Another Smart Meter thread.

Ho Hum

Energy firms remotely switching people to prepay meters

**LINK**

OK guys, advice please. I do not want or desire a 'smart meter' & thus far have resisted my suppliers pleas to have one installed, they are now saying I must have a new meter installed due to safety concerns as my old meter is 15 years old! Can I still refuse, I'm guessing not ?

Tony

Thanks for this Ady. My supplier continues to nag, and although I'm unlikely to fall into arrears it goes to show that the system as currently implemented is flawed.

Tony - from Citizens Advice :

"You don’t have to accept a smart meter if you don’t want one. If your supplier tells you that you must have one installed, contact the Citizens Advice consumer helpline.

If you refuse a smart meter, you might find it hard to access all tariffs. This is because in future the cheaper tariffs offered by suppliers might only be available to customers with smart meters.

If you need to replace your old-style meter because it’s unsafe, you might not be able to refuse a smart meter. This is because not many old-style meters are made now - your supplier might not have any in stock.

You can ask your supplier to install your smart meter with the extra functionality switched off. This means it’ll work in the same way as your current meter, and won’t send any information to your supplier. Contact your supplier to check if they can do this."

So maybe, maybe not.

Robin

Hi **LINK**

Have a look at the above link.

Maurice

Excuse me, but could someone explain how it is possible to change a normal smart meter into a prepayment meter. The smart meter I have happily installed has no way that it can accept any input to add credit. I smell a bit of fake news here.

Peter

You pre-pay via an app or by phone apparently - no need to bung a 50p in the slot.

Robin.

This appears to be a recent explanation: **LINK**

https://www.uswitch.com/gas-electricity/guides/prepayment-meters/

MichaelG.

Thanks for that Michael. I can understand that a prepayment meter can be changed to a credit meter as described in the link but I don't see how a standard credit meter can be changed to a prepayment meter.

Having thought a bit more about it, I guess it can be done online. You pay by card and they apply the credit to your account. Maybe that's how it works, does anybody know?

Peter

Yes, that's basically the way it works - see **LINK** for example.

Robin.

I believe you have hit the nail on the head.

You can also take a card issued by the electricity supplier to a shop with a "PayPoint" kiosk and pay cash, if you're not online.

Either way, if you're unaware of the change until your power cuts out, it does seem like a rather unwelcome surprise, executed with the sort of infuriatingly indifferent cruelty that only a large faceless organisation can achieve.

Edited By Jelly on 09/11/2022 22:09:40

Thank you Robin and Jelly. Yes of course, it's the same way as my PAYG mobile phone top up works.

Peter

That's interesting Maurice. Since looking at your link I've tried, and so far failed, to find out how exactly Smart Energy GB is funded.

Their advertising is, to say the least, tendentious. Although they are a 'not for profit' organisation and, according to their own account, they exist purely to educate the public, they don't discuss potential downsides for the consumer. I don't believe for a moment that they aren't driven by the profit motive at some level. Nowt wrong with that, but more transparency would be welcome.

There's some good stuff about policy/history on the Government website .

Robin

Edited By Robin Graham on 09/11/2022 22:35:50

Robin

The following link indicates Government backed which I take means funded.

**LINK**

Emgee

It depends who your supplier is, Robin:

https://www.bes.co.uk/natural-gas-lpg/gas/meter/

It looks increasingly like the Politicians and Energy companies are trying to take us back to the stone age

Man powered equipment from 1850 to 1950 will become economically viable again!

If they were serious about stopping coal then every item coming out of China would have a 200% coal tax tariff slapped on it

They need to be paying attention to this man:

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 10/11/2022 08:56:03

Yes you can. Couple of years ago had to have my meter changed due to age. Fitter was told he wouldn't get admittance if he was going to fit dumb meter. Reply was no, only a new gas meter and he wouldn't have one in his house.

Regards Ian.

I had the same message, ignored it and they have not followed it up (yet). Just trying it on as far as I am concerned. I believe less than 50% take up of so called Smart Meters so far.

This is normal practice.
Why not just have a smart meter and stop listening to the nonsensical, negative hype.
It simply measures the electricity/gas you use and feeds it back to the biller.
The biller, quite rightly, switches you to pre-payment if you don't pay.
Nothing wrong in all that - and regular readings are taken instead of you submitting them or a man in a van.
OK - you can sit watching the monitor and noticing the wife has energised the toaster, but that will soon wear off and life return to normal. We all know what uses most energy.
This pre-supposes it works - and most of them do. If not, it is most likely to be the communication and not the measurement, in which case you can take readings as now and you've lost nothing.
There is no downside to having a smartmeter.

Yes there is a downside, by setting different charge rates at different times of the day, I can be persuaded to do my washing (for instance) in the evening so as to make it cheaper. This may not fit in with the pattern of life that I live.