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Author Topic: Smart Meters- Can they affect connections?  (Read 2817 times)

BritBrat

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Smart Meters- Can they affect connections?
« on: June 29, 2018, 08:28:44 PM »

Just a thought.
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burakkucat

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Re: Smart Meters- Can they affect connections?
« Reply #1 on: June 29, 2018, 09:37:09 PM »

I don't know their mode of operation . . . so currently have no opinion.

Do I want one? No, I can't see any benefit.  :no:
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Weaver

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Re: Smart Meters- Can they affect connections?
« Reply #2 on: June 30, 2018, 12:48:12 AM »

I am told that with our electricity provider, Octopus, one of these new meters would make us eligible for a cheaper deal. We are already getting much cheap electricity offered in the small hours, and the latest deals on offer from these new providers tend to be far more time-variable.
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johnson

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Re: Smart Meters- Can they affect connections?
« Reply #3 on: June 30, 2018, 03:35:05 AM »

I don't know their mode of operation . . . so currently have no opinion.

Do I want one? No, I can't see any benefit.  :no:

Cynically I can only imagine that they may offer you cheaper rates initially, but in the end the benefit will be entirely the power providers. The much more accurate usage data (I think it can be as fine grained as minutes) will eventually be used to extract the most money from you as possible based on energy market rates throughout the day.

There was a thread a few months ago where someone was asking for advice on a new intermittent but regular source of interference, it ended with him thinking a new fridge freezer could be the source but in talking about it revealed that the new appliance had to be purchased after the power outage caused by installing a smart meter.. not sure he ever connected the two but said something along the lines of "all this noise started then".

I had a brief look into smart meters after reading this, and while there doesnt seem to be a standardised way they communicate, the most common in this country was a GSM link with cell towers to upload data, but more worryingly usually also a short range radio to talk to "smart" devices in the home (I think many of these new meters come with a "smart" hub thing, a wireless monitor you can hold in you hand that gives you information on current use) that uses some proprietary communication method.

Although I believe only in use in north America, some smart meters use power line transmission. Hmm... high frequency modulation of power lines, that sounds fun!

Personally I wouldnt install one if they paid me. Cynical reasons aside, I imagine if it did cause interference the process of getting them to remove it once installed would be very painful if even possible at all.

Edit: I'l add that there is a lot of conspiracy nutter stuff online about the negative health effects of the RF they produce, I'm not suggesting that for a second.
« Last Edit: June 30, 2018, 04:03:15 AM by johnson »
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banger

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Re: Smart Meters- Can they affect connections?
« Reply #4 on: June 30, 2018, 04:44:03 AM »

My Power Company asked me a few times to have one and Siemens also called me to arrange a fitting appointment but after I turned that down they seem to have left me alone. I am quite happy submitting readings once a month although last tariff change in January I was offered a discount if I had a smart meter. Still turned it down.
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KIAB

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Re: Smart Meters- Can they affect connections?
« Reply #5 on: June 30, 2018, 08:42:13 AM »

Smart meters are not compulsory, you can't be forced to have one, would I have one, nope,don't trust them.

There are two types,known as  the early  SMETS 1, & from mid 2018(I think) onwards SMETS 2, but some energy firms have still fitting SMET 1 which will be obsolete now.

And it's a possible they can be hacked, happened in Finland!
« Last Edit: June 30, 2018, 08:50:13 AM by KIAB »
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d2d4j

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Re: Smart Meters- Can they affect connections?
« Reply #6 on: June 30, 2018, 09:53:18 AM »

Hi

After looking into smart meters, we opted for one

It is a smet1, which is no issue as all smelt have to updated by 2020 so they can be used by all power suppliers.

Buracat is correct, it uses gsm to upload data every 30 minutes, and the hand held device is connected by Wi-Fi directly to the meter (does not use your Wi-Fi, broadband etc)

I cannot see any difference to our broadband connections or our servers/switches etc. It is similar to having a gsm mobile device in the premises

As for any data it is uploading, it does not know what device is using what power, it only shows how much power you are using during that period, not what the devices are.

Almost all of our friends have smart meters, and we all do the same, look at pence using, and comment similar to turn that off, it’s using too much haha , in a joking sense, so does not make you turn anything off, unless you want too

The electrician who fitted our smart meter, took around 30 minutes, thought the hand held device was broken, as it went immediately to a red warning, which just means the power your using at that moment is higher then the current set figure for the warning. You can adjust these figures to suit yourself. We do use a lot of power

As to minute charges, I do not think that would happen as people use power when they need it, not for the sake of using power, but I do think it may give power companies the capacity planning in finer detail over power usage which I think they have a good idea over that anyway as it spikes on their monitoring software

Many thanks

John
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PhilipD

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Re: Smart Meters- Can they affect connections?
« Reply #7 on: June 30, 2018, 10:10:39 AM »

Hi

Smart meters are not compulsory, you can't be forced to have one, would I have one, nope,don't trust them.

