Smart Meters Good Or Bad?...

Yesterday on the news a company called ca m / brid / ge ana(liti / cal were interviewed. They work for all the big nasties (best not naming them ) and Trump. They gather tiny bits of information on targeted people and all these at first glance unimportant bits of info. are put together and soon they know almost everything about you, what you do, what you buy , your political views, your beliefs etc etc .

So giving out your power consumption details wont be a good idea and you can guarantee you wont be saving a penny by doing so.

 

Well i'm making regular money at the moment by filling in surveys on why I don't want a smart meter.

Whoever wrote the survey failed to ask the question, "are you off grid?"

 

If the government support them and the utility companies say they are better then that's enough reason for me not to have one.

I monitor my readings weekly so I know what I am using, I have also built this spreadsheet so I can compare like for like on a given month, I just put in the reading and it works it out for me.

 

There's a spot on smart meters on BBC1 Wales tonight at 7.30 - XRay - I shall be watching with interest.

 

[QUOTE)="WeeTam, post: 1051038, member: 15846"(They gather tiny bits of information on targeted people and all these at first glance unimportant bits of info. are put together and soon they know almost everything about you, what you do, what you buy , your political views, your beliefs etc etc .

So giving out your power consumption details wont be a good idea and you can guarantee you wont be saving a penny by doing so. [/QUOTE]


And isn't it coincidental that advertisements for items similar to what I have viewd or ordered suddenly show below the headlines here too..... follow the money.......

sometimes we win- this forum for example

 

No smart meter, no monitoring, just the solar panels and the wind turbine

 

Plus the cycle dynamo for dark windless nights

 

I have an electric smart meter and it's fine with me. Our house sits 100 yards off the road, is fenced all around and we have 2 Great Pyrenees. So it is best the meter reader doesn't come here. The water meter is out by the road and is read be a meter reader. I don't monitor our usage and I don't care. We try to be careful, but this is Texas and in the summer it is HOT and we WILL run the air conditioning, smart meter, dumb meter or whatever. We are on an electric co-op and our bill averages $120 a month. I can live with that!

 

My biggest concern is if they can change the rate at peak times. If the rate you pay is constant you can compare one supplier with another and find the cheapest. If they can change the rates when they like there is no way to make comparisons and hence know which company is cheapest.

I find the smartest idea is to have an electric energy consumption meter (about £10), which will tell you how much each individual device uses. For instance a monitor uses more power when the screen is white compared to black, consequently each screen saver picture uses a slightly different amount of electricity. I doubt a smart meter would tell you that.

 

Over the last 3 years I have been down that route and also taking weekly readings as a total. I doubt if a smart meter will be smarter than how I manage it. Since 2012 my gas/electric has dropped from approx £1400 to now under £1000, achieved by careful management/usage.
And trust me I don't do cold very well! :-)