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Smart meters are not so smart after all FYI
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My offset is 6 mins and 37 seconds
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Ildhund who quoted me the deriviation of the final time used many moons ago suspects in reality no one would get over 15m.
If I recall from @Ildhund (and I might be getting this wrong) it's a number of seconds, programmed into the meter by the installer. Each installer has their "own" number.
The number could be up to 1800 (1800 s = 30 min) but installers only get given three-digit numbers so it's never more than 999. 999 s = 16 min 39 s.
N. Hampshire, he/him. Octopus Intelligent Go elec / Fuse gas / Vodafone BB / iD mobile. Kirk Hill Co-op member.Economy 7 cap explainer. Gas vs E7 vs peak elec heating costs, Ecoflow Stream, Best kettle :-)
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Life in the slow lane0 -
I wonder what happens when all EV owners start charging their cars at the same time? How does the percentage of the population who have EVs compare with the percentage of the population who have storage heaters?
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So few households now have storage heaters these days that I doubt the random offset is even necessary anymore.
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But if a random offset was necessary for storage heaters, will it become necessary for EVs?
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Don't people set the timer via their charger rather than the meter deciding when it starts though? That's a different situation.
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I love that an intended anti smart meter post has veered into discussion of various good value tariffs that are generally only available to those with smart meters!
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Don't people set the timer via their charger
Yes, it's different but the effect could be the same if everybody starts as soon as possible. My charger is set to start charging at one minute past midnight, just in case its time is a bit out. According to Zapmap:
As of the end of July 2026, there are over 2,150,000 fully electric cars in the UK. This means that around 6.2% of the c.34.8 million cars on UK roads are fully electric.
Reed0
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