Smart meters in the tory manifesto!!

misterbarlow
misterbarlow Posts: 466 Forumite
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in Energy
Just came across these few articles on Smart...
plenty others out there i'm sure..

https://www.lightbluetouchpaper.org/2017/05/19/manifestos-and-tech/
The papers went to town yesterday on the Conservative manifesto but missed some interesting bits.

First, no-one seems to have noticed that the smart meter programme is being quietly put to death.

We read on page 60 that everyone will be offered a smart meter by 2020. So a mandatory national programme has become voluntary, just like that.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/consumer-affairs/no-ones-noticed-tories-quietly-killing-smart-meter-revolution/
It’s lurking on page 60 of the Conservative offering: “everyone will be offered a smart meter by 2020”.

If you blinked, you missed it. A national programme committed to install meters in 80pc of homes by 2020 has just become voluntary.

http://home.bt.com/lifestyle/money/mortgages-bills/conservatives-wont-make-smart-energy-meters-compulsory-if-they-retain-power-11364183379379
The installation of smart energy meters in over three-quarters of households by 2020 will be scrapped if the Conservative Party wins the General Election, the party's manifesto says.

It's a policy change that will save £11 billion, but rather than shout about it the Conservatives have buried it in the middle of their massive manifesto document.

Turn to page 60 of the Tory manifesto and you’ll see a fairly innocuous sentence:
“everyone will be offered a smart meter by 2020”.

It may seem like nothing, but that sentence is actually a huge U-turn on a much-hated government policy that has been rattling on for 20 years.


Previous government policy for was to commit to 80% of homes and business to "have" them by 2020, now they will just have to be "offered" to everyone by 2020...

There were huge financial penalties waiting for suppliers to not meet the 80% target, which is why they have all been recruiting staff like crazy, looks like this looming penalty will now be relaxed then, and many will stop pushing so hard to get them in??
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Comments

  • molerat
    molerat Posts: 31,802 Forumite
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    http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?p=72593737#post72593737 ;)
  • Blackbeard_of_Perranporth
    Blackbeard_of_Perranporth Posts: 7,605 Forumite
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    Good riddance to them!
  • EachPenny
    EachPenny Posts: 12,239 Forumite
    First Post Combo Breaker
    I'm now having to sit through TV adverts telling me to contact my supplier to get my smart meter fitted... no mention in the advert about them being optional, nor that the meter will be useless if I later switch supplier.

    Anyone got the email address of the ASA handy? ;)
    "In the future, everyone will be rich for 15 minutes"
  • MeterMan
    MeterMan Posts: 433 Forumite
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    EachPenny wrote: »
    I'm now having to sit through TV adverts telling me to contact my supplier to get my smart meter fitted... no mention in the advert about them being optional, nor that the meter will be useless if I later switch supplier.

    Anyone got the email address of the ASA handy? ;)

    Haven't we been through this already?

    Smart meters have never been mandatory, If I am wrong, then show me where it says that customers will not be able to refuse one fitting.
  • EachPenny
    EachPenny Posts: 12,239 Forumite
    First Post Combo Breaker
    MeterMan wrote: »
    Smart meters have never been mandatory, If I am wrong, then show me where it says that customers will not be able to refuse one fitting.

    I'm not disagreeing with you in my previous post - I'm saying that the advert doesn't make it clear that they are optional, nor the potential issue with switching supplier.

    There was a lack of information about the pros and cons and the implied "you must do this" which many people would understand to be the case from what can easily be mistaken for a public information broadcast.

    Hence my reference was to ASA - not to Ofgem.
    "In the future, everyone will be rich for 15 minutes"
  • poppellerant
    poppellerant Posts: 1,936 Forumite
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    I wonder why some people are so resistant to smart meters? It does make you, or me at least, wonder.
  • EachPenny
    EachPenny Posts: 12,239 Forumite
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    poppellerant wrote: »
    I wonder why some people are so resistant to smart meters? It does make you, or me at least, wonder.

    Personally I can't wait to have one - when they actually work and also offer some financial benefit to me by implementing demand-based pricing of the energy I buy.
    "In the future, everyone will be rich for 15 minutes"
  • molerat
    molerat Posts: 31,802 Forumite
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    poppellerant wrote: »
    I wonder why some people are so resistant to smart meters? It does make you, or me at least, wonder.
    Quite simply because they are not as smart as the adverts would like you to believe.
  • fredandwilma
    fredandwilma Posts: 1,251 Forumite
    Chutzpah Haggler I won, I won, I won! Rampant Recycler Debt-free and Proud!
    EachPenny wrote: »
    I'm now having to sit through TV adverts telling me to contact my supplier to get my smart meter fitted... no mention in the advert about them being optional, nor that the meter will be useless if I later switch supplier.

    Anyone got the email address of the ASA handy? ;)

    https://www.asa.org.uk/

    https://www.asa.org.uk/make-a-complaint.html
    poppellerant wrote: »
    I wonder why some people are so resistant to smart meters? It does make you, or me at least, wonder.
    EachPenny wrote: »
    Personally I can't wait to have one - when they actually work and also offer some financial benefit to me by implementing demand-based pricing of the energy I buy.


    Many people are resistant to change? I far from understand the resistance to smart meters. At least it provides an ongoing topic to complain about?

    As a smart meter user myself for 5 years, I'm well aware of the 'pitfalls' of the system. However, I'm perfectly happy with the system, It has been excellent and i haven't had one complaint with my system in all that time, (providing i stay with my energy supplier).

    Do i care it's costing the industry money as a whole? No. If I'm paying for it, I'm making use of available technology as far as I'm concerned, (within it's limitations).
    Fred - Where's your get up and go?

    Barney - It just got up and went.


    Carpe diem
  • poppellerant
    poppellerant Posts: 1,936 Forumite
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    Perhaps I should mention that I already have a smart meter installed. I admit I had a little trouble initially, but all is well now.
    molerat wrote: »
    Quite simply because they are not as smart as the adverts would like you to believe.
    They take readings and send them off to the provider on a regular basis. If you have an IHD, they are capable of showing your current usage and the past.

    I admit they are limited as in not being able to show you your electric or gas reading on the IHD. Even for myself, this would save accessing my meters which aren't really in a convenient place (but whose meters are?). Also perhaps the past usage isn't as detailed as it a could be, for example not being to zoom in on specific days.

    One other glitch I can think of is often not being able to carry the smart functionallity of the meter across providers. For example, I switched from OVO to Iresa and now I have to submit my own readings. But I even did this with OVO, as I wanted visual confirmation of the readings rather than their word for it.

    But is any of the above really enough to stop me having a smart meter installed? No.
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