Everyone seems to want to shove you onto a smart meter

emc

The Grauniard reports that Britain’s energy regulator Ofgem has been fighting to keep secret the claims of two whistleblowers who independently raised concerns about potentially serious irregularities in projects worth billions of pounds.

An Ofgem employee Greg Pytel has raised concerns about the smart meter rollout process, and Ofgem are fighting to stop him revealing those concerns, and in a separate case are trying to stop another employee revealing concerns about the renewable heat incentive.

See Ofgem exploited national security law to silence us, whistleblowers claim and Whistleblower protection in the Energy Sector.

System

It would seem that SmartEnergy GB and suppliers are failing to mention one of the key benefits of having a smart meter and IHD:

Quote The main use I have found for my smart meter display is that I can sit in the living room watching TV while the oven is heating up, then when it changes from red to green, I know it's time to pop the food in. Unquote

Source: SpeakEV

[Deleted User]

Enterprise_1701C wrote: »

We are just ignoring any letters about smart meters.

Some time ago we had an electricity meter that was similar, we wrapped it round the main power cable and it told us how much power we were using at any one time. We could not identify any power usage we could cut so we did the only thing we could do to cut consumption, we unplugged the meter.

Smart meters are being advertised as the way to cut consumption. Simple fact is that if we are not using something it is turned off so how can it possibly save us power?

I know someone that could hack smart meters standing on his head, I do not trust them and will not use them until there is an absolute guarantee, to the extent that they would be prosecuted, that the power companies cannot simply turn off power through them, consider that someone with smart meter number X1 didn't pay their bills but they accidentally turned off number X2, it could cause serious problems.

So far there have been no instances anywhere in the UK of anyone "hacking " any smart meters and British Gas have been installing them for over 12 years and have around 3 million in use .
Possibly you are mixing up the word "hacking " with "bypassing or fiddling" the meters for free energy.
It is over 10 years since I saw my first British Gas smart meter back in 2006 so far I have not found one instance of a bypassed smart meter as a meter reader .My colleague who works for Scottish Power in their Revenue Protection Unit has only come across one instance in 3 years of an active smart meter bypass, which someone had wrecked in the attempt and which was quickly shut down. Of course smart meters which have become dumb can be bypassed but they may well become smart again if they are adopted into the DCC.

I too could fiddle a dumb meter "standing on my head " having been involved in locating the theft of energy for over 20 years.
. I can t do that with smart meters, at least not without the suppliers being aware of the fact.
Your friend must be a real master of hacking crime then if he s managed it because so far no one has.

chrisw99

I don't understand the concern about "hacking" smart meters. If a smart meter was hacked, the hacker couldn't do anything other than alter the meter reading anyway. (so being able to be hacked could be a benefit to everyone as you could hack your reading down a bit).

I doubt there'll be a sudden wave of naughty hackers who go round knocking everyones readings up.

I've decided to go for one, getting fed up of having to give meter readings every month as I can't easily access my meters.

System

chrisw99 wrote: »

I don't understand the concern about "hacking" smart meters. If a smart meter was hacked, the hacker couldn't do anything other than alter the meter reading anyway. (so being able to be hacked could be a benefit to everyone as you could hack your reading down a bit).

I doubt there'll be a sudden wave of naughty hackers who go round knocking everyones readings up.

I've decided to go for one, getting fed up of having to give meter readings every month as I can't easily access my meters.

Think strategically. If a State actor was minded to hack into the smart meters in your postcode and implement a mass disconnection, this would cause irreparable damage to the Grid. From a tactical point of view, it could take suppliers many weeks to reconnect you and implement a meter firmware change. This is what is so daft about our smart meter programme. The suppliers wanted remote disconnection, and as they were responsible for the initial stage of the rollout programme, they got their way. Lawyers now say that remote disconnection will never happen because of the associated risks of turning off the wrong meter.

This is typical of academic advice on the subject:

https://www.sba-research.org/wp-content/uploads/publications/201712%20-%20ADabrowski%20-%20Grid%20Shock.pdf

Quote: Due to such remote control of high amounts of power consumption, the smart grid is considered to be vulnerable to direct cyber attacks aiming to destabilize the system [28, 64]. Unquote

matelodave

what happens if you dont top-up an paygo meter (either gas or leccy).

Do they stop supplying the energy or keep going and just ramp up an infinite debit.

If they cut off the supply then I can't see that as being significantly different to having it done remotely if you don't pay.

Dasa

The adverts really annoy me making out that by having one it gives you cheaper bills. We keep ignoring all the emails asking us to make an appointment for them to come and change over and will be for as long as possible.

[Deleted User]

matelodave wrote: »

what happens if you dont top-up an paygo meter (either gas or leccy).

Do they stop supplying the energy or keep going and just ramp up an infinite debit.

If they cut off the supply then I can't see that as being significantly different to having it done remotely if you don't pay.

They don `t cut off supply. I have seen hundreds of bypassed electric and gas meters with years of build up of standing charges which are unpaid. £300 on standing charge build up owing is nt uncommon and the properties these are in are in full use of gas and electric.
We can see how long they have been bypassing by the standing charge building up. several years is nt uncommon .
Even though the meters are bypassed the meters will still rack up the £85 a year standing charges. This is one of the main pointers to meter readers finding an energy thief seeing the build up of standing charges when the properties are not vacant and they are in normal use . The bypass can be hard to spot in gas meters and some electric meters when occupiers can make the lower covers difficult to see.
Most suppliers are not concerned when a customer fails to credit the meter for years . Possibly British Gas would enquire why at some point but none of the others take much interest
A vacant property with a build up of SC s would be wiped clean with a new occupier

emc

Dasa wrote: »

The adverts really annoy me making out that by having one it gives you cheaper bills. We keep ignoring all the emails asking us to make an appointment for them to come and change over and will be for as long as possible.

Smart meters do not result in cheaper bills for consumers.

It is the exact opposite. The British Infrastructure Group of Parliamentarians reported on the smart meters programme in July 2018, and stated that the consumers have been and will continue to pay higher bills to fund the entire 11 billion pound smart meters programme, with no guarantee of seeing any savings in the future.

The group's chairman, Tory MP Grant Shapps, said: “Although the entire programme has been funded by customers through higher energy bills, unlike energy suppliers themselves, they are not presently guaranteed to see the majority of the savings that do materialise."

There is more public awareness of the real costs and issues with smart meters, so the energy companies are having to resort to dirty tricks to force consumers to take smart meters.

[Deleted User]

This thread renewed my interest in smart meters, i found this page on wikipedia yesterday.
Section 8 onwards makes for interesting reading.