I take it all the I don't want a smart meter because they can't be shut off remotely and don't need a warrant lot are just fiddling the leccy and gas so the rest of us pay more.
That would seem to be a fair assumption to make, because none of them have fielded any other valid reasons, that stand up to serious scrutiny.
I have presented valid reasons*, and it's an insult to suggest the only reason for not accepting smart meters
as they are currently done in the UK is due to dishonesty. I assume no apology will be forthcoming for that insult though ...
* For example, suppliers mixing up people/addresses/meter numbers/whatever and remotely switching the wrong meter to pre-pay - meaning that the occupiers in the property do not know until the lecky and/or gas goes off when the credit runs out. The suppliers don't consider this a disconnection since as far as they are concerned it's the end users' fault for not putting credit on. But if the occupiers don't know they've been switched, they wouldn't know they need to do that - so the effect is that they've been disconnected by the supplier (in the cases I've read about, not their own supplier).
And then you get the problem that if they do try and add some credit, "system says no" as the details don't tie up (they aren't, according to the system, the account owner; the meter number is wrong, system says meter is not pre-pay; whatever).
And a suggestion that this is no more likely with a SM than with a dumb one is bul... rubbish. Unless the team sent round to deal with a dumb meter are particularly good at breaking in without leaving a trace (some mention coming home from holiday to find the locks changed in their own house), and they come when you are not around, and no neighbours notice strangers breaking in and tip you off - only if all those are true could you find your dumb meter switched without you knowing. If it's a smart meter, the pre-switch letters could have been going to an address at the other end of the country - but your meter gets switched because of errors in the system.
And anyone who claims such data errors don't exist is ... deluded.
And in any case, when enough SMs are installed, and unless we manage to get a government that's not afraid of it's own shadow when it comes to actually doing nuclear properly, sooner or later will will be back to the 70s - but with the rolling switch-offs done at the meter level rather than the distribution network. I suspect it'll be politically easier to justify if they can trot out "assurances" that vulnerable people won't get cut off and stuff like that. Yes, I already have UPS on key equipment, and a genny, and at some point (when I get around to it) the facility to use said genny without needing a widowmaker.
That's nothing to do with bad credit ratings, debt, or alleged dishonesty.
fullfact.org
