My Gas man has been today to service my boiler, and I was talking to him about smart meters.
I asked him if he has one, and he said No, and he doesn’t want one either.
He also said something I had never even thought of.
He said burglars can use them to tell when people are in or not!!
Has anyone ever heard that before?
Just for YOU because I really do like YOU Mups I did a Google about this.
And here is a very recent newspaper article about it.
Got a Smart Meter installed?
Be afraid.
Be very afraid! :twisted:
Smart electricity meters carry vulnerabilities that could assist burglars and compromise privacy, but Australian households are not being warned of the risks, a leading cyber-security expert has warned.
Nigel Phair from the University of Canberra’s Centre for Internet Safety compiled a report on the risks of smart meters, which send data on a home’s utility use back to providers remotely rather than being read manually by an inspector.
The report said some smart meters, mostly used for gas and water, only sent information one way and were safe.
However, risks were particularly evident when a connection between the meter and provider sent information both ways — as is generally the case with smart electricity meters.
“Most of the devices are being built without any inbuilt security around them — and by that I mean password protection and no ability to update what we call the firmware as time goes on so they become safe devices,” Mr Phair said.
The report said that weakness left an opening for hackers, who could exploit the device once it was cracked.
Smart electricity meters, of which there are more than 100m installed around the world, are frequently “dangerously insecure”, a security expert has said.
The lack of security in the smart utilities raises the prospect of a single line of malicious code cutting power to a home or even causing a catastrophic overload leading to exploding meters or house fires, according to Netanel Rubin, co-founder of the security firm Vaultra.
“Reclaim your home,” Rubin told a conference of hackers and security experts, “or someone else will.”
If a hacker took control of a smart meter they would be able to know “exactly when and how much electricity you’re using”, Rubin told the 33rd Chaos Communications Congress in Hamburg. An attacker could also see whether a home had any expensive electronics.
“He can do billing fraud, setting your bill to whatever he likes … The scary thing is if you think about the power they have over your electricity. He will have power over all of your smart devices connected to the electricity. This will have more severe consequences: imagine you woke up to find you’d been robbed by a burglar who didn’t have to break in.
“But even if you don’t have smart devices, you are still at risk. An attacker who controls the meter also controls the meter’s software, allowing him to cause it to literally explode.”
Unfortunately that chart is for England (as stated in the message and obvious from the URL) so you have to work it for yourselves.
Obviously comprehension and literacy skills in the UK are not what they were.
Apart from anything else our power usage is greater in summer because of the air con.
I was utterly deluded when I thought you could put any cohesive, logical argument forward. Fortunately not a delusion that lasts very long.
Obviously comprehension is not one of your strong points either.
ONE of the purposes of smart meters is to herald in a new billing system as I stated (but obviously this was where your comprehension fell down) and the reason for this is to affect people’s usage to reduce the cost of infrastructure by reducing peak demand.
What is so hard about that for you to understand?
Whether it actually makes power cheaper, whether it has no effect overall or whether it merely slows the inexorable rise of energy prices is a moot point.
This is pure bunkum.
There is no evidence whatsoever that the rolling out of Smart Meters leads to customers spreading their energy usage across the day more efficiently. None at all.
In fact the available evidence shows that once the novelty period of the inhouse gadget has dissipated, people simply carry on using energy as they always did.
Smart Meters do absolutely nothing to help the energy crisis.
All they do is allow energy companies to charge you double or even triple the costs of the same energy you have always consumed.
It’s a financial incentive to change behaviour - it works - anyone with half a brain can think of many examples - try London’s congestion charge.
It amuses me that someone who bombards this forum with a ridiculous number of pro free market/anti socialism diatribes objects so vehemently to the free market in action.
You’re still spouting theory not reality. The reality is people DO NOT CHANGE THEIR ENERGY USAGE HABITS as a result of having a Smart Meter. The evidence is out there. The studies have been done.
Thus no-one is going to save money from Smart Meters and in reality the vast majority will see a MASSIVE INCREASE in their bills for exactly the same energy usage.
