Electricity meter inspection

Tringa

Tringa

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Dave
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I've just had an email from our energy supplier saying they are obliged by Ofgem to inspect their electricity meters. I'd not heard about it but it seems it is correct.
The company used for the inspection is Calisen so I had a look on their website. I can't find anything about meter inspection but loads about smart meters.

As I've had lots of emails in the last couple of years asking me to book a time for a smart meter installation(which I don't see a reason to have), the cynic in me thinks the likely outcome of the inspection will be that our meter is unsafe and has to be replaced ---- by a smart meter.

Anyone else had their meter inspected?

Dave
 
Tringa said:
I've just had an email from our energy supplier saying they are obliged by Ofgem to inspect their electricity meters. I'd not heard about it but it seems it is correct.
The company used for the inspection is Calisen so I had a look on their website. I can't find anything about meter inspection but loads about smart meters.

As I've had lots of emails in the last couple of years asking me to book a time for a smart meter installation(which I don't see a reason to have), the cynic in me thinks the likely outcome of the inspection will be that our meter is unsafe and has to be replaced ---- by a smart meter.

Anyone else had their meter inspected?

Dave
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I don't recall but yonks ago they did a replacement with a more modern conventional meter.

In your shoes, I would put in a written response to that email "that you accept their need to inspect but if their reason, should it be needed is to change it .......is to install a smart meter.....that I don't wish to have one and only a conventional meter is acceptable...."

By inference the reply is an accusation of smart meter installation by the 'back door ' ;)
 
I wouldn't have thought that this is a sneaky trick but you never know... Pls keep us informed Dave.
 
I really don't see any issues with smart meters.
 
Isn't periodic meter replacement also a condition of the licence under which the DNOs act?
 
It used to be a two year check as the providers responsibility .... not sure if that has changed or not.
 
yes i think also when it gets to a certain age it has to be replaced by law
just get a smart metre they are brilliant and you can then take advantage of special schemes from companies like octopos
for lower cost energy at certain times and EV tariffs
 
munch said:
Go on tell me why? Do I need a tinfoil hat?
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You have to ask why the government is fining energy companies for not meeting smart meter targets. What's it got to do with the government unless there is an ulterior motive.

I've learned over the past 4-5 years not to trust any of them so tinfoil hat or not you can ask the questions or you can bury your head in the sand. That's entirely up to you.

At the end of the day a smart meter doesn't benefit me at all. It takes me a couple of minutes each month to read the meter and submit the reading on an app.
 
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It does tickle me when people accuse me of burying my head in the sand, but only have questionable theories as to why I am burying my head in the sand.
 
In my previous house I eventuallygave in and allowed EdF to install a smart meter. However in the 9 months since, it never actually worked, I still had to manually take and provide readings, because the comms system could not penetrate the Northampton brick density, despite two subsequent visits to try to resolve it.
Now I've moved to Northern Ireland and we don't seem to have smart meters here.
 
munch said:
It does tickle me when people accuse me of burying my head in the sand, but only have questionable theories as to why I am burying my head in the sand.
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whack jobs mate and climate deniers
 
My latest email from Eon (same situation) says they have a legal duty to change my meter as it's 'end of life'.
 
Thanks for the comments, all. I got a text from the supplier(Scottish Power) late last night saying the same as the earlier email. They do seem keen.

Dave
 
Steep said:
My latest email from Eon (same situation) says they have a legal duty to change my meter as it's 'end of life'.
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You're lucky, they kept offering me a smart meter for fixed tariffs then say I couldn't have one, never got a reason why. This went on for 3 years until recently my old meter went wrong, timer stopped so I couldn't use economy 7. and they had to sort something, even then they were saying I couldn't have a smart meter and they couldn't fix it. I am on a new fixed tariff with a £75 get out clause for a short time so I told them that I would go elsewhere and find a company that would sort it and they culd pay me £75 as they were breaking the contract, 3 hours later they arrived and fixed a new meter
 
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Steep said:
My latest email from Eon (same situation) says they have a legal duty to change my meter as it's 'end of life'.
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Yes, I had a similar email from my provider well over a year ago now. I told them they were welcome to change the meter but I wouldn't accept a smart meter.

Funnily enough, I still have the old one. I guess it wasn't end of life afterall.
 
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The text I'd received from Scottish Power said 'meters' rather than just 'electricity meters' so when someone from Calisen - the company Scottish Power are using to check meters - arrived this morning I thought he would check both meters as we get both fuels from SP, but no. He only checked the gas meter. I wonder if they will make a second visit to check the electricity meter - how efficient!! I wonder if Calisen get paid per visit

Dave

BTW the bloke was in the house for less than one minute and the 'checking' only involved him taking a photo of the meter.
 
