Smart Meters Unlikely To Make Much Difference To Energy Usage
By Paul Homewood
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-29125809
The BBC report:
Installing smart meters in every house in the UK will save consumers "only 2%" on their annual bills, a committee of MPs has warned.
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said that, on average, consumers will save just £26 a year.
MPs also warned that the technology could be out of date by the time the roll-out is complete.
The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) said smart meters will lower bills and make switching easier.
Installing the meters – which begins in earnest next year – will cost £215 per household, or £10.6bn.
Customers will be charged an annual amount on their bills to cover the cost, peaking at £11 a year in 2017.
The £26 annual figure would be the net saving, after the installation costs have been taken into account.
"Despite consumers footing the bill, they can on average make a saving of only 2% on the average annual bill of £1,328 by the time the roll out is complete," said Margaret Hodge, the chair of the PAC.
"Even this is conditional on consumers changing their behaviour and cutting their energy use," she added.
‘Redundant’
The Committee also said that some of the technology is likely to be out of date by the time it is installed.
At the moment the meters carry an in-house display, which tells consumers how much energy they are using at any given time, and how much it is costing.
The idea is that will encourage consumers to use less electricity and gas.
But the MPs said customers could receive similar information on smart phones.
That could make the in-home displays "redundant," said the committee.
DECC said there would be no up front charge to consumers for having a smart meter installed.
Energy minister Baroness Verma said: "Smart meters put power into the hands of consumers, bringing an end to estimated billing and helping people understand their energy use.
"The nationwide rollout is part of the Government’s complete overhaul of the UK’s energy infrastructure which will revolutionise the market and support the development of smarter electricity grids.
"It will help reduce consumer bills, enable faster, easier switching and give households control at the touch of a button," she said.
The project has already run into delays, and has been criticised elsewhere as a waste of money.
It does not really take a genius to work out that savings would be minimal – indeed, I doubt whether even 2% savings will be achieved.
Are people really going to turn their TV’s off, when their meter tells them it is using electricity? Or turn down the thermostat on the boiler?
People really are not that stupid. They know these things cost money to run, even if they don’t know exactly how much. So why should their behaviour change at all?
The case for smart meters, to some extent, relies on energy companies saving money by no longer having to send out meter readers. This might have been the case a decade ago, but, in case DECC had not noticed, we are living in a different age now, a digital one. The vast majority of people can now send in meter readings by email or mobile.
None of this should have come as any surprise to MP’s, or for that matter the BBC, who ran this report in 2010.
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NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT 
“The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) said smart meters will lower bills and make switching easier“
That’s tosh, and they know it! It’s already reported that energy companies don’t all use the same make and type of meter, so switching suppliers will often still require an engineers visit, and yet more expense.
It’s all about “Control” – but NOT for the customer.
As I’ve pointed out in earlier threads, smart meters will almost certainly INCREASE bills for any (read most) customers running reactive loads, and the meters themselves draw a small amount of power, unlike traditional “dumb” meters.
It won’t cost us anything. Not going to have one.
http://stopsmartmeters.org.uk/
Here in Cape Town most homes have pay-as-you-go meters. It is trivial to load them as it can be done at the supermarket, garage or even online. The big advantage is that it makes one very aware of the consumption and so more efficient in electricity use.
They have resulted in a slight reduction in electricity rates as the cost of billing has dropped and there are no bad debts. The problem with South Africa is the generating authority doesn’t generate enough product and they have tried to push this problem onto the shoulders of the customer. We are constantly abjured to consume less even when we can afford and desire more.
It is framed as a conservation measure when in fact it is just incompetence. In the UK the same thing seems to be happening as the great green juggernaut has convinced the generating companies that less is more and we should depend on wind and sun. This means that we in Britain pay more for less and have deficits brought about by policy.
The smart meters you reference in the article seem to be a more sophisticated version of the old ripple-relays that were used to turn of the hot water geysers at times of peak demand so as to balance out the load for short periods in the morning and early evening. The thing was that never resulted in any inconvenience to the consumer whereas these new ones most certainly will.
I will repeat, it is not about saving energy. You cannot “save” electricity in the normal sense of the word. This is all about covering up the sheer incompetence of successive governments who have put us deliberately in a position where generation is a problem, we have not got sufficient. And of course this stems from the strange attitude of the green activists who are in key government Offices. Ed Davey who parrots greenpeace propaganda doesn’t understand just what he is saying and the effect it has on both Country and People. As for Barroness? Verma she is just telling the usual non-energy department lies, without understanding a word.
“The case for smart meters, to some extent, relies on energy companies saving money by no longer having to send out meter readers.”
One conveniently-ignored benefit of the companies’ meter reader was the visual inspection of the meter deterred illegal bridging, and resultant energy/fuel theft. At present, although users can submit self-reads, I believe the Supplier must obtain their own reading once a year.
I wonder if, when as appears almost certain under this Government’s mad ‘green’ policies, the power supply is unable to cope, will these meters allow differential pricing at peak demand – or even allow selective withdrawal of supply? Might sound a bit 1984-ish, but that’s a comment I’ve heard several times.
Just a thought – not that I wouldn’t trust Mr Davey of course!
Yes John, that’s the intention – to discourage use at peak demand times, and reduce the amount of grid capacity needed. And ALL smart meters have a remote shut-off capability – it is part of the specifications.
Expect differential pricing.
Large non-domestic users are on a Maximum Demand Tariff. The peak ½-hour usage dictates the unit cost for the entire month. It generates a lot of revenue for the ‘leccy companies.
The company I used to work for found it was cheaper to run the standby generator for a hour each morning, rather than get stung for going over their agreed maximum demand…
They will make no difference
Unless they are ‘closed loop’ & take some automatic action, to load shed.
Anyone who was really interested about their energy consumption would make the decision before using a piece of equipment. Casting a glance around your house at any time will tell you all you need to know about current energy consumption
I have had a smart meter installed by First Utility and it was useless. It didn’t display my current usage only what I had used the day before (if I looked it up on the website). Further to the futility of the whole thing, I changed supplier to Ovo and they can’t even use the limited functionality that was available. Completely pointless.
Smart meters are a ‘spy in the home
It will tell energy firms what sort of appliances are being used, The government wants every home in Britain to have smart meters, which give users information on how energy is used and sends data direct to utility companies. Information from smart meters could also make it possible for a supplier to determine when electricity or gas is being used in a property and to a degree, the types of technology that were being used within the property.They can reveal when a homeowner is away from their residence, activities a customer is engaged in, such as watching TV, using a computer or even how long someone spends cooking. Such information could reveal personal details about the lives of consumers, such as their daily schedules (including times when they are at or away from home or asleep), whether their homes are equipped with alarm systems. Criminals may want to see the data to determine the best time for a burglary. Smart meters currently use wireless technology (mobile phone technology) in order to transmit information (ZigBee Network) http://www.zigbee.org/Standards/ZigBeeNetworkDevices/Overview.aspx)
Reblogged this on JunkScience.com and commented:
Put “Not So” before “Smart”
To sum up all of the above excellent comments:the smart meter will be used as a ration card to control your energy usage. When the Govt can do that,it has total control of you.Welcome to 1984.
I think the part that bothers me most is simply that there is a Department of Energy and Climate Change. The presuppositions inherent in such a department are mind-boggling.
Yes… and even worse is the idiot who’s in charge of it! Still… roll-on next May – there probably won’t be many of his lot in work after that.
Like the vast majority of Greenist ideas, very costly, ineffectual, mis-represented, counter-productive, and freedom-suppressive!