Who Could Possibly Have Predicted Problems With Smart-Meters?

[Hymie]

Posted by Hymie: 23:27 Fri 11th Nov 2022:-

//.....And should your smart meter go wrong and disconnect you – if you think your supplier is going to rush round and fix it, your thinking is wrong.

Why anyone would have a smart meter fitted is a mystery to me.//

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11610525/Around-4-000-hit-smart-meter-defect-left-unable-spent.html

[Hopkirk]

Toaster have chips so that smart meters can track them? Whoever told you that was pulling your leg Togo.

[barry1010]

One huge advantage to having a smart meter (not in home display) is that my energy company has guaranteed that if compulsory power cuts are needed my house will be exempt because of the equipment my oldster uses to keep him alive. My home is on the vulnerable register.

[barry1010]

My smart meters send gas readings

[goodgoalie]

So far, nobody has mentioned the reported £18 billion it is costing to roll out these unnecessary 'smart' meters. This cost is one of the reasons we all pay the iniquitous 'standing charge' on our gas and electric bills - my combined standing charge for gas and electricity is currently £283 per year, that's before I've turned anything on.

I will never accept a 'smart' meter, and always take regular readings which I supply to my energy company every 90 days. It's easy, if you want to, to work out how much your daily costs are, but most people don't know their tariff, and can't be bothered to find it out.

[Hopkirk]

Another reason to resist one.
If the company doubts your ability to pay the can switch ito being a prepayment meter at the flick of a remote switch.
This is remote disconnection by another name.
If you have an ordinary meter they would have to come in and change your meter, and fit a prepayment one.

[THECORBYLOON]

GG, "So far, nobody has mentioned the reported £18 billion it is costing to roll out these unnecessary 'smart' meters."

What is your source for that figure?

[THECORBYLOON]

TOGO, toasters have chips in them so that they can function more efficiently but why do you believe smart meters access them?

[douglas9401]

It should be noted that those wearing headgear to protect themselves from government tracking, whether pie dish or the more substantial Fray Bentos tin, should remove them when going close to smart meters in case of arcing and the extraction of life essence.

[goodgoalie]

The source was today's MoS, that's why I said 'reported'.

There is a lower, but still eye-watering, figure: The Department of Energy and Climate Change impact assessment puts the cost of the whole rollout at £12.1 billion.

[johnny.5]

Albert Einstein has one


Am I Right ?
I'm Not Wrong !

[Xeronema]

For the folks that don't want a smart meter but still want to be able to track what electricity they are using, why not just install your own energy consumption device? It takes all of about 2 minutes and most people can do it, or get a friend to do it.

[Bazile]

//TOGO, toasters have chips in them so that they can function more efficiently but why do you believe smart meters access them?//




Didn't you know your smart meter is in collusion with your toaster ?

[drmorgans]

Isn't this what the "Internet of things" is all about? Smart fridges, cookers and the like.

[andres]

The smart meter was patented , I think, in the 1970s. The 'teething troubles 'have had about 59 years to be sorted.

[andres]

49 years^^^

[douglas9401]

If smart meters were really smart they'd have nothing to do with those thieving profiteers at the energy companies with their standing charges and lack of real accountability to anyone.

[carrot99]

My in home display has saved me money.

I've been using it since last September when I was paying around £4 per day for gas and electricity. I'm on British Gas standard tariff and when the prices rose, one day the daily cost hit £15. Consequently, I've made use of my central heating timer, combined loads of drying in the dryer instead of drying individual loads and used eco programmes on the washing machine and dishwasher. If I couldn't see the display of what I'm spending I'd have carried on wearing shorts with the heating set on 24 and doing half loads in the kitchen machines. I even bought an electric throw so I could turn the heating off in the evening.

[Togo]

You are getting there drmorgans. For microcontrollers and wireless connectivity in "smart" appliances to operate you need first a means of connecting(tracking/monitoring) them. The smart meter is the Trojan Horse. There is legislation already in force that requires manufacturers to install the I.Cs., required for monitoring, in all home appliances. The internet of all things is reliant on keeping you uninformed about its true purpose and leaving you with no way to avoid it without going off grid. When you are not compliant with the "authorities" they desire the means to disenfranchise you.

[goodgoalie]

// If I couldn't see the display of what I'm spending I'd have carried on wearing shorts with the heating set on 24 and doing half loads in the kitchen machines.//

You needed a display to tell you why you were paying a lot?

[New Judge]

//.And should your smart meter go wrong and disconnect you –//

Where does it mention in the article you provided, that the faulty meters have been disconnecting customers?

//It is not clear whether ‘lost connectivity’ refers to the smart meter communication or ‘loss of electrical supply’ – I doubt DM journalists are intelligent enough to know the difference.//

Perhaps not, but most people are. You can bet your bottom dollar that if customers had lost their electricity supply as a result of this issue, the DM would be shouting from the rooftops and providing photos of customers huddled in blankets, warming their hands round a candle. “Connectivity” obviously refers to the meter’s communication with either its display unit and/or the energy supplier.

I am becoming concerned for you, Hymie. Your constant fretting over the “rights” that you believe people will lose as a result of Brexit (as if they never had them before we joined the EEC) was bad enough. But now this.

//If you don’t have a Smart Meter your bill is estimated and you prefer that ?//

I don’t have a smart meter and I have not had an estimated bill for, perhaps, twenty years or more.

//But it stops you being your energy suppliers bank by loaning them money for free,..//

Nobody has to do that. Almost all suppliers give their customer the option of paying their bill (usually) quarterly in arrears. The tariff will probably be higher but if you really want to fanny around like that the choice is there. As mentioned, some suppliers pay interest on credit balances. If you don’t want to lend your supplier money take out a new monthly direct debit deal at the start of the winter. You will build up arrears during the cold months which will be paid off in the summer. It requires a bit of research and intelligence on the part of customers to determine what is best for them, that’s all (but which is probably too much for many people).

//For the folks that don't want a smart meter but still want to be able to track what electricity they are using, why not just install your own energy consumption device?//

Everybody has one. It’s called an electricity (or gas) meter. It’s already installed, it costs you nothing and you can read it as frequently as you like. The idea that you need to know how much a light bulb costs to run before you will think about turning it off is ludicrous.