Smart meters

[Mike Clarke]

Yes but this would require continuous real time analysis, probably too complex for a design that just sends power usage for each 30 minute period.

These variations will be very small compared to total usage by everything else in the house. I doubt if smart meters will have that sort of computing power. And likely to be unable to sort out what's happening if 2 TV's are in use in the house at the same time with people watching different channels.

And as to the claim "track when you toilet light goes on" - it's going to be a very smart meter to know the difference between the light in the toilet and any other light in the house.

That would probably depend the use of smart devices capable of talking to the meter.

Exactly. instantaneous values are pretty well useless for overall cost calculation purposes.

[Dave Liquorice]

Roll out to *start* this year. I have vague memory of when this mass change to "smart" meters was first mooted (5 years ago?) it was supposed to have *finshed* around now. Mind you I also did the maths on 20 million households, how many meters a man could swap in a day etc. ISTR that if they started that day with 5,000+ trained "engineers" working 5 days/week, non-stop, they could just make the target date...

[Dave Liquorice]

Your fixed DD is set to high, complain they'll set it to a more realistic level. Helps if you have past consumption figures to feed a spreadsheet to work out what it should be.

Personally I prefer the fixed DD but then with E7 consumption varies from 70kWhr/day down to 20 depending on season. Evening out that fluctuation (approx £75/month winter to summer) makes domestic budget management some what simpler. B-)

[dennis]

No problem at all. Just wear the gloves and googles and you will be fine. It isn't a difficult job.

[Roland Perry]

In message , at 12:11:28 on Sat, 7 Mar 2015, Andrew Gabriel remarked:

My quarterly post-paid is by direct debit (the two are not inextricably entwined). I find it irksome that they can only get the notification of how much they'll be debiting to me less than a week before it's un-reversible. So much for two week's notice.

[Tim Watts]

And you've done it then?

[Roland Perry]

In message , at

12:40:27 on Sat, 7 Mar 2015, Mike Clarke remarked:

The analysis can be later.

Yes, it requires the power usage to be transmitted much more often than that.

Every radio receiver is picking up programmes which are very small compared to the total RF arriving on their aerial.

Me too. This is something which I think has to be done centrally.

That's no different to a radio being able to tune into either of two weak transmissions.

There's probably some journalist licence there. It could of course be just as likely as the light in the cupboard under the stairs, assuming you visit that briefly several times a day.

Hmm, they appear to be promising this data without me having to upgrade my appliances.

They are quite useful (eg my quarterly bill is fairly consistently about twice the displayed cost of my base load), it's just that telling someone how much it's costing for *today's* consumption gives such a low figure they are likely to think "so what".

[Roland Perry]

In message , at 14:04:37 on Sat, 7 Mar 2015, Roland Perry remarked:

Or a finer granularity measurement to be transmitted less frequently, of course. ie sending historical data not just the "power consumption now".

[tim.....]

no its no

it's someone campaign based upon made up speculation

tim

[harryagain]

It's not a problem. Seen it many times in substations.

[newshound]

I did only say "a bit"!

And I'm very happy to be enlightened.

[newshound]

The true spirit of DIY. I like it, Robin and Adam!

[newshound]

Bugger, I'm currently with OVO and generally too idle to submit readings or read their emails. OTOH with 3% return on overpayment, overestimates don't seem such a hardship, except that I suppose I should make sure I don't leave it off the tax return.

I generally change suppliers every few years on the basis of what Which currently says.

[newshound]

I think I'll wait until it's forced on me, then. Many interesting points made, thanks to all for the responses.

[Bob Minchin]

On my current consumption pattern (not excessive) I will save £240 by changing tariff, but be charged £60 exit penalty and I'll get £30 cash back in a few months after the switch. So still well worth doing. The lower standing charge is attractive as I use no gas at all from May to October as DHW is solar powered from vacuum tubes on the roof.

[Mike Clarke]

No need to declare it. According to the OVO FAQ it's classed as a discount so not taxable.

[Peter Johnson]

You don't have to remember. They send an email and allow a week to respond. If they don't hear from you they use an estimate. I was with BG on this system for several years until a year ago when my end-of-contract situation was the same as Andrew Gabriel's[1]. BG never had to use an an estimate because I always gor my reading in on time, sometimes within minutes of getting the email. It was even better after they produced an ap to do it. I entered the readings into the phone and by the time I got back inside I'd received emails thanking me for the readings. [1] I swapped to OVO and things were ok until the engineer who installed the smart meters cocked up the reading transfer and it took them a while to sort it out. They gave me £30 goodwill though, and refunded £500 because experience was showing the dd was too much. For eight months of last year I received nearly £20 interest, that I won't be declaring to HMRC.

[dennis]

You don't hear about thousands of people getting killed so it can't be dangerous. Being a fireman is probably more dangerous and you get about one killed every few years.

[Tim Watts]

That's because 1000's of people don't poke their heads in link boxes every day and pull fuses for the sake of it.

[john james]

I'm not convinced that it does anymore with modern TVs.

and seeing if any of the contemporaneously broadcast TV