Anyone been offered a Smart Meter and refused? What happened?

[evrybuddy]

Just that really. Been told tey're going to put one in and don't fancy it - interested to know what the power company will do when I say no thanks.

I'd be interested to hear too - so bumping. Also would like to hear from people that do have smart meters too - do you regret it or is it OK.

I have a copy of a leaflet decrying smart meters as terrible for numerous reasons and I expect I will decline if one is offered but I never have been.

We wanted one but couldn't have one. Apparently we have the wrong type of electricity going into our fuse box .

DH agreed to have one installed while i was in hospital. it seemed to be mandatory. its ok. it does nothing that the thingy we have that tells you how much power you are using does. its plugged in on kitchen work top. it beeps annoyingly. i don't see the point in it. DH tried to tell me all its benefits but couldn't remember. a man came a while back and checked it had been installed properly (its a plug in thing about same size as a central heating control). i think it does gas and electricity but how having it would make me do anything different is beyond me. disabled bed bound child means heating on 24/7

i thought it might be an actual new meter but its just a gadget. shows we've used £3.84 so far today - £5 is average when heating on.

Apparently, my understanding is, that the government? wants the power companies to have a smart meter in every home by 2020 (why?) but have said they don't expect the power companies to take people to court to force installation - so I wondered what (at this early stage) has been the reaction to any refusals from customers.

Lots of refusals in other countries - they might refusers pay higher rate after all other attempts fail.

I did but I don't think I can advise really - booked the appt then we got our moving date for before the installation, so cancelled. Haven't heard anything about it in new house. Agree they made it sound mandatory!

Oh god shocking thread title mix up. I just saw the title "butt plugs with tails" and read the OP and was like

The rationale appears to be reducing energy use and emissions but I note also that consumers will be able to opt out of having their usage data shared with third parties. So I detect the Big Data agenda at work (PDF link).

I seem to recall there are benefits to the national grid in terms of better capacity planning, so they know where and when electricity will be needed - some information here, essentially renewable energy like wind and solar is harder to store (I guess because with coal you just burn it when you need some more, can't make the sun shine more unfortunately?).

Thread with lots of info, though a bit old: Anyone having a gas/leccy meter replaced with a Smart Meter? Something you need to know

The "better capacity planning" isn't about the utility companies knowing when and where energy is needed: they already know this down to the substation level.

It's about persuading you not to use power at peak times. Once fully activated, Smart Meters will mean they can charge you varying rates, like an unpredictable Economy 7. So eg 7pm might be peak rate as everyone cooks dinner. Or it might not.

There are a lot more functions also planned for Smart Meters, mostly for the utility companies' benefit and some of which actively disadvantage the consumer (remotely reprogramming your meter to a prepay loaded with debt, if they muck up you bill, for eg).

And yep, Big Data definitely an issue.