What's your opinion on so-called smart meters?

Hi All,

What's your opinion on so called smart meters?

Here's my take:

Old analogue meters were made to last,rarely replaced and reads were correct.

Smart meters,batteries will need to be replaced every 5 yrs,meter replaced every 10yrs and your at the mercy of your retailer,expect price gouging.

Imo smart meters are cheap os's crap,unsafe,unreliable and nothing more than a furphy.

What are the consumers gaining from this crap technology?

Retailers have the upper hand,wireless transmissions communicating from house to house,a surveillance device too and they know what your using from your hair dryer to your air con etc and know exactly what time of the day your using them.

Appliances are being introduced that communicate with your smart meter.So consumer goes out and forks out more $$$ to upgrade.

I'd shudder to think if the network is hacked.

And from a reliable source,the current smarts are being replaced with another as there failing consistently.

Anyhow that's my 2 cents atm.

Cheers Spades.
 
I have a friend who routinely hacks electronic devices, just to see how they work. He has a smart metre installed.

If the authorities believe their system is secure, they're very wrong. The security on smart metres is actually quite basic.
 
G'day PT_Bear,

Absolutely agree 101%....From a reliable source there still ironing out the bugs and still is ongoing system problems.

Rollout in vic supposed to be completed by end of this year,no chance in hell they'll meet the deadline.

Cheers Spades.
 
Anyone in NSW who has had a digital meter installed in the last 11 years has a smart meter (regardless of what they may have been told) and each of the major suppliers are systematically updating the software so that they are read as a smart meter.

Up to recently you were able to opt out of time of use metering that window I believe has closed if the software changes have already occurred.

For retailers, the benefits are obviously there. Same amount of electricity at higher rates.

EWON and the NSW State Minister are aware of what is going on but choose to look the other way.

You need to remember that in NSW we are selling off our suppliers so ensuring additional income would assist in a greater sale.

BTW: We have had our last 2 years billed backed dated as they were incorrectly charged as time of use. Despite being assured in writing by the retailer, EWON and the Ministers office that we were silly in our request as we were negating savings, it came to effect that we needed to be reimbursed 48% of our total costs.
 
Mine was installed last year and since then my bills have been coming in really late.

I was told that if the bill comes in >9 months late then I don't have to pay it (it's in the legislation apparently).

Anyway, my electricity company has waived a couple of bills as a result!
 
Hi TPI,
You with A.GL?

@ chilliblue,

Anyone in NSW who has had a digital meter installed in the last 11 years has a smart meter (regardless of what they may have been told) and each of the major suppliers are systematically updating the software so that they are read as a smart meter.

They are not smart meters.Either your referring to the digital crap nielsen meters or imbedded network.Both are which are probed manually.

Commercial CT metering are read via handheld devices,probed and or read remotely but there not smarts.

Up to recently you were able to opt out of time of use metering that window I believe has closed if the software changes have already occurred.
In vic it is mandatory to have a smart meter installed,first state for customers to be used as guinea pigs.
In nsw it is not mandatory at this stage.

Btw i'm happily to be proven wrong as i've been out of the loop in regards to nsw as i was up there last year for a stint.

Cheers Spades.
 
Hey what's the go on Peak/Off-Peak?

I am still on one standard rate with no Off peak. I rang the dudes at the call centre and was told that I had to get an electrician to come out and stick something or other in (LOL). I am not sure of the details. And then I have to ring my provider and ask them to switch the flick.
 
I am very cynical of them. Prices just go up and up to pay for these silly things. They give the Government the ability to turn off your power remotely if there is an overload on the grid.
 
I am very cynical of them.

Me too. I think there is no way they will assist the customer in paying less.

My bet is charges adjust upwards over time making off peak prices on par with average non smart metered prices, meaning, use your electricity like you did previously and watch your bills go up - or switch to off peak for no savings.
 
Hey what's the go on Peak/Off-Peak?

I am still on one standard rate with no Off peak. I rang the dudes at the call centre and was told that I had to get an electrician to come out and stick something or other in (LOL). I am not sure of the details. And then I have to ring my provider and ask them to switch the flick.

Hi Lamingtons,

That's crap,typical mis-information from the numptys at the call center,anyhow talk to your retailer again.

You need your current meter to be swapped over to a 503 smart meter to apply peak/off peak.Same looking but different configuration.

If your retailer has no nfi and can't arrange the straight forward swap over,go with another provider(not A.GL)

Worth looking up FAQ's too.

