Smart Meters

Discussion in 'Just Talk' started by Odd Bodkin, Dec 5, 2018.

  1. Isitreally

    Isitreally Super Member


    Not so, they can and do cut you off if you run out of credit on a pre pay meter, they allow you something like £5.00 over your pre payment and when its gone so is your supply until you pay more money to put you back in credit.

    Read the T&Cs above, its from BG themselves.
     
  2. HarDeBloodyHarHar

    HarDeBloodyHarHar Active Member


    That's not cutting you off, that's running out of credit. Always been the same, since 50p meters!
     
    longboat and Allsorts like this.
  3. longboat

    longboat Screwfix Select

    Im thankful that this 'smart meter' technology wasn't available when I was a kid.
    My dad would have carried the thing wherever he went and pounced at the slightest increase in consumption.
    No heating, no light, no TV.
    Jeesh. . The rollicking we'd get for leaving a 40W light on when not needed.

    God bless im.
    And, the slow pace of technology.
     
    Allsorts likes this.
  4. Isitreally

    Isitreally Super Member


    If your supply is cut then it's cutting you off, as I said the smart meter can do this in an instant, the old way involved a fitter coming around and disconnecting the meter, something they couldn't do until they gone though all other options.

    Now if you don't have money at the point of them cutting your supply they will not put it back on until you have paid, this power over you i don't like via the smart meter.
     
  5. kitfit1

    kitfit1 Screwfix Select

    Running out of credit on a pr-payment meter is nothing like the same as having your supply "CUT OFF". You know that just as well as i do. If you even bothered to read the OP you would know the thread has nothing to do with pre-payment meters.
    If you have a pre-payment meter, you would know that the supply is restored once you top it up into credit. Being cut off in the normal sense, when you don't have a pre-payment meter can only be done with the backing of a court order, regardless of if you have a Smart meter or not.

    You do know the thread is about Smart Meters ? don't you ?
     
    Odd Bodkin likes this.
  6. Isitreally

    Isitreally Super Member


    Yes.

    And they have the ability to cut you supply as and when.

    The OP was about SMs and I pointed out a down fall in them, so it answers the OP perfectly.

    Now what's your answer to the OP.??
     
  7. kitfit1

    kitfit1 Screwfix Select

    I have an E470 Smart Meter, it was installed over 5 years ago and have never had any issues with it.............................that answers the OP then.

    Yes, it can be remotely disabled. But just like the old electric meter it replaced, if my supplier wanted to cut off my electric, they would have to go to court and get a court order to do that....................it makes no difference as to what type of meter is installed. The only difference is that previously they would need the same court order but would need access to the house in able to pull out the main fuse.

    As i said earlier, Ofgem rules and in fact the law itself makes it illegal for any electric/gas or water company to do anything else.
     
  8. Isitreally

    Isitreally Super Member

    Ofgem rules are there, Yes.

    But that's no good when you have no gas to heat your home or cook and no money to top up the credit for more suppy that the SMART METER cut instantly.

    So are Smart meters good, ??

    No not really they on their own don't save you any money, only show you what you are using at any one time, so it's entirely down to you to be frugal with you useage of and there ability to control your supply in an instance only benefit the supplier.
     
  9. kitfit1

    kitfit1 Screwfix Select

    I don't know if you are just being deliberately stupid here or what ?
    You are talking about pre-payment meters. Most households in the UK do not have pre-payment meters, most have normal meters. Off course, if you have no money to top up your meter that means you have no gas or electric......................that has always been the case and probably always will be.

    If my van runs out of diesel, should i be entitled to go to the nearest garage and top it up without paying ? Off course not. Pre-payment meters are usually installed because a user has fallen into arrears with the normal bills and payment plans have been ignored, then court orders have been ignored as well.
     
  10. candoabitofmoststuff

    candoabitofmoststuff Screwfix Select

    Being a bit pedantic...
    But the latter part of this thread is effectively discussing the difference between "May" and Can"...

    I don't know the rules, but based on what's been said by folk in various posts...

    With a smart meter the supplier CAN cut off your supply remotely, with a conventional meter they can't

    In both instances, (Smart of conventional), they MAY NOT, without a court order.

    As we all know customer services in many cases with utility companies is poor, so I wouldn't bet against any of them "cutting you off" when they can, even if they may not!

    Regards,

    Cando
     
    Allsorts likes this.
  11. Bob Rathbone

    Bob Rathbone Screwfix Select

    Oh no? what happens when their is not enough electricity to go around, you get disconnected on a rota for just under the time you can claim compensation, then you will be off again. How gullible can people be?
    Now their is the issue of variable rates being applied without warning and no method of shedding non essential loads in peak times when the electricity is expensive. We have been down this path before.
     
    rogerk101 likes this.
  12. goldenboy

    goldenboy Super Member

    Smart meters are the latest "vehicle" for the terminally paranoid.

    The garbage I hear about them is just ridiculous.

    Just reference the nonsense being padded about on this thread.

    The fact they don't switch over from supplier to supplier is a bit rubbish, that's true

    And as for the wails that "they don't save any money". For me they work well in that they reinforce the cost of for example tumble drying or sticking the immersion on for a bath. Its just a way of highlighting both energy and financial waste.

    Who cares that they can be read remotely? Presumably those who rail against that are only reading printed newspapers, using hard copies of the Yellow Pages and avoiding mobiles phones.
     
  13. Isitreally

    Isitreally Super Member


    You're the perfect customer for them then.

    Thoses of us that understand the motive behind all these new fangled things sent to spy on us and control our lives will not be rushing to have them.

    Smart TVs anyone. ???

    Or even Ring doorbells. ???
     
  14. Allsorts

    Allsorts Super Member

    Is everything with the word 'smart' in it making you feel left behind? :rolleyes:


    Yup, me too.
     
  15. goldenboy

    goldenboy Super Member

    The motive?

    Spy on us?

    Control our lives?

    Presumably you have asked Father Christmas (unless he is part of the conspiracy) for a foil lined caravan to hide in to avoid the bad men.

    If you are worried that a device to tell you how much a tumbledry costs can control your life you should probably toughen up a bit.
     
  16. goldenboy

    goldenboy Super Member

    Not under IIR's tree. It probably has some kind of Bluetooth listening device chip in it. Rudolph is the real mastermind.

    smarties.png
     
  17. Odd Bodkin

    Odd Bodkin Active Member

    I can't imagine that'd be a comfortable way to enjoy a long hot summer day.
     
  18. goldenboy

    goldenboy Super Member

    Its a lot more comfortable than letting the bad men control your life using one of their evil electricity meters.

    We haven't even started on water meters yet either.

    And I must be well and truly under the spell of the bad men, I mean I actually allow my bulk supplier to use a telemetry system to fill my LPG tank at my house automatically.
     
  19. goldenboy

    goldenboy Super Member

    Marco Boogers and Joe Wicks from EastEnders both recommend it as a way to deflect the bad men.
     
  20. Isitreally

    Isitreally Super Member

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