EDF and smart meters

Yep. I doubt it would stop them almost doubling my monthly direct debit though.

I didn't know there was such a setting. Can I set it to 'I had one installed by a factory tenant, it was nothing but trouble and I will make an appointment only after hell freezes over'?

To answer my own question, it seems I can, although I chose to modify the last bit. Thank you for the heads up on the existence of that preference.

They have given up with me after a couple of years

no, but I have set the preference about smartmeters to "no" in their online system.

If they reset your 'Preference' once without consulting you, I doubt if it will make much difference.

P.S. The calibration period for gas & electricity meters is 10 years. How old are your current(sic) meters, and what will you do[1] when they fall out of calibration?

So had I. They changed it back. It's back to "never" again, but for how long I couldn't say.

At the moment, you can still request non-smart replacements and you either get re-calibrated, older meters or new smart meters, with the comms inactive.

How long that will last for, I don't know.

If only it were so simple.

Then there's meters approved under the European Measuring Instruments Directive for which there's no set period.

The electric meter was replaced about 6 years ago (it's a static one - no dials). The gas meter is at least 10 years old. If I can get a old meter, that's what I'll do. I understand that a "smart" gas meter cannot exist without a smart electric meter, as it requires that for communication. So if I don't replace the electric meter, the gas meter will be "dumb" even if they try to put in a smart one.

No doubt lie by saying I have no choice and have to have a smart meter. If there really is no dumb meter available, I'll probably have to go with a smart meter but insist it remains uncommunicative with the supplier. The problem is that I doubt anyone could confirm that it is not communicating.

You're welcome, but it almost certainly won't last as they'll reset it themselves.

But now I know it exists, I know what to do when he reminders start to appear again.

Enclose the communications hub in a Faraday cage?

In message <tvd8pd$9ff0$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me, at 21:49:33 on Tue, 21 Mar

I'm not sure that's entirely true. Each of the two smart meters needs a mains-powered "hub" to communicate back to base. AIUI, for convenience many electricity smart meters have an integral hub, which the gas meter is also paired with. But you could still have a free-standing hub.

Thanks for the clarification. I've just been reading up on hubs - including the newer dual-band ones, and DCC. I see that a lot more money is due to be wasted on smart meters in the south of England. From

This change will require the replacement of communications hubs on the Smart Electricity Meters in the Central and Southern regions of the UK. To this end the DCC plan to have 4G single band Communications Hubs available in 2023, with dual band to follow in Q2 2024."

So all SMETS2 hubs installed in the southern half of the UK are effectively already obsolete! Wasn't the original cost of smart meter installation supposed to be around £11billion? I wonder what the final figure for this apparently bottomless money pit will be! Far from saving us money, smart meters will continue to cost us all a fortune for many years to come.

Our meter is well past 10 years and I've had one prompt to change to a smart meter which claimed 10 years was the limit. However I told them I don't want a smart meter and I've heard nothing more so our 'old' meter soldiers on! :-)

The certification period is more "best before" than "use by". And they've covered their arse by offering you a new one.

It's a convenient ruse for them in many cases, similar to the "we need to do a gas safety check" ruse, which in most cases is just a way to let the meter reader have access ...

It seems their argument is that if the meter reads too high the customer won't be able to claim anything back as a "correctly operating" meter had been offered and rejected.

Well, that argument works the other way too. What happens if it reads too low? Or stops working completely. Does the utility company then conjure up an estimate based on previous usage? If so, why shouldn't that be used for a too-high reading from a faulty meter? And perhaps someone here can help explain how an old analogue (dial) meter could read too high, whether gas or electricity? I would have thought it far more likely to fail by the gears playing up or getting jammed and giving too low a reading.

Yep, its arse covering. There has always been a rolling meter replacement scheme with a target of around 10 years for the exchanges, although this target probably hasn't been met for the past 50 years. It's more to do with guaranteeing some accuracy and calibration of the meter(s). People may have had letters 20 or 30 years ago asking for them to make an appointment for a meter check or exchange. By not replying or refusing their utility company collective arses are covered because they have offered a replacement and you can no longer claim money back for

In the past the replacement may not have been a new meter but a reconditioned meter or one that had just been checked/calibrated for accuracy.