Apparently, Al Gore's investment company has taken a 13% stake in Octopus Energy.
There's an interview with Greg of Octopus on today's BBC Sounds, the Today programme at about 06:17h.
Octopus' business model appears to be built on 'demand management'.
You have been warned...
What exactly is demand management, Shoot the people who need too much energy rather than generating more? grin. Brian
Possibly restricting demand at peak times, either by high spot pricing or disconnection?
Why bother to shoot them when you can turn off their smart meters and leave them to die of hypothermia?
Nick
Surely, I can run the washing machine and tumble dryer at times of low demand, for example, without enormous suffering? I can charge my storage heaters at times of low demand, without even noticing it.
We already have night electricity prices much, much lower than day, so what's so wrong with tweaking that model? It was introduced when the most sophisticated devices were time clocks. Now, with the 'internet of things' it should be easy to manage demand to a far closer tolerance, with the consumer barely being aware of it?
Well, that's the theory, anyway.
It's what the private water companies have been doing for ages in Oz which has put many farmers out of business.
It's the same company that owns Thames water !.
Andrew
They claim 100% renewable and they seem to be investing in solar so their definition of demand may not be the one most people assume.
They would like people to use electricity when the sun is shining and when the wind is blowing. When these two things don't happen this is the time when they would need to alter price because they cannot supply demand.
The washing machine runs every couple of days, but only uses a small amount of energy. We don't use the TD much. So not enough to make it worth running overnight.
You mean it would turn all my lights off overnight? Gosh, how novel.
Andrew snipped-for-privacy@mybtinternet.com wrote
That?s a lie.
And so is that.
There is a joke going around which says, why is it called Octopus? Because its full of suckers.
Brian
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