If you live in the Nelson or Tasman area served by lines company Network Tasman, you may have read the following statement on the company’s website:
“The requirement for meter replacement is regulated by the NZ Government and must be completed nationally by 2015”
This statement was at the following link http://www.networktasman.co.nz/Main.asp?ID=17 (at the time of writing this post) but an email from company representative Andrew Stanton sent on Monday May 19 stated that the website is going to be updated, so the link above no longer includes the wording.
However, I took a screenshot of the part of the website that contains the statement “The requirement for meter replacement is regulated by the NZ Government and must be completed nationally by 2015” and you can see it at this link:
The original statement on Network Tasman Ltd’s website gave the impression that the government regulations mean that existing analogue meters (also known as electromechanical meters or Ferraris meters) have to be replaced with “smart meters”.
However, according to the Electricity Authority, there is no government requirement for existing analogue to be replaced with “smart meters”. The Electricity Authority requires that electricity meters be “re-certified” by April 2015. (See this link for a discussion of this issue https://stopsmartmeters.org.nz/uncategorized/is-it-compulsory-to-have-a-smart-meter/. )
As far as I am aware, there is no reason why lines companies cannot re-certify existing analogue meters that are in good working order (or install brand new, appropriately certified analogue meters for those homes/businesses where an analogue meter has reached the end of its useful life.
New analogue meters are considerably cheaper than new “smart meters”. Analogue meters also have the advantage that they can not produce any “dirty electricity”. (Any meter with electronic components – even a “smart meter” which has had its transmission chip – also known as a modem – removed so that it does not produce microwave radiation – will probably contain a “switch mode” power supply and thus may produce “dirty electricity”. )
Some people who are sensitive to electromagnetic radiation (EMR) react adversely to “dirty electricity”. There is also research linking “dirty electricity” to cancer. (For more information about “dirty electricity” please see this link www.stopsmartmeters.org.nz/health-issues/)
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