Smart Meters
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I switched from British Gas to Eon, ie the opposite of what CJM6 did. The smart meter, installed by BG, not only cannot transmit usage etc to Eon and maybe has lost some functionalities. It is completely blank and I have no idea what my consumption is. - Have to say, while I am all supportive to the smart meter idea, it has been poorly implemented.0
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Maybe i am repeating whats already been said, and if so, i am sorry for that. Anyone considering getting a smart meter should check out the documentary called Take Back Your Power about the smart meter roll out in the USA. Highlights include it increasing your bills by a third and having no way to check your usage against that increase, turning your house into a pseudo microwave oven through continual micro bursts to the provider and aggressive tactics to make you install one (i think Eon have just shown that one to be true). Like with fracking and the documentary Gasland, it is rather amazing these things have been accepted by the UK Gov when the voices about the dangers/results already exist but are not being considered at policy level. In fact with fracking, the warnings in the film Gasland were being stated as having been solved upon the targetting of the UK. The reality is though that nothing has changed that will stop any area with such a well being uninhabitable after the operation has started.
Anyway, for this thread, anyone considering getting a smart meter should check out that the documentary before making a final decision, and anyone with one already in their home should give it a viewing to make sure they are happy with having one in their house (and endangering their neighbours if the meter is positioned accordingly).0 -
I think ultimately most people will end up with smart meters though I will hang out to the bitter end on this one.
Technology is racing ahead. The cashless future is coming, transport that drives itself etc etc... People happily wave their smart phones around to pay for something - what's not to love? Most don't care or understand where this is heading. We get more and more deskilled with each generation. Pretty soon we will hardly have to engage our brains (you can already see it in young sales assistants who can't do a simple sum if the computer breaks down) and all the power will be elsewhere. Sorry, rant over!0 -
I hear you pineapple. I dont think the future coming should mean accepting unproven and unsafe technologies that ONLY work in the favour of big buisnesses, helping them cut staff in ever more ingenious ways and increase prices in ever increasingly covert ways. Then they have the audacity to sell it as being of benefit to the consumer. I think we should be worried only a few people even have a problem or question this technology.0
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I hear you pineapple. I dont think the future coming should mean accepting unproven and unsafe technologies that ONLY work in the favour of big buisnesses, helping them cut staff in ever more ingenious ways and increase prices in ever increasingly covert ways. Then they have the audacity to sell it as being of benefit to the consumer. I think we should be worried only a few people even have a problem or question this technology.
You are, of course, entitled to your opinion. I agree that the smart meter rollout programme has been a disaster of the Government’s - not the suppliers - own making. That said, domestic smart meters are but a small part of the need to balance energy supply with demand negating the need for us all to pay for standby power on a ‘just in case’ basis. I suggest that you Google ‘Smart Grid’ to see what other benefits a Smart Grid will bring including, for example, identifying potential faults before they lead to a supply failure.
The technology behind smart metering is sound (and safe) and it has been introduced successfully in a number of other countries.
As far as change is concerned, I am sure that many people were worried about the Industrial Revolution. Their fears were never realised. People adapt to change.
Will smart meters become mandatory? My view is ‘yes they will’. It only requires a line in a future manifesto and an enabling Law.0 -
The technology behind smart metering is sound (and safe) and it has been introduced successfully in a number of other countries.
Sure, opinions are what makes the world spin! And i understand your notions of the positives. My opinion has nothing to do with fear of change but of change today being a continual flouting of ideas we used to hold dear, such as breathing clean air, drinking clean water etc, none of which exist today and in fact are getting increasingly more toxic. Who can argue for a change for the better (when it appears)? My argument isnt with the rather superficial government/companies fault loop these companies are happy for you to air to distract you from the real issues but of whether the technology/reality is what it is stated to be.
I am sure you would say it has been successfully introduced in the USA. OK, then watch that documentary i mentioned which goes into the whole issue in much more depth (based on the US experience) than anything you will have seen before and see what you think after watching it. Having a fuller picture can only help back up or maybe change your opinion on the information you have to hand. And most of the issues the doc raises are more fundamentally important issues that who is to blame.
In fact, here is the link to the film if you find time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uMfx-FsJiE0 -
Hi... The technology behind smart metering is sound (and safe) and it has been introduced successfully in a number of other countries.
As far as change is concerned, I am sure that many people were worried about the Industrial Revolution. Their fears were never realised. People adapt to change.
Will smart meters become mandatory? My view is ‘yes they will’. It only requires a line in a future manifesto and an enabling Law.
My view is that the government have been bounced into the project from two fronts, the EU & the energy sector, but risking being classed a wearer of Faraday cage foil-hats, I'd be prepared to go a step further and introduce the concept of energy sector lobbying in Brussels on environmental grounds, then in Westminster on project & technical grounds as being the root cause of the mess we find ourselves in!
I have no problem with the technology, other than the fact that it likely wont work where we are, it's purely the cost of attempting to 'bulldoze' a project through at great expense when it could have been managed much more successfully at a fraction of the cost, with both little impact on the overall project timescale and a faster delivery of project goals - after-all, the project goal is environmental, not an installation count ...
Adapting to change? ... change happens for a reason - if that change provides a benefit, it survives, if not it soon fades ... after-all that's what natural selection describes. In terms of smart-metering, the technology is still being 'sold' on a basis which may have been valid 10-15 years ago, but the world has moved on from a centralised electricity generation model to one which is fast becoming distributed, even down to individual properties ... I've yet to see a valid argument of how what is effectively a 20th century technology centralised management concept operates within the kind of decentralised energy generation infrastructure which is developing in the 21st century ...
Mandatory Smart-meters .... well as mentioned earlier, even if they are, there will be pockets of properties where the technology isn't going to work without wasting ridiculous sums on the DCC comms infrastructure ( Smart-meter history & comms description here ) ... but I do agree that the definitions of smart, advanced & dumb meters will eventually merge, thus removing the option of consumer refusal. Hopefully, by that time, Ofgem will have a better understanding of how the energy sector are leveraging smart-meter capabilities for the purpose of margin improvement and will be monitoring and curtailing any 'unnecessary' practices.
HTH
Z"We are what we repeatedly do, excellence then is not an act, but a habit. " ...... Aristotle
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Smart Meters - nothing to worry about here then:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-42885211
Then again:
Smart DCC Ltd is a wholly owned subsidiary of Capita plc
Of more concern is that Capita also handles my pension payments.0 -
Smart Meters - nothing to worry about here then:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-42885211
Then again:
Smart DCC Ltd is a wholly owned subsidiary of Capita plc
Of more concern is that Capita also handles my pension payments.
Isn't there? That's good to know!
If you can't be bothered summarising the story you are referring to, then I can't be bothered following the link.1 -
Capita shares collapse after warning on profits
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-42885211
Smart DCC Ltd is a wholly owned subsidiary of Capita PLC
https://www.smartdcc.co.uk/about-dcc/
This doen't look to a positive situation ahead of the main roll out of smart meters,it raises questions of possible problems and contingency measures that are in place if any.0
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