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Had notification from Scottish Power that they are about to roll out 'smart meters' in our area Not sure I want one, but I suppose it won't make any difference.

One question, if Scottish Power pay for the installation of meter, they will be recouping the costs back from customers, but does this mean it will be more difficult to change companies in the future , to one that hasn't yet installed 'smart meters'?

Hi granny, we have had a smart meter for over a year it was installed when we used British gas, we now use the collective site through eon, the meter works to degree giving you readings and power usage via the display module they give you, but this info is not compatible with eons system, so we still have to send meter readings to eon ourselves.

Thanks for that, Casper.

Hi Granny. I too am with Scottish Power and had a Smart Meter installed recently for free.It was mainly so as not to have to send readings and having visits from time to time.

I am on a deal with them and quite happy.Have never had a problem since changing to them on a dual fuel deal and their staff I find friendly and professional.

Even if another Company was cheaper I would not change as price is not always my first consideration. If it works do not fix it as they say.
My previous Company was dreadful and I took several days off work to get their meter removed
.They just did not turn up and I was fuming to have to stay in all day to no avail losing days of holiday entitlement.

Heard a few calls on radio merseyside discussing these smart meters. I always thought they would be a good thing but having listened to some of the concerns raised I'm not so sure now. There are some issues with health, hacking and really a lot was said to worry me. You are not obliged to have one and there is a site you can go on to find out all the alleged risks associated with them. Sorry don't know what it was though. Worth having a look into them though before you get one Granny.!

The site is called stopsmartmeters.com can't put it up like you clever folk do sorry. Worth a read.

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i put a thread up similar to yours granny about 1-2yrs ago? i still havnt took the plunge to get a smart meter and i think i made the right decision as recently its come to light that there are problem and its best to wait a while yet x

Thanks for all the answers. Pax, Unlike yourself, I am not duel fuel with Scottish Power, and I have not had any issues with them so far, but I have been thinking about doing so and not sure which is the best deal as yet..

Cools I have had a look at the website, and interesting info to take on board. Same with videos from Sunnyside.

It's all worth listening to, and accessing. If we don't have to have them, then maybe there is a good reason for that.

Sorry, Rocks, missed your post, and my last line is on the same thoughts as you mention.

There's some UK-based info available from Which online. Seems to be a problem with stopsmartmeters website.
http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/advice/do-i-have-to-accept-a-smart-meter

Smart meters do exactly what your mobile does when it sends a text, except it is a very short text.

As it is many feet away from you, it poses no greater threat than a passer-by sending a text as he walks past your home. Anyone who claims that smart meters are a health risk is an idiot or a rogue.

A little thought applied to these fears is enough to dispel concerns. Some friends of mine were concerned about a phone mast being built near them. Although they and their children were users of mobiles, they worried that the phone mast's 'more powerful' transmissions would subject them to more radiation.

When I pointed out that as phone transmissions are two-way, there is little point in the mast transmitting any more powerfully than an individual phone, they felt a little easier. And as both phones and the mast transmitters reduce their power to just enough for good communications, they and their children would receive far less stray radiation from their own phones when connected to a nearby mast, the effect of a mast fifty yards away would actually be to REDUCE their exposure, they became quite relaxed about it.

As to concerns about people 'hacking' these meters I think it is unlikely with the existing ones. They transmit data, not receive it, so there is little way anyone can take them over. The worst that can happen is that someone might monitor your power consumption, but what o earth they can do with this data is beyond me. They might determine whether you are in or out, but even that is unlikely. An increasing number of home appliances are left on 24/7 - such as fridges, freezers, Aquarium pumps, TV's on standby, computers in 'sleep' mode etc. that it is difficult to tell whether there are occupants present or not.

As to cost, the meters cost no more than dumb meters, perhaps even less as more functionality can be compressed into a single microcontroller, given modern technology, than older dumb meters.In addition, once installed, they continue to save the cost of employing meter readers forever, which must yield an annual saving. The result should be less expensive power not more expensive power. It is significant that three or four price comparison sites identified the same supplier in my case, who are happy also to install smart meters.

