Compulsory Smart Meters.

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  • lstar337
    lstar337 Posts: 3,440
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    EachPenny wrote: »
    Damn! That's another idea they have stolen off me ;) Although what I saw in the news only mentioned the grid rather than the supply side, so excuse my failure to keep up to date. :)
    There's a lot in the Labour manifesto that isn't mentioned news, unless it's to bash it of course. ;)
  • EachPenny
    EachPenny Posts: 12,239
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    lstar337 wrote: »
    There's a lot in the Labour manifesto that isn't mentioned news, unless it's to bash it of course. ;)

    Ah, but does it qualify as 'news' - if its just a reprint of the 1983 edition? ;)

    Sorry, couldn't resist. I don't think any of the parties currently offer anything that voters can really get excited about. This election may go down in history as the most boring protracted one ever... which is hardly surprising a year on from the Brexit vote.
    "In the future, everyone will be rich for 15 minutes"
  • Cardew
    Cardew Posts: 29,036
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    edited 18 May 2017 at 4:55PM
    EachPenny wrote: »
    Ah, but does it qualify as 'news' - if its just a reprint of the 1983 edition? ;)

    Michael Foot's 1983 manifesto was right wing compared to this 2017 effort. Foot, like Corbyn, was/is patently sincere, but led Labour to their lowest share of the Vote since World War One.

    At least Foot resigned, I wonder if Corbyn will do the same?
  • DavidP24
    DavidP24 Posts: 957 Forumite
    It is only for the ConGov to lose and it would not be the first time that happened.
    Thanks, don't you just hate people with sigs !
  • mac.d wrote: »
    The meters don't need any electric sockets nor a phone line, and there is no standard 'fitting requirement' for smart meters. As long as you don't have a non-standard wiring/meter set-up, and they can get a mobile phone signal for the meter, they will install them.

    The electricity/gas meters (not, as I understand it, water meters) work on a 'mesh' grid system. That means that your meter will talk to your neighbour's meter which will talk to his neighbour's and on and on. Eventually your meter information will reach your supplier. They will do this wirelessly and that means that ALL of those meters will be transmitting and receiving radio waves 24 hours a day. There are over 5000 available studies showing that such radio activity can be dangerous including, but not limited to, causing cancer. They do not emit mobile phone signals - they have their own wavebands.

    Some people are made ill by being near radio activity of this sort - feeling sick, migraine, etc. Once the meter is fitted you cannot get it removed. You <can> ask for the transmission of your data to be taken monthly, rather than every half hour BUT there is no guidance as to whether or not your meter will still form part of the transmitting 'mesh'.

    Irrespective of the ability of the supplier to get a LOT of data about me via a smart meter (there's a long list of data that can be sent or received, it's not just your usage) there are also questions about the obvious easy ability to hack these signals. It is well within the bounds of possibility (read that as probability) that a hacker could turn off huge swathes of meters remotely. Now, imagine they turn off your gas meter - and then turn it back on - while you left the oven on while you are in the garden. BOOM! The suppliers say they won't do it - but they have the ability to. And a hacker doesn't have even the tiny amount of limited scruples that the utility companies do.
  • phillw wrote: »
    Even if the meters have a remote kill switch, it would be a legal nightmare for them to use it. The compensation claims from a hack would put them out of business.

    The advantage for them is that they can tell when you are using energy and charge different amounts at different times (as it costs them different amounts at different times). However I think this is going to be a billing disaster.

    You will still have a meter inspector visit your property.
    Especially for some suppliers *cough* npower *cough*
  • Freepost
    Freepost Posts: 215
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    Buying a new house, do I have to have a smart meter? There is no gas or electricity supply at the house yet and i would prefer not to have a smart meter.
  • System
    System Posts: 178,077
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    Freepost wrote: »
    Buying a new house, do I have to have a smart meter? There is no gas or electricity supply at the house yet and i would prefer not to have a smart meter.

    That is up to the Developer who will have entered into a meter installation contract. If after moving in you find that a smart meter has been installed, then you can ask for the communications module to be disabled. The meter will then just be a dumb meter.
  • Freepost
    Freepost Posts: 215
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    Thanks but that doesn't answer my question, there is no developer ... only a builder and as far as he is concern I can have what I want I've only got to tell him which supplier I want to go with and they will install the meters. Now, like anybody else I will be attracted to the cheapest supplier but I imagine most energy suppliers will want to install a smart meter but I don't particularly want one, so back to the question "With a new build do I have to have a smart meter installed or can I insist on a conventional meter?"
  • System
    System Posts: 178,077
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    Freepost wrote: »
    Thanks but that doesn't answer my question, there is no developer ... only a builder and as far as he is concern I can have what I want I've only got to tell him which supplier I want to go with and they will install the meters. Now, like anybody else I will be attracted to the cheapest supplier but I imagine most energy suppliers will want to install a smart meter but I don't particularly want one, so back to the question "With a new build do I have to have a smart meter installed or can I insist on a conventional meter?"

    Many of the smaller suppliers are not yet installing smart meters. They are waiting for the dust to settle. Nobody can force you to have a smart meter but some suppliers may elect to fit a smart meter without a connected communications module. Why would they want to buy and support old analogue meters for the few that will want to halt progress? What they fit will be a meter that can be read by the end user.
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