Cost of running a smart meter

[Taylortwocities]

Well..the thread is a year old, so maybe he's been taken to court for non payment, or something..

 

[SUNRAY]

We are not really talking about a Smart meter, we are talking about a company doing something daft.

Yes indeed but this only started because the dumb meter was changed to smart

And when people do daft things or ask daft questions, they must expect daft actions or answers, and for the other party to treat what they are doing with the contempt it warrants. Like writing on a letter to the occupier not know at this address, return to sender.

That's tricky as the property owner is receiving letters addressed to 'the occupier'.

 

[ericmark]

That's tricky as the property owner is receiving letters addressed to 'the occupier'.

Thought you said not one there any more, so what is he opening letters addressed to someone else for? They do not say the Owner, so not for him.

Yes, I know it is daft, but two can play at that game.

 

[morqthana]

90Wh/week is a load of not much more than 500mW.

Maybe it's the meter itself.

 

[flameport]

It makes me wonder what the meter is measuring and whether that is a standard thing?

Meter will have a red light - if it's on solid all the time then no load is detected and the readings should never change.
If the light is not on solid then some load is connected to it and the readings will increase.

 

[SUNRAY]

Well..the thread is a year old, so maybe he's been taken to court for non payment, or something..

Going back a bit further than my summary; the outbuilding SWA (which I imagine is 16mm²) was powered by a 32A switched fuse and a private meter from my friends supply. When the tenant moved out around 2005-2010 and a new one moved in he wanted his own supply so an additional meter and fused switch was fitted on the spare phase and the SWA was changed over to it.

At that time there were 2 tenants with their own supplies and a 3rd on a private meter plus another private but redundant meter.

Very early in covid lockdown the tenant moved out, dealt fully with the electric supply and left. I was asked to move the SWA back over to the original switch (leaving the redundant private meter in circuit, only as it was easiest but potentially there for a further tenant.)

For a couple of years everything ran smoothly until all 3 meters were changed to smart and now the energy supplier seems to be looking for some sort of payment for a redundant and never used and never required meter which has logged ~15KWh in 3 years. The property owner is receiving letters requesting payment and each time he makes a phone call and sends an email explaining the situation and it all goes quiet again after saying he will not pay for them to decommission something that has never been his liability. As he says it only takes a few minutes each time, which I suspect is somewhat more than a few!

It would be quite interesting to see who any legal action would be aimed at as that account (but not that meter) has only ever been listed under a person who settled the account 5 years ago and has not been there since.

Thought you said not one there any more, so what is he opening letters addressed to someone else for? They do not say the Owner, so not for him.

Yes, I know it is daft, but two can play at that game.

As much as I would like to agree there are legal obligations regarding a letter addressed to: 'The occupier, 1 High Street' on the person legally occupying '1 High Street'.

Ignoring such a document sadly does not negate its legal status, in a similar way to ignoring a speeding allegation.

As it is he has responded to their letters and can easily prove that he has cooperated fully if any action is started.

90Wh/week is a load of not much more than 500mW.

Maybe it's the meter itself.

If that is the case then the provider can pay for it themselves! I've never been aware of any other form of meter being an energy liability to the customer — such as E7 RTS/contactor etc except I have known it to be wired on the metered side when remote from the cutout.

However the other tenants meter is currently not recording and I assume the meters are the same, I'd certainly expect them to behave the same even if they are different types.

 

[SUNRAY]

A question which has just this minute occurred to me: Why was the disused dumb meter changed in the first place?

 

[ericmark]

As you rightly say, he has to open the letter, but there is a further problem, the three-phase supply must have been asked for by someone. Even if the meter is not registered to anyone at that address.

But also someone must have agreed to have smart meters fitted, and if the supply has nothing to do with the owner, then the person who agreed to have the smart meter fitted, would need to sort it out, I have been rather surprised with meters, and how if the tenant pays the bill, he can get the meter changed, any other installation in the building, the landlord can stipulate what is done, I know my son worked on council houses, re-wiring them, and not only were chandeliers fitted by tenants removed, the tenant was charged to have them removed. It was on the agreement that fittings could not be touched.

