# smart meters



## escorial (Nov 12, 2018)

Had one for a week and my biggest energy user is my cheapest appliance...a white kettle.. I'm a big coffee drinker but I'm considering going back to a whisling kettle for the hob...when I come into contact with new tech stuff it never seems to make me smile...someone in Liverpool is holding a 77 million lottery ticket an all I have is a kettle to make me poorer...


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## Hill.T.Manner (Nov 12, 2018)

I desperately want to give you some kind words of encouragement regarding this matter but I fear it would come across patronizing, keep your head up maybe?


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## escorial (Nov 12, 2018)

I have a list of my enemy

1...kettle
2... microwave
3...shower (elec)


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## Guard Dog (Nov 12, 2018)

When you said "Smart Meter" I first thought you'd found a really handy device that I could point at people, and would let me know who to avoid without having to actually talk to 'em or otherwise interact with first.

Imagine my disappointment upon reading further... :sorrow: :lol:


G.D.


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## escorial (Nov 12, 2018)

You already using a smart device it's called a brain


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## Guard Dog (Nov 12, 2018)

escorial said:


> You already using a smart device it's called a brain



Yeah... If only someone would come up with a way to get more people to use theirs.

Companies keep comin' up with various devices, and puttin' names on 'em like "Smart Phone"... And people do buy 'em and seem to like 'em... but when they use 'em, they  only seem to get dumber. :-(




G.D.


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## escorial (Nov 12, 2018)

We use to call people deaf and dumb or retarded but now their called challenged...I was put In a class at secondary school nicknamed sanctuary and I looked around at other pupils and decided this isn't for me...when they put me in a class a year later with more intelligent kids I felt liberated...


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## Guard Dog (Nov 12, 2018)

escorial said:


> We use to call people deaf and dumb or retarded but now their called challenged...I was put In a class at secondary school nicknamed sanctuary and I looked around at other pupils and decided this isn't for me...when they put me in a class a year later with more intelligent kids I felt liberated...



Don't feel bad. I got taken to a psychologist when I was 7 or 8, because my mother thought I was flunking out of school, based on the comments from teachers that I wasn't "applying myself" and had a C, C- average. ( Mom thought I was nuts, like the rest of the family. )

After being evaluated, my parents were told the reason I wasn't doing any better was because I was bored to death... None of what they were offing was a challenge, so I had no interest in it, and just did enough to keep everybody off my back. ( almost, anyway. )

Freaked my mom right the hell out, being told her kid qualified for MENSA, and was about twice as bright already than she ever had any hope of bein'. :devilish:

Still, all that really got me was being pushed even more, and labeled an "Under-Achiever" when my stubborn streak kicked in, and I refused to fool with anything I didn't like or want to do.



G.D.


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## escorial (Nov 12, 2018)

I much prefer my divided self...


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## TuesdayEve (Nov 12, 2018)

I’m a Gemini and truly divided between daydreaming 
about almost anything and easily distracted to a logical 
planner focusing on what interests me at the moment. 
It’s taken years to find the right balance....but happily 
my internal smart meter found the right blend.


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## Kevin (Nov 12, 2018)

Toilet uses 1.5 gal per flush. It recharges in 13 secs. flat. I can't read the digital thermostat on the wall without using the torch on my iPhone. We don't call them torches here. Just thought I'd go with the familiar vernacular.


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## Guard Dog (Nov 12, 2018)

I've been tempted to use a torch on my house for years... But I'm talking the "angry villagers" type, not a flashlight.



G.D.


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## escorial (Nov 13, 2018)

Very satisfying a clean flush....

have you tried Morris dancing


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## Kevin (Nov 13, 2018)

escorial said:


> Very satisfying a clean flush....
> 
> have you tried Morris dancing


 is that like the Mashed Potato? The wife loves dancing. I gotta be, um... 'Piss'd'.


