Smart Meters - let me know the pro's....

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  • Owain_Moneysaver
    Owain_Moneysaver Posts: 11,357
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    Gerry1 wrote: »
    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.
  • Smodlet
    Smodlet Posts: 6,976
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    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.
  • iammumtoone
    iammumtoone Posts: 6,377
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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.
  • Vegastare
    Vegastare Posts: 996
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    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:.
  • Gerry1
    Gerry1 Posts: 9,891
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    Vegastare wrote: »
    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.
    Although Smart Energy GB claims to be "an independent voice for consumers", it's nothing of the sort. Its role is "to support the rollout of smart meters" and it's funded by the domestic energy suppliers (who are required to do this by Ofgem). So don't expect anything unbiased from them !

    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. :(
  • AndyCF
    AndyCF Posts: 748
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    Gerry1 wrote: »
    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 !
    Well that's completely true. :)
    Gerry1 wrote: »
    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 !
    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. Then again I suspect its possible to send signals via the mains anyways, negating said cage useless.

    Gerry1 wrote: »
    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.
    This I can actually see happening in a decade or two's time and its quite a valid point in that it may well cost more at certain times, a bit like E7 but for daytime peak hours, say 6-9am and then again at say 5-7pm or something.

    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 ? :o

    Gerry1 wrote: »
    jaw.gifSmart people have Dumb Meters. Dumb people have Smart Meters.
    I have one of each, so I'm not quite sure where that places me ? :)
  • Owain_Moneysaver
    Owain_Moneysaver Posts: 11,357
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    AndyCF wrote: »
    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.
  • Gerry1
    Gerry1 Posts: 9,891
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    AndyCF wrote: »
    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.
    They'll wait until the rollout is complete: don't scare the punters away ! Softly, softly catchee monkey...
    AndyCF wrote: »
    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.
    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.
    AndyCF wrote: »
    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.
    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.
    AndyCF wrote: »
    I have one of each, so I'm not quite sure where that places me ? :)
    Somewhere dark and cold when they decide to shed your load... :(
  • silverwhistle
    silverwhistle Posts: 3,776
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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.
  • AndyCF
    AndyCF Posts: 748
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    edited 26 June 2019 at 12:25AM
    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.
    Oh no I'd not think anything is 100% secure. :) I used to work in I.T. :)
    Gerry1 wrote: »
    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... :(
    Well maybe, I can't say I've tried a cage around a mobile phone actually. Question is why has the monies not been invested in newer generation tech ? I seem to have a very very vague memory (I was quite young then!) of some form of Tidal generation being rejected by the 80's Thatcher govt and now we are using it at a lot more cost as the design ideas or something we now have to pay for ? I'm not sure on this I've not looked into it.
    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.
    To be honest I'm not really convinced too much about govt vs environment when we plan to expand an airport pretty soon. Should these days really be less things in the air not more! Pollution from jet engines is different to cars I know but its still various gasses.

    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!
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