I'm not a member of the tin foil hat brigade but have been caused issues by smart meters.
My line of work is the supply and repair of stairlifts, recently we had one of three lifts in a sheltered living block start moving and beeping for no reason, tech support finally diagnosed radio interference on a similar frequency to the one at which the remote controls operate generated by a new smart meter installation. As there are 70 or more properties in the block there was no way to work out which had caused it, although I left the warden to bring it up at coffee morning. We had no option but to use a senders and a receiver module from another manufacturer to clear the issue. Last week the second lift in the block has been affected by another new smart meter install.
It's not the first time this has happened , many years ago someone like British Gas was sending out packs of CFL low energy light bulbs, the ones which slowly got brighter as they warmed up. I had a call to two sisters in a little cottage complaining that one of their lifts was faulty or possibly haunted, as it would start to move on its own accord. As I could not track down the issue I swapped the faulty unit with an identical one from their other shorter staircase, the logic being they could switch it off and manage those couple of stairs if it kept playing up. I was back the next day to the same fault, having told them I was unsure of the cause (possibly a trapped wire) but I would try and work out what was going on and would sort out a solution. On arriving it turned out the "good" lift was now faulty whilst the faulty lift was now fine, it defied logic and they were not happy and going to give me some grief. I quietly shut the door on them and the lift stopped playing up, opened the door and off it went again. Eventually they stopped working on their jigsaw puzzle and turned off the chandelier which they'd filled with these horrible lamps, instantly the lift started to behave and as soon as I realised I was flicking the lights on and off to ensure it was the cause. Turns out the bulbs use some type of tech which pulses them at a frequency close to that of a lift remote control and as the bulbs age the colour of light emitted also mimics that of the Infra red of remotes.
 
im with EON i keep getting emails and letters saying to fit a smart meter, ive had several letters telling me my smart meters not working anymore...im not surprised mate ive not got one, i had one with british gas when i was with them and it caused nothing but trouble, hence why i binned them off and changed suppliers
 
Been in our house 25 years ish, never had either meter inspected, ch boiler replaced last month and fitter remarked on age of gas meter, my answer “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.
 
In theory, a meter reading by the supplier includes an inspection. In practise, I suspect they just make sure the seals are intact and there's no sign of tampering.
 
I did wonder after the bloke left whether, because I send my meter readings in every month, the 'inspection' was really a check I hadn't been cheating Scottish Power by sending low readings.

Dave
 
I think they're SUPPOSED to read the meter(s) themselves every 6 months.
 
Tringa said:
Thanks for the comments, all. I got a text from the supplier(Scottish Power) late last night saying the same as the earlier email. They do seem keen.

Dave
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Aye - Scottish Power randomly turns up to check my electricity meters, I think they’re meant to do it every six months, to ensure that the readings are correct, but I never get any advance warning of their visits.

I’m on the top floor, so I’ve been told that there’s no way a smart meter would work.
 
My Mum is not allowed in her cellar anymore as she is 89.

The person who came to read her meter was incompetent and rounded up the first number resulting in a bill in excess of £20,000 which the electricity company was adamant must be correct despite every single previous reading having the correct first digit.

It took a lot of "discussion" before they backed down and amended it, good job she is a sensible woman in good health!

... and, no, she still doesn't want a smart meter!
 
Tigger.ufo said:
My Mum is not allowed in her cellar anymore as she is 89.

The person who came to read her meter was incompetent and rounded up the first number resulting in a bill in excess of £20,000 which the electricity company was adamant must be correct despite every single previous reading having the correct first digit.

It took a lot of "discussion" before they backed down and amended it, good job she is a sensible woman in good health!

... and, no, she still doesn't want a smart meter!
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Crumbs!

So "the computer says" jobsworth on the end of the phone :headbang: :police:

Glad you and your mum got it sorted but I do wonder if that sort of case.....which could have been sorted with either/and a new on site meter reading plus you taking a photo of the meter as a nudge for them to act.

Plus, is it a case of sending a complaint to OFGEN?
 
harpistic said:
I’m on the top floor, so I’ve been told that there’s no way a smart meter would work.
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Whoever told you that is talking errant nonsense. They all rely on radio communication (Southern half is on 2G mobile, northern half an Arqiva IOT network)- that will have better chance of working than those where the meter is in a cellar.

The fact that none of the installers are trained on placing the meter (within the constraints of the meter cupboard) for best radio communication is another hurdle to overcome.
 
How do the meters "talk" to the in property display?
 
The trouble on this forum is that most if not all of us are decent folk with a good standard of living and honesty .. we tend to forget that the power supply companies have deal with all levels of society and trust me there are lots of scumbags out there that would think nothing of finding a way to dodge paying there gas and electric bills .. normal meters can be bypassed ,smart meters would show that up as far as I’m aware ..
 
I've had a smart meter for years now and so far it has been fine. I would always forget to submit my readings and our gas meter is in an awkward place, so it works well for my circumstances. I think as Jeff suggests, at least one reason for the push towards smart meters to to help prevent fraud.
 
So, if a flat is on "the top floor", it might not be able to communicate with the meter if the meters are on the ground floor (or even outside the block)?
 
munch said:
I really don't see any issues with smart meters.
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Nor me - had one for quite a few years, Saves me reading the meters / letting meter readers have access.
 
arclight said:
Nor me - had one for quite a few years, Saves me reading the meters / letting meter readers have access.
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its the dinosaurs they didnt like that big bright light in the sky either
 
sufffff.jpgper day for renewables on the leccy generation :-)
 
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