My meter may be smart, but I’m no wiser . . .
THE latest price rise by British Gas brings up once again the controversial issue of imposing smart meters on consumers.
Apparently, these meters mean we are more informed and able to make savings. British Gas installed a smart meter in my home and a device in the kitchen supplies me with useless information.
First thing in the morning, the screen tells me the electricity is costing 3p per hour. I assume this is because the fridge is working.
I put just enough water for a cup of tea into the kettle, switch it on and the hourly rate rises to 49p.
I start again at 3p, switch on my triple A-rated washing machine and it shoots up to 40p.
The only things I’ve learned from my smart meter is don’t put the kettle on and go thirsty. Don’t use the washing machine; take your dirty clothes to the nearest riverbank. And instead of putting on the heating, put on a T-shirt, shirt, jumper and cardigan.
But whatever I do, the bills keep rising. I don’t need a smart meter to tell me that!
STEVE COLLINS, Sheffield. SMART meters will not save you money. The only way to do that is to turn down your thermostat or adjust your time clocks for heating and hot water.
Yes, smart meters provide plenty of information, but it’s too late — you have already used it!
You may think you can save money by swapping to a cheaper supplier, but, guess what, most insist you have a smart meter.
ROGER ShERLOCK, Leeds. MY ANALOGUE electricity meter was faulty and needed to be replaced. When I arranged for an engineer to call, I stressed I didn’t want a smart meter.
Apart from saying that one day I might not have a choice in the matter, customer services were polite and did not press the issue. When the engineer called, he said he spent most of his days dealing with smart meter complaints and couldn’t recommend the technology. JOhN COLLINS, Chelmsford, Essex.
PCs are too PC
IT WAS predictable that police would do nothing to stop a shrine being erected for a dead burglar. Diversity takes precedence over common sense and good taste.
When I was a Met policeman in 1965, the flowers would have been removed within minutes. The inspector and superintendent would have supported this, with no disciplinary inquiry.
TOM STANhOPE, Northampton. I JOINED the police in 1981 and on my first day, the sergeant told us that our job was really quite simple: look after good people and lock up bad people.
For 31 years that advice stood me in good stead. But the leaders of our modern police ‘service’ have become so hamstrung by political correctness and recognising everyone’s supposed ‘rights’, they have lost their moral compass.
Name and address supplied.
No time for Tracey
WHY should artist Tracey Emin be allowed to use a public space to promote Remain?
Her art installation — the sentence ‘I want my time with you’ in giant pink neon letters below the clock in London’s St Pancras station — has been called a love letter to Europe.
Putting aside her questionable talent, it is unacceptable for Ms Emin to be given this opportunity to expound her views on leaving the EU.
The country voted Leave, so if Tracey wants to make gestures, let her do it at her own expense. MIChAEL J. COLE, Wolstanton, Staffs.
Rubbish roads
THE amount of rubbish along our roads is disgraceful (Letters).
On the dual carriageway between Wrexham and Chester, rubbish has been thrown from cars and blown from lorries and refuse vehicles.
It is soul-destroying on a windy day to find that half the rubbish we have sorted for recycling has blown from the bin lorry and we are chasing it down the road. BARBARA JONES, Llangollen, Clwyd. ON A short break to Kent, we went on days out to Broadstairs, Dover Castle and Canterbury and were appalled at the litter on the roadside verges.
Whatever do tourists think of the Garden of England?
RAY ShEEhAN, Mersea, Essex.
That’s unforgivable
A FLYER from the local gym dropped through my letterbox. ‘Bring Your Incredible,’ it urged.
I put it in a drawer next to the leaflet from Sky headed ‘Believe in Better’. Later, I passed a billboard advertising Toyota cars with the slogan ‘Start Your Impossible’.
Planet Advertising seems to have dropped nouns. So if you work in that industry and happen to know the person who started this fad, give them a kick, preferably ‘Up the Unmentionable’.
JIM SOAR, Tonbridge, Kent.
Ban Trump tweets
TWITTER rules state that users are forbidden to ‘make specific threats of violence or wish for the serious physical harm, death or disease of an individual or group of people’.
So why hasn’t Donald Trump’s account been suspended? Last week, he tweeted threats to the Russians about employing missiles as revenge for the gas attack in Syria. Last year, he threatened to ‘totally destroy’ North Korea, yet Twitter turns a blind eye.
TONY SMITh, Kettering, Northants.
Spice of life
IN HIS hilarious list of 180 things you just don’t hear about any more (Mail), Craig Brown asked: Does anyone still splash on Old Spice? My husband Ernest has the full range: aftershave, deodorant, splash-on. He is fussy about his appearance and puts scruffy youngsters to shame.
He is an old Coldstream Guardsman and would still spit and polish his shoes — but at 90, slippers are the order of the day.
M. FIELD, Guildford, Surrey. I HAVE to correct Craig Brown: You can bet the Loch Ness Monster will resurface as soon as the tourist season gets under way, as she does every year!
TERRY McDONALD-DORMAN, Middleton St George, Co. Durham. NUMBER 181 on Craig Brown’s list should be ‘common sense’. It is definitely lacking today.
P. MINALL, Leverington, Cambs.