Smart Meters - let me know the pro's....
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Do you have any evidence for this?
Existing pre-payment meters will automatically disconnect when the credit runs out. The energy companies wouldn't give up this feature when upgrading to smart meters. In any case, remote disconnection (load shedding) is defined in the SMETS2 specification, see Section 5.5.3.9 "Disable Supply".
And it's when the powers been remotely disconnected that people are most likely to be tempted to stick pins into the meter or whatever they do.A kind word lasts a minute, a skelped erse is sair for a day.0 -
Tell me, oh, tell me, Bulb do not foist these demonic devices on to their customers. I signed up to them yesterday as being one of the few worth my while who do not do this... I will own the £50 cash back for me and my referrer may have been a factor.0
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I have a owl monitor, as far as I aware it works the same way as it tells me my usages, daily spend etc (once I have input the costing information myself).
Does it save me energy, I don't think so but it does make me aware of my usage.
I had to pay for it but wanted to see what I use without moving to a smart meter.0 -
Wonder how the Gov got the Utility Companies on side with this, clearly costing them and the consumer, who pays for Smart Energy UK, guess its the tax payer.
Maybe it was the idea that Companies would have instant access to reading for billing, of course if there is a good wifi signal:rotfl:.0 -
Wonder how the Gov got the Utility Companies on side with this, clearly costing them and the consumer, who pays for Smart Energy UK, guess its the tax payer.
YOU are paying that £400 whether or not you have the pleasure of being ripped off and cut off by a smart meter. The energy companies are funding the rollout and have put their prices up to claw back that £400 from you.
Of course, they're laughing all the way to the bank because the saving you're likely to make is a measly £11 per year but they will save £13 per year per customer by putting your meter reader on the dole.0 -
There are NO consumer benefits in having a smart meter. It's unlikely that you don't realise that turning the thermostat up, leaving all the windows open and all the lights on will increase your energy usage, but in that case a £30 Energy Monitor will do the job just as well as a £400 smart meter. And you can install it yourself in seconds !The BIG disadvantage is that all smart meters have a KILL SWITCH so you'll be left cold and dark whenever there's not enough juice to go round. Make sure you are on good terms with your neighbours with ordinary meters so that you can pop round every time you're remotely cut off !
Mind you, a 'tongue-in-cheek' type comment (please read it that way) if said meter is in your property and in your own cupboard an accidental faraday cage etc. Then again I suspect its possible to send signals via the mains anyways, negating said cage useless.In due course you will find that Peak Time Surcharges will kick in: electricity will be much more expensive at times when you want to use it.
I'm not sure why it would happen though as there's been enough money paid / poured into it all for upgrading 'the grid' to cope with the future no ? Or is all said monies simply going to already rich shareholders, hedgefund type managers and the like ?Smart people have Dumb Meters. Dumb people have Smart Meters.0 -
I could be wrong here but I don't think (in the U.K at least) that an energy company has actually used remote disconnection. I'd actually expect there to be several months worth of hoops for them to jump through to get this far down the line, including perhaps switching said meter to prepay mode or something.
Legally, perhaps.
But do you really think these things are secure and unhackable, and do you really trust energy companies never to make a billing mistake or turn off the wrong meter remotely?
There are lots of stories here of people being charged for the wrong meter, having non-existent meters, having previous tenants' debt on their meters, etc.A kind word lasts a minute, a skelped erse is sair for a day.0 -
I could be wrong here but I don't think (in the U.K at least) that an energy company has actually used remote disconnection.I'd actually expect there to be several months worth of hoops for them to jump through to get this far down the line, including perhaps switching said meter to prepay mode or something.Mind you, a 'tongue-in-cheek' type comment (please read it that way) if said meter is in your property and in your own cupboard an accidental faraday cage etc.I have one of each, so I'm not quite sure where that places me ?0
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Some of the posters on here sound like a Daily Mail/Express scare story.
The whole scheme has been badly thought out and managed, that's for sure, but if some of you want some slightly techy posts about what you can only achieve with a smart meter go to Zarch's post in the green part of this forum.
The fact is, unless you want to spend even more money on massive subsidies for nuclear plants we're going to have to cope with predictable but variable renewable energy and one of the ways of doing so is rewarding people for discretionary use of electricity.
The introduction of domestic PV has lowered peak demands by shifting usage; for example I switched on a load of washing today when the sun came out and my panels were producing enough.
That, on a larger scale is what smart meters will help achieve.0 -
Owain_Moneysaver wrote: »Legally, perhaps.
But do you really think these things are secure and unhackable, and do you really trust energy companies never to make a billing mistake or turn off the wrong meter remotely?
There are lots of stories here of people being charged for the wrong meter, having non-existent meters, having previous tenants' debt on their meters, etc.They'll wait until the rollout is complete: don't scare the punters away ! Softly, softly catchee monkey...
Yes, for non-payment. But NOT for load shedding, that can be done at a moment's notice when a million kettles are switched on and demand exceeds supply. We're running out of generating capacity as old power stations get decommissioned, and energy rationing will be introduced instead of sufficient investment. It'll start with prohibitively expensive peak tariffs but, when push comes to shove, remote disconnection will knock your lights out.
Unlikely to work. Pop your mobile phone into a (switched off) microwave oven and it will probably still ring when there's an incoming call. You don't have to have a smart meter - just say NO.
Somewhere dark and cold when they decide to shed your load...silverwhistle wrote: »Some of the posters on here sound like a Daily Mail/Express scare story.
The whole scheme has been badly thought out and managed, that's for sure, but if some of you want some slightly techy posts about what you can only achieve with a smart meter go to Zarch's post in the green part of this forum.
The fact is, unless you want to spend even more money on massive subsidies for nuclear plants we're going to have to cope with predictable but variable renewable energy and one of the ways of doing so is rewarding people for discretionary use of electricity.
The introduction of domestic PV has lowered peak demands by shifting usage; for example I switched on a load of washing today when the sun came out and my panels were producing enough.
That, on a larger scale is what smart meters will help achieve.
Nuke power, well its the eventual waste that's the main concern there I suppose, if not safety issues. I'll stop here as I could write quite a lot about that 'pink boat' but that's something for another topic.
Regarding timing for washing, I am the same although I do not have much washing line space. I do however still thankfully have (from the 50's perhaps?) the ceiling mounted wooden clothes horse in the kitchen which works wonders for drying , lower down , hang clothes , raise up. Done and its not taking any valuable floor space!0
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