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## escorial (Nov 13, 2018)

Disco stew has the knowledge


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## dither (Nov 13, 2018)

My energy supplier is after me to have one of those things fitted and I'm not keen, resisting for now, but you can't hold back the future for ever can you.
 They get a lot of bad press and I DO think that it should be my choice. Apparently the suppliers are punishing the refusenics with higher rates. How can that be legal?


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## escorial (Nov 13, 2018)

TuesdayEve said:


> I’m a Gemini and truly divided between daydreaming
> about almost anything and easily distracted to a logical
> planner focusing on what interests me at the moment.
> It’s taken years to find the right balance....but happily
> my internal smart meter found the right blend.



Daydreaming for me is fictional escapism and it always has a positive impact on my day... nighttime stuff not so much...


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## Bloggsworth (Nov 13, 2018)

Smart meters are a pin in the wallet.


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## escorial (Nov 13, 2018)

I wonder how long before a wallet is rarely used...


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## Hill.T.Manner (Nov 13, 2018)

escorial said:


> I wonder how long before a wallet is rarely used...



Until it develops a hole, then it's held onto more for emotional attachment than actual functionality.


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## escorial (Nov 13, 2018)

I have no sentiment for any holes....


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## Guard Dog (Nov 13, 2018)

escorial said:


> I have no sentiment for any holes....



Same here. 

...which probably at least partially explains my multiple divorces.




G.D.


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## Ralph Rotten (Nov 13, 2018)

escorial said:


> Had one for a week and my biggest energy user is my cheapest appliance...a white kettle.. I'm a big coffee drinker but I'm considering going back to a whisling kettle for the hob...when I come into contact with new tech stuff it never seems to make me smile...someone in Liverpool is holding a 77 million lottery ticket an all I have is a kettle to make me poorer...




Go back to the kettle and a French coffee press.
To hell with coffee pots. 
Why drink coffee that's 10 minutes old by the time the last drip drips.
French press is soooo fresh, and way better coffee.
No paper-filter taste.
You only make a cup at a time.


How much did you pay for the meter?


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## escorial (Nov 14, 2018)

Smart meter was foc... apparently

I do like good quality instant and filter coffee..I go into so many places to try their coffee but I always prefer my own over theirs...


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## escorial (Nov 14, 2018)

Kettle off


Kettle switched on


I remember when making a cuppa was a carfree few minutes and now it's shall I or shan't i


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## Ralph Rotten (Nov 14, 2018)

So that is an electrical usage meter? or a thermal meter?


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## escorial (Nov 14, 2018)

It tells everything you need to know about your gas an electric usage  in your home throughout the day...the only thing it doesn't do is tell you your blood pressure while viewing it


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## Guard Dog (Nov 14, 2018)

That's funny, 'cause it looks more like an electronic blood pressure gauge than anything...

...and also that if you turn on one more appliance, it looks like you might have a stroke, Esc. :nevreness:



G.D.


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## Hill.T.Manner (Nov 14, 2018)

I wonder if it could be rigged to make breakfast in the morning.


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## escorial (Nov 15, 2018)

I feel sorry for the queen of England..with all her palaces her living room must look like the star ship Enterprise control deck when the butlers turn the chandeliers on..


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## Olly Buckle (Nov 15, 2018)

dither said:


> My energy supplier is after me to have one of those things fitted and I'm not keen, resisting for now, but you can't hold back the future for ever can you.
> They get a lot of bad press and I DO think that it should be my choice. Apparently the suppliers are punishing the refusenics with higher rates. How can that be legal?



Don't worry, they will realise it is not equitable and raise the price to those with meters to the same as those without, in fact they will probably use it to 'cover up' an overall increase by telling us every one is being screwed over to the same degree now, only they won't phrase it like that. Was a time when I was part owner of a nationalised energy company before they sold it out to themselves from under us.


