Smart Meters - is it true?

DevilsAdvocate1

Had a phone call earlier from someone saying she was from British Gas. She said that my meter is coming to the end of its life and I have to have it replaced with a smart meter. She said it was a legal requirement and I have no choice.

I refused to let her book an appointment and refused to give out any information. Looking on the net, it is a requirement by 2020, but that is 9 years away! It also looks like there are some privacy concerns. On the other hand, they might help me see where I am using energy.

Do I have to have one of these meters now? Can I wait and see what happens for a few years first? Anyone any thoughts on these meters?

Thanks.

spiro

If you meter has reached the end of its certification period then suppliers are legally bound to change them and they can apply for a warrant of entry to do so. You dont get to choose if you have your meter changed now or in 2020.

What 'Privacy issues' do you think exist with these meters?

gjchester

DevilsAdvocate1 wrote: »

. She said it was a legal requirement and I have no choice.

Looking on the net, it is a requirement by 2020, but that is 9 years away!

You may be mixing up two rules.

As Spiro says if the meter need changing then you need to let them in and your legally obligated to do so.

The 2020 date is when all homes should (as it's not clear now if they will) be required to have a smart meter.

You could ask for it to be changed to a non smart meter but it would need probably to be done again before 2020, BG are probably just combining the two visits.

Poppa_G

excuse my ignorance, but what's a smart meter?

brewerdave

Poppa_G wrote: »

excuse my ignorance, but what's a smart meter?

Its a sophisticted device which will actually feedback consumption information to the Utility Co. on a real time basis,allowing accurate billing at all times. There has been speculation that one potential downside is that ( when everyone is switched over) the Utility industry could introduce time based tariffs ie charge more for power in the "popular" times eg 7:00am 0r 6:00pm when millions of kettles and ovens are switched on!!:eek: A bit like the phone cos. with daytime phone rates.

rogerblack

utility_csa wrote: »

The 'smart grid' idea is still years away.

& you may as well have it changed for a smart meter, its going to happen eventually.
I dont understand your privacy concerns, post them up and ill answer them..

Some may not be comfortable with the electricity company knowing what time you get up, when you put on the washing machine, how many cups of tea you drink a day, how hot you like your shower, what you're watching on TV.

(some of these examples require more frequent sampling than 5 minutes)

Yorkie1

How on earth will the electricity company know all those things except perhaps the time at which you get up? They know when the consumption goes up / down but to suggest they will know what TV you're watching or how hot you like your shower is frankly bonkers.

Joyful

I have smart meters and love them. I can see in real time how much energy I am using for gas and electric and also my carbon footprint. The biggest plus for me is seeing on a daily basis how much my gas bill will be. As my heating is now on I can already anticipate what my months bill will be. I used to have an Energy monitor for elec so that has been replaced too.

I really don't know why people are scared of these. I am sure in the future they will offer tariffs dependant on when you use your energy. We already have this with economy 7 meters. Also with Smart meters you can change from Credit/Prepayment/Credit without an engineers visit so wasting less of peoples time. The usual follow up will be put in place before any exchanges for debt in case anyone worries about that side.

This is just the beginning with the meters though. The future will allow you to connect to the internet and also control appliances in your home remotely.

I also no longer have a clock or temperature gauge in my main room as both are on the smart display too. I would say go for it and take control.

paulsad

Don't worry, they are fine, you'll have to get one anyway in the end - and a good chance to make sure all is well and safe with your gas/electric supply and ensure more accurate reads...

rogerblack

Yorkie1 wrote: »

How on earth will the electricity company know all those things except perhaps the time at which you get up? They know when the consumption goes up / down but to suggest they will know what TV you're watching or how hot you like your shower is frankly bonkers.

This is based on my own energy meter - the TV example was from a presentation given at DEFCON.

Appliances are very detectable by their 'footprint'.
For example, a kettle has a sharp 'on' and 'off', a constant power draw when it's on, and is on for a minute or two.
If you see the kettle first time in the morning using 1830W, you can fairly reliably say that a sharp up-tick of 1830W, followed a minute or two by a down-tick of 1830W is the kettle.

Similarly, a fridge is typically around a hundred watts starting out, sloping down in a very obvious manner, to about 70W when it turns off a few minutes later.
If the fridge departs from its normal cycle of 43 minutes (which varies a little as the temperature of my kitchen changes), and does an early cycle, that means I've opened the door.
Similarly, my freezer.

Microwaves are usually detectable as the load usually goes on for whole numbers of blocks of 30 seconds.

The temperature of your shower can be measured by the draw of your electric power-shower, and either an assumption that you've got it on full, or a smart water meter with sufficient resolution.

TV program is rather more tricky.
However, a large fraction of TVs now - in the aim of energy efficiency - vary the power of the backlight with the scene.
Over an hour program, you have (with a 5 second measurement interval) 720 samples.

You do not need to be able to resolve the brightness fluctuation directly in the measured signal, a simple algorithm that works is to find the 360 highest brightness periods in the TV program, and then add up the household power usage during these periods, and add up the usage during the dimmest, and then subtract.
For a program that is not the one you're comparing against, the answer is almost zero.

Doing this 'properly' is quite a bit more involved, and uses rather more complex maths, but enables you to find multiple programs at different times than when they are broadcast.

keystone

DevilsAdvocate1 wrote: »

Had a phone call earlier from someone saying she was from British Gas. She said that my meter is coming to the end of its life and I have to have it replaced with a smart meter. She said it was a legal requirement and I have no choice.

I refused to let her book an appointment and refused to give out any information. Looking on the net, it is a requirement by 2020, but that is 9 years away! It also looks like there are some privacy concerns. On the other hand, they might help me see where I am using energy.

Do I have to have one of these meters now? Can I wait and see what happens for a few years first? Anyone any thoughts on these meters?

Thanks.

You are supposed to have a new meter every ten years irrespective and they have the right to enter your property to change it as has already been observed.

Cheers