Smart meters pave the way for putting up electricity prices hour by hour during peak periods
SIR – It is now a couple of decades or so since I was present at meetings with the then Department of Trade and Industry where the smart meter idea was being proposed.
At that time it was not seen as a scheme for remote meter reading but as a method of controlling demand. The energy supplier could control the meter to alter the price paid by the consumer, and the tariff would allow the price per unit to be changed as demand fluctuated. Personally, I felt that this would be very unfair on domestic consumers, as they would be unable to predict what their energy costs would be.
In the event, now that the scheme is unrolled these remote-control aspects of the plan are not mentioned but, having a suspicious mind, I searched the internet for “smart meter specification” and, yes, remote price control is a facility built in to the smart meter, although not yet implemented.
I am not volunteering for a smart meter. NC Friswell
Horsham, West Sussex
SIR – A consumer-friendly smart meter would monitor the tariffs from all suppliers and automatically switch to the cheapest one available.
This would remove all the gameplaying around those dubious contrived “best deals”.
Unfortunately, however, we live in a world where confusion is an essential marketing tool. Dr CK Wright
Great Moulton, Norfolk
SIR – If Mike O’brien, energy minister in the 2008 Labour government, can just “get rid of ” his smart meter (special report, July 28), so should anybody else be able to do so.
If enough householders did this, the Government might be persuaded to grasp the nettle and suspend the project until it is shown that the benefit to households of having a smart meter will justify the vast cost of installing them, as was originally claimed. Rodney Tate
Bedford SIR – Energy suppliers, meter manufacturers and Smart Energy GB have too much vested interest in smart metering to admit it’s a debacle, and politicians lack the courage.
This farce will continue and I predict that those who refuse to go “smart” will, like those who refuse paperless billing, eventually discover they lose a cynically named “discount” on bills for their temerity. Peter Saunders
Salisbury, Wiltshire
SIR – The only reason I accepted a smart meter was to have the meter read without having to have a meter reader in the house.
The fact that I know how expensive electricity and gas is has no bearing on my usage. What can anyone give up to reduce bills – hot food, hot radiators, cold fridges, freezing freezers?
The suppliers must assume we are all stupid. We are not. Joyce Wiles
Enfield, Middlesex
SIR – Richard Fitton (Letters, July 28) hits the nail on the head. Had dynamic energy pricing been introduced at the start of smart metering installation, there’d be a waiting-list for them.
Consumers who took advantage previously of Economy 7 tariffs soon learnt to use washing machines and dishwashers at off-peak rates. Dr Paul Langmaid
Cowbridge, South Glamorgan
SIR – Dr Fitton researches the use of “dynamic energy pricing data to programme electrical heating systems and things such as tumble dryers to use cheaper electricity during off-peak times”.
What of the dangers to life and property arising from the unattended use of appliances such as tumble dryers, which fire prevention experts strongly advise against? Philip Collings
Henley-on-thames, Oxfordshire
SIR – Since we had a smart meter installed two years ago we have found it very useful in monitoring our usage of electricity. The monitor is installed in the kitchen in a prominent position to ensure that my husband and I look at it every day. And we do.
Recently it has given me satisfaction to see our electricity consumption reduce to approximately 80p a day. Juliet Pattinson
Micheldever, Hampshire
SIR – If we have the technology for heating systems and tumbler dryers to switch on when tariffs are cheaper, electricity suppliers will have the technology to change the price when there is extra demand. Chris G Stebbing
Crowborough, East Sussex
SIR – I’m delighted with my smart meter. It makes a very good night-light on the landing. Judy Davies
Tenby, Pembrokeshire
SIR – It is not the smart meter itself that leads consumers to save energy and hence hard-earned cash, but the accompanying monitor.
As a family, we had a few weeks of interest, but learnt very little from the monitor. Then we lost interest and it sat gathering dust for 18 months, until it stopped functioning when we changed supplier.
I was thoroughly disappointed with the energy monitor supplied by my new provider. It was very difficult to understand (and I was an IT professional for 11 years). It did not incentivise me to save energy, but required mains power to operate. It’s now in the cupboard. Tim Turner
Birmingham
SIR – If correct, the predicted saving of £16.7 billion in energy costs might be very good news for the consumer. But who will make up the shortfall in the suppliers’ income? Paul Vlcek
Cheltenham, Gloucestershire
SIR – The meters may be smart, but those who fitted them are not very. The government that suggested them wasn’t very, either. Sadly those who thought, like me, that installing them wasn’t very smart will still have to pay the cost. BE Norton
Royal Wootton Bassett, Wiltshire