Our electricity and gas company, Scottish Power, has said that our meters have reached the end of their useful life.
Therefore, it is necessary to replace them with smart meters. Can we do something? We don’t really want a smart meter.
At the meter: Suppliers pressure households to install smart meters, but you don’t have to agree
This Is Money’s Angharad Carrick responds: Smart meters have been around for over a decade and were introduced to help households stay in control of their energy bills.
They replaced traditional meters, including prepaid key meters, and suppliers say they provide more accurate readings.
The Government plans to have them in 80 percent of homes by 2025.
But some people, like you, don’t want them. Some households have complained about inaccurate readings leading to higher bills and want to take traditional meter readings themselves.
Others have said they are intimidated into accepting a smart meter and have been led to believe it is mandatory.
His supplier, Scottish Power, told him that his non-smart meter had reached the end of its useful life, which is usually between 15 and 20 years.
It is not technically necessary to have a smart meter at home and they are not mandatory.
Suppliers offer them to customers if they don’t already have them, but they are under no obligation to accept them.
However, suppliers insist on installing a smart meter if your current meter is reaching the end of its useful life, like yours, and cannot be replaced by another non-smart meter.
They often say that some non-smart meters are no longer manufactured and that they are required to install a smart meter if the old one is deemed unsafe.
You said Scottish Power kept contacting you to replace your current traditional meter with a smart one because it had done so but you didn’t want to.
I asked Scottish Power how they knew their meter had reached the end of its useful life, but they gave me no answer.
A Scottish Power spokesperson said: ‘ScottishPower, like all suppliers, is required to replace all traditional meters with smart meters by industry regulator Ofgem.
‘Installed meters have a lifespan certified by manufacturers, and suppliers monitor and record each meter on an ongoing basis to know when they reach the end of their certified lifespan, which is typically between 15 and 20 years. This may vary depending on the type of meter.
“Smart meters offer many advantages over traditional non-smart meters, allowing customers to record and track consumption.”
It appears that your smart meter was installed 15 to 20 years ago and needs to be replaced.
It should be noted that you have the right to request evidence of this, which must be presented to you by your supplier. If not, you can refuse.
If you have to accept a smart meter, there is another option if you are not happy with your data being automatically sent to your supplier.
Some providers allow you to set your smart meter to “dumb” mode, which changes the “smart” functionality.
Unfortunately Scottish Power did not tell me if this option was possible.