I’m not going to be getting smart meters until threat of property level load shedding is no longer a thing.
Wow! I have absolutely no idea what you just said there!
Load shedding is the process of managing situations where grid demand outstrips supply. Traditionally (during the 3 day week, for example) whole areas are cut off in waves (rolling blackouts).
With the populous connected via smart meter, you can in theory cut off properties individually to manage grid demand. This is good in some ways (it could mean households who rely on electricity for medical devices at home are protected) but it could also be very bad (if for example politicians start trying to prioritise people based on wealth or “productivity”).
Surely if they end up shutting down the grid, it won’t matter whether you’re on a smart meter or not?
It’s probably pretty insignificant in the grand scheme of things, but I don’t know why all of the street lighting isn’t shut off overnight for starters. There’s probably quite a few ways total overall consumption could be reduced, but it’s getting organisation’s and domestic homes to change their energy habits. I’ve just had a purge in my own home, switching off stuff that was on all the time. Small things I know, but it’s a start.
1 Like
I’ve learned so much in a very short time since going “smart”. That includes reviewing that “phantom load” thing. I feel a whole lot more equipped to manage my energy usage now.
This may be a risk but, frankly, it feels marginal - certainly not something which causes me to veer away from smart meters. I don’t yet recognise a UK society where this might be a reality.
2 Likes
I met an elderly lady just the other day who claimed to me, that she has had Octopus remove her smart meters and replaced with the old type meters. I asked her why she had done that and she told me she had an absolute distrust of the technology and claimed her billing was never right.
I told her I thought what she had done was a retrograde step, but it was clear she was convinced she was right. She also harped on about bank branches closing down, at which point I just switched off 
Quite - it’s an oft-quoted scenario by the anti-smart meter brigade, along with fires, increased thefts because somebody at your supplier will know you’re on holiday, etc.
If it’s done in the traditional way (i.e. a rolling blackout), then no it wouldn’t. There is already enough people with smart meters that you could do a bit of load shedding without shutting the grid down tho, while geezers like me on our fixed tariffs and old meters keep on guzzling away.
Personal safety and road safety in some situations. Many motorways stay lit for the peaks and go dark again during the overnight dead hours. That’s more about stopping light pollution though AIUI.
Remember the grid is actually overcapacity overnight; they struggle to take load off it sufficiently and thus Economy 7 and smart tariffs exist to incentivise use of that surplus energy. Saving 1 kWh at 3am does not make 1kWh at 7am available.
1 Like
So - I’m on the variable Direct Debit.
I was told the existing credit wouldn’t be offset against the first variable bill so I have requested it to be refunded.
I’ll have to submit a reading on 01/09/2022 manually to pay the variable bill for that month by DD - then it’ll start giving the readings on the 1st of the month ongoing.
It’ll be a SMETS2. So after 4 years odd I’ll be paying what I use. If only it was more readily advertised by the energy companies.
3 Likes
It’ll be interesting to see how long it takes for your meters to be connected to the DCC Network. It took almost 2 months after my gas meter was changed from a non functioning Smets 2 meter to a registered and functioning Smets 2 meter.
And now I have the issue whereby the Bright App doesn’t show the correct daily standing charges because I’m guessing British Gas haven’t bothered to update the DCC with the correct info. The tariff information is however correct and the App itself is very useful.
Load shedding this winter looks increasingly likely as there simply won’t be enough gas to keep the turbines spinning, and not enough coal generation on standby to make up the difference. What society accepts and what the Government do are not the same thing, perhaps never more so than present.
1 Like
Honestly floating prices for energy based on demand makes sense, doesn’t that already happen? Seems also fair in times of high demand to let providers know when they’d like their smart meter to cut them off in exchange for bill credit etc
Edit: would be a genuine way to lower bills for households that can’t afford the current rates but aren’t eligible for assistance while allowing those who can afford it to subsidise their bills & it would lower demand of energy to avoid blackouts etc
Glad you’re finding Bright useful. They keep asking me to login. Loop or Hugo don’t so I’ve binned Bright. They are both slightly at odds with the IHD anyway. R-
1 Like
Told by Octopus? It’s not true - when I switched to variable DDs, I left the small credit on the account and they used it up before starting the direct debits.
Octopus customer service agents have been pretty poor recently - lots of conflicting information and big delays in replying to emails. They made a total mess of switching my tariff to Tracker recently but, to be fair, the guy I got when I called them sorted it out very quickly.
Yup - I didn’t think it made sense. She said it would come from the credit should my direct debit for the whole bill fail…
Oh well it’s the same difference (the refunded credit will just go to one side) and at least it’s clean start paying the bills off one by one. Fingers crossed for no hiccups with the smart meter feeding the usage on a set date once installed.
1 Like
This is exactly the kind of extreme stuff I don’t want to enable.
Can’t pay your energy bills? Simply sit cold and in the dark on those sad January evenings.
It’s awfully close to being plausible.
If this is the case then many people will register to be added on priority list due to various reasons including this even when they do not qualify.
Fraud you mean?
But yeah, sure I don’t doubt it’d be a problem.
I am not sure if it qualifies as fraud but if it would save someone from being in the dark at those moments, they will surely do it.