EDF Energy workers carrying out Smart meter installations are set to strike for a week in a dispute that could see them collecting their Smart meters from supermarkets and petrol stations.

About 70 staff, members of Unite, the country’s largest union, are due to strike from 00.01 Monday (19 October) until 23.59 on Friday (23 October).

EDF Energy wants to close the Bangor Wharf depot in east London, as a prelude to closing all depots with the aim, says the union, of meter staff collecting their equipment from special lockers at supermarkets and petrol stations.

Unite regional officer Onay Kasab said: “Collecting meters from supermarkets and petrol stations is not a smart move. It will destroy the team working ethos where colleagues come into a depot to share problems and learn from each other. It will be the end of co-working.

“There are a raft of other reasons for this dispute, including that if the proposals go-ahead some staff could lose up to £6,000-a-year.

Unite members had voted by a margin of 85% for strike action and 92% were in favour of industrial action short of a strike.