My all-in-one utility supplier/biller has tightened the squeeze on me to cave in to having a smart meter.
The language is becoming more forceful and their tactics are getting dirty. In the last month their website widget for entering self read meter readings has become broken. The confirmation click to enter the reading goes nowhere but a revolving icon that means wait. It never stops, and a check shows that the new reading has not been added.
My immediate impulse is to dump them and find another supplier ( or separate suppliers for each service ) but when I look on line for options I don't see any useful information about the important things I need to know.
Like, what are other suppliers doing in the smart meter battle ?. Comparison websites don't include that kind of information.
So, do we need to share our experiences as open source information ?. What suppliers do others use and what are your experiences so far with the smart meter push ?
My supplier is Utility Warehouse. It's a combined deal for electricity, gas, phone ( land line ) and broadband. I don't mind splitting that up into separate suppliers if I can find an electricity supplier that's NOT pushing a smart meter. It seems like a thin chance but does anyone have any good news about this, even if it means paying a bit more for the electricity to cover their policy of not selling data from the smart meters ?
In my case, I have a 2nd issue with having a smart meter installed at my home. They use the mobile phone network to operate. There isn't a good signal for any of the networks here. That would mean the meter would be running at maximum radiation power, constantly 24/7, trying to handshake with a tower. That's a horrible nightmare prospect even if I didn't give a damn about the data.
Are there any options that are better than jumping out of one frying pan into another frying pan ?