Posted by: Nick Duxbury
23/08/2011Last night I returned to my house around 9pm sweating profusely and ravenous having run home from work.
First thing I did was to boil the kettle so I could cook some pasta, pre-heat the oven and then traipse downstairs for a much needed second shower of the day.
By the time I had showered and returned for the kitchen I needed to boil the kettle again and the oven had been on for 10 minutes.
Then the phone went. Oops; while speaking on the phone I missed the kettle again – one last boil.
This kind of behaviour is wholly ungreen. Me and my housemates know that we need to make a change – but we need a hand.
The answer we have settled on is to get hold of a smart meter and a home energy management kit.
The government wants every home in Britain to be fitted with a smart meter by 2020 at a cost of £11.7 billion.
We are told that this bill is to be footed by energy companies. The reality is that, like most things we are told energy companies pay for, after chinning the installation costs, this gets actually tacked onto our ever rising energy bills, and it is of course the unknowing consumer that ultimately pays.
On paper this is still supposed to be a good deal. The impact assessments the government published indicated a substantial total net benefit for the domestic and non-domestic markets of over £7.3 billion from the £11.7 billion original investment.
By 2020 smart meters are expected to reduce household energy bills by £23 a year, and £42 by 2030.
This saving of £23 a year only equates to only 2 per cent of the current average household energy bill of £1,132.
It will save the energy companies an estimated £11 billion (almost twice what it will save consumers) through digital operating, but is it really great value for consumers?
A press officer from Department of Energy and Climate Change happily explained ‘it is a win-win’ for consumers and energy companies.
For the energy companies they can accurately monitor exactly what their customers are using and charge correctly as a result.
They can buy electricity at the right price and protect their margins with more accurate data which also allow them to measure their energy savings.
For consumers this means that finally they can forget about being over (and occasionally under) charged for their energy use and end the era of meter inspectors.
Most significantly, it is hoped that by seeing exactly what energy is being used, and where, consumers will adapt their behaviour to become more efficient and live in a manner that will help the UK achieve an 80 per cent carbon cut by 2050.
As we reported this week, charity Citizens Advice has warned that proposals for the roll out of smart meters could leave consumers vulnerable to exploitation by energy companies.
Many of the most vulnerable people live in social housing. These are the same tenants who are frequently targeted by unscrupulous doorstop lenders and con-men – and now potentially energy companies.
It is unclear what products the charity is concerned energy companies might try and sell, but the savvy ones such as British Gas have already invested heavily in smart meter related companies so that they can be sure to profit from the new era of energy efficiency that the government hopes the technology will beckon.
Consumer protection is important though. Social landlords should therefore start thinking now about how they might go about protecting their tenants.
Perhaps there is a means of landlords playing a role in the roll-out of smart meters? Ideas on a post card please.
The way I see it, the first line of protection is to make sure the technology will lead to energy savings.
One way of increasing the 2 per cent savings of a smart meter is the use of a home management kit which is intended to strip away all my bad living habits.
While it may take me a while to get a smart meter, I am getting a management kit next week and look forward to kicking off an anecdotal experiment to see just how much digital technology can impact on my behaviour.
I shall be downloading iPhone apps, plugging myself in and asking my housemates to join me in tweeting the results.
Look out for blog posts documenting whether or not I am adjusting my lifestyle according.
My days of the double shower and liberal boiling of the kettle could be numbered.
Have your say
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Readers' comments (12)
Chris | 23/08/2011 4:32 pm
It sounds as if you could do with going on a project management course Nick, so that you can better organise your activities, avoiding the absurd use of power for no outcome.
Alternatively, you could just try doing one thing at a time as multi tasking does not appear to be your strength.
By the way, multiple boiling of the same water causes limescale build up on the element, costing you more power to use the thing in future.
Cutting back is one thing, but what I'd like to know is why can't I buy my power directly from the French Power Company that owns my UK supplier. They charge far less per unit to their French customers than their UK subsidiary charges. I was under the impression that the Tory sell of of public assets was so that competition and choice was introduced, yet I'm not allowed to choose the cheaper supplier because they are French, even though they own my current provider.
Meanwhile - do not forget to turn off the kettle while you sit there watching your smart meter tell you how much the oven costs you.
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Rick Campbell | 23/08/2011 5:13 pm
TUT TUT -- the next government, the Green Party will be demonising you for being wasteful -- it'll give me a break though!!
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Rick Campbell | 23/08/2011 5:17 pm
You'll have creatures on here advocating cutting your electricity off, cutting the family jewels off, killing the first born, evicting you for electricity theft and so on.
