Dear LPG,

For about five years now our utility suppliers have been nudging, cajoling and trying really hard to persuade us to have smart metres fitted in our UK homes, and in the end most of us Lewisham residents have had no choice when it came to having a water metre fitted because of the shortages that we Londoners so often face, but I have always thought better of having one for gas and electricity.

From what I understand they do two things that I disagree with.  The first is that they have put even more people out of a job as the ‘door to door’ metre reader disappears from our streets.  We are being told that they send the readings straight to the suppliers, although I was pleased to see a person reading smart meters the other day.  He was keeping track of the water situation, but then water smart meters are generally placed outside of your home and reading one yourself is often a matter of getting down on your knees in the front of your house and working through an underground layer of polystyrene to get to the dial; something that not many householders are likely to do themselves anyway. 

When it comes to the other two utilities, the bottom line is that the power supply companies are trying to tell us all about the advantages to us, but I think that really those advantages are mostly stacked in their favour.   They save on meter reader’s wages and help to make it really easy for those who never bother to take a reading and phone it through, to ignore the whole thing until the bill arrives.   There are also reports about the radio waves that they emit and their effect on health and stories that they are not always accurate to be considered.

I also think that for those who do worry about money and finance, being able to see just how much money is being clocked up for yourself as the dial goes round, or the figures go up, will help a lot of people to stress and deprive themselves of heat during the winter and a lot of those people are likely to be the older ones whose bodies really need that heat.   We have already been told that the cost of each unit of power we use is going to soar this year and my fear is that the constant reminder of how much you owe will cause some to get quite ill with the worry of knowing from minute to minute, how quickly the figures are rising.

I suppose that I know how to calculate my bills but, armed with your most recent bill, and the reading from your old fashioned meter, there are many online calculators that will do the same job with just a little more effort, and it is my belief that instantly being able to see the money go up is not always a good thing.   

I had yet another call the other day offering me the ‘advantage’ of a smart meter and I am sure that many others are still being contacted, and while they will suit some people very well, it is really important to note that there is no law that says that you have to have one for either your gas or electricity supply.

WM, Grove Park.

WM has found some information that supports her thoughts… 

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… and links to a few online electricity and gas bill calculators…

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