Smart meters have never connected

[morqthana]

I certainly know of some people who have appreciably reduced their usage of such things as tumble driers and fan heaters since a 'smart' meter has brought home to them the impact this was happening on their bills, nd others who have turned their thermostats down a degree or three when they discovered how much impact that could have on their energy usage.

Do they also have instant-heat water taps, because they too save them money on cups of tea as they are too stupid to come up with the idea of only putting the amount of water they actually need into the kettle?

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

What is needed is (in my opinion) a sensible discussion about 'pandemic planning' (establishing contingency plans for 'once in a century' events), and the management of such pandemics, in the light of the lessons learned in recent years. As things stand, we still have two camps of 'experts', one saying that (in terms of restrictions, lockdowns etc.) the PM "did too little too late" and that other saying that he "did too much". I very much doubt that the "witch hunt" we are seeing will achieve that.

What I thought I had heard/read somewhere, was that there had been pandemic planning carried out several years ago, but that the government had shelved it.

My personal opinion, is that too little was done, too late, after which there was a complete over-reaction. They basically, had no plan in place and so were thinking on their feet, as a result, major errors occurred, and lots of money wasted.

 

[Mister Banks]

They are being 'ordered' to fit the meters, and have to recover the (marginal) cost of that from their customers - but there appears to be no government-imposed 'surcharge'.

I rather doubt it. If one assumes that the number of domestic electrical installations is roughly equal to the number of 'households' (i.e. about 28 million) then £13.5 billion represents about £482 per meter. That sounds pretty excessive even for the actual cost (of installing the 'smart' meters), let alone the additional cost over and above the 'routine replacement cost' that they would otherwise have to bear (and are already building into their charges to customers).

Kind Regards, John

Its £482 per household, most households have 2 smart meters so £241 per meter.

 

[JohnW2]

I think it is 100% reasonable to have a focus on the actions and behaviour of the individuals who were being paid by the taxpayer to carry out actions which were the best ones to manage the pandemic, and to behave in a professional, responsible, and respectful way when doing so.

It's 'reasonable' if one merely wants to attribute 'blame' for things which are now history - but that, in itself, does not help us moving forward.

No reason not to have that too.

As I said, it's what matters in terms of the future. Finding/exposing individuals as 'scapegoats' will not help the future at all, not the least because none of the individuals concerned will be in government when the next major crisis arises.

And as part of it they could look at the actions and behaviour of those in the past who left us with only Baldrick quality plans for managing pandemics etc without even laying in a stock of turnips.

The planning was not as Baldrick-like as you seem to imply, although it was necessarily fairly theoretical, given so little past experience of such events. Since memories/data of past major pandemics (e.g. the 1919/20 'flu one) are so distant, most of the 'lessons learned' had too come from the 2009 HiN1 'flu pandemic, which was of limited value.

The "UK Influenza Pandemic Preparedness Strategy 2011" (click here) , a seemingly pretty sensible, and fairly comprehensive, 70-page document, represents the 'planning' that was available at the time Covid-19 appeared, albeit the assumption was that a future pandemic would be of some type of influenza. It included such advice as:

..... local planners should prepare to extend capacity on a precautionary but reasonably practicable basis, and aim to cope with up to 210,000 - 315,000 additional deaths across the UK over a15 week period

Perhaps one major lesson is that such advice should be heeded, since I'm not sure that 'planners' actually did very much about it!

Having said that, I would say that there is a limit to which one can realistically do in anticipation of something which may not happen again this century. To build countless hospitals and mortuaries and leave them empty/unused, 'just in case', and to stockpile vast amounts of limited-life items (e.g. PPE) and equipment such as ventilators would be arguably 'unrealistic'.

Kind Regards, John

 

[JohnW2]

What I thought I had heard/read somewhere, was that there had been pandemic planning carried out several years ago, but that the government had shelved it.

See my recent post.

My personal opinion, is that too little was done, too late, ...

Many people would agree with you - but others, perhaps thinking about Sweden, would say that we did far too much, to the detriment of the economy and, indeed, the general health of the population.

Nothing iis black and white, and there are no simple 'correct' answers.

Kind Regards, John

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Have you seen any evidence that you're paying more for your electricity than people do in other areas of the UK?

Cost of energy does vary quite a lot, depending upon where you live. Why do you think you have to provide your postcode in, for a quote?

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Having said that, I would say that there is a limit to which one can realistically do in anticipation of something which may not happen again this century. To build countless hospitals and mortuaries and leave them empty/unused, 'just in case', and to stockpile vast amounts of limited-life items (e.g. PPE) and equipment such as ventilators would be arguably 'unrealistic'.

The speed with which they got that part together, certainly impressed me..

