What you may not know about smart meters – those electronic gismos that the gas and electric companies are surprisingly keen to fit in your home for free – is that they don’t just let the supply company know what you’ve spent, without the need to send out a paid-for human to read your meter. They also let the supply company turn off your supply, or convert it to more expensive pay-as-you-go use, all at the flick of a switch from a warm, comfy office in the company HQ.
No need for court orders, break-ins and bailiffs and bad press headlines.
What puzzled me was that although the Advertising Standards Authority does a generally good job over protecting us from misleading adverts (cure cancer, lose weight, drink and smoke to get healthy etc.) the ASA seemed suprisingly sanguine about some of the adverts for smart meters that promoted home smartness as somehow making it easier for the UK to use renewable energy, such as solar and wind.
So I lodged some complaints with the ASA and asked the ASA some questions. Getting clear answers proved remarkably difficult. I can well understand why others may not have persisted. So I recounted my experience in an article for Practical Electronics. With PE’s kind permission you’ll find it here…….
In November 2021 I complained to the ASA about adverts (e.g. Evening Standard 15 November 2021) which trumpeted that “More wind power is a smart thing. Smart meters are helping modernise Britain’s energy system, so it can use more renewables and solar power”.
I baulked at the “so it can use” claim.
How does the use of smart meters in homes enable wind turbines and solar farms? Smart meters enable the energy companies to save money on human meter-readers, and remotely disconnect supplies. Without evidence or explanation, “so it can use” seems a non-sequitur.
The ASA acknowledged receipt of my complaint but then fell silent. This is because the ASA has recently convenienced itself by changing its complaint-handling procedure. Anyone complaining about an advert now gets a standard form acknowledgement but hears nothing further unless the ASA decides to follow through on the complaint. So the complainant is left dangling with no information on whether or not their complaint is being followed through, and if not, why not. There is no guidance given on how long a silence signals a considered decision not to act.
The ASA acknowledged, way back then, that my “suggestion that we should indicate a likely time frame within our acknowledgement email is something that struck a chord immediately and we will look to implement something like this”
“It’s a very helpful suggestion, thank you,” said a senior spokeswoman.
But the last time I looked, the ASA system was still leaving complainants dangling.
When I pushed the ASA hard on the lack of action on my smart meter complaint, a senior ASA spokesman explained that it “raised an issue we have already considered, and therefore did not need to pursue further.”
“The ASA has previously investigated environmental claims by Smart Energy GB” the ASA spokesman explained and pointed to a ruling from September 2019:
https://www.asa.org.uk/rulings/smart-metering-communications-body-ltd-G19-1018548.html
This said: “The ASA Council considered evidence supplied by the advertiser and understood that the data captured and reported by smart meters was intended to help the national grid to anticipate demand and plan energy provision more effectively, with less reliance on fossil fuels. It therefore concluded that the ads did not break the rules“.
In early 2022 I reminded the ASA that adverts from Smart Energy GB (Evening Standard 24 January 2022) were still conflating the fitting of smart home meters with renewable energy sourcing. I predicted that the burgeoning energy crisis and likely rash of remote cut-offs could trigger questions on the ASA’s failure to curb the questionable claims.
On the face of things the ASA is not acting on new complaints about smart meter adverts, because it has previously considered and allowed previous adverts. But the older adverts were far more cautiously worded than the new adverts. And it is devilishly hard to decode the ASA’s policy on this.
Chief Executive Guy Parker points to one ruling, while an ASA spokesman points to different ruling.
Guy Parker cites a March 2019 ruling on smart meters as “partly upholding against Smart Energy GB.”
https://www.asa.org.uk/rulings/smart-metering-communications-body-ltd-a18-457472.html
This ruling flowed from adverts run in mid-2018. Fourteen people objected to claims that installing gas and electric smart meters in homes saved energy nationwide because people immediately saw how much they were spending.
Few people with a meter would argue with this. The meter readout shows red as an oven gets hot, a kettle boils or room heater heats. So the householder becomes more careful.
What the ASA didn’t like was a suggestion that the meter itself was saving energy, and the complaint was party upheld. But there had been no attempt at linking meters with wind or solar power. So the March 2019 ruling seems a red herring.
Separately, an official spokesman for ASA points to a ruling from September 2019 which condoned adverts run in April 2019 that tied meters to cleaner air. But these adverts included a very significant qualification: “Smart meters can’t solve climate change on their own, but with the smarter, more energy efficient grid they help to create, they’re a start”. So the complaint was not upheld.
https://www.asa.org.uk/rulings/smart-metering-communications-body-ltd-G19-1018548.html
I have struggled to find similar acknowledgments in more recent adverts which the ASA hasn’t investigated. A senior ASA spokeswoman says it “was not a requirement, as a result of the previous investigation….to include this as qualifying information in their ads”.
Which could perhaps explain why such honest qualification does not appear in more recent promotions for smart meters.
More heavy pushing led the ASA to confirm that since 2014, it has received a total of 180 complaints relating to 21 discrete cases which relate to the role of smart energy meters in the supply of renewable energy. Only one (the one from September 2019 which contained the frank admission that “Smart meters can’t solve climate change on their own, but with the smarter, more energy efficient grid they help to create, they’re a start”) was considered to be suitable for formal investigation and “not upheld”
“Other cases” says the ASA “were either informally resolved, not investigated after initial assessment because they did not raise any actionable issues or were out of the ASAs remit.”
Presumably mine fell into this blackish hole.
For completeness I have also several times asked the ASA whether the Mark Lund named as Chairman of Smart Energy GB (the company behind the smart meter adverts) was the same Mark Lund named as Chairman of the ASA’s funding body ASBOF (The Advertising Standards Board of Finance). I made and make no suggestion of any wrong-doing, just want to get the optics clear and facts straight.
ASA Chief Executive Guy Parker has now clarified the optics on Mark Lund’s dual role: “Mark chairs ASBOF and BASBOF (The Broadcast Advertising Standards Board of Finance) our funding boards. The ASA operates independently and at arms’ length from ASBOF and BASBOF which are responsible for collecting the industry levy/fees from advertisers, online platforms, etc. …neither Mark nor any other Board members of ASBOF and BASBOF play any role in the ASA’s decision-making when it comes to apply(ing) the UK Advertising Codes.”
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