There are some odd laws, I know I have to allow Ofcom assess to my house, but only because I hold an amateur radio licence, otherwise they could not assess my house.

But with electric, there are an array of firms who can bill you or pay you for electric used or supplied, so before any could ask for money, there has to be an agreement in place. And that's the bit that does not make sense. My smart meter was fitted be British Gas, who was given the account when some other supplier went to the wall, but I now pay Octopus, and for that to happen I had to sign an agreement.

So something seems missing in the telling of the tail.

 

[SUNRAY]

As you rightly say, he has to open the letter, but there is a further problem, the three-phase supply must have been asked for by someone. Even if the meter is not registered to anyone at that address.

But also someone must have agreed to have smart meters fitted, and if the supply has nothing to do with the owner, then the person who agreed to have the smart meter fitted, would need to sort it out, I have been rather surprised with meters, and how if the tenant pays the bill, he can get the meter changed, any other installation in the building, the landlord can stipulate what is done, I know my son worked on council houses, re-wiring them, and not only were chandeliers fitted by tenants removed, the tenant was charged to have them removed. It was on the agreement that fittings could not be touched.

There are some odd laws, I know I have to allow Ofcom assess to my house, but only because I hold an amateur radio licence, otherwise they could not assess my house.

But with electric, there are an array of firms who can bill you or pay you for electric used or supplied, so before any could ask for money, there has to be an agreement in place. And that's the bit that does not make sense. My smart meter was fitted be British Gas, who was given the account when some other supplier went to the wall, but I now pay Octopus, and for that to happen I had to sign an agreement.

The 3ph supply is a legacy from the days of it being a real farm with a herd of cows but that aspect is long gone.


I agree there is something wrong as there was no operational reason to change the redundant servis's meter.


I assumed my friend and the other user gave their consent and I assume the fitter didn't turn up unexpected, but why the 3rd meter was changed I have no idea.

So something seems missing in the telling of the tail.

Possibly, I'm not in intimate contact with him and our last contact may very well have been this thread of a year ago.

 

[morqthana]

why the 3rd meter was changed I have no idea.

Cheaper to do it at the same time as the others than on a separate visit, therefore more profit on the new service connection fee if ever anybody wanted one in the future?

 

[SUNRAY]

Cheaper to do it at the same time as the others than on a separate visit, therefore more profit on the new service connection fee if ever anybody wanted one in the future?

Totally agree, so why are they trying to get payment now by attempting to create a customer for it now?

 

[morqthana]

You told us they'd been billing "the occupier" since the day the meter was installed.

 

[SUNRAY]

You told us they'd been billing "the occupier" since the day the meter was installed.

Yes I did

 

[morqthana]

But also someone must have agreed to have smart meters fitted, and if the supply has nothing to do with the owner, then the person who agreed to have the smart meter fitted, would need to sort it out

Why?

Imagine this - the two people paying to use 2 of the phases, agree to have smart meters fitted. The installer asks the owner of the property where the service enters if it's OK if he fits a meter to the 3rd phase in case it's ever needed. Owner says, yes - fill yer boots, fine by me. (And TBF, why shouldn't it be?)

How is it down to the owner to sort anything out after that?

 

[ericmark]

I saw this with a kitchen rewire, the husband agreed a price, and work started, during the work the wife asked can you do this, answer always yes, then a bill was above the agreed price, with all the changes asked for by the wife listed and priced.

To my mind, the electrician should have said there will be a charge for this. The wife had no idea she was increasing the bill with her requests, but the electrician said well maybe one thing we would have done for good will, but you can see the list of changes made.

It is easy to say OK, without realising what one has said OK to. It is also easy to talk to someone with no authority to say OK. My father-in-law had given his house to his children, and had also given a lasting power of attorney to my bother-in-law, and I was living next door but one, and came home to see workers ripping up his drive, the question was who has told you to do that, oh he says Mr Jones (father-in-law) the reply was, but the house does not belong to him.

After the children talked about it, the drive was laid, but it is so easy to make a mistake, which is why we really should get things in writing. But how one tells when one is talking to someone with alzheimer's disease who has reached the 7th age, I don't know.