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## JustRob (Nov 15, 2018)

We resisted many phone calls and letters encouraging us to have a smart meter installed. We noticed that they always managed not to mention that it wasn't obligatory. Eventually while reading our meter I noticed that it had almost reached its maximum reading and sure enough shortly after submitting it to the electricity company they phoned to tell us that we'd have to have a new one fitted and of course it would be a smart one. They wanted to take automatic remote readings of our usage _every half hour_ but I negotiated that down to once a month. Automatically phoning in a reading every half hour? On a mobile phone link through double thickness brick walls surrounding the cupboard under the stairs? How much electricity would doing that consume by itself? 

It seems peculiar to me that the electricity company uses wireless technology with their smart meters when they have a network of cables running into every house already. There is only a limited amount of God-given bandwidth available in the electromagnetic spectrum and it really only ought to be used where there is no alternative. Mobile phone companies are gradually buying up all the bandwidth for their purposes and crowding out other services like TV and even now potentially wireless microphone channels in theatres. The latter can't be made digital because digital conversion isn't instantaneous even now and having live performances that weren't in synchronisation would just be too weird for words, so old-fashioned analogue channels are essential. So, when you notice that singers in a live musical apparently aren't singing in time with the orchestra in the future at least you'll have the reassurance of knowing that the electricity company is getting readings every half hour of the electricity that you aren't using because you're not at home but at the theatre trying to enjoy the musical.



Guard Dog said:


> Yeah... If only someone would come up with a way to get more people to use theirs.
> 
> Companies keep comin' up with various devices, and puttin' names on 'em like "Smart Phone"... And people do buy 'em and seem to like 'em... but when they use 'em, they  only seem to get dumber. :-(



The cistern in our loft has been overflowing recently, so the overflow pipe keeps dumping water into the garden. Perhaps if the water company supplied us with smart water that knew where it was supposed to go and where it wasn't that would solve the problem.


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## Guard Dog (Nov 15, 2018)

JustRob said:


> The cistern in our loft has been overflowing recently, so the overflow pipe keeps dumping water into the garden. *Perhaps if the water company supplied us with smart water* that knew where it was supposed to go and where it wasn't that would solve the problem.



If the public educational system there is anything like it is here, and it's influence was applied to water treatment facilities, you'd either end up with water that just sat around and didn't go anywhere, or it'd start running uphill...

...so I think you're probably better off with "dumb" water.

( They put all sorts of chemicals in the water here, with the intention of improving it. Yet the only difference in it when they're done is that it stinks and tastes bad, requiring an expensive filter to remove 90% of the water company's "improvements". )




G.D.


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## Olly Buckle (Nov 15, 2018)

Public and private education is a good chance for Anglo American misunderstanding. We have public schools and private schools which are fee paying, and a state school system which is free

My Dad used to say that if a sewage plant were well run the person in charge would happily drink a glass of water from where it finally discharged. We do get things added sometimes, for example iodine where it is short, and we notice the increase in chlorination if there is sudden very heavy rain, but on the whole the company water is fine. Look at it this way, it is at least 150 years since London had its last typhoid outbreak, but before that it was pretty well endemic, that is the result of water treatment.


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## dither (Nov 18, 2018)

Olly Buckle said:


> Don't worry, they will realise it is not equitable and raise the price to those with meters to the same as those without, in fact they will probably use it to 'cover up' an overall increase by telling us every one is being screwed over to the same degree now, only they won't phrase it like that. Was a time when I was part owner of a nationalised energy company before they sold it out to themselves from under us.



Yeah,

you're probably right.


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## JustRob (Nov 19, 2018)

JustRob said:


> It seems peculiar to me that the electricity company uses wireless technology with their smart meters when they have a network of cables running into every house already.



Last week while we were eating my angel's birthday lunch a gas company representative phoned to talk about installing a smart gas meter. I told him to call some other time. That would mean even more mobile phone calls emanating from the cupboard under the stairs. It seems peculiar to me that the gas company uses wireless  technology with their smart meters when they have a network of pipes  running into every house already. Surely with modern technology they could transmit the information along the pipes, maybe as bursts of high pressure smoke signals. Do these people have no imagination?


