Agder Energi Nett AS has won a court case against two of its own customers. They did not want to have the company’s new electricity meters installed in their houses.
Digital electricity meters have become common in Norwegian homes in recent years. Photo: Paul Kleiven / NTB
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One customer had a doctor’s certificate stating that he would not have to have an automatic electricity meter in his house. This was for the sake of the man’s psyche because he feared that he could be monitored. The other customer feared the same, but the person in question had no doctor’s certificate for poor mental health, writes Agderposten.
However, both customers lost the case against Agder Energi Nett AS. The customers lost on different grounds, which says something about the regulations surrounding the new AMS meters (automatic and digital electricity meter) that the power suppliers are now required to install in all Norwegian homes.
Can drop automatic AMS meter
If you have a doctor’s certificate that for various psychological or physical reasons you cannot have an automatic AMS meter in your house, you can be exempted.
When the first customer also objected to having a manual AMS meter installed in his house, according to a judgment from the Agder district court, he went too far. Even without automatic power measurement, the new meters have such clear advantages, according to the judgement, that Agder Energi Nett AS must be allowed to install them.
Other customers did not have a certificate
The other customer, on the other hand, did not have a doctor’s certificate that he feared the meter could be used to monitor him. Then, according to the Agder district court, he had no legal right to object to Agder Energi Nett AS being able to install an automatic meter in his house.
Unlike the first customer, who is required to have a manual AMS meter installed in their house, this second customer must accept an automatic AMS meter.
Electricity customers have been given one month to decide whether to appeal the judgment in the Agder District Court.
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