Upgrading meter to smart meter

Forums › Home Workshop DIY › Upgrading meter to smart meter

turtleattacks

914 posts

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#319727 26-May-2025 15:33

Hi guys,

I’ve moved into a new property with a non-smart meter.

My meter company said that it’ll cost $195 for the upgrade.

Is this right? I thought an upgrade to the smart meter is encouraged?

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wellygary

8312 posts

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#3376939 26-May-2025 15:38

Do you need one for any particular reason?

Hang on until you provider gets tired of paying for a meter reader and pays to change it....

turtleattacks

914 posts

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#3376941 26-May-2025 15:39

Want free power hours for EV.

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timmmay

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#3376996 26-May-2025 15:45

I think mine was free but that was a decade ago. Recently we paid $150 for an import / export meter for solar support.

Linux

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#3377010 26-May-2025 15:53

You don't own the power meter it is property of the power / lines company why would you pay?

snj

185 posts

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#3377012 26-May-2025 15:54

turtleattacks:

Hi guys,

I’ve moved into a new property with a non-smart meter.

My meter company said that it’ll cost $195 for the upgrade.

Is this right? I thought an upgrade to the smart meter is encouraged?

Brand new property? Sounds like the builders just told them to install any type of meter when putting in the power. Power companies were preferring smart meters for obvious reasons, but non-smart meters were always an option for those that refused outright.

If the meter is in compliance/certification and working properly then they generally won't replace it without a fee, at least until they decide they really want to get rid of meter readers.

vexxxboy

4243 posts

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#3377037 26-May-2025 16:20

The power company paid for a smart meter because they didnt use meter readers, switched companies and they only used metre readers to read the meter so didnt need the smart meter , at least i got a smart meter out of it.

Common sense is not as common as you think.

BlargHonk

147 posts

Master Geek

#3377039 26-May-2025 16:28

How old is the meter? You should have a sticker with the certification date on it. They may need to replace it soon anyway if it is an old non-smart one.

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Perkynana

24 posts

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#3377047 26-May-2025 16:38

I have both smart meter for power and last year Watercare (Auckland) installed a smart meter for water….never paid a cent. as someone said earlier its the providers not mine.

The funny thing is the water meter man still checks manually but it pretty cool being able to see your daily water use on the app…if you so desire

michaelmurfy

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#3377089 26-May-2025 19:01

turtleattacks: Want free power hours for EV.

Do work this out because I've got 2 EV's and the free power hours works out more expensive than the Genesis EV plan or other on/off-peak plans. But if you shifted to the Genesis EV plan they'll sort installing the smart meter for you + you get the advantage of the EV Everywhere addon giving you Chargenet charging at the same price as your home plan.

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nova

250 posts

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#3377140 27-May-2025 08:45

If you go here, type in your address, and choose, "Show all connection information", it will give you a ton of data, including the certification expiry date.

https://www.ea.govt.nz/your-power/your-meter/address/

It doesn't seem right that they would charge you to upgrade, but that fee is probably in line with what they would charge to just reconfigure your meter (if for example you wanted to switch to day/night rates). Switching to a different power company is probably the easiest way to get a free upgrade.