Power company messed up meter change

[Deleted User]

GDB2222 said:u

Keep_pedalling said:

diystarter7 said:

Hi OP

I'm sure its a very rare event and fans of smart meters will tell you that very quickly. I am just glad I did not go for it. The more I read about these meters and the problems, the more entrenched my views about this.

Anyway, good luck with the change.

Thanks

And just how does repeating you mantra for the nth time help the OP?

This is not a smart meter problem but a dumb engineer one. There was no reason the electric smart meter could not have been installed.

I honestly hadn't realised that he was suggesting that smart meters are inherently dangerous in some obscure way that I am far too stupid to understand. At least, unlike Covid vaccine, everybody agrees that smart meters contain computer chips. 

One potential danger from smart meters is when they report energy consumption at frequent intervals, say every day. It's possible to tell from that data when a house is uninhabited, which could be useful to burglars. That problem is easily circumvented by setting the reporting interval to monthly, though. 

For consumers whose smart meters are set to a 30 minute profile, there is a supplier-initiated smart meter data pull once every 24 hours which returns index readings and an XML file containing 30 minute usage. Who exactly is going to pour over millions of smart meter accounts to see when a particular home’s usage is low? It will also result in many false positives: for example, yesterday we used no Grid power as a result of a good solar day and a battery.

Any burglar worth the name doesn’t need smart meter data to know when a property is empty. The burglar’s time would be better spent walking the dog and looking for more obvious signs of an empty home such as no cars; no lights on at night etc….

Edit:

Thinking about this possibility a bit more. If consumers are genuinely worried about smart meter data then they should be MORE worried about broadband usage monitoring. Home networks and ISPs do not have the same security as the DCC. Zero broadband usage is probably a better indication of an uninhabited property than smart meter usage data.

EssexHebridean

GDB2222 said:

Keep_pedalling said:

diystarter7 said:

Hi OP

I'm sure its a very rare event and fans of smart meters will tell you that very quickly. I am just glad I did not go for it. The more I read about these meters and the problems, the more entrenched my views about this.

Anyway, good luck with the change.

Thanks

And just how does repeating you mantra for the nth time help the OP?

This is not a smart meter problem but a dumb engineer one. There was no reason the electric smart meter could not have been installed.

I honestly hadn't realised that he was suggesting that smart meters are inherently dangerous in some obscure way that I am far too stupid to understand. At least, unlike Covid vaccine, everybody agrees that smart meters contain computer chips. 

One potential danger from smart meters is when they report energy consumption at frequent intervals, say every day. It's possible to tell from that data when a house is uninhabited, which could be useful to burglars. That problem is easily circumvented by setting the reporting interval to monthly, though. 

The poster in question was unfortunately heavily influenced by the posting of a conspiracy theorist who was extremely active here for a short time recently - unfortunately her hyperbole, fearmongering and misinformation seems to have "stuck" far more than the more rational, but less dramatic factual information given since.  This has lead to repeated unconstructive posts like the reply to you - and indeed to further misinformation being perpetuated which may well lead to more vulnerable readers being left scared at the idea of getting a smart meter - which of course we realistically will all do in the end! This explains the frustration evident in Keep_pedalling's reply, I think! 

The idea that the easiest way to tell whether someone is at home would be by hacking a highly secure computer network, or even hacking the person's own supplier account doesn't really stack up that well when you consider that most people leave far clearer signals about their movements simply from going about their regular lives - very few common burglars are also computer hackers - and they can simply hang about in your neighbourhood, establish the times you car is there (or not) when you pull curtains or put lights on, if you have a dog, and whether you ever go out leaving windows - even upstairs ones - open, for example. 

macman

diystarter7 said:

Hi OP

I'm sure its a very rare event and fans of smart meters will tell you that very quickly. I am just glad I did not go for it. The more I read about these meters and the problems, the more entrenched my views about this.

Anyway, good luck with the change.

