Max Demian wrote
Rod Speed wrote
Max Demian wrote

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).

Someone always pays for any meter and the reading of it
even if its only in your time and effort to read it yourself.

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.

Corse there must be when the meter is a capital cost.

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.

But not that you have a smart meter.

They change them every few years in any case.

Completely stupid way to do things.

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.

Yep, you clowns couldnt organise a ****up in a brewery.

The only reason you lot managed an empire
was because the others were even worse.

(They left my original (electromechanical) time-switch though.)

Wota packa terminal ****wits. Ours has been remotely
controlled electronic switches for decades now.

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