Table of Contents
I have gas and electricity meters that I need to change because they are quite old now. Eon has been trying to persuade me to install smart versions, but I have resisted.
Over the phone, an Eon agent told me I could install conventional non-smart meters, but it would cost £147 per meter, while smart meters would be free. I said I would rather pay than have smart meters. I have just received a message stating that the charge will now be £158 per metre. Why has the amount changed? PL, Aldwick, West Sussex.
Eon wanted to increase the cost of replacing the meter from £147 to £158
Sally Hamilton responds: Energy suppliers are legally obliged to replace gas and electricity meters when they reach the end of their useful life and since yours is 20 years old it is time to change them.
But since these older meters are no longer manufactured, some suppliers will charge for installation if they can get them.
Their request for replacements coincided with the national launch of smart meters, new technology that connects meters directly to suppliers over a secure network, with the goal of receiving regular, automatic and accurate readings.
Energy companies have government targets to meet for installing new-style meters, with around four-fifths of homes in England, Scotland and Wales expected to have them by the end of 2025. Although anyone with old-style meters that work properly you can continue using them.
The advertised benefits of smart meters are that customers should no longer face the complicated issues of meter readings or estimated bills. The meters come with a separate display to show people how much energy they are using in their home and how much it costs in almost real time. The idea is that this knowledge will help households reduce use.
You don’t have to accept a smart meter and, as Money Mail’s mailbag can attest, many people don’t want them. One drawback for renegades is that they may miss out on competitive rates that energy companies could offer only to smart meter customers.
You told me that fear of unreliability was one of the reasons you didn’t want smart meters. He doesn’t like the idea that someone could cut off his power on a whim, even though power companies say they would never do this.
He is concerned that hackers could gain access to the data. Experts say the meters operate on a secure network and even if bad actors managed to successfully hack them, the information obtained would be limited. However, you felt uncomfortable enough to request the old meters and were willing to pay.
I contacted Eon on your behalf to ask why you were given two different figures for the cost of replacing your old meters. He told me that he had been misinformed by the initial agent, who had accidentally quoted the cost of removing one meter entirely, while the second price (£158) was correct, meaning it would cost £316 to replace both the gas meter like electricity.
Eon then contacted you to apologize for the erroneous price quote and offered you £50 as an apology. At the same time, he suggested that one could opt to install smart meters free of charge and then run them in “dumb” mode, meaning they work like a classic meter and you take regular readings, as before.
You said you would have preferred to have the old style meters, but you reluctantly agreed to a compromise.
When we caught up last week, you confirmed that the smart meters were installed and were operating satisfactorily in dumb mode.
An Eon spokesperson said: “We make it clear that ordering replacement classic meters is an additional cost for two reasons: firstly, because suppliers are mandated by the Government to implement the rollout of smart meters and, secondly, because Classic meters are no longer manufactured, which means suppliers are less able to source and adapt them.’
Aid! Vinted has frozen our account after the watch we sold disappeared
My wife sold a new, unwanted Samsung smartwatch on the Vinted online marketplace for £120. The buyer said the watch was not in the package when it arrived. Vinted suspended my wife’s account, provided a refund to the buyer but is now not responding to our queries. Please help. SJ, London.
Sally Hamilton responds: You said you meticulously packaged the watch using a special envelope and took a photo of the IMEI number (the unique identification number) on the device. He then shipped the watch via Evri from his local post office, making sure to follow his guidelines for shipping items containing batteries (a special label was attached) and weighing it. The clerk at the counter approved the shipment of the package.
When he spoke to the buyer about the missing watch issue, he was told that the package had been left on the hood of a car outside his home and that the envelope had been tampered with; They sent him photos to back this up.
Vinted refunded the buyer, but why not you?
Under their terms and conditions, buyers using Vinted pay a mandatory buyer protection fee with each purchase, as well as commission and shipping. The fee varies between 3pc and 8pc plus 30p to 80p per transaction. The protection fee means that if the item does not arrive, is damaged, or differs significantly from what was described, the buyer receives a full refund, as long as Vinted is notified within two days.
For sellers, there is no such protection. But I note that Vinted’s terms and conditions do mention sellers who have a problem. He says: “We will step forward in case your buyer’s refund claim appears to be unsound.”
I asked the company to investigate his case.
Shortly afterward, Vinted agreed to refund him and restore his wife’s account as a gesture of goodwill. A spokesperson says: “Our team has investigated and we are pleased to inform the customer that we will issue a refund to Vinted’s account to cover the loss while the package was in transit.”
Some links in this article may be affiliate links. If you click on them, we may earn a small commission. That helps us fund This Is Money and keep it free to use. We do not write articles to promote products. We do not allow any commercial relationship to affect our editorial independence.