Smart Meters (again).

C_Mababejive

Considering that we are now almost at the launch date for smart meter rollout, it is turning into a typically British fiasco. AFAIK no one yet manufactures a SMETS2 compliant meter so what are they going to fit? Answer,old SMETS1 technology. Smart meter installers? Well they are still trying to recruit

Sosumi

sacsquacco

sacsquacco wrote: »

I trot out the fact that smart prepays will drastically lower the tariffs of some of the poorest in the UK who are stuck with heavy debts and cannot move to credit meters. This is a very important detail which is overlooked by all you people coming out with your b/s about radio waves pulsing through your brains. Smart prepays are proven to work well in Northern Ireland where Budget Energy are the cheapest in the UK by a mile for the average user..The fact is that a smart grid is proven and working fine in Italy and other European countries. Another fact is that some idiot deemed it a good idea ( to try and make smarts more acceptable ) to get the suppliers to fit the things !! when every country in Europe used the DNO s who can swoop down the streets and get all the different suppliers door to door and done quickly, cheaply and efficiently. Of course its going to fail, First Utility, Npower, Scot Power, Spark Energy etc are going to run the show when they can t even run their own businesses properly.
The fact is that leaving Joe Public,( who can be a bigoted idiot ), to decide what sort of meter he gets is a disaster. We did nt need to make that choice in the first place and the sooner it is taken away the better. Having the untrained politicians making decisions about this has messed the whole project up completely..Only in the UK would this happen.

Unfortunately, sacsquacco, the bigot on this sub-forum is you.

You have a narrow but fixed view of the world and you dismiss rudely, time and again, anyone who disagrees with you as being stupid, cowardly, ignorant, luddite, set in their ways, demented, Little Englanders or (as here) “a bigoted idiot” and “you people coming out with your b/s about radio waves pulsing through your brains”.

If you were as bright as you think you are, you’d be running British Gas instead of reading meters for it (sometimes, as you have admitted yourself, at the wrong premises).

What it appears to be beyond your capacity to grasp is that some people who are intelligent, sane, honest, open minded and happy adopters of most new technologies have perfectly valid reasons for not wanting smart energy meters at their premises.

When, in one of your previous rants, you demanded of me:

sacsquacco wrote: »

What would you do if the legislation allowing a refusal for a smart meter was changed to make them obligatory as they are in most of Europe, ( Germany and Sweden excepted ) ?

I replied:

Sosumi wrote: »

I would comply with the law.

What would my supplier then do when it discovered that its smart meters weren't smart enough to function at my property?

I’m still waiting for an answer from you to that simple and basic question.

Presumably, your profound prejudices cannot produce a reasoned response to it.

All of this is a great pity because you have much information to offer everyone here if only you could learn to stop polluting it with your personal take on Yorkshire wisdom.

What is your answer to the question I put to you?

joncombe

Personally I'll be resisting smart meters as long as possible. Some problems I can see
* They record usage every 30 minutes or so. This means over a period of time the data can build up a good picture of when someone is likely to be home or not, or when someone is on holiday. Who has access to that data and how is it controlled? Yes I am aware you can change from 30 minutes, but it's the default
* Remote shut off - it gives suppliers the ability to simply cut you off or switch to pre-pay. Yes that prevents persistent non payers from getting a free ride, but suppliers also make mistakes. Your bargainning position will not be strong if you are cut off by mistake!
* Security - aligned to the above, the communication between the meter and the supplier is I think over the mobile network. How secure is this? What happens if someone discovers how to send the "shut down" message and decides to send it to every meter in your street (for example)? If a vulnerability is discovered will we all have to wait home for a meter reader to apply a software update?
* They still don't work across suppliers.
* I suspect they will lead to "time of use charging", where you pay more at peak times and less at off peak. In Australia there is talk of having some "critical peak pricing", where prices are as much as 10 times the standards.
* Smart appliances (which I suspect will eventually become a legal requirement) can be signalled by the meter to shut down. Personally I don't want my energy supplier controlling my appliances. As long as I pay they bill, they have no business in knowing what I am plugging in.
* With the above I do wonder if at some point, e.g. as power stations continue to close, we may see a point where certain high energy "non essential" appliances (e.g hair dryers etc) might be prevented from working if demand is high and capacity low. This is not so ridiculous as it may seem, in Australia the energy suppliers can already shut down air conditioning units for up to 10 minutes in every hour.
* They use additional power (to power the communication links and the im home display).

benten69

People seem to forget something vital....the meter is property of the local energy supplier and they have the right to request their kit back at any time. Sure they can't force their way into your house, but I don't doubt they would and likely could obtain a court order to force the tennent to allow access to get their old meters back for whatever reason they deem fit.

Once they remove the old meter it will need replaced, and guess what....they will "only" have smart meters available to fit......

Personally, I don't see the issue, myself & my parents have them fitted, my bill & theirs has remained pretty much identical to previous usage for the time of year, so they are not scamming extra money out of us and I don't need to give readings or let anyone in to take readings.

Joyful

Meter Man There is a list of people refusing the smart meters. This is because the suppliers will have to show Ofgem why they have not met the targets agreed.

brightontraveller

benten69 wrote: »

People seem to forget something vital....the meter is property of the local energy supplier and they have the right to request their kit back at any time. Sure they can't force their way into your house, but I don't doubt they would and likely could obtain a court order to force the tennent to allow access to get their old meters back for whatever reason they deem fit.

Once they remove the old meter it will need replaced, and guess what....they will "only" have smart meters available to fit......

Personally, I don't see the issue, myself & my parents have them fitted, my bill & theirs has remained pretty much identical to previous usage for the time of year, so they are not scamming extra money out of us and I don't need to give readings or let anyone in to take readings.

Not correct you can own your gas or electric meter
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1989/29/schedule/7
https://www.meteroperators.org.uk/faqs
http://www2.nationalgrid.com/uk/faq/#Legal_Gas_FAQ2