For those in the UK who feel bullied by energy companies or thinking that Smart Meters are mandatory, have no fear, they are not.
OFGEM STATEMENT
Do I have to have a smart meter?
"While government and Ofgem believe that all consumers will benefit from having smart meters, they aren’t compulsory and you can choose not to have one.
Choosing not to have a smart meter installed may mean you don’t have access to all the available tariffs on the market, some of which could be cheaper.
If you do not want to have a smart meter installed now, you will still be able to have one installed (free of charge) at a later date."
Stand firm imo. Do Not accept a Smart Meter.
I completely agree.
I am well aware of the level of power usage (roughly) of our appliances and lighting, and know when to turn them off. I admit that the telly, for example, is left on standby but I am not going to worry about a few milliwatts!
On the other hand, like the Queen, I regularly go around the house turning off lights that Marge has left on.
I don’t need a silly ‘smart meter’ to tell me what to do.
The other morning there was a knock on my front door. When I opened it there was a man standing there from my electricity supplier (Scottish Power) asking questions about my meter. He asked if I was on a payment meter for our electricity. I told him that it was a payment meter that had been here already when we moved in years ago and I decided to keep it, buy £30/£40 of electricity a week and feed it rather than receive a large bill. (I know, I pay more this way but I still prefer it).
Anyway, this obnoxious man then informed me that I would have to go onto a Smart Meter! Before he could continue I informed him that “No I don’t”, Smart Meters being installed are voluntary, not compulsory and there is no way in heaven that I am having one installed thank you".
His reply: “Madam, It is compulsory, the Government are rolling this out throughout the country and you will have to have a Smart Meter installed”. I then said: “What utter crap! is this what you are telling all householders? if so, you ought to be thoroughly ashamed of yourself!, it is voluntary, not compulsory”. He replied: Madam, I’m not going to argue with you, you will have to have a Smart Meter installed" and then he walked off.
Since then I have been plagued by telephone calls and texts from them. I have blocked most of the numbers but they really are a pain.
I think it is disgusting these obnoxious salespeople calling at homes, are lying to householders about having to have Smart Meters installed.
That is disgusting.
I believe that he is guilty of false representation and you should certainly make a formal complaint to his company. Ideally, I would have asked him for his name for that reason, but nevertheless, it should be quite possible for his bosses to trace his identity from time and place details.
Mentioning it to the media wouldn’t be a bad idea either.
Calm down, all this excitement can’t be good for you.
You have given no facts to back up your claims, they are obviously made up - these are FACTS from a report compiled for the World Energy Council which summarised:
Smart bills can be a cost-efficient and effective way to engage an entire customer base, promote energy efficiency and foster conservation behavior. In the case studies reviewed as part of this report, smart bills were responsible for reducing household electricity consumption by between 1.1% and 2.7% and gas consumption by between 2.2% and 2.8% while at the same time proving cost-effective compared to other feedback and energy efficiency programs;
This report studied smart meter results in:
Case Study: USA - California
Case study: Republic of Ireland
Case study: Sweden
Case study: Australia - Victoria
Case study: UAE - Abu dhabi
Case study: Chile
Case study: South Africa
Case study: PRC - Hong Kong
It didn’t look at the UK possibly because with usual British flair you will stuff up the roll out of such meters with the Luddites being put in charge. The report warns that the roll out needs to be effectively managed otherwise costs outweigh the benefits. “Effective Management” is not really something you associate with the UK is it?
I would switch away from Scottish Power - greedy and arrogant bar stewards.
Brucie-no mates making a c**k of himself, as usual! 
Scottish Power texted me about 6 times asking to discuss installing a Smart Meter and I texted No the first 3 times and ignored the text the next 3 times .
Then they phoned me in person and I told the salesman that if he was Smart he would’ve worked out by now that I wasn’t interested .
I think that did the trick as I’ve not heard from them since which is good because I don’t want an intrusive, radiation emitting, fire hazard installed in my house, thank you!
