New Smart Meter are dangerous - Budget Exceeded

[Deleted User]

jacko220 said:

I have a spreadsheet that tells me what my bill is at any day, it is only three lines long for each fuel, I am on pay when you receive the bill, it is always correct, I can predict my fuel usage and hence predict what my consumption will be. Fed up arguing with OFGEM about how my property is producing less carbon, unfortunately my Energy Company seems to Greenwash at every circumstance. I am in control it may cost me about £280 per year but it is certainly satisfying. By the way I saw the first Smart Meter at the Building Research Establishment in the Integer House at Watford, it seemed to work well, I was also able to control the heating system, blinds and lights, this was at a conference for Building Science Lecturers in 1992, it seems the current Smart Meters are dictated by Economists and not Scientists.

What a ramble!

Why would OFGEM care how much carbon your property is producing?  And what does this have to do with greenwashing by an energy company?  In fact, what do you even mean by that?  How does that have anything to do with paying cash rather than direct debit?!

Why would you want to control your blinds through your smart meter?  Even if you want something like ToU pricing on your tariff, wouldn't you want a home automation system to do the control and just get given some information from your meter?

jacko220

Perhaps the Irish Economists in OFGEN, sorry I spelt it wrongly, Greenwashing by Supply companies plant a tree, see you have electricity background perhaps you can explain how the electrons are changed into green energy simply by smart meter. Lower CO2 produced by some companies because of mix of generation, less of "dash for gas", which means that less CO2 is produced. In 1992 controlling the blinds from a distance of 5 miles would mean closing the curtains when it gets dark see Martin Lewis's advice, would suggest insurance is your bag.

[Deleted User]

Oh well, I tried to get something sensible out of it.

Lets all just back away slowly and not make any loud noises.

[Deleted User]

The OP is quite right to flag this up as a potentially dangerous situation

Complete tosh. The device is telling the consumer that a set budget amount has been exceeded. I suggest that most consumers would be minded to ascertain what message the device is trying to convey if it showed RED. This is achieved with 2 intuitive button presses: 

How can this be described as being dangerous? The consumer has to accept on a cold day when usage is high, the energy cost will be high. This simple fact doesn’t change if people have a non smart meter.

[Deleted User]

Deleted_User said:
 it's not unreasonable for people who never asked for the meter and aren't remotely interested to feel concerned when it tells them they've used too much energy!!

Surely people who have never asked for one and aren't remotely interested will just ignore it?

[Deleted User]

Hi,

Deleted_User said:
 it's not unreasonable for people who never asked for the meter and aren't remotely interested to feel concerned when it tells them they've used too much energy!!

If they are not remotely interested then gadget is probably still in the box at the back of a drawer.

Zanderman

Deleted_User said:

oldagetraveller1 said:

My IHD shows that the daily budget I set in the summer is being exceeded because of more gas usage due to colder temperatures.

All I need to do is reset the daily budget to an amount reflecting the present consumption and all is well, budget not exceeded.

This is "nanny state" and blame everyone else for personal shorcomings gone mad!

I blame my energy supplier for not telling me what daily budget to set!

"New Smart Meter are dangerous"

My SMART meter(s) is/are only dangerous if I tamper with any live leccy connections or gas connections.

....it's not unreasonable for people who never asked for the meter and aren't remotely interested to feel concerned when it tells them they've used too much energy!! ....

This is about the device displaying usage.
No-one is forced to plug this device in.
Anyone uninterested can just switch it off or even chuck it away. 

EssexHebridean

I’ve just realised - the “people” we are suggesting need this spoon-feeding approach are the same ones that mean we have warnings like “do not immerse in water” on a new TV, aren’t they… 

[Deleted User]

EssexHebridean said:

I’ve just realised - the “people” we are suggesting need this spoon-feeding approach are the same ones that mean we have warnings like “do not immerse in water” on a new TV, aren’t they… 

"Contents may be hot when heated" is one of my favourites.

deano2099

Given most people are on fixed direct debits, I don't think it's that "stupid" for someone to think that if the meter is telling them they are over budget, it means they're using more than they're paying for on their fixed debit, so should expect an additional bill. Because that's the only sensible figure that the budget feature could be pre-set to.
I know from our informed perspective it's obvious to see that that wouldn't be the case, as we know the budget feature is actually user controlled and can't be set remotely. And that because of seasonal variations in spend it'd actually be really hard to do that.

But for someone new to this, knowing they pay a fixed DD, and knowing that that isn't an "all you can eat" deal and in fact is based on a usage estimate, then having the energy company smart device tell you your over budget... it's a sensible guess as what that "budget" is.