Warning meters in 300,000 homes could stop working

My mother has an all electric retirtement flat with E7 meter worked by a teleswitch as do all the other residents in the block. She has a very poor phone signial and prbaly even worse inside the store cupboard containing the meter and consumer units.

EON are coming to fit a Smart meter this month but ahve been unable to what they will do if the Smart meter does not function.

I have read on line that the Smart meter will still function switching the E7 supply on and off as this is embeded in the meter but we will have to supply monthly meter readings. 

Does anyone know if this is true?

Thanks

JP

My mother has an all electric retirtement flat with E7 meter worked by a teleswitch as do all the other residents in the block. She has a very poor phone signial and prbaly even worse inside the store cupboard containing the meter and consumer units.

EON are coming to fit a Smart meter this month but ahve been unable to what they will do if the Smart meter does not function.

I have read on line that the Smart meter will still function switching the E7 supply on and off as this is embeded in the meter but we will have to supply monthly meter readings. 

Does anyone know if this is true?

Thanks

JP

I moved my dad into a sheltered housing flat and his electric meter was in the lift plant room, I had a conversation with his supplier and they said the Smart meter almost certainly would not work in close proximity to other Smart meters and the lift motor, apparently they had tried it in similar situations and the meters didn’t work, so they noted the possible issues and said they would not bother trying to fit one.

Then after a couple of years they started calling again to try and fit one, I phoned and explained the situation and told them if they wanted to try fitting one they were welcome to do so, I told them there was a manager on site from 9 to 5, so they could attend any weekday and fit the meter.

The supplier then said I would have to take time off work to attend and organise it, I said that they were just as capable as speaking to the manager and my dad as I was and I was not having time off work.

The Smart meter still had not been installed a couple of years later when I moved my dad into a care home.

There are alternative methods of getting a signal.  Such as fitting an external antenna and configuring the meters in a mesh network.  But that requires the electricity companies to be organised enough to do it.