There are two types,known as  the early  SMETS 1, & from mid 2018(I think) onwards SMETS 2, but some energy firms have still fitting SMET 1 which will be obsolete now.

And it's a possible they can be hacked, happened in Finland!

Smart meters do not affect ADSL or VDSL, they work using ZigBee (over the medical 2.4GHz frequency) to communicate to an internal display and communicate readings to the power companies using the mobile phone network.  Therefore they are just like any other mobile phone and Bluetooth device in your home. Yes there may be faulty meters causing some sort of interference in rare cases in the same way any electrical device might, but as a rule they have no effect.

As for the politics of suppliers charging more, the opposite is also true in they will also charge less.  There has to be some way in changing peoples behaviour and balancing out the supply and demand for power.  Fast forward to a time where most people have electric cars, which are touted as zero emission and being green, which is a big fat lie.  Where does the electricity come from to charge these millions of cars?  Largely gas or some coal, so hardly zero emissions.  So when are people going to all plug in their cars to charge them up, overnight of course, when we have no output from solar power stations or the millions of solar panels on roof tops up and down the country. Charging cars will need to cost a lot more than it does now to pay for the cost of ramping up gas power stations overnight and to recoup lost taxes from selling petrol.

The irony with electric cars is the petrol we used to put in cars will instead still be needed, just diverted to power stations, unless people can be encouraged to charge their cars when renewable power is available and staggered throughout the day, and for that we need smart metering.

In reality, what will happen is those without smart meters will end up on a much higher tariff, and will pay more for their electricity than those on smart meters.  So by holding out and not getting a smart meter, you will pay more guaranteed.

Yes there are two types of meter versions, but version 1 is upgradeable to version 2 in most cases, version 3 is also being worked on, nothing stands still with tech.

Regards

Phil









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PhilipD

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Re: Smart Meters- Can they affect connections?
« Reply #8 on: June 30, 2018, 10:20:11 AM »

Hi


As for any data it is uploading, it does not know what device is using what power, it only shows how much power you are using during that period, not what the devices are.

Indeed, people who say it's a privacy issue having smart meters are just making themselves look silly.  All the data already collected about them, from their weekly shop, what websites they visit, how often they use their phone and who they call and when, the amount they earn, taxes they pay, their credit cards and their repayment history, and so, how on earth they can say a meter reading sent every 30 minutes to their energy supplier is a privacy issue!

Regards

Phil
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johnson

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Re: Smart Meters- Can they affect connections?
« Reply #9 on: June 30, 2018, 10:51:33 AM »

So when are people going to all plug in their cars to charge them up, overnight of course, when we have no output from solar power stations or the millions of solar panels on roof tops up and down the country. Charging cars will need to cost a lot more than it does now to pay for the cost of ramping up gas power stations overnight and to recoup lost taxes from selling petrol.

I assume you are talking about some time in the future? The reason dual rate meters exist now is the surplus of power at night, stations don't go offline but demand drops. Storage of this surplus is another thing being actively worked on to increase efficiency.
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BritBrat

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Re: Smart Meters- Can they affect connections?
« Reply #10 on: June 30, 2018, 11:54:53 AM »

Oh what did I start :-)

OK my 2p, I have resisted smart meters until the new SMETS 2 come out and I will only have that version installed.
How I see it is it will open up a lot of competition in the market when we can switch providers weekly or even daily.
The power companies are pushing these at the moment because in 2020 if targets are not reached they could be facing heavy fines. So I will attempt to make my own deal for having one fitted.
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St3

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Re: Smart Meters- Can they affect connections?
« Reply #11 on: July 01, 2018, 11:31:49 AM »

I am told that with our electricity provider, Octopus, one of these new meters would make us eligible for a cheaper deal. We are already getting much cheap electricity offered in the small hours, and the latest deals on offer from these new providers tend to be far more time-variable.

Have you spinned the winning or loosing wheel yet ;)

Ive been with Octopus 6 months now, they done me a decent deal with pretty low units... had no faults with their site it works a dream.
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JamesK

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Re: Smart Meters- Can they affect connections?
« Reply #12 on: July 11, 2018, 12:35:09 PM »

There was a thread a few months ago where someone was asking for advice on a new intermittent but regular source of interference, it ended with him thinking a new fridge freezer could be the source but in talking about it revealed that the new appliance had to be purchased after the power outage caused by installing a smart meter.. not sure he ever connected the two but said something along the lines of "all this noise started then".

It was my fridge freezer that was causing the problem. It seemed it didn't like the power outage required to swap over the old meter to the smart meter. After the power came back on the freezer section had problems. Over the following months we had continued problems with it and engineer visits. A few months ago we finally had enough of it, and replaced it.

Immediately the number of errors on the line dramatically reduced from around 2,500 per day to less than 1,000.

The only issue I have now is having changed gas/electricity supplier again, my smart meter is now dumb.
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