The Smart Meter

When the first wave of smart meter conversions was occurring, the guy came to the door to do the work but took one look at our meter box and quickly retreated, telling us that it "was full of asbestos".   He was obviously a casual contractor but nevertheless in the months since then I have wondered what I ought to be doing.  My mind even turned to the possibility of Citipower arriving and demanding that I pay for the meterbox to be fixed so that they could have a "safe place of work".

That was some months ago.   Recently there was another ring of the door bell, and a man who identified himself as a Citipower person - which was certainly consistent with his uniform and equipment, and the van outside the gate - informed me that he was here to install our smart meter.   What about the asbestos, I asked?   The reply was to the effect, "Not a problem, I know how to handle that".  15 minutes later, the power was restored and the little red light on the new smart meter was flashing!

True, he said that there was asbestos there, and part of it wasn't in the best condition, so "one of these days" it ought to be dealt with - but for the time being, keep the door of the meter box closed.  Given that it is now no longer necessary for the meter reader person to open it, that shouldn't be a problem.