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Smart Meters: are they reliable and safe?

  • 12 September 2022
  • 3 replies
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Good evening.  Re Smart Meters.  I understand the theory behind them - and the “target date legislation”, but how problem free are they?

 

I hear & read about a lot of issues e.g. long commissioning times, incorrect readings, only reading gas or electricity and not both, incorrect billing…

 

So how reliable are these things?

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Best answer by Blastoise186 22 September 2022, 22:15

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Long story short, usually very, very reliable.

I’m currently in the home-buying process, and some of the homes I’m looking at have Smart Meters installed. Thankfully, I live somewhere where we can easily opt-out and have an Analogue Meter installed by the utility company, so making that modification would not be too difficult. However, I’m concerned about my house’s close proximity to other neighboring houses that DO have smart meters installed in them.

My question is, could my neighbor’s smart meter setups still affect me in my house? If so, what general distance would you need to be away from a neighboring one, in order to keep a low level of EMF in the house? Also, could some of their smart meter electricity “cross over” into my lines and give me some unwanted EMF in my home? Or do I not need to consider any of that, and if I simply replace my smart with analogue, I am good to go?

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Hi @Analogue ,

What country are you in please? I get the feeling you’re not in the UK, but this info is mostly relevant to the UK.

Firstly, if Smart Meters are already fitted, you cannot opt-out and downgrade as you’re committed to keeping them. The meters remain property of the supplier and you have no say as to what gets installed. The only opt-out available is if Smart Meters haven’t yet been fitted.

EMF emissions are minimal from Smart Meters and you have nothing to fear either way. I literally run overpowered Wi-Fi, have a Smart Meter, two In-Home Displays and live in a flat with tons of EMF flying around. I’ve suffered absolutely no ill effects whatsoever.

Specifically, my most powerful access point is my Ubiquiti UniFi 6 U6-LR which blasts over half the building I live in (in every direction imaginable!) and I have a UniFi nanoHD in my bedroom more or less right above my bed. Combine that with a UniFi AC-Lite in my hallway and a UniFi Dream Machine in my lounge (where my U6-LR also lives) and I’ve got literally tons of the stuff flying around. :D All my kit and my Smart Meter fall well within safe limits for EMF activity.

Given that ALL electrical and electronic items give off EMF anyway, the only way to never get exposed to any of it at all is to shut down your entire electricity supply and move to Timbuktu. And even then, you’ll still have background EMF from natural sources. Or even if you move to the North Pole, you’ll be exposed to EMF from natural sources.

Long story short, you CANNOT escape EMF anyway so don’t try and hide from it. Smart Meters are not your enemy here - the planet is!

You WILL be exposed to EMF regardless of whether you have a Smart Meter or not and even if NONE of your neighbours have a Smart Meter.

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