Smart meter

[{SAS}TB]

Thanks, it's not so much the cost (the new meter cost is in the overall cost of moving the new supply) it's just at no point, yet, have they asked my who my supplier is.

I need to speak to / chase them again so will add this to the list of queries

 

[montymint]

Thanks, it's not so much the cost (the new meter cost is in the overall cost of moving the new supply) it's just at no point, yet, have they asked my who my supplier is.

I need to speak to / chase them again so will add this to the list of queries

ahh I see. They don’t need to either, they’ll know who the supplier is from MPAS via a data flow. Once the new meter is fitted they’ll notify Gemserv via another flow who’ll then update the shipper / supplier to update their records.

it’s all autonomous

for background, the firm I work for makes the software that the IDNOs and IGTs use to bill shippers, along with the API the industry uses for customer data.

 

[{SAS}TB]

Ah, great, thanks

If experience so far is anything to go by I won't be holding my breath for anything SPN do

 

[MrRockliffe]

Nonesense tinfoil hat brigade. Having the instrumentation around you influences behaviour. It isn't rocket science.

Not for everyone

Some people won’t give a monkeys - they’ll live their life the way they want to and that’s that. They don’t want something telling them they’re using a lot of energy.

Some people though, like you and me, would use it to lower our usage by checking which activities use more energy than expected

 

[{SAS}TB]

Ha I've resisted a smart meter (or any new meter for that matter) as we have the old spinny disc thingummy one and I'm sure it's under reading - fully expecting my bills to shoot up when the new meter is installed ....

 

[montymint]

Ah, great, thanks

If experience so far is anything to go by I won't be holding my breath for anything SPN do

Don't blame you, NPG took 18 months to change a backboard on a dumb meter

 

[{SAS}TB]

Ha! I'm getting a pole in my garden dropped and the supply to my and next doors property re routed underground. We have overhead lines, buried services and land departments all involved (as well as their subbies / delivery partners) - it's like knitting fog

 

[montymint]

oh my goodness!

 

[stuman]

Ha! I'm getting a pole in my garden dropped and the supply to my and next doors property re routed underground. We have overhead lines, buried services and land departments all involved (as well as their subbies / delivery partners) - it's like knitting fog

To hell with that. I think I’d look into non-grid tied. Solar, big ol’ battery and GSHP, thick slate UFH. I’d rather that than get utilities companies installing, especially all working together

 

[bloodiedathame]

No benefits at all.

I keep getting emails and texts from Bulb about smart meters but I just ignore them.

That's not entirely true, my smart meter allows me to have a cheap tariff from 1230-430 to charge my EV.

 

[Flake87]

The first link you posted has the same moronic point about radiation, so it is really hard to continue reading. The latter just makes good sense if it is required. It wouldn't be hard to tell an electric car was charging and if we knew the car wasn't required for 12 hours, what problem would it cause to delay charging and turn it back on when demand has got less?

Firstly, the "moronic point" is a parliamentary document and although I wouldn't take issue with them being described as a bunch of morons, never the less they are the ones who make the rules and pass the laws so it's very important. Secondly yes they can tell your electric car is charging or your electric oven is on, but there is a 'global switch in your house which is either on or off. Suggesting they could turn off a charging point until later is unfortunately not available and the whole home would have to be disconnected, which is the whole reason why you should never allow one of these devices in your home.

 

[dlockers]

Firstly, the "moronic point" is a parliamentary document and although I wouldn't take issue with them being described as a bunch of morons, never the less they are the ones who make the rules and pass the laws so it's very important. Secondly yes they can tell your electric car is charging or your electric oven is on, but there is a 'global switch in your house which is either on or off. Suggesting they could turn off a charging point until later is unfortunately not available and the whole home would have to be disconnected, which is the whole reason why you should never allow one of these devices in your home.

Don't worry I've got the very best tinfoil to help with the latter.

So we have one group of flat earthers saying they're going to charge us more, and another group of 9/11 deniers saying that they will disconnect our entire house to stop us charging our electric car. Which is it? Can't you guys get together and agree your conspiracy first?

Edit: At least we can all rally around how water meters are bad, right?

 

[mmj_uk]

When you look at the corporate/government obsession with monitoring everyone and generally pushing invasive technology it's obvious where the SMART meter push is ultimately going to end up in the long term, you're going to end up with a power line style system where any device that is plugged into a power socket is able to send usage information. So for now they might just be collecting general power usage at any given time but I would bet that it's not long before all of the power cables are exposed to the same network and they're collecting information on a device by device basis.

 

[dlockers]

When you look at the corporate/government obsession with monitoring everyone and generally pushing invasive technology it's obvious where the SMART meter push is ultimately going to end up in the long term, you're going to end up with a power line style system where any device that is plugged into a power socket is able to send usage information. So for now they might just be collecting general power usage at any given time but I would bet that it's not long before all of the power cables are exposed to the same network and they're collecting information on a device by device basis.

Why would they go through all of that effort when any connected/IoT device basically broadcasts all of this information anyway?

 

[Dave85]

Was one of the first to have British Gas smart prepayment meters fitted a good few years ago as I liked the idea of knowing how much I put on everything but changed to EDF credit meter last month as BG price hike was a farce and this works out over £300 a year cheaper. Now my smart meters are dumb as they are smets1 or something so even though they where the latest and greatest they are out of date already. EDF have no clue when they can get out to switch them over so now they are dense again. The whole rollout does not seem to have been done the best.

 

[Angilion]

Electric smart meter, i keep getting the hard sell from my supplier but what are the benefits to me as a consumer if i already know i won't. Be changing my usage?

Should i be concerned about adjustable tariffs?

There are no benefits to the consumer. The benefits are for the supplier. Why do you think they're selling them at you? Companies don't sell things at you for your benefit.

"smart" is a marketing lie. There's nothing smart about choosing a device which is a potential security problem and which acquires information about you for the benefit of other people, which is what "smart" devices are for. It's a very good marketing lie. Who doesn't want to be smart?

 

[Yaayuh!]

Not really sure what the benefits are anyway. I use electricity. My current meter works.

Pretty much the same here. We've checked the meter readings every month for more than a decade so we've always always tracked our usage and have a good idea (because it's incredibly obvious) where our electricity is used. Seemingly the only benefit we'd get is saving about 2 minutes a month.

There are no benefits to the consumer. The benefits are for the supplier. Why do you think they're selling them at you? Companies don't sell things at you for your benefit.

"smart" is a marketing lie. There's nothing smart about choosing a device which is a potential security problem and which acquires information about you for the benefit of other people, which is what "smart" devices are for. It's a very good marketing lie. Who doesn't want to be smart?

Convenience for data, essentially.

 

[Yaayuh!]

Delete.

 

[MagicBoy]

I keep getting the phone calls. They usually give up when I tell them the meter is in the basement of the apartment building, and I won't be able to get a signal from it in the actual apartment. So all the bells and whistles are useless to me.

 

[TheVoice]

I've had one about a year, it's useful not having to dive into the hallway cupboard to get a reading (or let a stranger in to check it), and having a display showing current energy usage is handy, makes you a bit more aware of energy consumption and has alerted me more than a few times when I've left the heater on in the bathroom, for example.