They can mither me 'til the cows come home if they want.
We are not obliged to accept smart meters and they may not install one without our acceptance.
The Gov has told the power supplies to get their customers to have these meters installed by 2020 in all houses.
Think in 2021 they will be laws will be enacted to have them installed.
Bye the Bye to you luddits I had one put in last year and its no different either way, you just don’t have some person knocking on my door…YOU still have to pay.
I’ve just found this very interesting thread. I’ve also refused to have a Smart Meter installed. What originally alerted me was the frequent advertisements about them. That convinced me that this is a good deal for the companies and therefore no doubt a bad deal for me. I had my first phone call a few days and had my message already prepared…
Yeah about that. It needs qualifying. It in no way means that smart meters are mandatory. Absolutely NO-ONE needs to accept a smart meter.
Here’s the clear statement on the British Gas site:
"The Government requires suppliers to roll out smart meters as standard to homes and small businesses across Britain by 2020 but there is no legal obligation on individuals to have one. At British Gas we’re committed to upgrading all our customers by taking steps to reach everyone.
What if I don’t want smart meters?
Just let us know about it. If one of our customers informs us that they’re opposed to having smart meters installed, we’ll simply take them off our roll-out list."
Worth noting also that British Gas were running a “Charter” which was hugely misleading and implied that smart meters would be compulsory. Complaints were made to OffGen who agreed that BG were being misleading.
And if anyone was at all in any doubt about whether they have to have a smart meter, this clear statement from OffGen is all they need to read. Categorically NO, NO-ONE HAS TO HAVE A SMART METER.
I’m sorry you had one put in Galty, sincerely. Whilst you may not see the difference just yet (because we are still in the roll-out period) you WILL ultimately see the changes and I’m afraid they are not going to be good.
Smart Meters are really about one thing and one thing only.
That is, TIME RELATED BILLING
i.e. There ARE going to be different charging rates for energy used at different times of the day.
Currently you just get charged for the total number of energy units used each quarter. Doesn’t matter if you switched your kettle on at 1:00am, 1:00pm or any other time.
With Time Related Billing all this is going to change. The day will be divided into time zones and there will be different charging rates for the energy you use in each zone.
Can we guess which time zones will be the most expensive ones? Of course.
The “peak” time zone will be the hours from around 5pm to midnight, the time when most people come home from work, put the kettle on, cook dinner, watch TV and so on.
Where you currently use say X number of units each evening, you will suddenly be charged 2 or 3 times the amount for those same X units in that peak period.
It will almost not matter at all what energy you use at different times of the day because the amount you will be stung for in that peak time zone will vastly outweigh all the rest of your energy usage.
Your energy bills will, in this way, double or triple over time.
This is why smart meters are being rolled out. They enable the energy companies (and all related capitalist cronies) to earn literally £billions more in revenues from unfortunate customers, whilst at the same time they reduce the company’s overheads (no need for meter readings etc).
There is nothing, literally nothing for you the hapless customer here. You’ll get a device strapped to your house irradiating you and your family 24x7, you’ll have energy companies tracking all of your energy usage (and they know what type of devices you are using from the signals) and will generate a profile of your usage. You’ll have hugely inflated bills.
Worst of all, YOU will have no idea whatsoever whether your smart meter is recording things correctly or not. It’s no longer a case of just looking at a number on the meter box. It’s about units used at every different minute of the day.
They could bill you absolutely anything, and even if it seemed high to you, you wouldn’t be able to contest it.
Customers will lose £billions, energy companies will make £billions.
Like I said, I’m sincerely sorry you fell for the scam.
There’s no going back to an old meter I’m afraid.
Article here about the failings of smart meters, incorrect bills etc
And more horror stories about colossal bills:
IF you are going to quote my post then quote all of it.
Very important to do that.
The last part of your post shows that you are mentaly unbalanced.
How the hell are smart meters going to cost us Billions.