Thanks

And of course totally ignoring the fact that the vast majority of customers who have successful smart meter installs don't tend to post online about the experience. 
The problem with this meter install was nothing to do with smart meters, it was a safety-related issue with disconnecting the old meter.

Plasticman

EssexHebridean said:

GDB2222 said:

Keep_pedalling said:

diystarter7 said:

Hi OP

I'm sure its a very rare event and fans of smart meters will tell you that very quickly. I am just glad I did not go for it. The more I read about these meters and the problems, the more entrenched my views about this.

Anyway, good luck with the change.

Thanks

And just how does repeating you mantra for the nth time help the OP?

This is not a smart meter problem but a dumb engineer one. There was no reason the electric smart meter could not have been installed.

I honestly hadn't realised that he was suggesting that smart meters are inherently dangerous in some obscure way that I am far too stupid to understand. At least, unlike Covid vaccine, everybody agrees that smart meters contain computer chips. 

One potential danger from smart meters is when they report energy consumption at frequent intervals, say every day. It's possible to tell from that data when a house is uninhabited, which could be useful to burglars. That problem is easily circumvented by setting the reporting interval to monthly, though. 

The poster in question was unfortunately heavily influenced by the posting of a conspiracy theorist who was extremely active here for a short time recently - unfortunately her hyperbole, fearmongering and misinformation seems to have "stuck" far more than the more rational, but less dramatic factual information given since.  This has lead to repeated unconstructive posts like the reply to you - and indeed to further misinformation being perpetuated which may well lead to more vulnerable readers being left scared at the idea of getting a smart meter - which of course we realistically will all do in the end! This explains the frustration evident in Keep_pedalling's reply, I think! 

The idea that the easiest way to tell whether someone is at home would be by hacking a highly secure computer network, or even hacking the person's own supplier account doesn't really stack up that well when you consider that most people leave far clearer signals about their movements simply from going about their regular lives - very few common burglars are also computer hackers - and they can simply hang about in your neighbourhood, establish the times you car is there (or not) when you pull curtains or put lights on, if you have a dog, and whether you ever go out leaving windows - even upstairs ones - open, for example. 

The computer hackers don't need to burgle you anyway because they can easily empty your bank account without having to get out of their chairs! 

EssexHebridean

Plasticman said:

EssexHebridean said:

GDB2222 said:

Keep_pedalling said:

diystarter7 said:

Hi OP

I'm sure its a very rare event and fans of smart meters will tell you that very quickly. I am just glad I did not go for it. The more I read about these meters and the problems, the more entrenched my views about this.

Anyway, good luck with the change.

Thanks

And just how does repeating you mantra for the nth time help the OP?

This is not a smart meter problem but a dumb engineer one. There was no reason the electric smart meter could not have been installed.

I honestly hadn't realised that he was suggesting that smart meters are inherently dangerous in some obscure way that I am far too stupid to understand. At least, unlike Covid vaccine, everybody agrees that smart meters contain computer chips. 

One potential danger from smart meters is when they report energy consumption at frequent intervals, say every day. It's possible to tell from that data when a house is uninhabited, which could be useful to burglars. That problem is easily circumvented by setting the reporting interval to monthly, though. 

The poster in question was unfortunately heavily influenced by the posting of a conspiracy theorist who was extremely active here for a short time recently - unfortunately her hyperbole, fearmongering and misinformation seems to have "stuck" far more than the more rational, but less dramatic factual information given since.  This has lead to repeated unconstructive posts like the reply to you - and indeed to further misinformation being perpetuated which may well lead to more vulnerable readers being left scared at the idea of getting a smart meter - which of course we realistically will all do in the end! This explains the frustration evident in Keep_pedalling's reply, I think! 

The idea that the easiest way to tell whether someone is at home would be by hacking a highly secure computer network, or even hacking the person's own supplier account doesn't really stack up that well when you consider that most people leave far clearer signals about their movements simply from going about their regular lives - very few common burglars are also computer hackers - and they can simply hang about in your neighbourhood, establish the times you car is there (or not) when you pull curtains or put lights on, if you have a dog, and whether you ever go out leaving windows - even upstairs ones - open, for example. 

