Big brother controlling when I'm allowed a cuppa

Talk Electrician Forum

Help Support Talk Electrician Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Isn’t it obvious that if all household appliances are controlled by them then of course energy will be saved as they put them on once a week. 
If that isn’t a strong enough argument against the use of smart metering then what is? Isn’t there an Act about freedom and liberties etc? And the yanks get upset by those who want to take away their guns as it a constitutional right to be able to have one (or more), here we are being told when to use our appliances? 
surely the only ones who should be guided to when they can use appliances are those that can’t afford to pay the bill when it arrives? 

 
As I keep saying "better rates" means you have to cook your meals at 3AM.  If you have the audacity to want to cook at 5PM then we will charge you a ridiculous rate to do that.

 
Why do they keep banging on about off peak electricity when it will very clearly cease to exist when they are trying to balance the load profile across all hours of the day

On it's own overnight car charging at home at up to 7Kw per vehicle is certainly going to change the load profile for what currently is thought to be the off peak period, so will there be any "cheap" or "cheaper" electricity in 10 - 20 years time I doubt it.

It is interesting watching the programme about building the Hinkley C power station and the guaranteed payments to each producer for every Mw of electricity produced from all various sources and how potentially overpriced it is. you have to wonder will this be the real price of electricity in the future when it ends up as a commodity traded to the highest bidder. The reliance that is being placed on electricity brings eggs and a basket to mind

 
Octopus do a rate called Agile. Updates the price regularly, smart controllers (car chargers) plugs and the like communicate with it and they only charge when the rate drops below a preset rate. Ideal system and for most people will work well. 

I'm on their faster rate, 5.5ppkwh 8:30pm to 1:30am. Their on peak rate is much cheaper than most can compete with.

Smart grids are the way forward if we're to successfully manage the proposed increases in demand. The cheaper off peak rate's days are numbered though. 

The Hinckley point C program basically said we're going to be paying more for electricity because the government negotiated us a bad deal on the fixed price. 

 
The government negotiated a bad deal?? How can you negotiate when you have nothing to offer? The government were basically told what and when.  I’d say that’s held to ransom? 

 
once everyone has smart meters and electric cars, do you think the price of electricity to charge your car will go up? Yes it will. I won't have a smart meter thanks, enough surveillance as it is.

 
I don’t understand I thought the human being was meant to be the smartest thing on the planet, in which case we’ve had a smart meter for years, it’s always read every 12 weeks not a day before or after and we’ve never been over billed. 

 
 OFGEM forecast for energy inflation runs at 6%
What I am saying is that in the same way we have been ripped in the past, we will be ripped off again.

Think about it. 

Diesel, half the price of petrol and better MPGs, govt added incentives like lower road tax

Then it went up once everybody was using it. Now costs more than petrol despite being a much less refined fuel

Now diesel drivers (who paid ££££££s for their low emission vehicles in their belief that low C0 was a good thing) are being demonised and banned from some cities unless they pay to come in!!!!!

LPG hailed as the clean fuel, more and more started using it, 

Then it went up

Electric cars, hailed as the saviour of polar bears, some supermarkets offer free charging, home chargers on E7 type tarrifs

Then your smart meter will know that you are charging a car and guess what....

rate will be higher for car charging

or am I just cynical? or have I lived long enough to know how governments (Lab & Con alike) operate

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Electric cars, hailed as the saviour of polar bears, some supermarkets offer free charging, home chargers on E7 type tarrifs

Then your smart meter will know that you are charging a car and guess what....

rate will be higher for car charging

or am I just cynical? or have I lived long enough to know how governments (Lab & Con alike) operate




That is almost certainly what is going to happen. Fuel duty brings in about £36 billion per year - that rather large hole WILL need filling AND more 

 
Home charging of electric vehicles will go the same way as home refueling of CNG vehicles did with separate metering so fuel duty can be charged and the VAT rate can be charged at 20% and not the 5% that is charged on domestic energy, that move soon killed the CNG vehicle market

 
 OFGEM forecast for energy inflation runs at 6%


our winter consumption has hardly changed for years BUT the price of lecky has risen a lot! that I do know

Home charging of electric vehicles will go the same way as home refueling of CNG vehicles did with separate metering so fuel duty can be charged and the VAT rate can be charged at 20% and not the 5% that is charged on domestic energy, that move soon killed the CNG vehicle market


Whats a CNG vehicle?

 
I hadn't heard of natural gas for vehicles, but knew quite a few people with LPG conversions 10 or more years ago. However, the LPG filling stations near me seem to have disappeared.

(Or am I just not observant enough ?)

 
Last edited by a moderator:
There are still a few filling stations with LPG pumps around where I live. Although Shell stopped selling LPG in October 2020 which takes the number down but there are quite a few Morrisons supermarkets that have LPG pumps

 
Last edited by a moderator:
there'a a fair few trucks running on it. There's a filling station near me for waitrose (I think) trucks. Warburtons used to run CNG trucks too but not sure if they still do, they have just bought an electric one to trial.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Didn't realise that LPG on trucks was still a thing, I seem to remember one company having a fleet that was hybrid Diesel/LPG (It seemed that unlike petrol vehicles, you couldn't run solely on LPG, but it was consumed in conjunction with diesel to increase MPG?) That was about 15 years ago, and I assumed that the euro emmision standards and the need for ad blue caused the end of it as the newer trucks never had the system fitted

 
Top