Smart Meters - let me know the pro's....

Gerry1

There are NO consumer benefits in having a smart meter. It's unlikely that you don't realise that turning the thermostat up, leaving all the windows open and all the lights on will increase your energy usage, but in that case a £30 Energy Monitor will do the job just as well as a £400 smart meter. And you can install it yourself in seconds !

The BIG disadvantage is that all smart meters have a KILL SWITCH so you'll be left cold and dark whenever there's not enough juice to go round. Make sure you are on good terms with your neighbours with ordinary meters so that you can pop round every time you're remotely cut off !

In due course you will find that Peak Time Surcharges will kick in: electricity will be much more expensive at times when you want to use it.
Smart people have Dumb Meters. Dumb people have Smart Meters.

Smodlet

Gerry1 wrote: »

There are NO consumer benefits in having a smart meter. It's unlikely that you don't realise that turning the thermostat up, leaving all the windows open and all the lights on will increase your energy usage, but in that case a £30 Energy Monitor will do the job just as well as a £400 smart meter. And you can install it yourself in seconds !

The BIG disadvantage is that all smart meters have a KILL SWITCH so you'll be left cold and dark whenever there's not enough juice to go round. Make sure you are on good terms with your neighbours with ordinary meters so that you can pop round every time you're remotely cut off !

In due course you will find that Peak Time Surcharges will kick in: electricity will be much more expensive at times when you want to use it.
Smart people have Dumb Meters. Dumb people have Smart Meters.

Someone finally had the stones to come out and say it. Go, Gerry1, go!

Gerry1

To be fair, there is one advantage with a smart meter, at least if you have an electric cooker.
Sunday lunch will be soooo much more romantic...

You'll be dining by candlelight at 2am, thanks to Peak Time surcharges: at the times when when you want to use electricity, it will be prohibitively expensive. There will also be Peak Load surcharges triggered by cookers, kettles, immersion heaters etc, so it will be a double whammy. Just remember to do the washing at 3am and the tumble drying at 4am, and don't leave them unattended !

oliverbrown

Gerry1 wrote: »

You'll be dining by candlelight at 2am, thanks to Peak Time surcharges: at the times when when you want to use electricity, it will be prohibitively expensive.

I'm sure your prediction will come true Gerry1. The problem will be, in time, single rate meters will be peak rate 24 hours a day across all providers.

But until that day, I'm keeping my traditional meter.

Owain_Moneysaver

Gerry1 wrote: »

The BIG disadvantage is that all smart meters have a KILL SWITCH so you'll be left cold and dark whenever there's not enough juice to go round.

Or when it's hacked.

Or when the company make a mess of your account and think you haven't paid.

Smodlet

... And not even solar panels will mitigate these effects, especially not in this weather!

I was told yesterday by SSE that this whole kill switch thing is waaaay down the line, "10-15 years", he reckoned. I say it is like all technology, including the atom bomb: If the technology is there, someone will use it; probably sooner rather than later.

[Deleted User]

Owain_Moneysaver wrote: »

Or when it's hacked.

Or when the company make a mess of your account and think you haven't paid.

Or if they know you are stealing electricity or gas ? something which is extremely common in the UK.
Unfortunately suppliers are not allowed to remotely disconnect even if they are aware someone are not paying a bean or have gone inside the meter to internally bypass the meter/substitute gas meter at risk of over heating cables causing an electrical fire or a leaking gas explosion..
Only in the "easy touch " UK would this nonsense be allowed to happen. The rest of the world would have no problem in cutting off supply remotely for non payment or theft

Gerry1

Smodlet wrote: »

I was told yesterday by SSE that this whole kill switch thing is waaaay down the line, "10-15 years", he reckoned.

To quote Mandy Rice Davies: Well, he would say that wouldn't he?

No, Kill Switches are already here, it's why £400 smart meters are being promoted rather than £30 Energy Monitors. Dodgy kill switches haves caused a lot of fires in North America.

Gerry1

Houbara wrote: »

Unfortunately suppliers are not allowed to remotely disconnect even if they are aware someone are not paying a bean

Do you have any evidence for this?

Existing pre-payment meters will automatically disconnect when the credit runs out. The energy companies wouldn't give up this feature when upgrading to smart meters. In any case, remote disconnection (load shedding) is defined in the SMETS2 specification, see Section 5.5.3.9 "Disable Supply".

Owain_Moneysaver

Smart_Energy_GB wrote: »

Smart meters will facilitate better integration of renewable power and reduce our reliance on fossil fuels, through efficiently managing energy supply

Customer-side smart meters don't manage energy supply except for the minority of installations (heavily subsidised by everyone else) with photovoltaic export - and smart meters are known to not always work with export.

Smart_Energy_GB wrote: »

and demand by using near-real time energy data.

The only way customer-side smart meter can manage demand is by punitive variable pricing or load shedding.

Smart_Energy_GB wrote: »

Smart meters are the foundation of a smart energy system, and without them we will struggle to make widespread use of wind, solar and hydro power. With smart meters, we’ll know when & where cheaper, greener energy is available,

Customer-side smart meters don't manage energy availability except for the minority of installations (heavily subsidised by everyone else) with photovoltaic export - and smart meters are known to not always work with export.

Smart_Energy_GB wrote: »

cutting down waste and decarbonising the energy system.

At the carbon cost of replacing a lot of existing meters with new ones, the electricity to run them, upgrading data communications networks, the electricity to run them, and provided millions of in-home displays, and the electricity to run them.

The whole caboodle is tonnes of waste electronic equipment now and in the future.

Smart_Energy_GB wrote: »

Smart meters also make it easier for us to identify the situations where we're using a lot of energy and might want to make changes to reduce it.

It might, but the results of the energy monitors punted out for free ten years ago show that after the first few weeks most people get bored watching the display every time they turn the hot tap on.

Smart_Energy_GB wrote: »

If you use the information shown on your IHD to help reduce your energy use, you should be able to cut your energy usage.

Only because that's a self-fulfilling prophecy. If A, then B.