Plans for British homes to have "smart meters"

Plans for British homes to have "smart meters"

www.reuters.com

All homes in Britain are to have "smart meters" installed by 2020 to record energy use, under plans announced by the government on Monday.

The new meters would mean an end to estimated gas and electricity bills, no waiting in for a meter reader to call, and would allow householders to see how much energy they are using, ministers say.

"The meters most of us have in our homes were designed for a different age, before climate change. Now we need to get smarter with our energy," said Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband.

(visit the link for the full news article)

These new meters don't seem at first to be a bad idea, until you read the statement by Energy and "Climate Change" Secretary Ed Miliband.

Even though they are "trying it out", the article states that the suppliers will be able to, and I quote:

The meters will allow suppliers to take readings remotely and allow them to offer more tariffs, which the government believes will encourage more efficient and economical use, saving consumers money and cutting carbon emissions.

Down the road with this technology the government can tell you how much energy you can use, and they could even cut your electricity if you exceed your limits, for whatever reason.

Do people in the UK don't see this as another way to control them over an issue which has never really been shown to be caused by CO2, and much less anthropogenic CO2?

www.reuters.com
(visit the link for the full news article)


[edit on 11-5-2009 by ElectricUniverse]

I agree that it sounds like a good idea at first, but to cut people off if they exceed their limit? That doesn't sound right at all.

On paper this is an excellent idea, and if it really told me how much I was spending and how to reduce that amount.. then woop!

Saw this on the news about 40 minutes ago, BBC1 6pm news n that. Looks ace - although the threat of being cut off seems harsh.
I reckon however that would be along the lines of people with unlimited texts being subject to a 'fair use' policy - they only cut you off if you REALLY take the pee. Which with electricity, I think is great. I use minimal amounts anyway, but I know a lot of people (including my neighbours) who have all lights on at all hours, leave everything on standby blah blah - not only does it cost more, it harms the environment, it results in more heat loss and more electric fields everywhere, which I'm yet to be convinced isn't harmful to human health.

grid load varies a lot and using such online measurement in a pragmatic way can help a lot to avoid blackouts and alleviate variations in overall power consumption, which leads to a more effective utilisation of power plant capacities.


under the current paradigm of universal rip-off, this can only mean price hikes, though.

[edit on 2009.5.11 by Long Lance]

but my meter already tells me all that what's new? the little dial rotates to tell me my amper-hours and i can then work out how many amps i use at 240V.... oh wai- they want to know more detailed information, such as when and how i use my power, because that will give them the ability to....... oh wai- they know the shape of the flow over time, peek usage, etc - in fact we just had the 20:20 box taken out, the one that charged more in the day than at night, so what IS this for? something sinister no doubt....

or maybe it's just a silly gimic plan from a joke government? that seems more likely to me...

Power usage in the home is actually fairly streamlined at the moment, people pay per unit and thus most people try to limit their usage as has always been the case, however this is certainly not true of other areas of power usage. My local tesco's not only wasted the power needed to produce massive signs throughout telling me to lower energy use with new bulbs, they also waste MASSIVE amounts of power leaving a few kw worth of lights on every night! My local council building also is fully lit at night, heated or airconditioned day and night and has the computers either on or on standby the entire night.... massive wastes of power.

Still though these wastes of power are TINY when compared to the stupidly high electronic cost of wrapping everything we buy in a thick layer of molded plastic - yes, the cost of packaging which most people hate and find hard to open dwarfs the cost of the average home. That's before you even consider the other highly wasteful things which will happen to that rubbish such as sorting, recycling, etc -- without working out the numbers i feel it safe to say there is more potential electrical energy used in filling up your bin each week than is used in the average (computer, tv, white goods, etc) house. ---- And what has the might gov done to stop this massive waste? er.... they tried to tax people based on how much rubbish you throw away...and.....and......oh no, thats it.

Then there is the HUGE waste of power at music concerts, public events, meetings, etc, etc --- i work in this field so it's close to my heart, so far NOTHING has been done to curb even the governments massive wastes of power, the transportation of the lights and speakers alone is hugely wasteful let alone the hours upon hours of power used before, during and after any such events.... has anyone suggested that because such an event uses as much power as the homes town it's in that maybe a more sensible approach could be looked at, maybe a limit to the amount of amps a show can use, etc? no of course they haven't because EMI,SONY, etc have MASSIVE amounts of cash to lobby with, the gov haven't even tried to cut down their own usage.

i could go on listing examples for hours upon hours but it would get boring, the point is that homes mostly use power as little as possible - if people were given more economic gadgets they would used them, we can't expect a switch overnight -that wouldn't be at all possible (firstly the cost of making the items would destroy the gains made) however over time people are very willing to move to less electrically intensive items, if the government made some effort to help the development of these items then people would move over quicker for the simple reason they would be more available and cheaper. Trying to force people by monitoring them isn't going to work, not least for the reason each component you add to a system increases usage -the monitoring and analysis system in itself is going to require power -say it take 3% of the total load to monitor people, then a further 1% to enact whatever draconian measures they decided to use to punish the transgressor (mostly paperwork no doubt) --this means the system will need to save 5% before it's even 1% effective, however spend the money in the right place -i.e. supporting the development and sale of 'greener' tech and you'd have saved much more energy, the population would feel less repressed and people could enjoy their life that little bit more..

