I have looked into it. Smart meters dont work in our apartment block. The management company only have access too the meters anyway so I cant access them (or provide energy privider access too them)
You have a legal right to free access to your energy meters as does your provider/Supplier the buildings operator cannot withhold that right from either of you, the DNO can demand access at a moments notice and have the legal right to force entry to do so if required. Just Smart wont work in your block does not mean you cannot have a SM installed, my Employer does this constantly.
Smart metering is not just about the "upgrade to a smarter network" its also about understanding what's installed and where.
Historically electric meter information has been very poor, to the point my employer has 50k meter points with meter assets that are in an unknown state, i.e. no knowledge of the state of decay the meter is in. What this means is the meter is most commonly out of certification (on our books our oldest uncertified known meter is from 1942) by a significant margin. The Government in 2006 brought in a system called MID
info here Measuring Instruments Directive, this stipulates that all meters (Elec and Gas) for domestic properties have to meet a set level of standards, This is a good thing for providers and consumers alike. it means that if every property in the UK has a MID meter everyone is billed in the same way (in Kwh and m3) rather than the4 different versions of measurements that exist today.
Nothing was really done in 2006 about getting MID meters into homes, as the governing bodies then knew smart was on the horizon for domestic customers, my employer trialled the first electric smart meters in 2005. in 2016 with the official Smart implementation was launched at the G20 summit to bring the UK in line with the promises to reduce our carbon footprint, the onus was put on suppliers to change meters (as the meter is owned by your Supplier). A lot happened in the following few years and then the SMETS2 DCC Smart Meter organisation was born out of the ashes of a failed smart launch (why? because smart is expensive for retail/domestic customers and suppliers didnt want to foot the bill for running the infrastructure when a customer could move to a different supplier when contract ends)
All hail the DCC and Smart Metering! well actually suppliers are still footing the bill but now its a bill paid to a government entity that screws up more than if fixes!
Essentially People keep holding on to OLD metering systems because they just work (well 99% of the time they do). Should you replace an old meter 100% YES our compliance team test every meter that gets replaced and every single one is over or under reporting usage, just because the dial keeps spinning does not mean its spinning correctly!