Ideally, I would like to be able to monitor consumption at my convenience, and pay a bill for exactly what I use every month, and not have to cover the cost of a meter reader or read the meters myself. Smart meters offer all of this and are as safe as houses. We should all sign up for them, and ignore these ill-informed luddites.

And here endeth the lesson according to Excoriator!! This is a discussion regarding Smart Meters and their pros and cons and anything new I feel should be investigated. Why be so aggressive about it just because you don't agree! I daresay say they are safe but I won't be accepting one in a big hurry so I suppose in your eyes I'm a Luddite! By the way spare a thought for the meter readers who will be out of a job.

Usual tinfoil hat brigade nonsense.

There are people keen to make a name for themselves by attacking anything new, in the knowledge that the unfamiliar is always treated with suspicion and their claims will be believed by those too idle to investigate properly and make their own minds up.

We've seen the same things with CFL lamps (They contain mercury - shock, horror!). So do ordinary fluorescents, but the opposition was only to compact ones. I have even seen opposition to LEDs on the grounds that they contain Arsenic. This is true, but in quantities measured in parts per million in the silicon as a dopant. You would have to chip open hundreds of them and swallow the silicon to get anywhere near a detectable dose, and even then it would pass through your body quite safely, being deep inside the material of the chips and would not be absorbed.

I'm sorry if my post has offended anyone. I feel strongly about wilful manipulation of people's fears, but my point stands. if you are scared of smart meters, you should be bloody terrified of mobiles, which are going to subject your head to FAR more radiation than your smart meter. And you should certainly dump your 'smart' phone. It is far more superbly equipped to spy on you and what you are up to than any box screwed to the wall under the stairs!

I agree with every word there

Internet and media can spread disinformation around so fast even if original comments were made innocently.

There are reams of accounts from highly credible, well-researched people, mechanics and experts in their fields about the DANGERS of radiation from mobile phones, smart-meters, telephone masts etc. These people have spent decades of their lives committed to research and have compiled credible studies to CONFIRM the notion that these things are in-fact dangerous. It annoys me when topics like this are brushed aside as 'tin-foil hat brigade stuff'

Everyone is affected differently; some people are asymptomatic, some people are highly electromagnetically sensitive.

We don't need 'smart' anything.
We should adopt a more low-tech approach to life.

Of course there are dangers, that is why there are regulations to control most of these things to safe levels.

In most cases there is far more danger from the sun's radiation but its something we largely chose to ignore in this country.

Also never forget that it is in the financial interest of "professionals" to make money out of their knowledge/studies/reports, it is often what they don't say that is more important than what they do say.

If someone says that 20 people a year are likely to die because of a mobile phone mast it is meaningless, is this nationally or world-wide, is this through radiation, crashing into a mast, the mast falling or even a worker constructing the mast falling etc etc. The scope of the imparted information is often very cleverly engineered.

I would love to see a reference to a meaningful study on the dangers of radiation from a smart meter.

The World is not perfect so we have to make informed decisions as to how best to function.

I would rather live here with technology than in a Third World Country where people die in the villages due to bacterial infection,Malaria and complications of childbirth,whilst those in the cities of Aids or air pollution.Most die before age fifty with thirty eight years an average life span.

Your views from a different position are true, Pax. I tend to agree, although this report linked to the study, would indicate as Davidwlinski states,i.e there is evidence of brain tumours related to mobile phones and cordless phones.

An neighbour of mine was in research with BT and he would not allow his family to use the mobile phones for calls. Texts were ok. That was about 12 years ago and I know things change but this report is more recent and it is the children who are a concern in such matters.

http://www.saferemr.com/2015/05/brain-tumor-rates-are-rising-in-us-role.html

Cancer Research UK's statement is interesting (and the opposite of what I expected), they find no correlation between mobile phones and brain tumours from looking at a number of studies.

SOURCE