It’s at times like this I’m kinda glad I’m not likely to still be here in 2050 to see what happens then.
Smart meters. Hmmm. I have metered water these days. Why? I wasn’t given any choice. It was mandatory. I’m not really upset as it’s much, MUCH cheaper, annually, than non-metered.
However, I have so far refused, point blank, to have a smart meter for gas or electricity. They haven’t pushed re: gas, though I was offered it. Maybe they figure as gas is supposedly being phased out in a few years and we’re all supposed to spend thousands on air-source heat pumps, etc, that there isn’t much point investing a fortune is smart gas meters.
But my electricity company pushed HARD. I lost count of how many letters they sent, but certainl;y,dozens. They were VERY carefully worded to strongly suggest, though not quite explicitly state, that it was mandatory. IT ISN’T. And until/unless legislation changes, it won’t be.
So, after ignoring countlss “please call us to arrange time …” letters, I finally got one giving the date their engineer would call to install it. Oh, hell, no. My reply was a phone call, and a recorded-delivery letter confirming, that they ARE NOT to fit one and that there is no way I’m going to agree to it until such time as legislation gives me no choice. And by the way, stop damn well harrassing me with deceitfully-worded letters every few weeks.
Finally, after being very insistent indeed on the phone, they agreed to note “not having one” on my file, and when I threatened legal action over their harrassing letters, to stop pestering me too.
Yeah, I saw the thing about variable pricing too. Also, about the smart meters changing to 30-min reporting unless you opt out.
All I want is to pay my damn bill. I do not want them monitoring my usage, 30 mins at a time, which is one reason why I refused the meter in the first place!
But, the “thin edge of wedge” principle will, eventually, apply, Laws will change and we won’t get a choice. Until that time, they can stick their smart meter somewhere that will require surgery and copious quantities of vaseline to retrieve and make them hesitant to sit down.