Cheers Spades.
 
I am very cynical of them. Prices just go up and up to pay for these silly things. They give the Government the ability to turn off your power remotely if there is an overload on the grid.

Hopefully it doesn't require an engineer to point out that if there is an overload on the grid, the lights go out anyway!

Smart meters are the power industry's last hope of staying viable. Over here in WA our friendly state govt subsidy for everyone's electricity bills has hit a total of $400m per year, sourced from other tax revenue. Our Energy Minister has said he can't remove the subsidy and make people pay what it's worth because that would require uniform electricity prices with a 3 in front of them. At that point, people will start to disconnect from the grid - the price of a fit for purpose stand alone power system with batteries these days for your house is around $30k, if you're not running big A/Cs and such - plenty of houses in regional Australia use them already. Then you can get off the electricity tariff escalator and take control of your own power demand. Not to mention lighting and a heap of other equipment keeps getting more energy efficient, including insulation etc in new houses, which just makes the task easier - demand keeps dropping across the network despite population and economic growth.

Even if only one in 20 houses start doing that (1 million houses across Australia already have solar on their roof), then network (powerline) charges (the biggest component of our power bills) have to rise for everyone else, causing even more people to leave the grid. This is called the "death spiral" in the industry.

This has all been made possible through the plummeting price of solar panels and batteries in recent years, which while slowing a little, is showing no signs of stopping. Over 20-30 years, this will likely make grids redundant in many parts of Australia. They already are in some parts - it costs $500k/km to install a powerline in regional WA - far cheaper to take most farmers off grid than have to stump up for that sort of cost when their powerlines fall down.

So in my view, over the longer term, smart meters and time of use metering are just tinkering on the edges. Most energy market forecasters are predicting daytime prices over the next 5-10 years will be cheaper than nighttime prices as a result of all the solar panels that are still going in so there goes most of the benefit of smart meters.

As to some of the conspiracy theories surrounding the meters themselves, give me a break! :eek: Why does the power industry attract these types of people? For some electrickery is just too hard to understand?
 
I am very cynical of them. Prices just go up and up to pay for these silly things. They give the Government the ability to turn off your power remotely if there is an overload on the grid.

Government is only collecting the revenue...The distributors and retailers are the monopoly.There are now around retailers atm that can disconnect remotely.

Also from a source the amount of people disconnected for non-payment but have paid there bills is ridiculous.There are numerous examples and the retailer is at fault.
Smart meters are failing to remotely connect as well and FO's are having to go out and manually reconnect.

Seriously i can't wait to be off the grid and self sufficient.
Your at the mercy of pigs.

Cheers Spades.
 
Hi TPI,

As retailers go,Energy oz are ok.

I was told that if the bill comes in >9 months late then I don't have to pay it (it's in the legislation apparently).

Could you provide a link(or pm) as i didn't know,it would help alot of people out.

Cheers Spades.
 
Hi TPI,

As retailers go,Energy oz are ok.



Could you provide a link(or pm) as i didn't know,it would help alot of people out.

Cheers Spades.

Here's an article that makes a comment on this:

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/vi...ate-energy-bills/story-e6frf7kx-1226550648621

I think you need to look up the Energy Retail Code or Energy Services Commission to find the exact details about this though.

I just took their word for it!

Not sure how the company is still staying afloat with this issue...
 
Hi Lamingtons,

That's crap,typical mis-information from the numptys at the call center,anyhow talk to your retailer again.

You need your current meter to be swapped over to a 503 smart meter to apply peak/off peak.Same looking but different configuration.

If your retailer has no nfi and can't arrange the straight forward swap over,go with another provider(not A.GL)

Worth looking up FAQ's too.

Cheers Spades.

Thanks Spade.. just did some googling. I had the smart meter installed ages ago!

http://www.switchon.vic.gov.au/flexible-pricing/how-flexible-pricing-works

acts about flexible pricing

Flexible pricing plans are now available through participating electricity retailers.
Changing to flexible pricing is voluntary.
You need a remotely-read Smart Meter to access flexible pricing ? contact your electricity retailer to find out if your meter is ready.
You can only change to a flexible pricing plan if you provide your consent to an electricity retailer ? either in writing or verbally.
Households can try a new flexible pricing plan with their current retailer and, change back to their previous plan without incurring an administrative fee (until March 2015). However, some other fees may apply.

So I just had to tell them I wanted to change?! WHAT!!!! OMG the numpty told me I had to pay an electrician!
 
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