Want strangers to know you're away? Have a smart meter

Our trials and tribulations with Eon over our non-functioning, not so Smart Meter were recorded in a May IDGOM.
Well, late last month a very nice engineer arrived to have a look at the offending object. Within the hour he had removed the meter from the wall in the garage, installed a new “old” meter and taken away the display unit.
He said I would now have to give meter readings online every quarter. Something I had been doing since Eon went online in the last century.
It seems that some areas do not have a good enough mobile phone signal to allow the smart part of the meter to do an ET and call home.
When I first enquired about having a smart meter installed I mentioned the poor mobile phone signal in our area. No problem, Eon said, and the new meter was fitted in June 2015.
Muppets.
A word of caution if you have a smart meter that works. Did you realise that you are, in effect, letting a third party know whenever you are on holiday or even away for a weekend. The smart meter sends readings back to base every 30 minutes. And I would guess you don’t use as much electricity if you are not at home. Just saying.

Thank you, my dear reader. Another £0.35 towards future care home fees.

Poor old Wayne Rooney – having to take such a heavy hit in his family’s income. His £160,000-a-week deal at new club Everton is just over half his Man. United wages. I look forward to seeing the long-lens shots of Colleen at the local food bank in due course.

STOP PRESS: Car hire firm employee spots minor scuff

My piece at the end of June about hire car company scams has elicited a response from my reader. He writes:

“That’s interesting in that we hired a minibus from Europcar over Easter. Main problem was that it was not what we ordered.
“However, when we got back they claimed that there was a minor scuff on a side door panel which was minute and could have been there when we took it, as it was odd how the man spotted it so quickly.
“That cost me nearly £250! Unfair as firstly they were never going to repair it and secondly it probably would have disappeared with rubbing compound.
“Don’t think I would use them again.”

Back in March I told my reader that I had calls from a “company” on numerous occasions which consisted of a pre-recorded message from a fellow in a fairly clipped English accent who excitedly told me I was eligible for a new, free gas boiler paid for by the Government.
If I would like to discuss this, press “2”. If I would like to cancel future calls from the company, press “9”. Yeah, right.
Good news - they stopped at the end of May. It may be a coincidence but I reported every one of the 25 calls received to the Information Commissioners Office (ICO).
Bad news – a new version of this unsolicited and unwanted verbal spam started this month.
This time with a real person on the line, a woman with a Scottish accent who said we could be entitled to a Government grant for a new boiler if ours was more than five years old. When asked who she was calling from, she mumbled something unintelligible.
I have reported the call to ICO – and would suggest you do the same.
Call 0303 123 1113 or look them up online at ico.org.uk and report the call.