Smart meter U-turn?

poppasmurf_bewdley

Has there been a U-turn on Smart meters by the government?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/consumer-affairs/no-ones-noticed-tories-quietly-killing-smart-meter-revolution/

moneybags1957

Great because the current situation is a complete shambles that is paid for out of a captive market of consumers. Incompatible meters and INSECURE meters that are open to hacking are being fitted in an effort to meet the deadline, estimates of the cost to consumers wildly under estimated meaning much higher bills in future. I myself have a cheap energy monitor which shows current and daily consumption that is all I need as I update my readings monthly online and check and reclaim any credit quarterly.

teddysmum

Next get rid if the windmills that don't work if it's too windy.

MeterMan

Actually, most of the stuff in the article is tosh. Just recycled garbage from the neysayers.

EachPenny

MeterMan wrote: »

Actually, most of the stuff in the article is tosh. Just recycled garbage from the neysayers.

Of course, Cambridge professors are well known for enhancing their reputation by writing 'recycled garbage' in national newspapers. Whereas meter readers are well known for their in-depth knowledge of macro-economic policy and communications security.

Could you please point us to any peer-reviewed papers you've had published regarding the benefits of smart meters? I'd love to find a single reason why I should replace my fully functioning meter with one of these magic boxes.

McKneff

Oh no !!!

I like my smart meter

phillw

EachPenny wrote: »

Of course, Cambridge professors are well known for enhancing their reputation by writing 'recycled garbage' in national newspapers.

I don't know the professors motives for writing a misleading article, but the article is based on false statements.

"No one's noticed, but the Tories are quietly killing off the 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."

Let's look at the evidence:

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/consumers/household-gas-and-electricity-guide/understand-smart-and-other-energy-meters/smart-meters-your-rights

"Smart meters aren’t compulsory and you can choose not to have one."

I can't say that he lied, because peer reviewed university professors are often just plain wrong and deluded. Either way, don't listen to him as he doesn't know what he's talking about. It's just a pity that there are people paying good money to be taught by people like that.

I didn't bother reading the rest of the article, because after he opened with a lie then I didn't see that there was any point as it would just put in my mind that these were things that liars say.

poppasmurf_bewdley wrote: »

Has there been a U-turn on Smart meters by the government

No, they have always been voluntary. Your job title doesn't guarantee that you know anything about your job.

EachPenny

phillw wrote: »

I don't know the professors motives for writing a misleading article, but the article is based on false statements...

I can't say that he lied, because peer reviewed university professors are often just plain wrong and deluded. Either way, don't listen to him as he doesn't know what he's talking about...

I didn't bother reading the rest of the article, because after he opened with a lie then I didn't see that there was any point as it would just put in my mind that these were things that liars say.

Using a public forum to suggest someone is a liar - that's rather incautious.

phillw wrote: »

a) "No one's noticed, but the Tories are quietly killing off the smart meter revolution "
b) "It’s lurking on page 60 of the Conservative offering: “everyone will be offered a smart meter by 2020”".
c) "If you blinked, you missed it. A national programme committed to install meters in 80pc of homes by 2020 has just become voluntary."

If you read the line I've called 'a' you'll see the word "quietly". This is important - it means this isn't a brash policy announcement like the price cap, it is something subtle - a shift of policy, some backtracking, signalling of a future intention.

The party which has spent a good number of years in government actively promoting smart meters in every home and spending ooodles of billpayer's cash in the process is hardly going to announce the smart meter programme has been 'scrapped' in the middle of a General Election campaign. The first question to the PM would be "why has so much money been wasted on this project under your government's watch?"

You also need to do a subtle analysis of part 'b'. Break it down into parts "national programme" - "committed to install meters in 80pc of homes" - "by 2020" - "has just become voluntary".

You've read it to mean the consumer decides whether or not to have a smart meter, that's the voluntary part*, which you say remains unchanged and therefore the premise of the article is false.

But read it a different way, there is a national programme in which the energy companies are committed...

It may be the consumer's decision*, but the energy companies were expected to deliver the 80% target - that is the non-voluntary part. There may not be a legeslative requirement for the energy companies to achieve the target, but you can be very sure the government would be using all the levers it has (usually giving them more cash) in order to make sure they play ball.

Which leads us onto part 'b' Compare and contrast the 2015 and 2017 Conservative manifesto sections on smart meters.

2015 - We will ensure that every home and business in the country has a Smart Meter by 2020, delivered as cost-effectively as possible, so consumers have instant, accurate bills and can switch
to an alternative provider within one day

2017 - First, we will ensure that smart meters will be offered to every household and business by the end of 2020, giving people control over their energy bills that they have not had before.

Well there you go - despite the evidence of the Ofgem document, the 2015 manifesto said everybody (not just 80%) was going to be having a smart meter whether you want it or not - very little consumer choice there. And that is why I added a couple of '*' above.

Because everybody knows that smart meters being optional is the real 'lie'. Of course the government and the energy companies aren't going to make life difficult for themselves by announcing they are compulsory - no, they are optional, and you can choose whether to have the benefits (but pay for it regardless).

However, the traditional meters have a working life, and when that is reached and there are no more certified meters left to exchange then the only option would be to have a smart meter, albeit perhaps operating in dumb mode. Then when every household has one, it is a simple exercise to introduce a new policy, flip a switch, and then smart metering has suddenly become compulsory for every household.

What the professor has done is to cleverly notice a minor change in wording between the 2015 and the 2017 manifesto. People who are skilled in reading political signals will see this as a change of approach, after the election there will be quiet announcements about the future of the smart meter programme, and perhaps the energy price cap will be 'funded' by substantially reducing the amount bill payers have been lined up to contribute towards this crazy scheme.

You'll also notice they are no longer promising that the programme will be "delivered as cost-effectively as possible" (that's scary, since it never has been so far!) and the idea of the one-day switch has vanished too - well it has to if most people now won't be having smart meters.

So, Professor Anderson, well done old chap! :beer::A:beer:

MeterMan

Having been directly involved in smart metering from 2011, I have always know that the meters where voluntary and very unlikely to become mandatory because there are lots that can't be changed for very specific reason based on the position of the meter within a property.

The wording may have changed because now the government realise that it would cost even more money if they where mandatory, if they you had to have one by law then who would fork out for the remedial work needed to be done before a meter can be fitted?

So Professor Anderson sees a small change to the wording and extrapolates the cancellation of the smart meter roll out from this. Bravo

spiro

Part of the issue may be that the government set up DCC program is running late, this is reducing the time for suppliers between it going live and 2020 which would have resulted in an even more compressed timescale for fitting meters to meet the deadline. If they extend the deadline that allows them to be rolled out in a more orderly fashion.

buglawton

MeterMan wrote: »

Having been directly involved in smart metering from 2011, I have always know that the meters where voluntary and very unlikely to become mandatory because there are lots that can't be changed for very specific reason based on the position of the meter within a property.

The wording may have changed because now the government realise that it would cost even more money if they where mandatory, if they you had to have one by law then who would fork out for the remedial work needed to be done before a meter can be fitted?

So Professor Anderson sees a small change to the wording and extrapolates the cancellation of the smart meter roll out from this. Bravo

Things may start to move when, if permitted, suppliers offer tariff incentives for having a smart meter - analogies with water metering.

A key development, for some mysterious reason being ignored, would be that smart meters are allowed to use home wifi among other communication options.

Once proper standardisation happens and security is proven to be no worse than the current situation where meters can anyway be physically bypassed, smart meters may finally happen.