I have been advised that my Electric energy meter is at the end of it's life?

[Bulldog01]

My energy company has advised me that my Electric meter has come to the end of it's life? They will need to fit a Smart meter?

They have tried everything to make me have one installed!
Has anyone been advised, that their electric meter needs replacement?

I am aware that the Smart energy meters have been unreliable,
or just not working as they should?

Has anyone on Mumsnet had a smart meters installed either Electric/Gas, would you recommend having them fitted?

I am not happy, having our electric meter replaced, I like to send readings every month. Knowing how much I have used, how much I owe?

When I have had issues with my bills for electric & gas, its usually due to the energy company's not reading the meter for months.

What are your thoughts, either good or bad?

Thanks in advance!

You will get people on here being a little condescending about why you won’t have one but according to Martin Lewis a large number of the new meters do not work properly giving incorrect readings. The energy companies are being pressured to update as many meters and possible and if you wish to switch supplier I thank you may need to give in to the meter swap.

Mine has always been fine, we've had one for years. It sends the meter reading automatically, and you can see how much you're using, how much your bill is going to be etc because you're getting daily readings. I much prefer smart meters and when we moved house I made sure we were moved to a smart meter there.

The utility company owns the meter so if its nearing the end of its life they are within their rights to replace it. The old style ones are not being manufactured and so they can't replace it.

Yes they will be saying that just to meet smart targets they've given to the govt.
They do have a life but its literally a mass message they're sending. Ignore it if you don't want a smart meter and are happy

Lots of people like them as they read the meters themselves. Great for top up customers or disabled customers/hard to reach meters. There are special tariffs too that give "dynamic pricing" ie cheaper at night or when demand for electricity is low.

However having worked at SSE years ago they had lots of teething issues at the start. And some people definitely had old meters that were recording prices at a different rate to the smart meters - whether that's bc the smart meter was more accurate/their old one was slow I couldn't say. But had a lot of customers say that

Not sure if smets2 is out now - so you can change supplier without having to change smart meters/in home devices

We had an old Economy 7 RTS meter replaced by a Smart meter a few months ago. They are phasing out RTS meters as the technology is no longer supported. We had the gas meter done at the same time. Happy with the Smart meter, no complaints. All through Octopus...very easy company to deal with.

Our present meter has to be replaced as it has reached the end of its life. I too like sending in my meter reading (hardly onerous you can do it on line) as it stops us getting a nasty surprise and over using. They have been asking to change it for a long long time though.

We keep being pestered even though ours are not that old and certainly not of the type becoming obsolete.

I've been getting these emails from octopus for ages. I just ignore them.
It's strange how my meter wasn't out of date until the energy companies had to meet govt targets to get everyone on a smart meter.
No thanks.

Just seen Martin Lewis advice about old RTS meters & there being no choice about replacing them as they can no longer support the technology required to read accurately (or something to that effect). He also says it’s in your interest to get it replaced and to contact your supplier if you have one but not heard anything from them, as it can minimise problems with supply & bills that can happen if you delay /avoid it. See Martin Lewis site for more info.

Yes we've had that message. And ignored it! I will say the gas man came round last week to service our boiler and part of that was checking our (very ancient) gas meter. He didn't tell us it's too old, faulty or unreliable. In fact, no comment on it was passed, the entire service went very well. It's yet another thing energy companies are trying in order to fill their quota of Smart meters being fitted.

They did that to me with my gas and electric meter, I ignored it until they sent me a letter offering me £75 per meter to change them to a smart meter
changed them over, took the £150 and no issues with my smart meter

I'm in exactly the same situation OP.

There is no need to replace your meter. The electricity companies lie constantly simply to meet their targets.

The policy is stupid and wasteful. It replaces a perfectly good, working meter with something that is of no benefit to the consumer, is frequently unreliable and places the supplier is too powerful a position, enabling them to abuse that position.

The fact that the energy suppliers are regarded with distrust is their own fault. Their policies over the last decade have been appalling. They are utterly untrustworthy and have only themselves to blame.

Just ignore them & keep sending monthly meter readings you have checked yourself.

I’m with octopus and don’t want a smart meter. I had emails a while back saying my meter was out of date and would need replacing with a smart meter. They wanted me to make an appointment to have this done, I didn’t, and the emails have stopped. They happily accept my monthly readings too.

I was resistant to having a smart meter fitted but I finally relented. My bills now are £100pm cheaper than they were before. I'm not using energy any differently so I can only imagine that my old meter was inaccurate. In any case, I'm very pleased I did it.

Martin Lewis absolutely did not say that a large number of smart meters give incorrect readings, this is misinformation. They may not be sending in their readings automatically, but they’re just as accurate as the older type, and can be read in the same way.

@MemorableTrenchcoatit is not misinformation. To quote Martin Lewis in his letter to the Energy Secretary “Our latest MSE research (via statistically representative polling), which asked people if their smart meters work, shows 19% say theirs don't work. The reason this is so much higher is that it includes everything people feel has gone wrong, including in-home displays that won't communicate or connect, incorrect data on tariffs or usage, and prepay top-ups that don't register correctly. These aren't in the official stats.”

None of these relate to incorrect readings. Smart meters measure energy consumption in exactly the same way as traditional meters, one unit at a time. So, they’re no more likely to generate an incorrect reading than a traditional meter.

@MemorableTrenchcoat OK let me correct my wording. Not incorrect readings but 19% are not working for a variety of reasons. Either way it is not great so I can understand why people would hesitate.

It’s certainly not ideal, but most of these connectivity issues will eventually be resolved. That doesn’t change the fact that if OP’s meter certification has expired it must, by law, be replaced. Those who are saying otherwise are wrong.

I’m refusing a smart meter . There is a campaign on currently to get people to change over and the metre out of date is part of that . I’m refusing on the basis I’m with OVO and they are the worst company I’ve ever had the misfortune to deal with . Don’t trust them one bit . Imagine if your smart meter was wrong , they’d swear there was no fault , tell you to prove it and you’d be caught in a nightmare .

There has been a campaign to encourage smart meter take-up for many years. Separate from that, suppliers have always had a legal obligation to replace meters after a certain number of years. This is for our benefit (and theirs), so we're not billed via old, inaccurate meters. There's no conspiracy here.

I resisted for ages (they were telling me I had to have my old meter replaced as it was end of life). Probably a year or more.

Then the bloody thing DID break. It wouldn’t display any reading at all. So it had to be replaced and there was no choice but to have a smart meter.

It’s been fine so far, readings/consumption are consistent with what I used to provide monthly. I keep checking!

Why don't you switch supplier?

I’ve had smart meters for years now, in this house and my previous house, I’ve never had any problems with them and love that my bills are always accurate without me having to lift a finger to read them. I can’t understand why people are so against them.

I don’t bother with the small display thingy though, that just annoyed me.

Smart meters only work for our benefit if they work accurately and the energy company doesn't dispute the readings! It's also handing power to the energy companies and the government to manipulate and deny us power in certain circumstances. I'm no conspiracy theorist but I don't trust the government or the energy companies on this one.
If they try that 'your meter is worn out' trick on me, I know a good electrician who rewired our house and I'll call him about it.

The overwhelming majority of meters, of all types, work accurately. That being said, older meters lose accuracy with age, which is why the law requires that they be replaced. No need to ask an electrician, you can look up the relevant legislation: Gas Act (1986) and Electricity Act (1989). People love to say that governments will ration energy, but they won't dare. Ted Heath did that in 1974 and his government was thrown out of office literally weeks later. And we are a hell of a lot more reliant on electricity now than back then.