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## Olly Buckle (Nov 19, 2018)

JustRob said:


> Last week while we were eating my angel's birthday lunch a gas company representative phoned to talk about installing a smart gas meter. I told him to call some other time. That would mean even more mobile phone calls emanating from the cupboard under the stairs. It seems peculiar to me that the gas company uses wireless  technology with their smart meters when they have a network of pipes  running into every house already. Surely with modern technology they could transmit the information along the pipes, maybe as bursts of high pressure smoke signals. Do these people have no imagination?



How about washing through the pipes with something that gave a mirror finish to the inside, then using the meter to generate electricity that is discharged after the passing of a certain volume of gas a light pulse is flashed up the pipe. One could give a slightly different wavelength to each user. As you say, these people lack imagination. For years it was a running joke that the post office wanted to trial and test new equipment for so long that by the time they adopted it it was out of date.


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## Guard Dog (Nov 19, 2018)

JustRob said:


> Last week while we were eating my angel's birthday lunch a gas company representative phoned to talk about installing a smart gas meter. I told him to call some other time. That would mean even more mobile phone calls emanating from the cupboard under the stairs. It seems peculiar to me that the gas company uses wireless  technology with their smart meters when they have a network of pipes  running into every house already. Surely with modern technology they could transmit the information along the pipes, maybe as bursts of high pressure smoke signals. Do these people have no imagination?





Olly Buckle said:


> How about washing through the pipes with something that gave a mirror finish to the inside, then using the meter to generate electricity that is discharged after the passing of a certain volume of gas a light pulse is flashed up the pipe. One could give a slightly different wavelength to each user. As you say, these people lack imagination. For years it was a running joke that the post office wanted to trial and test new equipment for so long that by the time they adopted it it was out of date.



Am I the only one that has a problem with mixing a flammable gas with electronics? 

Especially when the people who are setting up the arrangement are just as likely to buy their transmitters and other equipment from someplace like the Acme Detonator Company as not?


G.D.


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## JustRob (Nov 20, 2018)

Guard Dog said:


> Am I the only one that has a problem with mixing a flammable gas with electronics?



We've already survived that experience. Many years ago our TV aerial was hit by a lightning bolt. The TV was incinerated internally and the current raced around our ring main searching for a route to ground. When it reached the metal fuse box it arced across to a metal framed ironing board nearby and from there arced into the gas main to reach the ground. I discovered that this had happened by noticing the pits formed in the various items where the current had momentarily melted the metal. Anyway, nowadays optical communications circuits use fibre optical cable which doesn't transmit electricity.

Compared to our sturdy old steel and ceramic fuse box the modern plastic equipment looks pretty fragile. I wonder what a smart meter's strategy for dealing with a lightning bolt is. Hopefully it wouldn't try to charge for the electricity. 

"The cost of the electricity that you have used so far today is ... twenty ... no, fifty thousand ... arghh!"


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## escorial (Nov 20, 2018)

The guy who fitted mine gave me a talk about energy use and I learned that when the soaps go into breaks the usage goes nuts while people put kettle on...them kettles are evil


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## Olly Buckle (Nov 20, 2018)

Back in the day when they broadcast world title fights on the radio from America in the middle of the night they say the same thing happened, everyone got up and put the kettle on and demand went from night time low to through the roof for 15 mins. It is turning electric into heat that does it, light and sound take a fraction of the power.


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## escorial (Nov 23, 2018)

Rreport in The Gaurdian saying 500 million bill for replacing and installing will be passed on to consumers...one can read between the lines but either way you will pay


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## Kevin (Nov 23, 2018)

We have two city agencies that are making money: Parking Enforcement, and Department of Water and Power. The Building department makes money, too, but not to the scale of the other two. Parking made so much they succeeded from the Police Department. Dead weight they called them. The Ticketaros make around 100k. They have all their benefits and retirement, plus they have as much overtime work as they want. Sunday's is triple time, Any holiday, too. 

