Not those of us who have a metered supply.
We all have a metered supply, it is how we get billed. And those so called smart meters changes nothing, when it comes to items on standby etc.All they do is allow them to read your meter without visiting & to switch your supply off the same way. So in the event of a power shortage, they can choose whose supplies to cut & whose to not cut. But they do not give you any more information about usage than any other meter.
Another reason not get one then… 
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The initial figures were that these meters would save the average houshold £47 in 2020, they then, in 2016 rolled that date back to 2030 & said that the average household would save £11 per year in 2020, or 21p per week. But have been unable to show any savings happened!!
Ofgem figures point out that environmental and social policy costs make up 14.79% of electricity bills – on an average electricity bill of £554 per year. That is £82 per year. The Office for Budget Responsibility says that environmental levies will have more than double between 2016/17 and 2022/23, so that original £82 is expected to be £164. So an £11 saving from smart meters, even if it happened, which they are unable to prove it did!! Is small when compared with the growth in a key cost area of power, which is the environmental levies placed on it.
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I agree. Heating consumes energy at a rate of knots. Even lighting has been much reduced these days. Incandescent lights were 100W a while back. Now we use maximum 15W and these are very bright.
Agreed about lighting etc. But while that usage has been decreasing. Wasted usage, due to items burning low amounts of energy on standby has increased. When I was a kid, my family only used energy during the day. Overnight, other than a fridge, which we did not get until I was in my early teens, we had nothing using energy. Our hot water came via a boiler behind the fire. Our cooking was via a range type cooker in the kitchen. So when the TV & lights went out, so did our power usage.
But in todays world almost everything is on standby.
A lot of things have changed - and much it is for the better. You mentioned televisions for example. The televisions now are far more energy efficient. Washing machines are much more efficient. Not to mention the ancient twin tub units. A range would be fine but much of the heat would be wasted in less efficient housing. And the fire behind the boiler? How was that heated? We had a kire with a boiler in our house. We lived of a farm so we had plenty of free firewood - and a lot of chopping to be done… Not many in the towns would have that luxury.
Standby power really isn’t such a big deal. For example, when my computer is on standby it uses less than 1W,
The trouble with switching the router off is that it takes so long to boot up in the morning. I didn’t think they were sophisticated enough to switch speeds but I guess it depends on who your ISP is.
I’m not comfortable with too much on standby purely because of the fire risk. Anything not needed is switched off if I have any say. So everything in the kitchen is switched off at night. My ideal would be for everything in the house to be switched off at night but this is not possible.
The best night’s sleep I ever had was in a nature reserve in Jordan where they had no electricity only a generator for several hours in the day. Closely followed by a lake district bunkhouse with a similar non electricity area. Everyone sleeps better with no standby and no wifi. Energy loss vs energy loss.
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I have done a few off the grid special event stations. One at a windmill over 3/4 of a mile from the nearest building or power cable. The noise floor on 80 meters was about S2 (12 dB.) The only electrical noise we had all weekend was when the RAF tin canary landed in the field next to us. We were flying the RAF standard at the top of the mill, as it was a RAF Amateur Radio Society station.
The “noise” goes through every cell in our body but we just get used to it. So hard to live without it but there is a price to pay.
Why did you do special event stations? I’ve never heard of these.
I was fascinated to learn that many in Europe have sockets that switch off. As far as I know, those don’t generally exist in the US. Outlets are always live unless you attach a surge protector. You can turn that off, but the supply from the wall outlet doesn’t normally have an off switch.
I generally unplug all my stuff because there’s no reason to leave it plugged in unless I’m actively recharging it. Taking a look around reminds me that a couple air filters could be unplugged.
Not only that but some sockets have double pole switches to disconnect both the live and neutral (campervans and caravans for example).
I must say I would be lost without the switch(es) on the socket, it is so useful and far more convenient than having to go round plugging and unplugging equipment but then I have never lived in places where they don’t have switches on sockets.
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Apart form lighting applications, most switching in the UK is double pole, or rather since newer working practices came about.
It is an amateur radio station. The one I mentioned was for Mills On The Air weekend. I was at a windmill operating & others were at other windmills & water mills. Our mill was made to pump water out of low lying Broadland fields. One was designed to hammer for bucket making. Others were for grinding corn.
We all had special callsigns. In the UK they are issued by Ofcom & mine was GB (Great Britain) Zero WWW (Wherrymans Way Windmill.)
The noise level was the static level.
In todays world the background noise is getting so high that to operate, Ofcom are having to issue licences to Taxi companies etc that are more powerful than a few years ago to get over the noise level. This is largely due to poorly designed & built items like lightbulbs, power supplies, wifi routers etc. They all create electrical noise & some places are now so noisy, you cannot operate a radio on certain bands.
The only things constantly plugged in here are the router, the clock/alarm in the bedroom and the oven.
I always unplug everything before I go out and certainly when I go to bed. I always have done, for some reason.
I lived next door to a couple many years ago roundabout when the era of ‘standby’ TVs appeared.
They used to give me their key to check the place over when they were away.
I used to cringe looking at the TV on standby and often thought it would blow up, not to mention the waste of (I assumed electricity).
I really had to smack my hand not to switch it off.
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All 13A sockets all over the house are single pole.
I think my dishwasher is the only appliance I have on stand-by so to say. I unplug everything else when not in use. Including my computer when I go to bed. Don’t own nor want a microwave.
When they are due to be changed, why not invest in DP for extra safety and less the likelihood of tripping an RCD.
[quote=“LongDriver, post:36, topic:86275”]
When they are due to be changed, why not invest in DP for extra safety and less the likelihood of tripping an RCD.[/quote]
The whole house was rewired about three years ago just we moved here. The main circuit breaker is RCD protected. The 13A sockets are all single pole. That’s a common arrangement for most houses. And in commercial premises. It’s just basic stuff - my field was industrial power electronics.
There might be an issue with some equipment. My Sky router has a label on it that states it is advisable not to switch it off at the mains. Also my plug in radios, cooker and microwave would lose the clock time stored on it. Other items like TV etc is a good idea.
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