On 01/11/10 09:16, Mark wrote:
On Sun, 31 Oct 2010 08:53:10 +0000, Chris J
wrote:

Andrew Gabriel wrote:

They have the ability to remote disconnect you without any visit.
Some people might regard that as a disadvantage.

Are you sure that these meters have that capability?

All the information states that there will be two-way communication
between the utility company and the meter. Nowhere, in their
marketing leaflets, do they suggest a use for communication from
company to meter only the other way. So what use could they put
it???

I already indicated why they need two way comms.

From another post:-

The same meters can be used for pre-pay or post-pay billing. For pre-pay
billing, the customer can pay on the web, over the phone or at a Paypoint
location and the account is automatically topped up a bit like a mobile phone
topup account. The credits are added to the meter over the GPRS interface and
you can see on the meter how much credit you have remaining. If you switch
between pre-pay and post-pay a signal is sent over the air to the meter and
it alters its behaviour accordingly.