kiloran wrote:I've been resolutely refusing a smart meter. Can't be bothered with the potential hassle of installation and getting it to work (my gas meter is about 10m from the electricity meter and that can be problematic). But I now can't refuse one.... I got a letter from Eon to say that my electricity meter has reached end-of-life (10 or 20 years, I believe) so legally it must be replaced. And it will be replaced by a smart meter.
I'm getting the same thing from Octopus, which says my electricity meter has exceeded its validation period (or something like that), and that they'll have to replace it with a smart meter because they're not allowed to fit old-style meters any more.
I emailed Octopus, pointing out:
1) That we don't have a 3G mobile reception, and even 2G doesn't work indoors. (We are in southern England, where the mobile network is used);
2) That our meter cupboard is very,
very crowded with switchgear and suchlike, and that there is no way an area the size of an A4 document can be found in there for the smart meter thing. (I sent them a photo.) I took it that they'd replace or reposition everything at their expense, not mine? If so, I said, I
might be persuaded.
3) That we also have our gas meter far away in the kitchen, and that there is at least a five foot thickness of solid stone walls between the two meters to get through, so there's no real hope of the two meters communicating through the ether, even if they get lucky with one.
I got a reply saying that none of this should present any problems, so would I please contact them to arrange the installation? Well, either their people are more capable than I had expected, or else they haven't got a clue and they're going to find out the hard way. I wonder which it will be?
Only one way to find out, I suppose? But I'm not making a move on smart meters till next summer. We had a bad enough experience last year with Bulb's smart meter people, who abruptly cut off our tenant because they'd failed to keep their own records up to date, so they were trying to read an extinct meter that their own people had thrown into a skip the previous month.
Oh, the joys of technological progress.
BJ