On 20/12/2017 00:19, Rod Speed wrote:
"Max Demian" wrote in message
o.uk...

If the purpose was to save money on meter readers it could have been
left to a consortium of suppliers, who would only have done it if it
would save them money.

But it makes more sense for the govt to at least specify an interface
standard so you can change suppliers without changing the meter.

Corse you lot stuffed that up completely too.

The only Government involvement would be to insist that all suppliers
use the same system so people could change easily.

Makes more sense for the govt to get involved in the specs of the meter.

Instead (in the UK) it was mandated by the Government,

Thats the way it should have been done.

Excessive Government involvement means they can charge (someone).

to be paid for by the suppliers

Ditto. No reason why anyone else should be paying for that.

(meaning the users as that is the suppliers' only source of money),

No reason why anyone else should be paying for that.

There would be no money to be paid by anyone if it was done just to save
paying meter readers.

with the entirely spurious claim that it would enable users to save
money by knowing how much electricity they were using.

Sure, but that just the sales spiel, because so many of you lot are
so stupid that you just refuse to allow your meter to be changed.

Suppliers (or rather the distributors) can insist on meters being
changed. They change them every few years in any case. At my previous
place, they changed all the electromechanical ones in the street for
electronic ones with an LCD display, though there wasn't anything wrong
with the old ones. (They left my original (electromechanical)
time-switch though.)

The only complication is that the new meter might require cellphone
access (if that's how it works).

--
Max Demian