"Rod Speed" wrote in message
...



They are "dumb" in the sense that the period of time that charges a lower
rate is fixed,

And is just a very crude once a day block of time with
the devices that use that cheaper power not being normal
appliances like say clothes driers which can be used at
cheap or more expensive electricity rates depending
on when the user chooses to use the appliance.

they are not that crude any more

they have a programmable period for the cheap rate and usually that can be
set for more than on on/off set

And you are wrong to say that it only affects certain appliances.

whilst the clock can be used to turn on/off those devices that you want to
only run at cheap rate the cheap rate is valid for all electricity used
during the period.

but realistically that is how it has to be if you are going to encourage
culture shift,

Yes, but currently you can't run the clothes drier etc
at the cheap rate because the cheap rate use is
determined by the electricity supply authority
choosing to turn the use of the electricity on
or off for water heating and other stuff like
heatbanks and under floor heating etc.

wrong


Telling people that at some random part of the day their electricity is
going to be cheaper and that they should "look out for it", just aint
gonna work

Sure, but no one was suggesting anything like that.

there have been such suggestions mooted in the press.

whether as a result of misreporting or not, I have no idea

tim