Smart Meters

Nick_C wrote: »

Getting rid of SCs would mean people with high usage would be subsidising low users. Not sure this is a good idea in the commercial sector.

Those high users could be mums with babies in nappies, or pensioners who need to keep the heating turned up. Should they be subsidising a working couple who are out all day?

Hi

Again, possibly ... but everyone needs an incentive to increase energy efficiency if carbon emissions are to be seriously reduced ... the perverse element that fixed cost recovery through standing charges introduces a counterproductive energy pricing model - when all costs are taken into account, the more energy that is used, the cheaper the price per unit .... not really a good incentive to meet the efficiency & reduction targets that the government have signed-up to ...

You mention high users would be subsidising low users ... well, in most cases that'd be down to choice & ability - people can choose to not employ efficiency measures and heat every room to ridiculously high temperatures, or they can take what can be the cheap option, improve insulation & heat rooms to levels appropriate to their level of usage ... if the incentive to get-up and start making a difference needs to be a little financial pain then let it be.

As for pensioners, new mums & the vulnerable, there are support schemes which already cover this such as winter fuel allowance, warm-front, child benefit, subsidised efficiency improvement support etc etc etc .... that's what they're for. Commercial & industrial charges are different and can be treated as so, applying a different set of efficiency incentives. Higher usage commercial/industrial sites have been metered & charged on a different basis for years, with particular regard given to consumption and plant & process power factors on a time of use basis, applying punitive rates on a TOU/PF basis, something which, of course, will continue outside the scope of domestic smart-metering.

The main issue missed is that improving competition through improving price transparency reduces prices, whereas convoluted schemes & ideas designed to drive energy efficiency, such as smart-metering, whilst purporting to save money, actually add cost too, that's literally hundreds of pounds of cost to every household ... a simple idea such as national pricing with no standing charge adds no cost whatsoever, neither to the supply industry or the consumer, but the price transparency would provide the spark which is necessary to drive competition and to the industry that means compete to survive.

Competition & major players in the energy sector are both on the cusp of a major shake-up, those who adapt to change will survive, others will be subject to mergers & acquisitions & some will inevitably fail ... the next 15 years-or-so will be interesting times in the energy & associated sectors as major international players reinvent/transform their respective business models ...

HTH
Z

matelodave wrote: »

Where have you got that from?

I'm guessing that you've got a mobile phone which you hold up to your head and keep in a pocket or handbag which is actually transmitting all the time - not just when you make a phone call.

Likewise do you have a wi-fi router or have your neighbours - if so they are also squirting out more radio energy than a smart meter.

Smart meters use the mobile network, not wi-fi and don't transmit all the time, just in small bursts.

If you are really all that concerned then get rid of of your mobile phones, laptops, routers etc and don't travel on public transport or go out into the street. You'll be sitting or walking next to someone who has got a mobile.

Most shops and other places have wifi and of course there are all the mobile phone base stations. Not forgetting TV & radio transmitters, police, fire and ambulances with mobile communication dveices in them

You could line your walls and windows with aluminium foil but some would still get through.

As Hengus says a smart meter should be the least of your worries.

Agreed except mobiles are not "transmitting all the time" and battery life would certainly be unacceptable if this was the case!

When a mobile is first switched on it searches for the nearest mobile base station with the strongest signal in that location. The handset then identifies itself to the mobile network via the control channel and it becomes attached to the network initially via that cell. Each area has a VLR database that stores details of all mobiles in that area. When or if a mobile moves from one cell to the next, the database is updated so that the network continuously maintains a record of where all attached mobiles are on the system, so continuous transmission is not required. When a mobile is called, the network knows which cell it is in and pages the mobile to establish a connection for the duration of the call.

Mattandjo wrote: »

I am new to this whole forum malarkey. Hoping someone can advise.
British Gas kindly offered to install Landis smart meters for gas and electric a while back. We have since changed suppliers (we're part of the MSE cheap energy club) and have subsequently developed concerns about the possible health impact of the smart meters. The new company doesn't use the smart meter functionality and we still supply readings, so my question to anyone out there is: can the Wi-Fi transmitters be disabled so that were no longer subject to the worrying levels of radio waves emissions?

It's OK, if you believe the radio energy is a problem, there's someone who believes they've found a solution : https://store.planet-tachyon.com/tachyon-g-smart-gas-meter-emf-radiation-protection-kit/

I doubt anyone who installed one of those kits has developed any health issues as a result of their smart meter.

Nick_C wrote: »

How does the cell know that the mobile has moved if it is not transmitting?

It's not that it isn't transmitting, just that it transmits very short bursts, occasionally, rather than a constant connection.

If a phone moved out of the range of a particular cell, the network wouldn't be able to find it until it made it's next ping (that would be picked up by a different cell). It's unusual, but it can happen.