Vocal Voices

Ofgem is fining the six big players £10.8m because they failed to meet "its" target for installations.

Ofgem said in a statement:

"Smart meters are an important part of the transition to a greener, more flexible energy system,"

"They also help households by making it easier for them to track their energy usage, as well as access innovative smart tariffs that can save money by encouraging energy use outside of peak times or when there is excess clean electricity available."

Ofgem's statement contains a lot of falsehoods. We (householders) do not need a smart meter to transition to greener and more flexible energy - that is up to the suppliers.

The second part is also nonsense. People are not stupid, they already track their energy usage. They know that if the kettle is on or they are taking a shower then electricity is being used, and if a stew is bubbling away on the gas hob or the CH is on then gas is being used. Their energy is being tracked in their heads, and if those things need to be done there is sod all the user can do about it. As for changing tariffs, that can also be done without a smart meter - it is a supply side thing. When Economy 7 came in smart meters did not exist. The supplier knew who had signed up and charged us more for daytime use and less after midnight. They monitored when and how much we were using from their end - no smart meter required.

We eventually came off E 7 because there was little we could do after midnight and we were both out working for most of the day.

All that smart meters really do that cannot be done without them is to give the householder a second by second reading of their energy use and a running total of the cost. They will still get a bill and it will still have to be paid.

Honestly, most people really do not "need" one, but I suppose Ofgem has to be seen to be doing something.

It is the energy companies who need the smart meters. Because it tells them exactly where and when the power is being used. This allows them to know how much power can be transitioned to CO2 neutral power and how much reserve has to be in the system at which times.

For the person, it is possible to use the meter to track each and every item in the house. But the number of people who are so focused on energy usage is infinitesimal. Although my father is one of them.

Smart meters also have a second function. That of limiting the ability of the home to draw extra power at times of very high usage on the grid. Essentially, today, a house has a fuse and you can use power up to the limit of the fuse. However with a smart meter the meter can act like variable fusing, restricting power into the home in order to maintain grid stability.

I know this is not popular. Then again taking down the entire local grid because you demand to pull 100 amps to the home, regardless of whether the grid can cope or not, is not very pleasant either.

Energy suppliers already know roughly where and when power is being used through the thousands of local distribution transformers you see everywhere. If the grid is that stressed it is about to go down turning off a few smart meter users is not going to help - it would have to be hundreds or thousands in a local area. And even if it did then how is that a "benefit" to those smart meter owners?

"Why are we sat in the dark with no heating when Bob and Mary over the road are all lit up and cosy?"
"It is because we are on a smart meter and they are not."

Then there is the ability (or will be) of smart meters to turn off outlets (tails) from the house main board. Not your kettle or TV, but certainly ones to upstairs, downstairs, extensions, garages or external sockets. And don't forget variable pricing throughout the day, at the whim of the supplier, to dissuade energy use when demand is high. They will even know when your EV is drawing power to charge and set a unit tariff just for that.

Smart meters are just another gadget for households, but a BIG control device for the energy companies / governments.

They certainly are. Then again what is the alternative? You get your fuse reduced to 35A and then you have to choose when to run your washer and dryer and kettle?

There are no really good options here. Just less bad ones.

If I want a cuppa I don't need to be told by a smart meter how much it's going to cost me

Isee they're resurrrecting that National Grid Demand Flexibility Service again this winter, i.e. sit in the dark for two and a half hours and get thruppence off yer electric bill.
Oh well, if it saves the planet .....

Nothing is saving the planet Ossie. It is about saving Us From the planet when we screw it up so badly that it decides to get rid of us.