Smart meters not so smart
LINDEN- Yet another smart meter problem arises as three households are charged from one electricity meter.
Smart meters that recently rolled out in Linden appear not to work efficiently.
Numerous incidents arose from incorrect installations were residents lives were endangered to incorrect billings and now Dennis Cooke and other Linden residents are expected to pay from one bill.
“Until two weeks ago each property had its own electricity meter and we could charge individually for electricity used, City Power installed a smart meter now we have one meter for the three properties on our stand,” says Cooke.
This means that these three properties now use one meter and will receive one bill.
“After numerous phone calls to City Power and Edison Power Group which is contracted to install the meters nobody can tell me how we can separate the accounts,” adds Cooke.
“In desperation I called in an electrician and was advised that we would now have to install at our own cost individual meters for each property on the rear end of the smart meter. Strange, that is what we had in the first place. We paid our account on time so I do not understand the problem,” he says.
This defeats what City Power claims is the purpose of smart meters.
According to ward 99 councillor Bruce Herbert in an interview earlier this year, the main purpose of smart meters is to ensure that residents are charged for what they use. You use less electricity you pay less.
City Power has enabled the remote reading of exact electricity consumption in real-time, says City Power spokesperson Sol Masolo. “Customers benefit as the technology enables the city to relay critical information to their houses and access factual information regarding their billing. They will be able to perform independent monthly bill reconciliations and validations, to proactively manage spending on electricity throughout the month.”
How then is this possible when three households have one metre? How are they expected to know their usage?
City Power is looking into the matter and has requested Cooke and the other residents to send the individual meter numbers they had prior smart meter installations. Bruce Herbert says he will also look into the matter. We will inform you with further details as the story progresses.
More smart meter mishaps here- Man loses piece of toe to smart meter electric shock
