Taffycat
Crunchy Cat
- Joined
- Jun 1, 2006
- Messages
- 12,838
- Reaction score
- 1,070
Just wondered whether any of you guys have one of these, monitoring your energy usage?
We received a letter from our electricity company today, telling us that "..all meters have to be replaced after they have been in use for a set period of time." (They didn't say what that period of time might actually be.)
Anyway, the letter went on to say that "we plan to replace the meter with a new smart meter, if your property is suitable."
I can quite understand the "green" viewpoint, that folk who have these meters, can keep an eye on their usage and become more aware of energy wastage. Fair enough. But the irksome point (for me) is that they are so shy of giving-out information.
"There is no up-front charge for the installation of a smart meter..." Oh goody... or... no, wait a minute. They're not saying that it's free, are they? No, it's just not up-front, so will be tacked onto the bill a little more sneakily. No mention of the sum either (although a bit of rooting around on The Money Saving Expert website, mentioned the sum of about £200+ paid incrementally. Why not just tell us that up-front?
It's rather easy to sound paranoid about this kind of thing, so ok, go ahead and have a chuckle. But, it seems that "smart meters" also provide utility companies with the ability to be able to remotely perform various changes to a person's supply. Such as capping their usage (for example - although there are, apparently, government guidlines in force about that.) It would also potentially allow companies to switch a customer (again remotely) from, say, quarterly payment meter, to a pre-payment meter.
Once again, I know that in some circumstances, it might actually be necessary. I just feel a bit uncomfortable about the Big Brother aspect... probably, I shouldn't have read my way quite so thoroughly, through the aforementioned blurb-sheets. lol
It's funny though - that nowhere in that blurb, does it give a mention to being able to opt-out of having a smart meter. Yet, dig around on their website, and there it is! An opt-out form. Hmm... wonder whether they would honour it...?
We received a letter from our electricity company today, telling us that "..all meters have to be replaced after they have been in use for a set period of time." (They didn't say what that period of time might actually be.)
Anyway, the letter went on to say that "we plan to replace the meter with a new smart meter, if your property is suitable."
I can quite understand the "green" viewpoint, that folk who have these meters, can keep an eye on their usage and become more aware of energy wastage. Fair enough. But the irksome point (for me) is that they are so shy of giving-out information.
"There is no up-front charge for the installation of a smart meter..." Oh goody... or... no, wait a minute. They're not saying that it's free, are they? No, it's just not up-front, so will be tacked onto the bill a little more sneakily. No mention of the sum either (although a bit of rooting around on The Money Saving Expert website, mentioned the sum of about £200+ paid incrementally. Why not just tell us that up-front?
It's rather easy to sound paranoid about this kind of thing, so ok, go ahead and have a chuckle. But, it seems that "smart meters" also provide utility companies with the ability to be able to remotely perform various changes to a person's supply. Such as capping their usage (for example - although there are, apparently, government guidlines in force about that.) It would also potentially allow companies to switch a customer (again remotely) from, say, quarterly payment meter, to a pre-payment meter.
Once again, I know that in some circumstances, it might actually be necessary. I just feel a bit uncomfortable about the Big Brother aspect... probably, I shouldn't have read my way quite so thoroughly, through the aforementioned blurb-sheets. lol
It's funny though - that nowhere in that blurb, does it give a mention to being able to opt-out of having a smart meter. Yet, dig around on their website, and there it is! An opt-out form. Hmm... wonder whether they would honour it...?
