On Saturday, 27 May 2017 08:30:11 UTC+1, michael adams wrote:
"Steve Walker" wrote in message
news
On 26/05/2017 10:42, tim... wrote:
"michael adams" wrote in message
o.uk...
"Andrew Gabriel" wrote in message
news In article ,
"Phil L" writes:

In other words, you are now discovering why the power companies wanted smart
meters installing everywhere. It's so that customers can't change suppliers
as easily like in the past by using switching sites and apps....well you can
swap suppliers, but you'll be given a six month runaround like this every
time you do

Actually, main reason power companies were interested was because
they can cut off the supply without visiting the premises and
trying to gain entry.

More likely the fact that they no longer had to pay meter
readers, either directly or indirectly, to attempt to read every
single meter in the Country 4 times a year.

Long term Govt wise it also offers the possibility of energy
rationing - only so many Kw or BTU or whatever, per household
or per individual(per household) per day.

But that's hardly fair if you have electric heating.

When I has SR I used to use 18,000 units a year (and that was to keep the house barely
warm), now in a property without them 2,500. Where do you set the limit that actually
imposes some restriction on people who only use electric for their
lighting/entertainment equipment that doesn't make life completely unbearable for
people with electric heating?

It's all very well saying insulate better and change to gas, but not all properties
are suitable for that (the one in question wasn't)

tim

And what of those with electric showers; children who come home from school with a
filthy blazer that has to be washed, dried and ironed ready for the next morning; that
work from home and have PCs/servers running; no longer work, so at home all day; have
an electric car to charge; use electric oven and hob - the list is endless.

SteveW

Ye Gods.

The most likely scenario for a Govt to need to introduce energy rationing
would be as the event of some natural or man made calamity or disaster
which severely impacted on the power generation and distribution capability
of the UK. Along with much else besides quite possibly.

At the moment in the UK we have a situation where both media and public
go into headless chicken mode in the face of a threat which since the
year 2000 has managed to kill around 3.5 people per year.

Now whether in the face of the kind of calamity or natural disaster which would
require energy rationing, the first thought going most through people's minds
would be regret at not having bought a property capable of being
properly insulated, I very much doubt somehow.

All rationing is unfair. The more complex you make the criteria the more
scope there is for fiddling which penalises the honest. Food rationing
favours people with smaller builds with smaller appetites. Etc. etc. etc.

I'm not even claiming that in practice energy rationing of this kind could
ever be made to work. But from the point of view of a Govt which needs
to have contingency plans in place to meet all kinds scenarios,
unlikely though they might be, smart meters that offer the potential
for energy rationing on an individual basis are a plus, rather
than a minus.


michael adams

There will never be a need to ration electricity here. It's just another way to deliver less, charge more for it and saddle us with extra costs we have to pay ourselves (demand management hardware).


NT