The computer hackers don't need to burgle you anyway because they can easily empty your bank account without having to get out of their chairs! 

Precisely that!  

marlot

My installer had to reroute some gas pipe, including soldering the joints.

I could well understand a less experienced installer deciding it was too hard.

GDB2222

[Deleted User] said:

GDB2222 said:u

Keep_pedalling said:

diystarter7 said:

Hi OP

I'm sure its a very rare event and fans of smart meters will tell you that very quickly. I am just glad I did not go for it. The more I read about these meters and the problems, the more entrenched my views about this.

Anyway, good luck with the change.

Thanks

And just how does repeating you mantra for the nth time help the OP?

This is not a smart meter problem but a dumb engineer one. There was no reason the electric smart meter could not have been installed.

I honestly hadn't realised that he was suggesting that smart meters are inherently dangerous in some obscure way that I am far too stupid to understand. At least, unlike Covid vaccine, everybody agrees that smart meters contain computer chips. 

One potential danger from smart meters is when they report energy consumption at frequent intervals, say every day. It's possible to tell from that data when a house is uninhabited, which could be useful to burglars. That problem is easily circumvented by setting the reporting interval to monthly, though. 

For consumers whose smart meters are set to a 30 minute profile, there is a supplier-initiated smart meter data pull once every 24 hours which returns index readings and an XML file containing 30 minute usage. Who exactly is going to pour over millions of smart meter accounts to see when a particular home’s usage is low? It will also result in many false positives: for example, yesterday we used no Grid power as a result of a good solar day and a battery.

Any burglar worth the name doesn’t need smart meter data to know when a property is empty. The burglar’s time would be better spent walking the dog and looking for more obvious signs of an empty home such as no cars; no lights on at night etc….

Edit:

Thinking about this possibility a bit more. If consumers are genuinely worried about smart meter data then they should be MORE worried about broadband usage monitoring. Home networks and ISPs do not have the same security as the DCC. Zero broadband usage is probably a better indication of an uninhabited property than smart meter usage data.

Thanks for taking the time to answer. I’m sure the risk is minimal, as you said.

ariarnia

i do wonder at what point posting the same comment that has nothing to do wit the actual question in the op or thread should be counted (and flagged as) spam. 

personally i blame the penguins. the more i learn about them the more suspicious they seem and i';m glad i never agreed one could move in. 

but in answer to the op. theres nothing stoping an electric meter being installed and not a gas meter. thats what they did for us because we needed some pipe work doing. but installing a gas meter without an electric meter seems less common. i think because the communication hub needs to be connected to the power so it means messing with the electrics anyway?

Spoonie_Turtle

ariarnia said:

i do wonder at what point posting the same comment that has nothing to do wit the actual question in the op or thread should be counted (and flagged as) spam. 

personally i blame the penguins. the more i learn about them the more suspicious they seem and i';m glad i never agreed one could move in. 

I had the same thought.  Not moneysaving, and actually could be classed as trolling when it's evidently posted to deliberately sidetrack the thread (because they know other posters will have to correct the misinformation, for the sake of other people reading who might be susceptible to believing their harmful repeated statements).

(You've made me think of when Wallace and Gromit had a penguin as a lodger )

macman

ariarnia said:

i do wonder at what point posting the same comment that has nothing to do wit the actual question in the op or thread should be counted (and flagged as) spam. 

personally i blame the penguins. the more i learn about them the more suspicious they seem and i';m glad i never agreed one could move in. 

but in answer to the op. theres nothing stoping an electric meter being installed and not a gas meter. thats what they did for us because we needed some pipe work doing. but installing a gas meter without an electric meter seems less common. i think because the communication hub needs to be connected to the power so it means messing with the electrics anyway?

Installing just a smart gas meter would be pointless, as without the comms hub on the leccy meter, it can't communicate with the gas proxy meter (which is also on the leccy meter) or the DCC.