Bombarded by smart meter bullies
Pestered with calls and texts. Appointments made without asking. Threatened with bailiffs. Our readers have been...
HOUSEHOLDS are being badgered into getting a smart meter even after they have refused one, Money Mail can reveal.
Following our three-page smart meter investigation last week, readers have complained that they are being bombarded with calls, emails, letters and texts.
Some say they feel harassed after being sent unasked-for installation appointments, which they then struggle to cancel.
In one shocking case an SSE customer was threatened with bailiffs and incorrectly told the meters were a ‘legal requirement’.
Our Stop The Smart Meter Bullying campaign, launched earlier this year, called on energy regulator Ofgem to set strict rules on marketing to stamp out such tactics. But energy firms are still aggressively pushing the new meters on customers.
Ofgem has told firms they can ‘re-contact’ households which have previously refused one in case they have changed their mind.
It means suppliers are allowed to press customers who have said no and they continue to book unwanted appointments.
Under a government scheme, suppliers have been ordered to offer all households and small businesses smart meters by 2020. They show customers how much they are spending on energy by the minute and enable suppliers to take readings remotely.
People can refuse to have one installed — many worry about giving energy firms so much data about their power usage.
But if suppliers cannot prove they made every effort to contact households they will be hit with hefty fines.
Former IT professional Brian Steventon says Npower sent him half a dozen emails in less than 12 months to schedule dates to fit a smart meter, as well as calling him.
Brian, 70, who lives with his wife in Wombourne, Staffordshire, said he tried to ignore the approaches, but when they did not stop, he emailed Npower to insist he did not want a new meter. But they still phoned him.
Contact only stopped after he threatened legal action. He says: ‘They make you feel like it’s obligatory.’
MIKE Nellist received about ten letters from Npower in 12 months, telling him it needed to install a smart meter. The retired electrical engineer, 71, got another a letter on Friday telling him Npower would ‘like to’ fit a smart meter on December 17.
The letter instructed him to call or to visit Npower’s website if the date was not convenient.
Mike, who lives with wife Judith, 71, in Hartburn, Stockton-on-Tees, went online and eventually found an option for ‘I don’t want a smart meter’. He was directed to call a number, and failing to get through, he had to write to say he did not want one.
‘I think they deliberately make it difficult for you when you do not want one,’ he says.
Energy suppliers are allowed to schedule these ‘ pre- booked appointments’, an Ofgem spokesman confirmed. ‘However customers can cancel or re-arrange.’
The energy watchdog says that when customers refuse a new meter, it expects suppliers to contact households again after an appropriate period of time.
It is up to the supplier to decide the length of time. Ofgem says, for example, that if an appointment is unsuitable for personal reasons, the customer should be contacted again once it is resolved. However, in an open letter to suppliers earlier this year, Ofgem wrote: ‘Overly repetitive and coercive approaches to consumer engagement, as opposed to innovative and tailored re-contact strategies, can be counterproductive to the successful achievement of the rollout obligations.’
Tessa Wilson, of Broadstairs, Kent, says she was wrongly threatened with bailiffs by an SSE employee, after refusing a smart meter. The retired maths teacher, who lives alone, began receiving calls and letters about having a smart meter in 2016.
‘I would just say I wasn’t interested,’ says Tessa. But in 2017 she says a particularly pushy adviser, told her having a smart meter was a ‘legal requirement’.
She said the caller then said: ‘You don’t want to have the bailiffs come knocking on your door.’
SSE later apologised and reduced her bill by £60.
Ian Lindon, 70, believes that the behaviour of British Gas constitutes harassment.
The retired police superintendent from Bexley, South-east London, has had calls offering a smart meter for four years.
Each time he declines and asks not to be contacted again. Yet in October Ian was told by the energy company engineers would be visiting his road to fit smart meters within a fortnight.
‘I know they are under pressure to roll these out, but it does amount to harassment,’ he says.
Tory MP Grant Shapps says providers have been using ‘ dubious tactics’ from the ‘very outset’.
Steve Playle at the Chartered Trading Standards Institute, says firms could be committing crimes if they use aggressive tactics. But he says energy companies are ‘caught between a rock and hard place’ with the deadline.
Robert Cheesewright, of Smart Energy GB, says: ‘ The smart meter rollout is a crucial upgrade to our creaking energy network.’
However, he adds no one is obliged to have one.
An Npower spokesman says: ‘We’re sorry Brian and Mike felt pressured into a smart meter.
‘We offer customers appointments to have a smart meter installed because our licence obligations require us to “take all reasonable steps” to reach our smart meter targets.’
Npower understands Brian had called to change his first appointment to a more convenient time, adding that customers could refuse smart meters if they wished.
A SSE spokesman says Ms Wilson’s complaint came after a call about replacing her old meter before it became a ‘safety hazard’.
He adds: ‘SSE contacts customers to let them know this is the case and uses this opportunity to introduce customers to smart meters.’
A British Gas spokesman says Mr Lindon was offered a smart meter ‘in case he’d changed his mind, but as he made clear he hasn’t, we’ll now update our records accordingly’.