Heartwarming tale from Australia where an old man and his pets see off the evil trespassers wanting to install smart metering. The happiest part of this story of one man against the world is his choice of tie and baseball hat for his big picture in the papers.

A RINGWOOD pensioner has used his dogs to stop a new electricity smart meter being installed at his house.

Stephen Raskovy refused to allow an installer on his property when they came to his house in January.

Mr Raskovy said he believed the meter would be installed in February after receiving a notice from the electricity company in December.

On January 4, an installer arrived at his home but wouldn’t come onto the property until Mr Raskovy secured his two dogs.

Mr Raskovy refused to secure the dogs and the installer left.

“I told him no, because the smart meters weren’t asked for,” Mr Raskovy said. “We didn’t ask for them. In my opinion, they are not necessary and they (the power companies) want to install them, but they want us to pay for it.”

Since then, Mr Raskovy has put a warning sign on a tree outside his house, saying, “Smart meters not wanted.”

Electricity distributor SP Ausnet spokesman Joe Adamo said the company recently had installed smart meters across Maroondah.

He said customers were sent two letters before installations began and could call to discuss any issues they had.

“There have only been a small number of unhappy customers encountered by our installers,” Mr Adamo said.

“This is a Government-mandated program, and simple opposition to having a smart meter installed is not grounds for removal from the rollout.”

Mr Raskovy said he did not believe the community had been consulted over the meters.

“They gave us no reason as to what benefit it will be to me and other customers,” he said. “It’s a decision the power supply company made and there is no community consultation, no customer consultation.”

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