You'll be castigated for daring to speak out and not supporting 5 people doing the job of 20 and them being paid to much'
I am a Child of the Universe -- and everyone has a story even the dull and ignorant.
Just saying... as they say on fb
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robert williams | 24/08/2011 5:32 am
MUST-SEE 4-minute youtube video on Smart meters:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=8JNFr_j6kdI
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robert williams | 24/08/2011 5:33 am
SMART METER HEALTH PROBLEMS AND CANCER.
A. The WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION on May 31 2011 placed the Non-ionizing radiation coming from Wireless smart meters (and some other wireless devices) on the Class 2-B Carcinogen List, along with DDT and Lead.
http://www.iarc.fr/en/media-centre/pr/2011/pdfs/pr208_E.pdf
B. The NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF HEALTH months ago (Feb 2011) found biological changes in the brain after only minutes of exposure to non-ionizing radiation.
http://jama.ama-assn.org/content/305/8/808.abstract
C. LABORATORY SCIENTISTS have observed
(1) Human Cell Damage
(2) DNA Chain Breaks
(3) Breaches in the Blood-Brain Barrier
from levels of non-ionizing radiation lower than emitted by WIRELESS Smart meters.
http://electromagnetichealth.org/electromagnetic-health-blog/cc-video/
D. INSURANCE COMPANIES Hired Independent Laboratory Scientists and these scientists also observed Cell Damage and DNA Chain Breaks and now the Insurance Companies will NOT Insure Liability of damage from Wireless Smart meters and other wireless devices.
TV Video (3 minutes)
http://eon3emfblog.net/?p=382
So shouldn’t MANDATORY installation of Wireless smart meters on people's homes STOP?
Because Cell Phone use and other devices are Voluntary and can be shut off at the user’s discretion, that is a different issue.
1. WIRELESS SMART METERS – 100 TIMES MORE RADIATION THAN CELL PHONES.
Video Interview: Nuclear Scientist, Daniel Hirsch, (5 minutes).
http://stopsmartmeters.org/2011/04/20/daniel-hirsch-on-ccsts-fuzzy-math/
2. WIRELESS SMART METERS – CANCER, NERVOUS SYSTEM DAMAGE, ADVERSE REPRODUCTION AFFECTS.
Video Interview: Dr. Carpenter, New York Public Health Department, Dean of Public Health, (2 minutes).
http://emfsafetynetwork.org/?p=3946
3. THE KAROLINSKA INSTITUTE IN STOCKHOLM (the University that gives the Nobel Prizes) ISSUES GLOBAL HEALTH WARNING AGAINST WIRELESS SMART METERS.
2-page Press Release:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/48148346/Karolinska-Institute-Press-Release
4. RADIATION MEASURED FROM SMART METER MOUNTED ON A HOME (once active in the utility system) SHOWS RADIATION BURST PULSES APPROXIMATELY ONCE EVERY FOUR SECONDS 24 HOURS PER DAY traveling into and through the bodies and brains of the inhabitants of that home.
Youtube Video (6 minutes, 1st minute is sufficient).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRejDxBE6OE
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Rick Campbell | 24/08/2011 7:26 am
I take it, then. that not everyone's in favour of the government spending millions of quid on the installation programme?
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Melvin Bone | 24/08/2011 8:39 am
'The answer we have settled on is to get hold of a smart meter and a home energy management kit.'
A meter won't help you at all IMHO. Nor will an app. You need to get organised. No meter can help you unless it locks you in the kitchen when the kettles boiling.
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tenantplus | 24/08/2011 10:11 am
there is an old invention called TEAMAID. You just fill it in with tea and water, put the cup beneath the spout, and just click a button and the tea/coffee is made in a minute or two. No spillage nothing. It also switches itself off.You can also time it for later or the morning when you wake up or any other time.
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Rick Campbell | 24/08/2011 4:10 pm
Have that many people really lost the common sense approach to using gas, electricity, water -- have 'we' dumbded down that much?
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Chris | 24/08/2011 4:15 pm
I'll tell you Rick, just as soon as I've downloaded the 'Understanding the Bleedin' Obvious App' to my Smart Phone.
I did ask my Smart Phone to tell me about Smart Meters, but it simply said if I asked again it would leave me a sue for custody of the TV set!
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Chrissie Cobbon | 24/08/2011 6:26 pm
Woo Hoo ! £23 a year savings - Break out the Babycham
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Rick Campbell | 24/08/2011 6:44 pm
pmsl @ the last 2 posts -- thanks guys!
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