MSE News: 'Smart Meter' energy roll-out plans unveiled 2 December 2009 at 2:10PM in Energy 59 replies 8.4K views

Former_MSE_Guy

This is the discussion thread for the following MSE News Story:

"Energy suppliers will be responsible for installing "smart meters" for gas and electricity in all homes by 2020 under Government plans published today ..."

Read the full story:
'Smart Meter' energy roll-out plans unveiled

penrhyn

If you want to pre-empt this then you can log your weekly meter readings on iMeasure and track your consumption. Does require a bit of effort on your part mind:rolleyes:.

http://imeasure.org.uk/

barginfinder

they never mention the huge savings to the energy companies, ie the cost of taking meter readings, and they claim the consumer will save money, but we only save money by using less, and thats always been true, the big benefit here is to the energy companies, and the big losers are the meter readers where jobs will be lost. Although overall I agree with the smart meters, the spin being put on this is very misleading

lazydavy

This is going to be a total rip off. Many years ago we had an energy crisis, so bad that people were encouraged to switch off uneccessary lighting heating etc. The masses including me dutifully obeyed, scuttling about in the gloom doing our bit for the country.. Lo and behold the energy companies declared that they needed to increase prices to compensate for their loss of income, and loss of economy of scale in production; deja view is about to strike again. Not only will the price (9 billion quid) be met by the (domestic) consumer, the price will have to rise again and again.

Old indian proverb (told to me by an old indian) First catch your monkey, then nip him till he squeals then nip him a tiny bit more - anyone feel the pinch yet?

IlonaRN

Decc estimates people could save around £28 a year by 2020 on domestic bills as seeing pounds and pence costs will encourage people to use less.

Installing 47 million of the meters in 26 million homes by 2020 will cost between £7 billion and £9 billion, or around £340 per household.

So it will cost us £340 to install, but only save us £28/year if we can cut down as much as they think we will (which won't be possible for everyone). That's more than 12 years for the cost of the meter to be "earnt" back in savings!

jblackmore

IlonaRN wrote: »

So it will cost us £340 to install, but only save us £28/year ...

Another pat on the back from our goverment to the profiteering energy companies !

starsailor123uk

barginfinder wrote: »

they never mention the huge savings to the energy companies, ie the cost of taking meter readings, and they claim the consumer will save money, but we only save money by using less, and thats always been true, the big benefit here is to the energy companies, and the big losers are the meter readers where jobs will be lost. Although overall I agree with the smart meters, the spin being put on this is very misleading

Thats the relevant point. Costs onto the consumer and if you are already energy sensitive then you'll probably not save even £28 (and to save that you may to pay a small fortune as well).

Massive saving for the Energy Companies paid for by you!

The point made in a lot of Press that companies cannot pass on all of the cost due to competition assumes that the energy market is competitive and not as present a Quasi-Cartel!

mick_sturbs

What an absolute waste of time and money.If i need to light and heat my home i use energy and this ridiculous idea does nothing at all to help
It will cost a fortune to install new meters and in time people will take no notice of the monitors.
A plan obviously suggested by the meter manufacturers

rpb

Quite apart from the ridiculous payback time for these meters, there's also no mention of privacy implications - how "smart" are these meters? Do they let suppliers (and hence the thousands of people who work at energy companies) know exactly how much electricity you are using and when? So they can tell when you are boiling your kettle, watching TV, or... *going out*?

Markee

I think everyone has worked out that this is not the energy companies suddenly deciding they want to do us a massive favour and save us money on our bills, get rid of estimated bills and allow us to monitor our energy usage more closely.

Its also not about any kind of commitment to climate change.

It's also not about them spending £340 on a smart meter for us to save £28 per year.

What it is about, and you won't find this publicised anywhere, is that these new smart meters allow the facility for remote disconnection if you don't pay your bill to allow the energy companies to have more control over their cashflow.....

KimYeovil

Markee wrote: »

[...]What it is about, and you won't find this publicised anywhere, is that these new smart meters allow the facility for remote disconnection if you don't pay your bill[...]

This is excellent news and I do hope it is true.