AMI...Advanced Metering Infrastructure.

There are millions of installations already in the U.S.

The meters are real-time or interval programmed to feed back information to the server for billing and trend analysis.

As the head nerd for the city I live in, I'm involved with the implementation of just such a project here.

On the surface it seems benign, but as with everything else, there is a potential for misuse. An electric power provider, water provider, or gas provider gains a lot of functionalily from such a system.

The selling point is more of the greenery...get people aware of how much energy or water they are using so they can adjust their behavior. Remote disconnects are available as well. That is the greatest potential problem in my mind. We all know how people get when they go without power for a few days.

A reasonably skilled monkey could, on his own, or with orders, selectively eliminate electricity for any given number of citizens.

As with the collection of any personal information, there is the risk that profiling could take place...in theory, the system would register two gallons of water usage every morning at three o'clock, so they would know you took a leak. Hmm...might be a prostrate problem. Better send you some targeting advertisements. (silly, yeah, I know...)

Three million bucks for the project here.

Originally posted by ElectricUniverse

Down the road with this technology the government can tell you how much energy you can use, and they could even cut your electricity if you exceed your limits, for whatever reason.

Or just have the ability to charge for a more expensive tarrif if you go over a limit.

Bit like an unarranged overdraft with high penaltiess for not contacting them first.

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Here in France, all my meters are external: Electric, water and I don't have gas piped in (not possible in the sticks!). They can be read anytime and "estimates" don't happen.

Sounds like a good idea, but maybe in "new-build" only.

Not having to have people come round to read the meter is a red herring IMO. I already have high end digital meters, but they still come out quite often to take a look. As they can get the data direct, I suspect the reason for visits these days is to have a look and make sure you didn't bypass it or something.

Remember when California was talking about installing thermostats in homes so the government could control peoples usage? I have a feeling that kind of thing is more the agenda here.

I'm sure they will include a strange looking recess that you won't be able to figure out - until they attach the camera............

reply to post by NatureBoy


if you think about these 'green' wave changes and improvements, there's one thing they have in common: public visibility, they are all attention magnets.


take CFLs, some people get sunburn from their UV emissions, others freak out when they hear that they are supposed to keep 6 ft away from their bedside lamp to avoid the EM fields and they are for all intents and purposes fugly and contain mercury in significant amounts.

enough discontent for a debate and the stuff does get into the news fairly often.

ethanol for cars, reduces milage a bit, which will get many people to notice, is hard on seals, fuel lines and so on, biodiesel is even worse and will do that and envelop your engine parts in polymer... lots of issues. so, how many people have cars... lots of audience i guess.


wind generators. very prominent skyline, hard not to notice, some of them do have ads on them even.

meanwhile, open refridgerators are everywhere in the supermarkets, fertilizer use has to increase to grow all these fuel crops and they're made of oil or natgas, of course, but that ain't sexy, would be reasonable and does not fit into this time, obviously. your points about packaging ring very true, even though it should apply to the entire product, shouldn't it? recycling and efficient disposal don't start with being tossed in the trash, but with the design itself.

The damned fools are just to cheap to build new power stations. They are afraid of Nuclear Energy and the Greenies backlash. Its going to happen here in the US I'm sure and many of our seniors are going to freeze to death or die of dehydration in summer because they have electric heating and can't change over to something else because of the cost and have air conditioning that will be monitored and shut down at 2:00 pm when its hottest! Damned nanny state BS from governments!

Zindo

by 2020 crap hopefully by then we all have free energy in fact if we dont theres just something very wrong

i thought we were only about 5-6 years away from free energy

This is all about making you pay for your c02 output and greenhouse gas output - that is the end game.

The EU/UK government now taxes cow farts. I believe household animals will be next. They will have a flat tax or be taxed for gas output - possibly even for being an 'invasive species'.

Luckily, exemption is allowed being for those who trap the farts and sell them on the market; where they can be taxed.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/de61d223e36e.jpg[/atsimg]

*By 2030 all individuals in the commonwealth and EU will be outfitted with one of these apparatuses or will choose to do so for a tax break.

I theorize that the fart tax will be based on methane output and not taken from your income; and any inability to pay this fart tax will result in debt being accrued, and possible criminal punishment for tax evasion and violation of the inevitable accompanying court-orders demanding compliance.

Before the fart bag will come the c02 mask - which will be illegal not to wear and will contain filters that turn blue after 12 hours use. Being caught in public with blue filters by a representative of the law will result in fines and possible jail time for repeat offenders.

*Obviously there will be a nose plug to prevent cheating...
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/81ac63d9dbca.jpg[/atsimg]

-But it is for the environment. Not to want to give up freedoms and let the federal government into your life for the sake of nature is selfish and downright wrong. These new co2 tax meters are just a start, but are not nearly enough to save the environment.

The government should seriously consider taking control of everyone's heating and cooling systems to help save the environment.

Humanity releases almost as much global warming pollution in sixty years as a moderate-sized volcanic eruption! We must be stopped!

****Star this mutha if you also foresee fartbags and c02 masks - or even a flat tax or breathing licences!

[edit on 12-5-2009 by Exuberant1]