WHAT ABOUT THE DIGITAL ELECTRICITY AND/OR GAS METERS IN FLANDERS?
- WWHISPER
- Apr 29, 2023
- 4 min read
There has been a lot of talk lately about digital electric and/or gas meters in Flanders. According to statements by Fluvius, some 3,600 Flemish people have already received a notice of default for refusing to install a digital meter, and 250 files have reportedly already been transferred to its legal department Forty Flemish households will reportedly soon have to expect a fine of €273.83.
Fluvius is replacing conventional meters by digital meters in all Flemish households. It is working street by street, district by district, municipality by municipality. According to Fluvius, 80% of households will have a digital meter by 2024 and 100% by 2029. Whether this plan is realistic remains to be seen as Fluvius states on its own website that following the Constitutional Court ruling, it does not install digital meters in residences of owners of solar panels which have been commissioned before 2021. However, owners with solar panels, older than 15 years or commissioned as from 2021, digital meters are being installed.
If you have not yet received a letter, you can use this link to look up when Fluvius plans to replace your meter.
What exactly is the situation ? Can you refuse a digital meter?
No, you cannot. You can only drag things as long as possible and formulate some claims.
You are not obliged to grant Fluvius, its appointees or any other provider access to your home. If you grant access and allow work to be carried out, this is done on a voluntary basis and you will have no recourse since you have given your consent.
So what is possible?
1) You can demand a wired version ( instead of Wifi ). Fluvius must then have cables pulled to your home at its own expense and cannot recover the costs from you. Your share of the costs is limited to the part that runs from the outside of your home to the meter. This cost can be recovered because it's in the part of your private property. This investment certainly pays off for your health and that of your family because you will save on Wi-Fi nuisance.
If Fluvius refuses a wired version, it is the one who is at fault, not you, and may not fine you nor force you to agree to a wifi version.
2) you can also demand that Fluvius produces an inspection certificate and insurance certificate of the digital meter in whole and in parts it wants you to install. The meter which is installed is not yours but remains its property. If a fire should ever break out in your home due, for example, to a short circuit or any other defect in the meter, Fluvius will be liable. It must thus take out insurance to cover this liability.
If Fluvius refuses to take out an insurance policy covering you against certain risks or refuses to submit the policy, it is the one that is in default and may not impose a fine or demand that you nevertheless have a digital meter installed.
Important to remember :
Electricity and/or gas supply is a basic right in homes that are occupied. Fluvius may not put you without electricity. It may also not disconnect your analogue meter if you refuse a digital meter.
Moreover, to disconnect your analogue meter, it must be able to give itself access to your home. If, notwithstanding one or more fines ( which you may dispute ), you continue to refuse to do so, there remains only one option and that is to initiate court proceedings in order to hear you ordered to provide access to your home to disconnect and dismantle the analogue meter owned by her and replace it with a digital meter. Fluvius is not allowed to provide itselef access to your home nor call the police ( who, by the way, have no jurisdiction in civil matters ).
Apart from the fact that this kind of procedures will take quite some time ( or at least with all those who resist ), it is far from a foregone conclusion what sovereign judges will decide. It is not because the Council of State and the Constitutional Court have ruled that the installation of a digital meter is permissible that ordinary courts - which rule on a case-by-case basis - will rule along the same lines.
The fact that currently some 3,600 Flemish households continue to categorically refuse a digital meter is not a good thing for Fluvius but quite good for the Flemish people themselves. If even more households refuse in the future, it will be faced with an ever-increasing problem because how do you explain such strong opposition to something that Fluvius says is good and safe ?
Will Fluvius sue every citizen who persistently refuses and risk becoming embroiled in complex procedures for many years, or will it eventually relax its regulations and leave citizens the choice ? After all, there is nothing wrong with the analogue meter. The claimed advantages of the digital meter ( real-time consultation of your own consumption, exactly how much and when the peak consumption is, automatic forwarding of meter readings and the communication of your digital meter with other "smart devices" including your digital water meter, which is also on the way ) do not outweigh the disadvantages ( total control, invasion of your privacy and wifi overload, which also causes extra consumption even if all your other appliances, lights and electrical devices are off, because of course the meter itself consumes and so do all the other smart devices in your home ).
Do you disagree with the installation of a digital meter ? Then keep contesting and resisting in writing. No writs have been served yet and therefore no judgements are known. The first judgments will set precedents. You will be able to take advantage of that case law whether it is uniform or non-uniform. The last word has certainly not yet been said.
