Posted 1 November 2022

Smart meter pressure

I still keep getting nagging messages about having to instal smart meters, which I have resisted so far.( to save me money) ?

And this mornings news supports my reluctance to do so even more.

telegraph.co.uk/mon…go/

The greedy so and so.

ANyone in simialr position having fallen for the tricks of the big boys?
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  1. Pandamansays's avatar
    I couldn't read the article without signing up to something.
    SaturdayGigs's avatar
    Paste the link into this
  2. bigwheels's avatar
    Save money HOW.
    Onlydongles's avatar
    Author
    Thats what they kept hammering about, in their leaflets and earlier messages !
  3. Gingerdan's avatar
    Don’t get smart meters.

    How do you save electricity by having to plug something in for it to work? You’re going to have to pay for the electricity used by the smart meter so that’s not saving any money it’s spending more!
    ashmac's avatar
    Not really as you can also put batteries in and even plugged in used pence , the saving massively out weigh the 5 pm a year running cost
  4. Brexitbargainboy's avatar
    I don't have smart meter, I don't know how it's going to save me money, it will not change my energy consumption.
    Onlydongles's avatar
    Author
    It does help save money, by you constantly looking at the ticker moving when using Electricity. So you start worrying and stop using, thereby giving you more hypertension and stress in this austere times.

    Its a control mechanism.

    As if there isnt enough stress and tensions in the current climes. They want to give you one more thing to worry about, and the chance for them to screw you remotely, as per the article.

    I also read elsehwere that these smart meters have some sort of soelnoid valve built in which can be trigerred remotely to cut you off !! WHy are they even allowed to make such meters. IF it is only for remote reading purposes, make them simpler. Or provide another gadget that can do this automatically without changign anything in the house. Surely with the internet. THAT is possible ,instead of all this fake malarkey and FUD.
  5. danfr's avatar
    just don't reply to them, no one ever bothers me about getting one. Nagging is easily ignored
  6. deleted9453's avatar
    So many conspiracy theories around smart meters.

    They automatically send the readings to the provider and support off peak tariffs. That's it.

    If you've been moved to pre pay then you've not been paying your bill.

    Simple.
  7. ezra.poundland's avatar
    How much time does it take to read a meter, the way some of you sound geez, it takes me all of 5 seconds.
    slipthru25's avatar
    I know right, it's the top reason for having a smart meter.
  8. SaturdayGigs's avatar
    They were moved onto pre payment for a reason.
  9. tryn2help's avatar
    Not wanting smart meter after hearing so much bad news about them from peeps who went ahead and installed them.

    Been ignoring constant 'get smart meter' messages over last few years; emails, texts, phone calls.

    EDF even offered me £50 then a few months later upped it to £100 to get smart meter.

    Now it's a nonsense email saying existing meters 'may' be old and innacurate and that 'by law they are legally obliged to replace them'.

    And they wonder why more and more peeps are becoming suspicious of the behaviour of government departments working with multinational companies - I'm starting to think the tin-foil hat brigade are maybe onto something.
  10. Peter9588's avatar
    I find it much easier, don’t have to submit meter readings manually. Don’t get the issue, not everything is a conspiracy as fashionable as they are these days.
  11. ccnp's avatar
    I don't trust them to install a meter that will allow me to switch supplier without any problems. They will say yes on the phone but decline to put it in writing. And that consideration is before you grant them the capability to fiddle with your supply/tariffs. Somehow I suspect they can always do that with a smart meter.

    The icing on the cake is the marketing that the beneficiary of smart meters is the consumer. It is the supplier and only the supplier. No meter readers. No estimates. Total control over tariffs. Total control over supply/disconnection.

    All in all, the companies are a pretty duplicitous bunch
    score01's avatar
    And to top it all off - don’t we pay for and subsidise the rollout through charges on our bills? It’s all gravy (for them)
  12. mutley1's avatar
    we have smart for electric but not gas. haven't been offered by octopus but will sign up for one for gas as i find it means i don't have to bother with submitting readings.
  13. jaketheplumber's avatar
    I've been pestered for a year or more by OVO to do this since they took over from SSE.
    I rent my place so I just refer them to the letting agency.
    S34N_'s avatar
    You pay the electricity bill, it's your call to install it or not. Nothing to do with your landlord or letting agency, check citizens advice they lay this out. Just toss their letters and be done with it.
  14. ezra.poundland's avatar
    Im with EON. DD for Gas prepay for leccy. I kept getting messages about smart so I thought I'd use it as a way of getting my leccy to DD (never been in debt with them its from an old tenant). Phoned up to book the smart meter and asked about changing meter to DD and they said "We arent doing this at the moment". My guessing is its because while im on prepay they are robbing me, DD will mean I pay less.
  15. dorey69's avatar
    They kept on ringing me from shell energy, till I informed them to take me off that list or I’ll report them for harassment. They stopped, I get occasional email. But till it’s law. I’m not having one
  16. daearegwr's avatar
    EDF are constantly hassling me to get one. I even had somebody turn up at the door the other day asking if they could look at the current meter and advise me if a smart meter was viable. Told them to jog on.
  17. Yb90's avatar
    Eon have been hassling me since before covid, random texts saying that apparently engineers are in my area and ready to fit my smart meter or random letters basically saying the same thing, they are now even trying to offer me an "incentive" of a free Costa or some £5 voucher, I just keep ignoring the texts & the letters. If I want one I'll get in touch with them, no need for them to hound me .
    Gynx's avatar
    I had that incentive too, wasn't it Costa coffee or a tree planted on your behalf?

    I really don't know who they're trying to lure with that offer.
  18. Return's avatar
    Smart meters are great, they let you realise what's using lots of power and should be turned off quickly, and which things make no difference.
    You don't need to submit meter readings any more, so it saves you time.
    And as they can see how much power you use every half hour, there's going to be promotions this winter where you get paid to use less energy at times when the grid is under pressure - but if you don't want to take part, you don't have to.
  19. ashmac's avatar
    You can see how much your payoff by clicking a few buttons on the meter will tell your your standing charge and pence per KW
  20. Yas_Min's avatar
    I submitted a years worth of readings before October the 1st price hikes.
    I'll tell them I'm not using much gas or electric until the price drops back down to normal levels.
    Then I'll submit my reading again
  22. RoosterNo1's avatar
    now they are offering incentives for NOT using fuel, but that requires a smart meter... What's next, its the law
  23. SebK's avatar
    Anybody in London refused smart water meter?
  24. bhaskarsa's avatar
    I have had a smart meter since 2014
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