can monitor how much power is being used and plan ahead for future power needs.
And in the move the renewable energy that is really important as it is not a constant source of power.

I understand that however I do not trust the companies cyber security to keep out hackers.

They need to check them for safety reasons, we have always had them come round to do this every couple of years both before and after we got smart meters (I have no objection to these and they work well for us plus we were paid £150 to have them). People saying "no one I know has had these checks" or whatever its probably because to most people its such a trivial thing that they never even mention it, a lot of meters are outside so no one needs to come in, ours are inside but the engineers have just turned up from time to time or called to arrange a time.

I kept receiving calls from a company claiming to be Eon saying our meter was out of date and we had to have a smart meter. Given how many don't work properly I wasn't keen. I phoned Eon and they said the company who called me were not part of their organisation.

@@S0livagant

You say you have had three missed appointments? I don't want to waste three days holiday waiting in for people!

We managed to wangle it around flexible working (they gave 4-hour slots, two were 0800 to 1200, and one was 1000 to 1400). One or the other of us was there. Three half days of flexi leave total. But still annoying.

I never know what they mean by 0800 to 1200, are they gone by 1200 or might they arrive just before? I can only take holiday in half days.

EDF kept hassling me to fit a smart meter. Starting with "your meter is out of date and must be changed" progressing to "if you don't pick your own slot, we will just come and install it". I ignored all and have recently changed supplier so am waiting to see if they try and get me to have one.

We assumed that they could come five minutes before the end of the slots and take two hours. I work from home, DH goes in, but we both have flexi time built up that we can take in hours and minutes. We are allowed to build up 'flexi credit'.

That would be weird for us, as only our gas meter is accessible from the outside (it's in a kind of white locker on the front wall by the door). The electricity meter is inside in a cupboard in the hall. Both our gas & electricity accounts are with British Gas, and they want to change both.

That could cost me a whole day, so almost £100 gross pay.

If I were in that position, I'd just refuse and submit readings online. If they broke in, I'd go off the deep end.

Of course they have no idea where the meters are, they are just trying to frighten people into picking a slot. I am another one who has never had or known anyone have a "meter safety check"

I don't need a naffing smart meter to 'help me understand my energy use better.' I'm not stupid. And inexplicably I have managed fine without a smart meter for nearly 60 years!. Always paid my bills, on time and in full, and often have a credit on my account.

Currently have pay-as-you-go-meters as I said earlier, and ALWAYS have £45-£50 or more credit on it. Being out in the sticks (and living 17-18 miles from a main/big town,) I tend to stockpile stuff, as sometimes, what we want isn't there. And the electric/gas is no different. I am always 2-3 months ahead with the council tax too.

The energy companies can see what people use from the meter reading that they send. This has worked for many decades, and no-one has to get smart meters to make their lives easier. As a pp said, they're only for the benefit of the energy companies. No benefit to the consumer whatsoever, unless you're desperate to know how much you spent boiling the kettle. 🙄 I have never been interested in knowing how much it costs to boil the kettle, or have a 3 minute shower, or warm the milk in the microwave for 2 minutes, and I never will be.

Ordinary/non-smart meters suit me fine, I have no desire to change to smart meters, and I never will. If other people think they're the best thing since sliced bread, then good for them! But stop trying to push them onto other people.

I don't take being bullied and harangued very well, and won't tolerate it. The more the energy companies try to bully me into smart meters, the more I will resist them. (AND I will shame them on social media!) There would not be ONE benefit for me to have smart meters, but several problems and issues.

So they can shove them where the sun don't shine!

I worked for BG for 17 years and this sounds like a typical visit a supplier would arrange to check meter is safe, operating correctly and has not been tampered with. Suppliers have a strict regulatory obligation to have a visible eyeballing of the meter by them, or one of their appointed agents, every 3 years for the reasons above.

Suppliers are all pushing for people to move to Smart meters as they have large targets to meet from OFGEM.

We've had one of those letters today as well. Good luck to them, because I doubt either of us will be in when they turn up. I seem to remember them coming to check a few years ago, and the electricity meter is relatively new anyway.

Totally confused as to what the problem is with the new smart meters which should work with all suppliers. Yes, we have one and it allows us to access an EV tariff so most of our electricity comes in at around 7p per Kwh....

I believe that the push is not to help the consumer, it is to allow increased pricing at periods of high demand.

They have already experimented by offering a reduction at certain times for Smart Meters but I'm pretty sure they are just testing their variable pricing software. If it works for a reduction they will know it will work with an increase.

God knows how they will cope with the necessary electricity demand when everyone is charging their car at night. Oh yes, they can increase the price supress demand!

@HeySummerWhereAreYou

I have never been interested in knowing how much it costs to boil the kettle, or have a 3 minute shower, or warm the milk in the microwave for 2 minutes, and I never will be.

Now, you see, this is where we differ, because I love stuff like that, and if my smart meter could export the data to my PC, for Excel spreadsheets and charts, I'd be over the moon. Because it's a smart meter we have a little monitor gadget with a screen and I take note of its gas & electricity readings every night and write them in my diary. If I didn't have that I'd have to go outside and unlock the gas meter locker to get the readings.

Do they think your readings are wrong or inconsistent? They may be checking to see if the meters are working correctly or have been tampered with (not that I'm suggesting you would do that) but some people do. Sounds like an excuse to check things out.

Oh fair enough! We're all different!

So you don't want cheap, truly renewwable energy for the planet then?

How selfish.

I say to DH 'we've spent £12.71 on electricity in the last seven days, and that compares with £13.62 in the same period last year', and he says 'Oh, right', and carries on reading the paper. 😀

This is bollocks.

Have you any idea the possibilities if everyone were smart.

Take your electric car charging comment. If an energy company can see when you charge your car, they can look for the cheapest energy at that time and charge you on that price with a small uplift. Prices can be flexible and vary by half - hour. They could even ask you to leave your car plugged in when your home and THEY choose when to start the charge based on when the price is cheapest.

Never mind all the other smart electrical gadgets that could be utilised similarly.