Smart meters - good choice?

[aveatry]

Yes, it is just one more means of control which some people appear to agree with and welcome.

Sleep walking into totalitarianism - falling for the bribe of having free electricity for 1 hour, possibly saving 23pence. Taking "rewards" for not using power at certain times after stumbling around in the dark- boiling kettles in readiness, charging devices before the reward time.
When it comes to ( and it will ) mandatory smart meters then you really know you are in trouble.

 

[ericmark]

It didn't matter too much back then,

Yes it did, I had a baby to look after, and there was no heating, we did not cook with gas, and the hot air gas central heating stopped working, my wife did not drive, and there was no way to keep the baby warm,

I have never voted for labour since. Talk about burying one's head in the sand? I moved house as a result, and vowed never again to rely on electric for heating. No need to ask what I think of heat pumps.

Once bitten twice shy, never again will I rely on a grid supply.

 

[morqthana]

So - might be wrong and you don't care.

I cannot be wrong to say "as far as I know...", or "it is my understanding that..."

Don't you have that the wrong way round? Your assertion that the customer cannot refuse is the negative.

No, not the wrong way round. To show that a customer can refuse requires the citation of the legislation, or whatever, which gives him that right.

I accept that they will be compulsory one day.

Will that day be before, or after, the day on which we no longer own anything but are happy, do you think?

 

[morqthana]

@morqthana Please outline the, or any, scenarios where they might do that.

Selective load shedding could be instigated remotely exactly as happened during the 3 day week period of 1973-4 when rolling black-outs left my wife and children reliant on a 12v TV and low wattage 12v lamps, plus a match ignited gas cooker and radiant fire.

I wonder why you completely disregarded the first part of my question...

"Given a lack of any need for [rolling 'area outages' .. because of a widespread lack of capacity], let me ask you..."

and then went on to outline a scenario which was precisely rolling area outages brought about by widespread lack of capacity....

It didn't matter too much back then, but now my wife has become disabled, light and heat as and when needed are essential.

But you object to having a meter infrastructure which would make it easier for "selective load shedding" to not be applied to your supply, and make it easier for her essential lighting and heating to be maintained.

OK.

BTW -

Selective load shedding could be instigated remotely exactly as happened during the 3 day week period of 1973-4

Could you please let ericmark know which party was in power then, as he seems to have an anti-Labour bias verging on obsessional.

 

[morqthana]

Sleep walking into totalitarianism

I'll ask you the same question

On a scale of 0 to totalitarianism, where do you put being controlled by smart meters?

Is it above, or below, having the right to own a car taken from you, or above or below being confined to a small ghetto only 15 minutes travel from edge to edge?

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Sleep walking into totalitarianism - falling for the bribe of having free electricity for 1 hour, possibly saving 23pence. Taking "rewards" for not using power at certain times after stumbling around in the dark- boiling kettles in readiness, charging devices before the reward time.
When it comes to ( and it will ) mandatory smart meters then you really know you are in trouble.,

Nonsense - We have a clear choice of - the expensive cost of building enough capacity, to cover the maximum load we might to care to impose on the network, or try to average out the demand, around the 24 hours, by charging for time/load. E7 always did this, Smart Meters just allow things to be done better, and more quickly, more reactively.

Do you complain, when your off-season holidays, or travel are offered cheaper, as a bribe to use spare capacity?

 

[morqthana]

Do you complain, when your off-season holidays, or travel are offered cheaper, as a bribe to use spare capacity?

Good question.

He ought to complain, because clearly those offers are just a stealth precursor to a totalitarian government telling everyone when they may, and may not go on holiday. And where, of course.

 

[Scally-Ho]

.Could you please let ericmark know which party was in power then, as he seems to have an anti-Labour bias verging on obsessional.

The 3 day week was introduced as a method of restricting electricity usage by Ted Heath's Conservative government, forced upon the nation by dwindling coal stocks caused by coal miner strikes/industrial action under the direction of the Labour lead unions. King Coal was the major generator fuel back then so hence the 3 day week. While some lost out big time during the 3 day week, others like me, a devoted capitalist, thrived and gained wealth by using my brain. From then onwards, I never looked back.

 

[morqthana]

I think you'll find that looking back is all that people like you and ericmark are doing.