Man padlocks electricity meter refusing to upgrade

A local Long Jetty man, Peter Knight, claims he will not be bullied into having his electricity credit meter changed. He has gone to the extent of padlocking his meter in an attempt to resist a new electricity meter installation by the Ausgrid technicians. 

Fashion importer and wholesaler, Mr Knight said, “Bring it on, I will be ready. This is the worse case of corporate bullying that I have experienced for years and I will not be backing down.” Customers under current laws are required during reasonable daylight hours to allow Ausgrid technicians access to their premises. Mr Knight is particularly angry over the incident, when he contacted Ausgrid he was not given a reasonable answer as to why his meter was being upgraded and informed that they would be coming anyway. He believes that he and his wife have been targeted due to their relatively low electricity bills. "We have always paid our bill on time and like to conserve energy when we can. I guess we've been singled out because we are more economical with our energy usage and Ausgrid feel our meter is tampered or broken", Mr Knight said.

Ausgrid said its part of a routine replacement program which sees roughly 15,000 electricity credit meters upgraded every year due to their age or condition and it is through this program that the meter is to be replaced on Mr Knight's Long Jetty property.

An Ausgrid spokesperson said, "Mr Knight's existing meter is at the end of its serviceable life. We are not upgrading it with a so-called 'smart meter' but instead a standard interval meter. This will not affect the billing arrangement or tariff and will still be read manually."

The new, advanced meters record how much electricity you use in 30-minute intervals, which provides more detailed information on the customer's energy use and the opportunity for new pricing plans to help reduce your demand for electricity during peak times.

Ausgrid said the overall installation of these new meters is separate from the controversial mandatory rollout of "smart meters" which was seen recently in Victoria - promoted as an aid to reducing electricity use during peak periods.