Your electricity meter is past its expiration date: Power companies say old models go bad like rotten vegetables

Energy suppliers are using a scare tactic to “trick” households into buying a smart meter, Money Mail can reveal.

Households across the country have received letters warning them that their old meter is past its expiration date and comparing it to rotten food.

Octopus Energy has been bombarding customers who do not have a smart meter with emails for the past two months, saying: ‘Your electricity meter has reached the end of its certification period… We are required by law under the Electricity Law of 1989. to have your meter replaced…’

For those baffled by what this “certification period” means, the Octopus website goes on to state: “Like food, each electricity meter is assigned a best before date when it is manufactured.”

But electrician Mike Redfern-Jones, from Denbigh, North Wales, who has been installing energy meters for more than 30 years, says: “They are tricking people into switching through food comparison tactics that make no sense.”

“It’s not a string of sausages or sliced ​​bread, but a sturdy appliance that can last decades without problems.”

And he adds: ‘It seems that traditional meters never fail. The only problem we have had is with the first generation of smart meters which stopped working because the technology was implemented before it was ready.’

According to the Food Standards Agency, the term “best before” relates to quality. “After the expiration date listed on a product, the food will be safe to eat, but it may not be in its best condition,” he says.

This is independent of the expiration date, which has to do with food safety. The agency clarifies that it does not compare the quality of food with that of electrical appliances.

When asked if old traditional meters have an expiry date, energy regulator Ofgem was unable to give a clear answer.

Early versions of so-called smart meters have been widely criticized for becoming “dumb” once you try to switch suppliers.

This is when they can still record consumption but cannot send automatic readings to suppliers. According to government figures, approximately one in ten smart meters installed are not working properly.

Two-thirds of Britain’s 30 million households have so far agreed to install smart meters following a £224 million advertising campaign.

They show homes’ energy consumption in real time, meaning there is no longer any need for meter readings and there is less risk of exorbitant bills.

The Government wants every home in Britain to have this new reading equipment installed and requires suppliers to offer it to their customers.

Emma Bradford, 49, from Rutland, was shocked to learn her old meter was past its expiry date in a letter she received from her supplier Octopus.

Technical support manager Bradford says he asked Octopus to provide him with evidence as to why his old meter was supposedly outdated.

The power company backtracked and admitted it didn’t have to change the meter if it didn’t want to, he says.

Mrs Bradford adds: “Clearly they are not trying to save us money, they just want to make more for themselves.” We are forced to use smart meters so that suppliers can read our time zone and be able to charge variable rates, with higher taxes at peak times.’

Redfern-Jones believes a key reason suppliers are so keen for people to have a smart meter is because it saves them money.

There is no need to send personnel to read smart meters as it is done using remote signals sent from the unit.

Industry body Smart Energy GB admits that “time-of-use” tariffs are part of the appeal of smart meters, as they allow suppliers to see how much energy is being used every half hour. With this information, they can charge different rates at different times of the day.

Not all providers have adopted this, but among those that have is Octopus. Its ‘Agile’ service charges from less than 3p per kilowatt hour (kWh) overnight to £1 per kWh at night, when people are most likely to use energy.

Another Octopus customer, a 68-year-old woman from Rochdale in Greater Manchester who asked not to be named, was told her electricity meter certification period had ended earlier this year, despite her meter not being installed until 2017.

Mike Kelly, 82, from Bury, Greater Manchester, received emails from Octopus pressuring him to switch to a smart meter.

The company’s retired director says: ‘Trying to tell us that an accountant has an expiry date like rotten food is simply ridiculous. “They treat us like fools.”

Octopus isn’t the only vendor that has adopted these types of tactics to get customers to switch. Eon was forced to apologize to customers two years ago after wrongly claiming that older meters were unsafe and should be replaced with smart ones.

Scottish Energy customers have also contacted Money Mail saying the supplier has told them their meters need to be replaced.

Sarah Lloyd, 58, from Derby, says: “Scottish Energy just won’t leave me alone – this year they sent me emails, texts, letters and even knocked on my door demanding I switch to a smart meter.”

The official, whose name has changed, adds: “The latest trick, which started in the summer, is to claim that my traditional meter is reaching the end of its useful life.”

Ofgem was unable to clarify whether the Electricity Act 1989 requires the replacement of energy meters with smart meters.

Instead, the watchdog suggested contacting the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero for more details. This department suggested that another government department was responsible: the Office of Product Safety and Standards.

A government spokesperson says: “Electricity meters must be replaced after their certification period, generally a period of between ten and 20 years… Smart meters are offered as a default option when a meter needs to be replaced, as they help families to manage their energy use and save. money on their bills, but they are not required and a customer can refuse to install one at any time.

An Octopus Energy spokesperson says: ‘When customers approach the expiry date of their traditional meter, Ofgem requires us to contact them and offer a replacement.

‘We can install a new meter without the ‘communications hub’ if the client requests it. This setting allows the smart meter to operate in “dumb mode.”

An Ofgem spokesperson said: ‘Suppliers are responsible for providing meters that deliver the best outcome for consumers. “We hope they strike a balance between individual customer circumstances, security and functionality issues.”

toby.walne@dailymail.co.uk