The Saga of the Smart Power Meter

A few years ago, the Victorian government launched a program to try to replace all the state's “dumb” power meters – the ones that an actual person needs to visit every three months to record manually how much power has been used – with smart meters, that can transmit usage information near-instantaneously. When I moved into this flat in 2015, I was confused as to why every single other unit had had its meter upgraded to a smart one, while mine alone still had the traditional dumb meter. I wanted to be able to keep a close eye on my power usage so I could see, for example, which appliances/heaters/etc. were wasting power and thus worth replacing, and so I could also be stingier with my power usage if I noticed I was cruising towards a larger bill than I wanted. But because I was stuck with the dumb meter, the only way to keep an eye on this was to actually go to the meter (which was located inside the carport of a different unit, btw) and check the readings myself.

By the end of 2016, the Victorian government was proudly declaring that “All households* in the state are now equipped with smart power meters!” and I still didn't have one. (The asterisk basically led to a clarification that went, “All households except the ones where upgrading the meter was a bit difficult.”) Anyway, a few months ago I found my energy retailer (a different privatised company from my energy supplier) had a form on their site where you could ask to have your dumb meter upgraded, so foolish me, I thought I'd submit that form.

( The bureaucratic saga continues under the cut. )