I look at it like this Mark:-
I pay my energy bills every quarter, I mark on my calendar when I need to pay it and on that day I read my meters and sent them in over the net. They have my bill ready the same day and I use my debit card to send the payment, job done for the next three months.
If they ever send me an estimated bill [it has happened] I send in my meter readings and they will prepare a new accurate bill.
A smart meter will automatically transmit your readings on a regular basis and you won’t need to do anything.
Your bill will be calculated and provided you are paying via direct debit, it will be taken from your account…You won’t need to do anything.
I might be old fashioned, but I would like to be part of the equation, especially the bit where money is being taken from my account.
Not to mention the health implications associated with high frequency RF waves, however, It’s still a grey area with me, whether it actually affects your grey matter or not, since there are plenty of other RF waves floating around from other sources.
Then there is the question of control. Your supply can be completely controlled remotely. You know as well as I do, the more high tech things get, the more they will be prone to screw ups.
And as you also know, any information that is transmitted through the air can be hacked and used against you by unscrupulous persons.
I will not have one - don’t need one I know exactly how much fuel I use per day - £3:00 Gas and £1:50 Electricity. I will not have a direct debit either - no-one has access to my bank account but me.
No company may force a smart meter on your property. Your property is yours (assuming you own a house not renting). No one has any right to stick a dangerous radiation emitting device to the side of your house. I don’t mean this sentimentally, I mean this absolutely in UK law. No one can force you to have a Smart Meter.
Again NO.
If you state you do not want a Smart Meter and positively refuse one then they can not install one.
However, there WILL inevitably be a consequence of that decision. WHat companies will eventually do, is put you on a special energy tariff. It will be a tarriff for people without Smart Meters and they will give it some fancy name like “Unmetered Rate”. This will inevitably be a high rate because they will penalise those people who won’t have a Smart Meter. In extreme cases an energy comoany may make you an ultimatum and say the only service they offer is via a Smart Meter. Either way, you then have to decide what to do. You can switch energy suppliers of course. For a while many will offer a service without a Smart Meter and for a while, many won’t penalise you so much for not having one. Eventually though when enouhg meters have been rolled out those options will decline.
In the end we will all be faced with Hobson’s Choice. We will have to decide to exist on a high price tarriff or to sacrifice our health and take a Smart Meter.
Either way, the energy companies ARE going to take more money off us.
You miss out a vital element in all this OGF, perhaps THE most important element.
That is, that the entire Smart Meter business model is about moving everyone from a simple “Number of energy units used” model, to a new model that looks at how many units you have used AT SPECIFIC TIMES OF THE DAY.
The energy companies are going to bring in different rates for different times of the day. The Smart Meter will allow them to spy on your energy usage every minute of every day. Once done, once they know when people uset their energy the most, that will then define the most expensive time band in the day. Typically it’s going to be the hours from 5pm to 12pm, when everyone gets home from work.
In the existing model, you simply pay a flat rate for any enegry units you use each quarter no matter what time of day you use them. So the peak time usage is all bundled in with the low peak usage.
Once they start charging you different rates for usages at different times of the day, you will be stuffed.
Your energy bills will DOUBLE or TRIPLE. That’s been the outcome shown in other places where Smart Meters have been rolled out.
Everyone needs to refuse to have a Smart Meter plain and simple. Then it will be harder for them to keep raising prices.
There is enough data and info out there to be read and researched to come to this simple decision. Just needs the will and effort to read it.
Your energy company WILL BULLY YOU into having a Smart Meter because this is all worth $billions to them. British Gas has already been fined for bullying customers and fraudulently telling them that a Smart Meter is compulsory.
I anticipate that energy companies will start using nefarious tactics to roll out the meters. I strongly suspect they will start using a “Nil Return” system a bit like car insurance companies use at renewal time.
i.e. they will send out some kind of blanket email or letter that waffles on about nothing in particular and then snuck in at the bottom will be a statement like:
“We are rolling out Smart Meters to improve our service to you and to take the estimations out of billing. We will be installing a Smart Meter at your property in the near future. You do not need to take any action, our engineers will contact you when they are on site. If this is a problem for you please contact us within 14 days of this letter”
You get the idea. They will present it as a “fait au complete” and something that will go ahead UNLESS YOU do something to stop it. Again this would be wholly wrong and immoral but because there are $billions at stake here they will use any tactic they can to further the roll out.
Therefore be watchful imo.
My actual recommendation would be to place a printed sign which you have laminated, inside the panel where your meter is and outside the panel too. It should say something like:
“The owner of this property strictly declares that under no circumstances must a Smart Meter be installed here.
Any replacement of this meter without the express written consent of the property owner will be deemed a criminal act and you will be pursued in court aggressively”
I would even go so far as to put your own lock on the meter panel to prevent access with a sign stating to contact the owner if access if required to read or service the existing meter, though I would first check the terms of your existing contract on that.
I had an email from my energy supplier today to arrange a date to have a smart meter fitted.
This is not the first one I have received such an email but this time it it had an opt out, '‘if you don’t want a smart meter installed or any more emails put your customer number here’ so I did.
They are phoning me now and leaving messages about coming to fit one.
Anyone see the prog. on telly a couple of weeks back about these darn things being fitted by contractors who don’t know what they’re doing, and just doing botch jobs?
We are all aware that we are not obliged to have a smart meter fitted.
Nevertheless, I am pleased to read:
“Do I have to be at home for the installation?
You must be at home for the installation even if your meter box is outside. The government rules under SMICOP (Smart Installation Code of Practice) say that the suppliers must explain to you how the Smart Meter and In Home Display work. Additionally it is considered dangerous to disconnect and reconnect the supply without checking with the householder that it is safe to do so.”
Thanks for that JB, I received a letter through the post the other day to arrange for them to come and install a Smart Meter, I was worried they might come and install it while I was out because I didn’t respond to the letter and my meter boxes are outside…
I have just drafted a letter to British Gas to expressly and formally register with them my decision to never allow a smart meter to be fitted at my property. I thought I might as well do this before they start with the inevitable letters, emails and calls.
I have also printed off 2 A4 sheets which I have laminated which state “WARNING” in big letters and goes on to say:
"Do NOT install a smart meter here.
Under no circumstances is a Smart Meter to be installed at this property.
Any attempt to do so will result in legal action being taken"
I have placed one such poster in each of my electric and gas meter boxes.
This will hopefully ensure that no-one from the energy company or a sub-contracted engineer will come un-announced and try and install one.