DWP is like a secret organization. They control their own budgets. So guess what's happened with the infrastructure? Pipes bursting. And how about their salaries and retirement? Accounts bursting. It's a direct effect. Their original mandate was to provide service. How quickly they learn... We've already been informed: You want infrastructure? Well, that's extra. The power companies power lines catching the state on fire? Well, that's extra, too...

DWP, with their excess they buy off the rest of the city officials. 'Gravy Train'.

All services are huge money. They're all monopolies, too. Our trash, our police, fire,  they're all unionized so they can demand what ever they want. You lose, they win. We were told to cut back on our water usage. We did. Therefore, they had to raise the rates because demand was down; their revenues were down, so they had to raise the rates for our being so good at cutting our usage. If you can get on with any of those agencies you're set for life. Fire department pays 80 percent a year retirement based off of your final year's income. So guess who gets first dibs on any overtime? All the short- timers. Last year of work they suddenly are working 150 percent compared to the rest of their years. They retire at higher than a 100 percent.


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## escorial (Nov 23, 2018)

Capitalism will sell the rope to hang itself...Oliver asked for more to...greedy git


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## Plasticweld (Nov 23, 2018)

Capitalism is taking the rope and selling it again. 

For sale, 
Rope Works just as designed.  The last owner was completely happy with it. Due to no longer needing it, it is now twenty percent off.  


A good capitalist made money when he sold it the first time,  bought it for next to nothing the second time and then sells it for almost as much the second time.


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## escorial (Nov 23, 2018)

money for old rope....God bless champagne socialist


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## Plasticweld (Nov 23, 2018)

escorial said:


> money for old rope....God bless champagne socialist



A Champagne socialist would make it illegal for anyone else but them to sell used rope. 

A capitalist  would see an opportunity 
A socialist would have to ban the sale of all rope for public safety
A champagne socialist would sell rope to anyone that would buy it, at the same time telling everyone it should be banned. 
A libertarian would say that anyone has the right to buy rope.  If you outlaw rope only outlaws will have rope


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## escorial (Nov 23, 2018)

are you a rope salesman...


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## Plasticweld (Nov 23, 2018)

escorial said:


> are you a rope salesman...



Entrepreneur:  I see opportunity everywhere I look.


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## escorial (Nov 23, 2018)

bit like a prostitute


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## dither (Nov 23, 2018)

Plasticweld said:


> Entrepreneur:  I see opportunity everywhere I look.



And all I ever see is hopelessness.:hopelessness:


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## Kevin (Nov 23, 2018)

They're not selling widgets for cheaper. The name of the game is monopoly, and utilities have them. Whether or not it's  Capital list  or socialist it's still the same:  they tell you how much, and you pay it.


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## escorial (Nov 23, 2018)

Local radio had a few callers about smart meters..you don't have to have one installed...never got told that by the rep..you can get one removed after installation..there is a site about what they say are big concerns regarding what the industry will do with the information gained...think some are going over the top with the big brother watching you...so far I'm ok


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## escorial (Nov 25, 2018)

I look at so many people in the public eye an think your only there because of luck and being in the right place at the right time stuff...Teresa May falls into that  category for me an if this agreement is the best she could do with the people she picked for the job then all I can say is...you having a laugh..an analogy.. I'm now divorced living in the same house with no say on how the kids are brought up..I must pay for the upkeep and when the kids move out probably better to cut my loses and move out and hope for the best..


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## escorial (Nov 25, 2018)

shud be in another thread the post above...is the EU about to implode..


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## Olly Buckle (Nov 25, 2018)

escorial said:


> shud be in another thread the post above...is the EU about to implode..


No worries, no-one would ever have noticed if you kept your mouth shut


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## dither (Nov 25, 2018)

escorial said:


> shud be in another thread the post above...is the EU about to implode..



This a subject that might be best left alone imo.
We all have our thoughts on this one and it's a hottie.


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## Olly Buckle (Nov 25, 2018)

dither said:


> This a subject that might be best left alone imo.
> We all have our thoughts on this one and it's a hottie.



Come down off the fence ?


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