I had a series of letters that ā¦. being careful how I put this ā¦. implied much the same thing. They didnāt quite come out so definitively with ānot safeā, just that the āoldā meter was due for replacement. But hereās the thing - the meter I had (and still have) was a ādumbā meter that had been newly installed 10 months earlier. Yup, their āoldā meter, that they implied needed to be replaced on age grounds, was less than a year old.
So I just ignored (but filed) these letters. I got several, about 3 or 4 months apart, over about 18 months before I lost my temper. I rang and complained about the, and I quote ācampaign of harrassmentā to fit a smart meter, which was NEVER going to happen here, if I had any choice.
The person quoted in that article saying itās not obligatory is (or at least was) quite right. Water meters are mandatory, in those areas where the water company has chosen to exercise that right, which mine has. Not that I minded, having aready opted for one. But gas or electricity? Nope.
Why the different approach? With water, the old system was based on ārateable valueā, i.e. for rates, then council tax banding purposes and this is a relatively big house with just the two of us rattling around in it. Being on a meter does save money, ācos the assumption built in the the old system is that thereās probably 5 or 6 here, inc kids. The meter is based on actual usage. Our metered bills are, literally, about 30-35% of what they were unmetered. Note, not 30% ālessā, but 30-35% of the old bill. i.e. about Ā£30 in every Ā£100 we were paying. That is not the case with electricity, which was and is still based on metered usage, in both cases, and I already had both a monitor on the mains input, and a plug-in meter for individual devices. Yeah, theyāre not accurate enough, via inductive coupling, for billing purposes but they give a pretty good guide. So ā¦. Iād already done all the āhow much is it usingā stuff they spout for smart meters, years before.
Anyway, back on point ā¦ that letter campaign I suffered? It was about 10 years ago. Eon doing this sort of thing is nothing new, itās a ratty old mutt up to exactly the same antics itās been doing for years. Theyāve just become slightly less nuanced with the inference that itās about āsafetyā and that you āmustā change.
After about 6 letters in 18 months, as I said, I lost my temper. On the phone, I complained, politely but very firmly, and told them explicitly to stop pestering me with letters. Until such time as the law changes (which it hasnāt yet) and they can force a smart meter, with or without my agreement, it is NOT going to happen here. They added me to a list ābut itāll reset in 2 years so you might get another letterā. My response to that was āOh, hell no, thatās not acceptable. Youāve been told, emphatically, to stop pestering me and if I get more letters, my next step will be to consult my solicitor about a formal harrassment complaint, through the courts if need be.ā
Then I pulled a really dirty card. āYou do realise Iām a journalist, donāt you?ā Which was true. āIām freelance ā¦. but that means I know a lot of editors, from both national print and TV. I wonder if I could interest them in this as a story?ā
I got added to a ādo not pesterā list, and NOT for just two years. What actually did the trick, the solicitor thing or the ājournalistā thing, or neither, I dunno, but it put paid to the letters. Until about two weeks ago. It wasnāt an āunsafeā letter, though. But guess whoāll be on the phone again this afternoon? š
