Smart Meter Nonsense

Can anybody explain why EDF need to write a letter to me, at least once a year, to advise that they currently read my smart meter at 30 min intervals and that I can if I wish change to daily or monthly readings - do I care! It's a business account at a village hall.

Peter

Reply to
Peter Andrews
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IIRC it stems from worries some expressed about data protection/invasion of privacy: eg "burglars will know when we are out".

Reply to
Robin

Life expectancy of the battery in the meter? The more it responds to a request to transmit data the shorter the life of the battery?

I've read that when the battery fails the supply may be automatically cut off.

Reply to
alan_m

Smart gas meters do have batteries, but smart electricity meters work on mains power.

Reply to
Andy Burns

I'm surprised an electric smart meter has a battery, apart from backup purposes!

Reply to
Fredxx

Makes sense. I wonder who is paying for the extra electric to run millions of smartmeters, them or us?

Reply to
Graham.

Why are you worried about a penny a year?

Reply to
James Wilkinson Sword

Smart meters are paid for by consumers/customers at a lot more than

1p/annum
Reply to
alan_m

directly them, indirectly us I suppose.

Reply to
Andy Burns

Whether you take them or not presumably.

I'll only take one if I benefit from it. As yet EDF haven't told me how I will.

Reply to
James Wilkinson Sword

That is BS. Electric meters don't have batteries to run flat and smart gas meters wouldn't shut the gas off because of safety concerns. You probably heard it from a paranoid I don't want a smart meter person.

Reply to
dennis

Smart meters would not exist if the power companies did not make more money from their use.

Reply to
FMurtz

The ultimate purpose of smart meters is to cope with intermiitancy as renewable energy sources come to predominate. You will be charged more when the wind don't blow.

Reply to
harry

Well I expect its some awful default setting in the ever so helpful settings that nobody knows exists until the system runs out of paper and the postal bill goes through the roof. I do sometimes wonder who trains the staff at these organisations when new software is put in. Brian

Reply to
Brian Gaff

"You'll know exactly how much electricity you're using"

- You mean like a meter ?

"No, you can see when you are using too much. Instantly"

- you mean like a meter ?

"But we've been told that everyone we'd try to get to take them would think they are wonderful"

- Were you ?

Sorry, guys. The *only* feature of smart meters that the powers that be GAS about is once you have one, you can be cut off remotely, thus avoiding the damaging news stories (with video) of the police forcing their way into Nice Doris' (93) flat to cut her off.

The sum that matters is :

*cost of fitting UK with smart meters < cost of building power stations*

As the Carillion collapse shows, the UK probably hasn't got the infrastructure to build a power station if it wanted to.

Reply to
Jethro_uk

Or cut off when the wind doesn't blow!

Reply to
alan_m

Electronic bills/bank statements are OK but much prefer paper ones, particulary for card/bank statements. I can tick off the entries as being correct, write on the bill a pay by date and amount, place it on the heap of others for payment to be set up next time I log into online banking.

Trouble is the amount of paper you get with a paper bill thses days is stupid and most of it useless "What is a kWHr?" "How can I save energy?" etc. The core billing/statement information is all on a single sheet, one or two other sheets go straight for recycling... All I want are the facts, for a lecky bill that would fit into 1/3 of a single side of A4, the upper 1/2 having address's, the lower 1/3 the paying in slip.

What amusses me is Barclays bank statements they are now at least three sheets (only one useful). I remember a good few years ago, they cut back paper statements to just to just the statement, this well before electronic ones were available.

WTF can't companies offer a short form option of paper bills/statements containing just the facts? It has to be opt in, so those without net access (thus not able to set and option or download a bill) get the "full" version by default.

Reply to
Dave Liquorice
[24 lines snipped]

*applause*
Reply to
Huge

Litigation

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

Explain? Surely litigation can only be based on the facts, not the inabilty of some dumb sod to understand those facts?

Or do you mean the Granny State taking action against the companies if they don't include all the rubbush? But that could be worked round with the opt in acknowledging that the rubbish won't be sent and you don't need your hand held and arse wiped thank you very much.

Reply to
Dave Liquorice

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