I’ve had meter readers round a few times to read both meters. Probably my suspicious usage has triggered it.
HH I went to a school that was crap enough to have a BBC2 documentary on it after I left, was called The School.
But I had an exceptional English teacher who was a socialist at heart and felt a calling to educate the unwashed masses of the council estates.
She was bloody epic, took us to see plays in London above pubs and turned a blind eye to us scavenging a drink, her husband was a head of a top private school and she would have earned a living in any top private school. She once nailed me with “teaching you is like cruelty to dumb animals”, because she knew I had a modicum of talent but was academically lazy and saved it for exams.
Not needing to justify myself here, more that the “important” tag couldn’t be further from the truth , just from the generous nature of a brilliant teacher in a setting meant I had half a chance.
The rest is luck and chance, which is life itself.
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We had a neighbour that rigged up a link from next door … few years ago, but some very strange readings led to a visit….
Had visions of National Lampoons Christmas vacation …
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Ha, there was a series made at my old school too, Rock School with Gene Simmons from Kiss. I couldn’t abide Kiss but it was actually a petty good programme.
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The Barrings bank collapse was a big moment, Nick Leeson lived in literally the last house on the estate. We all grew up together, went to same junior school, which was where we spent our summers playing football on the school fields.
When the news broke that was a double take moment, Nick was a normal lad and not the norm for working in that industry.
Good bunch of lads from same place, many of us still in touch, very different outcomes and livings but the same bond.
I had a meter reader turn up last year. A few days after I had switched to a smart meter
Could have been written for me! Of course this approach only worked for science/mathematics subjects where you could do the exam from first principles. My English Literature O-level exam was a rather different matter. Probably should have read some of the books.
Willy.
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Surely the environmental benefit from a smart meter is nothing to do with readings, but the potential to manage demand for electricity to fit in with peaky solar and wind generation rather than more consistent gas generation. Smart meters enable different costs per kWh depending on grid demand
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Had a mate who when presented with the question “What was the misunderstanding in the Tenant of Wildfell Hall?” in our o-level English lit exam proceeded to produce a few thousand words on a thoroughbred racehorse in the paddocks of the hall. He hadn’t read the book but his short story sounded pretty compelling, needless to say he got a U. He was a gifted genius who just didn’t see the point of English lit.
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The challenge of this is the ability to store the energy, companies can see the demand without smart meters as they have to date as they have a separate infrastructure for their “asset management” of their network before it hits the end consumer.
We need a massive investment (which is happening to be fair) in this storing tech to then be able to support delivery methods of surplus supply, then the really cool energy such as wind / tidal becomes a large scale possibility.
Irony of the disgraceful war in Ukraine is Putin is accelerating this investment in innovation and its adoption as the world looks to remove their dependency on oil and gas from such places.
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Yes, Adam, I agree with all of that. I am a bit tired of the simplistic pro-renewables view that all we need to do is ramp up renewable generation. Matching that with demand is difficult and expensive. And time shifting domestic consumption with the aid of smart meters is just one part of the solution. Am hoping that my next EV will be able to do v2h (vehicle to home) and that home chargers compatible with that will also be available at sensible costs in the not too distant future. Another brick in the wall!
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Yes, I had this a few years ago… meters do need calibrating and have a lifetime. I insisted on a replacement standard meter… the electricity distributor obliged… I have a totally modern (with lcd displays) standard electricity meter… and yes I still provide the meter readings via an online portal.
For what it’s worth, I required if a smart meter was to be deployed, then because of the use of 4G mobile radio (3G is being phased out) that the power company would need to pay to move to a new location in the house and make good.
At this point it was no issue at all in them supplying a modern new regular meter with multiple rates… inc ‘economy 7’ rate for potential EV charger use. (I have a 100 amp supply)
Using smart meters to encourage consumers to use electricity when there is plenty of energy in the system and discouraging them when there is a shortage of energy is obviously a benefit.
However, in the future things will move on. The electric generators will take control of appropriate household domestic appliances and switch them on when there is plenty of energy in the system.
Taking control of when a car battery is charged up would be a no brainer.
I very much doubt that would happen in the UK. The good old British public has an aversion to big brother - we don’t even want to carry identify cards!! The thought of some big business controlling when you can heat water, operate the tumble dryer or cook the Sunday roast I think will be beyond the pale for most… and when will it end - water companies might then want to determine when you can shower, bath or use the washing machine… within an area
Now controlling behaviour through pricing of when every day appliances run will see cries of foul play for those who work shifts and / or nights etc.
I think timed pricing in bands for some specific actions like charging cars will or powering heaters will be as far as it will go - as indeed it does now with E7 - and then it becomes consumer choice vs cost.
Now one might say in the future there does need to be more of a charge / demand equation on things - i don’t necessarily disagree - but such changes need to happen slowly over a generation and be applied sensitively and be appropriate - and I think the first big test of such a change will be the introduction of road pricing…
Finally back onto power - i think the new generation solar panels built into exterior walls and roof tiles (without having to have those hideous glass panels strapped to or embedded in the roof) will start to make a bigger impact on personal electricity production… one can contribute without turning your house into an eyesore. (in my opinion - realising that some on the forum might have such panels and consider them positively aesthetic )
A very close family relative is setting up a subsidiary business to cater for this expected demand in the coming years for such more harmonious domestic solar generation and associated heat pump systems. But he tells me the next major transformation in domestic solar generation will be the development of more efficient local domestic power storage to allow domestic solar to be more dependable and available as a power source.
My 80 year old Mother had a Gas meter with those old fashioned analogue clock type dials, and had to crawl into the cupboard to read it. She managed it, but it was so much more helpful for her when she finally got a smart meter last year (I think). So I guess if there is a lifetime for these, I wonder if the old meters had a much longer lifespan than the Smart Meters, even ignoring the SMETS 1 and 2 debacle.
Anyway for me with my Solar panels, I look at my IHD probably 100 times a day, along with looking out the window at the sun, to judge best times to put on a kitchen appliance. Partly for saving energy cost, partly for the environment, but also admitantly partly because I enjoy the challenge.
Of course I do know many others don’t use their IHD, in which case that is a bit of a waste of equipment. I wonder if you can actually have a smart meter, but refuse the IHD
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I believe the companies are obligated by Ofgem to supply the IHD, which wouldn’t cost them a lot anyway, but of course you are not obligated to use it. So you could just leave it in its box or chuck it out.
I wouldn’t be refusing one, keeping it in its box or throwing it away, it’s actually a very good safety device.
Any a abnormal gas usage could indicate a gas leak.
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I agree - and there are already many more tariffs already here that encourage overnight use. Quite a few are linked to EV ownership (it’s a requirement for some tariffs) with very low rates for charging for fixed 4 or 5 hour slots overnight. Octopus seems to have the biggest range of tariffs, including one where the price changes every 30 minutes and the changes published a day in advance (you’d have to be committed to go for that one), and negative pricing has been known to occur from time to time when there is a big surplus of generation and they are desperate to get people to use power
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Do you mean they vary the rate they charge dynamically according to demand (or might do)? (As opposed to using data to decide what to charge when, and notifying consumers.) If so, how does/would that fit with the requirement to inform a consumer of the cost?
All published in advance - I was talking in broad terms. You know in advance when peak demand will be, so you price higher when the peak will be (or lower when you want to encourage demand). The most extreme version with different prices at different times each day (every 30 minutes I think) publishes the prices a day in advance