UKC

Smart meters MK2

New Topic
This topic has been archived, and won't accept reply postings.
 gethin_allen 17 Aug 2016
Thought I'd start a new thread as the other one was getting rather long.#

I've just had an E-mail from n-power informing me of changes to the T+Cs regarding smart meters.

The worst bit I can see so far is that if you are on a credit meter and miss a payment they will remotely switch your meter to a prepayment meter to recoup their losses. This is effectively cutting you off remotely, so if they balls up your billing and you're trying to sort it out they cut you off.

Sounds dubious to me.
 wintertree 17 Aug 2016
In reply to gethin_allen:

> The worst bit I can see so far is that if you are on a credit meter and miss a payment they will remotely switch your meter to a prepayment meter to recoup their losses

I think this is the whole point of them. It's much cheaper when the customers pay for the pre-pay hardware in advance (via increased bills to everyone) and you don't need to send a sparky round to a house when they're months in arrears. It's the only reason I can see for a gas smart meter other than potentially cheaper readings.

I would have said "at least it saves customers from running up months worth of debt" but that's tempered by what a rip off pre pay is.

It's also why anyone who tells you the smart meters can't be remote instructed to disconnect a customer is wrong. They can't officially do it in normal mode, but switch to pre-pay mode and they rather obviously can. The hardware is always present and under software control, with none of the hardware or software in either the meters or the data centre subject to open security testing.
Post edited at 16:43
 GrahamD 17 Aug 2016
In reply to wintertree:

> It's also why anyone who tells you the smart meters can't be remote instructed to disconnect a customer is wrong. They can't officially do it in normal mode, but switch to pre-pay mode and they rather obviously can. The hardware is always present and under software control, with none of the hardware or software in either the meters or the data centre subject to open security testing.

I thought that remote switching of a supply was another box, not the meter ?
 wintertree 17 Aug 2016
In reply to GrahamD:

> I thought that remote switching of a supply was another box, not the meter ?

Not to my understanding. They're putting it into every smart meter as part of the pre-payment mode.

Read pages 14/15 in this parliamentary report.

http://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN06179/SN06179.pdf

New Topic
This topic has been archived, and won't accept reply postings.
Loading Notifications...