Yet another smart meter question

bingo!

the risks can be mitigated. You can choose to send readings every half hour, once a day or once a month. Choose once a month and few absences will be revealed.

of course insiders with the right permissions might be able to change the frequency but that would be visible to any user who logs on to see their readings - including after the event

How about smart meters that only draw energy from the suppliers consumers choose ? So if you sign up for a greeny windmill and solar tariff and it's a dull windless day, your meter delivers f*ck all.

I saw about that one and can only presume that they are saying (but deliberately not clearly) that the production and maybe even the transport of the coal will be carbon neutral - and then it is up to the users to deal with the CO2 released by burning it if they, in turn, want to be carbon neutral!

SteveW

If it is set for once a month, then presumably it must store and send the whole months data, broken down by time, otherwise they'd not be able to charge differing rates for units at different times.

SteveW

No need for that, just sign up to this lot

If they put that on the side of a bus I'm sure enough people will fall for it to vote it though. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

If you sign up for a "time of use" tariff you have to allow access to the half-hourly data. Suppliers want it for other customers to use for half-hourly settlement. Ofgem changed the rules last year to facilitate that. But they must give /domestic/ customers the right to opt out of that. And they could only take the data from existing customers if they opt-in.

Is that data safe from the criminally minded though?

If the gas is cut off air can get in the pipeline with a possible explosion risk. Some gas equipment has to be purged to remove any possible air.

What happens if you have a prepay gas meter and run out of credit?

Don't know, I'm afraid - the fitter just told me about the battery, and that they don't use a regular mobile signal - 'roaming', he described it as. Which is as well, because there's no standard mobile signal in the cellar.

Cheers, Rob

I only have electricity, and a smart meter. I hear that smart meters can be remotely cut off, but after researching mine this does not seem to be possible. It would need a bulky switch to cut off the maximum expected current.

In my case, the display unit was offered as a free optional extra, which I didn't bother with for the same reasons as you would use your cupboard.

My water meter has the same arrangement. It allows inspectors to stay in their vans without having to get out to look at each meter.

My smart electricity meter uses mobile phone frequencies - I was asked if I had a mobile signal in my area before they installed it. I expect the gas meters do likewise.

You die in the resulting gas explosion:-)

What's the model? I ask as all were supposed to be capable of remote discnnction. And even a wee little smart meter can be switched to pre-payment.

The problem comes not with the figures so much, but with the actual delivery of the energy. That is when any lie in the figures will become apparent. A nice warm fuzzy feeling one gets from knowing your air source heat pump is "co2 neutral", will not go far to replace the actual warm fuzzy feeling you get when there is actually enough electricity available to turn the sodding thing on.

Or that co2 released from burning all that biomass that will not actually be re-absorbed for another 100 years...