 

[JohnW2]

The speed with which they got that part together, certainly impressed me..

I agree. In fact, despite all the (probably justifiable) criticism of some decisions, and behaviour, of individuals, I was pretty impressed by the entirity of the government's handling of the pandemic. Sure, there were undoubtedly mistakes made, many of which may only be apparent with the benefit of hindsight, but we have to realise an accept that they were dealing with a situation unprecedented in our lifetimes, and probably unprecedented in most of our parent's lifetimes.

If we have to, we seem pretty good at achieving things quickly. Just as we created massive hospital facilities in just 'days', so did we modify civilian ships for military use at the time of the Falklands war.

Kind Regards, John

 

[Murdochcat]

Everything about Covid is easy looking back

 

[JohnW2]

Everything about Covid is easy looking back

Indeed - and, as I said, although this might not be a very widely-held view, I'm fairly impressed and satisfied by the way that (under the very difficult and unprecedented circumstances, and without any hindsight) the UK handled the situation.

Kind Regards, John

 

[ericmark]

Do they also have instant-heat water taps, because they too save them money on cups of tea as they are too stupid to come up with the idea of only putting the amount of water they actually need into the kettle?

I use a pair of kettles which boil one cups worth of water each time button is pressed, one fixed cup size one variable cup size both same make, but they are not to save energy, but to speed up time to make a couple of cups of coffee, fast enough for loo break and make coffee within TV adverts time.

I always try to keep kettles full, too easy to switch on when not enough water and damage kettle.

However to save power I should only use one kettle, as the battery will not supply enough power to run two, so using two at the same time can mean drawing power from grid rather than use the solar power.

I know at work we have instant heat tap, but they must waste energy, as you here it cutting in and reheating the water in the tank, the idea is not to save energy but to have boiling water available for a crew of people all coming in at the same time. Kettles take too long.

 

[Murdochcat]

Indeed - and, as I said, although this might not be a very widely-held view, I'm fairly impressed and satisfied by the way that (under the very difficult and unprecedented circumstances, and without any hindsight) the UK handled the situation.

I remember watching BJ telling us all to stay at home - and my immediate thought was "wow" - some of these decisions they have made will be proved wrong - but that would only be later with hindsight.

and then a few days later getting a promise from the Government to pay me (self employed) money to stay at home - again "wow" - never expected that - sure it wasn't my usual income but enough to pay the bills

Too many people think they knew better - but I suspect if they'ed been the rabbits in the headlights then what would they have done?

Plus a family member worked Chris Whittys department - its fair to say they were out of their depth AND they were advising the Government!

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

I always try to keep kettles full, too easy to switch on when not enough water and damage kettle.

I make it a habit, to not leave an electric kettle on their base/socket thingummy, after use - that forces me to lift the kettle, and in the process notice how much/little water there is in it, before turning it on.

 

[ericmark]

I make it a habit, to not leave an electric kettle on their base/socket thingummy, after use - that forces me to lift the kettle, and in the process notice how much/little water there is in it, before turning it on.

Neither of my kettles require me to lift them to get water into the cups I can lift them to fill them, but normally use a jug, the one on left is not as economic as one on right, as it has a bleed back control so it can give a variable amount of water, where one on right is fixed amount, one on left slightly more expensive and I can manually also stop the flow.

I try to keep them reasonably full, I can see no benefit at all in not filling kettles of that type. It does mean to fill my flask I have to boil water into a cup then pour into the flask, but for tea it means water is on the boil when it hits the bag, no need to re-boil.

The other option is these with a insulated kettle that will keep water warm for 4 hours, they have the advantage when making multi cups of coffee/tea, wall mounted versions go back as far as I can remember, early ones were glass with a whistle and a hose to put on tap to fill them, these progressed to auto fill types with baffles inside to stop water circulating so boiling water remained at the bottom, and they were insulated to keep the water at near boiling temperature, there was also a version which did not water so hot, often a 7 litre tank of water hot enough to wash ones hands.

In last few years I have seen a combination type, which can deliver both hot and boiling water, can't say I trust them.

However in the winter non of them really save energy, they may save money, but we heat our homes, so any heat from ovens, lights, and kettles reduces the amount needs from the central heating, so the heat is not wasted. Only in the summer do we need to reduce the heat which gets into the home, this is when the induction hob comes into its own, but for me in winter it is guess work, as don't know how much energy the central heating is using day to day, the thermostat records how long it runs for to heat the home, but not how much to heat DHW, and smart meters will not help they only do the electric, the oil needs me to open top of tank and look in.

 

[morqthana]

I find that I have a little 2-position rocker-thing on the socket where the kettle plugs in, and in one of the positions the kettle gets no power and so can't be accidentally switched on.