Advantage of having smart meters

Astria

Dolor said:

Chino said:

Dolor said:

By way of background, the UK grid has a nominal voltage of 230 volts with permissible tolerances of -6% and +10%. As more and more renewable generators are rolled out (wind farms; solar and batteries), the average Grid voltage has been increasing. My average voltage is now 249volts.

Historically the UK has had a nominal voltage of 240V. The only reason it became 230V was to align with Europe. So your claimed average voltage as measured by your uncalibrated smart meter of 249V is nothing out of the ordinary.

SPEN disagrees as it is looking at making an adjustment to my local transformer. Voltage changes by the minute. My highest voltage to date has been 255 volts which has tripped various devices with built in voltage protection. As I post, my supply is 251.5 volts.

"looking at making an adjustment" is something you hear a lot - it doesn't mean they are going to do anything whatsoever, it just sounds friendlier to the customer who is complaining than "It's fine, don't worry about it".

I do have some voltage sensitive equipment, but these are connected to a AVR with switchover to battery power if it goes outside the limits.

lohr500

Astria said:

lohr500 said:

@Astria. I think the difference is that the RF signal which toggled the old style E7 meters was regional, so could not be customised to suit multiple tariff offerings. To offer a range of tariffs, presumably tariff specific frequencies would need to broadcast and meter receivers retuned to accept the frequency of the selected tariff. That would involve a meter adjustment for every customer who wanted to change tariff AND the installation of new meters anyway for customers who didn't have a radio teleswitch in the 1st place.  Probably more complicated than installing smart meter in the 1st place!!

But we wern't discussing multiple tariff offerings, we were offering a single day/night tariff that could be adjusted, and it would only apply to people that actually wanted such a tariff offering. It would be far cheaper than the current mess of £11bn spent so far and no end in sight.

But surely, even with a single day/night tariff, if it was adjustable for some customers, then wouldn't this require different radio frequencies and a different receiver for the customers who wanted an adjustment? Or an adjustment to the time switch if the customer didn't have a radio teleswitch.

The reality is that like it or not, Smart Meters are going to stay, so we might as well accept that they do open the door to time of use tariffs, ranging from the simplest E7 day/night cloning, to far more complex options. 

Gerry1

wittynamegoeshere said:

Gerry1 said:

Previous meters didn't cost well over £400.

Where did you get that figure from

It was £420 back in 2017.  All to save just £11 per year.

The cost of the rollout has risen from £11bn to £13bn so it'll be even higher now.

wittynamegoeshere said:

Gerry1 said:

Previous meters didn't cost well over £400.

and do you know what the previous meters cost?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/ECA2-Single-Electric-Meter-Certified/dp/B07X8H8KCS/ref=sr_1_11

QrizB

Gerry1 said:

The cost of the rollout has risen from £11bn to £13bn so it'll be even higher now.

For a UK infrastructure programme, costs increasing by only 18% in 4 years counts as a huge success!