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Smart Meter Advert.

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On page 16 of The Times today an advert features that school girl eco-warrior whose name escapes me. The advert says I WANT TO HELP FIGHT CLIMATE CHANGE. I WANT A SMART METER. It says "Smart meters can't solve climate change on their own. But with the smarter, more efficient energy grid they help to create, they're a start". There is a circular logo which says "The campaign for a smarter Britain". I thought that I was reading Private Eye.


Z.
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    Some suppliers are now starting to offer tariffs that track grid capacity. For example, I spotted the following when submitting my latest meter readings:

    Octopus Agile, with half-hourly energy prices which are tied to wholesale prices that get updated daily

    Octopus Outgoing, where you can maximise export income when you have local storage.


    Still not convinced that the current smart meters are much value to "regular" users who minimise their usage anyway, but I can see that the systems are starting to change in a way that means use patterns will become important.
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    Still not convinced that the current smart meters are much value to "regular" users who minimise their usage anyway, but I can see that the systems are starting to change in a way that means use patterns will become important.



    Indeed - it's interesting how small 'tariff' details can have significant changes on behaviour. You'll not see many 10kW electric showers in France for example - as the cheaper domestic tariffs limit total supply to something like 40A - so people have stored hot water storage and heat it slowly (usually off peak) - which is a much better match to their large proportion of nuclear generation.


    The big advantage of using unit pricing as a proxy of the supply/demand balance rather than frequency or voltage is that it directly gives a means of the consumer justifying the cost of the additional equipment they'd need in their installation. Few people would pick a particular heating system over another just because it was 'grid friendly' or go to the expense of installing load shedding out of the goodness of their hearts. But make it worth their while financially, and you'll have a lot more takers.


       - Andy.
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    I have so far refused smart meters but I do have an "owl" meter that displays the average current used every 10 secs. Quite honestly this is a bit nerdy and I can't remember ever turning off an appliance because I saw how much it was using - except that I turn off the computer when I'm going away for a few days.

    However the Owl was very useful when installing a solar PV system on a building with a 3 phase supply as it told me that one phase was loaded much more than the other two in daytime.

    It also showed my that there is something that uses 2.6kW for 3 minutes every 3 hours. probably an electric water heater on standby.
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    It also showed my that there is something that uses 2.6kW for 3 minutes every 3 hours. probably an electric water heater on standby.




    Or someone likes a very regular tea break ?

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