Smart meters to be compulsary?

[Robin]

Sometimes, somewhere. Our electricity meter has not been seen by a reader since first smart meter was fitted in 2012. Before that it was a routine event. (Well this /is/ Hackney.)

[nightjar]

I thought that was the year of manufacture and that calibration status was shown by a sticker.

[Nick Odell]

Yes they could but not any more they can't.

Energy companies can now only go back 12 months to recover losses from underbilling:

Nick

[Chang]

But only the most stupid/incompetent would sign up for a plan like that.

[Andy Burns]

Ask a Dutch university?

[tony sayer]

In article <1ogb3tj.l3qf031d5qo5cN% [e-mail], Roger Hayter [e-mail] scribeth thus

They were putting one in at a radio site of ours there was a problem with obtaining a sufficient mobile phone signal the mast for it was just a mile away over open country.

Told them to sling it and leave the ordinary meter there which they've done that was around 2 years or so ago!..

[The Other Mike]

The meter number should stay with the meter 'forever' The meter number often being an integral part of the meter internal frame.

In the past when mechanical generation and grid supply point meters were overhauled and recalibrated they were totally stripped of mechanicals, cleaned and reassembled with any wear parts replaced. The frame of the meter retained the identity even when they were fitted in a totally different location, which was nearly always the case unless the associated generation was out of service for a large and lengthy overhaul.

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[Dave Liquorice]

Ah, you could be right. The 1980 and 1996 both have a small round sticker on with "CERTIFIED" around half the edge, a number in the center and two digits opposite the "CERTIFIED". The 1980 has "7 00" and the 1996 "8 96". The 1967 has no sticker...

I didn't think any of the meters had been changed since we moved here in Jan 1999 but "7 00" indicates that one must have been. However 80 to 00 is twenty years so, in theory, it's due 7 20...

1967 would be ball park for when mains electricity arrived. I shall have to examine the pole, I think they have date code carved into them.

[John Rumm]

I don't follow, what have I missed?

[FMurtz]

The end result of smart meters is to make more money.

[Robin]

Possibly a reference to the study by universities in the Netherlands[1] which reported smart meters giving false readings. BEAMA commented at the time that no meters installed in the UK were like those the study showed to have problems[2]. Others commented that the study used rather unrealistic loads - e.g. 20 non-dimmable CFLs and 20 non-dimmable LEDs on a 10A dimmer.

[1] [2]

[harry]

KWh, KVa and KVar meters (Spinning disk) are/were available.

[harry]

Meter removed were cleaned, new jewels fitted and recalibrated. The sticker shows either date of manufacture or overhaul.

[The Other Mike]

Besides the two generations of meters the smart meter comms infrastructure also differs roughly in a north/south split. Not sure exactly where the deliniation between the two systems is, presumably the split is by DNO area.

One of the comms networks uses GSM '2G' provided iirc by O2 and will remain on that network so for a few more decades to come. O2 getting paid a wheelbarrow load of cash to do so.

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[Fredxx]

Hardly compulsory. You still have a choice.

There are also alternative suppliers who will set bills accordingly.

[John Rumm]

Ah ok interesting...

I note that [2] is a little mealy mouthed in its statements, since it only claims that there are no meters using the affected sensor technology involved in the GB *smart* metering rollout, and none in development. However it glosses over whether there are any electronic non smart meters already installed with these sensing technologies.

Probably need to find the original paper to identify which models are affected.

[Andy Burns]

IEEE membership (or payment) needed

[Andy Burns]

ahem!

Though it conceals the details of the make/model of smart meters

[Dave Plowman (News)]

May I ask a question about these?

My current supplier (arranged by Flipper) needs monthly readings. Gas meter is in the cellar, and not in the easiest place for reading Leccy one is easy.

Free meters with a remote reading would be very handy. Don't really care how smart they are as I already know leaving the oven etc on when not needed will waste money. ;-)

[Andy Burns]

The in-house display lets you see both meter readings (and more such as per minute/hour/day/month usage in a graph) without going and disturbing the spiders