With talk of energy price freezes hitting the headlines in the UK today, here’s a side of the energy industry you won’t see put on ice – the staggeringly wasteful, £12bn Smart Meter scam.
And here we have yet more evidence that British Gas are still openly misleading people about the facts – this time via Twitter, with totally false claims about people’s right to refuse a Smart Meter.
See if you can spot the whopper they were happy to lead more than 5,700 twitter followers (and anyone else tuning in) to believe:
This easily disprovable myth was broadcast in response to a very polite question by the folk at Lawful Rebellion:
Please can you tell me if Smart Meters are mandatory or not, and, if not, how to opt out of having one? Thank you.
British Gas’s “Help” Team responded with the completely bogus claim that they are “mandatory” – and as such offered no help for how to opt-out.
As we know, there is no law forcing anyone to have a Smart Meter – they are absolutely NOT mandatory.
In follow-up, a citation was requested about which law, in BG’s view, made them mandatory. No response given.
This is what we’re up against. If Smart Meters are such a good deal for people, why is BG so happy to lie to people about them?
Please share this information far & wide – people across the land are being fed a bill of goods and are defenseless without the facts.
You can see the original tweet conversation here: https://twitter.com/BritishGasHelp/status/445951782771245056
Can someone please answer these questions?
1 is it possible (from BG’s point of view) for someone to put solar panels on a building AFTER a smart metre has been installed?
2 are buildings with existing solar panels prevented from having smart metres?
In other words are they compatible? I seem to recollect that they aren’t but can’t remember where I heard this. I am interested to know from an ideological standpoint, not a practical one.
I can’t see why Smart Meters prevent you adding PV. And I can’t see why PV prevents the utility adding a Smart Meter.
The ideological issue is that Smart Meters can tell the utility EXACTLY how much is exported, whereas with typical analogue meters, it’s typically assumed that domestic PV exports 50%.
Shockingly, most people with domestic PV are very concerned to use any potential export electricity “in-house” and NOT export it to the grid. There are devices you can add which can detect and divert potential export.
The societal issue of course that diverting export to “in-house” use means that you would still get the few pence extra based on the 50% export assumption. I guess there is some mileage in arguing that this is energy storage, for example if the PV export is diverted to immersion heaters – but that typically reduces grid gas demand not grid electricity. Another FiT ethical issue.
Regards
Chris
Since solar panels sell leccy back to the grid, the meter has to be able to monitor both consumption and surplus, which I doubt smart meters can do. The whole point of a smart meter is so they can read it automatically, and turn your electric off by remote without having to break in.
Thanks for your reply Richard.
This was my thought too.
SSM can you confirm if this is correct?
http://rinf.com/alt-news/surveillance-big-brother/smart-meters-big-brother-in-the-home/
http://radio4all.net/index.php/program/67527
I may be able to help with this query.
Smart meters have to provide adherence to the government approved scheme, known as SMETS (Smart Metering Equipment Technical Specifications). Buried in the manifesto of all of this if you like is a capability of being able to record ‘export’.
To this end, when the installer places the meter on the wall and whatever relevant recording widget for detailing cost and usage, he sets up the system to also record and display generation at the same time.
In a nutshell if a PV system exists already, or if you add a PV system to a house where a Smart Meter lives, then there is no issue with matching up all the equipment together.
Now bear in mind that officially no smart meter yet is seen as totally in accordance with SMETS. British Gas are trying to lead the market, but they may have to revise or replace installs if they don’t meet the requirements..
Thank you, that’s very clear.
I have had smart meters fitted by British Gas, I have solar panels and the read out on the monitor is a complete waste of time as if the sun is out the reading picks up the solar panel and tells me I am using much more electricity than I am. Nothing can be done about this British Gas tells me. I have now moved my supplier and the smart meters cannot be used by them. What a waste of time.
The true function of Smart meters is to allow the electric companies to turn your electric off, or regulate/throttle usage, by remote control. The Government is forcing them to standardise such meters, so that when we start running out of electricity, they can turn off the homes and keep the factories (and government offices) supplied. And ultimately, this allows the EU to control your usage – and we all know how keen they are to do that.
Listen Folks,
Simply padlock your Electricity Box. So-called Smart Meters are deadly to your health and can and do and at times burn down houses, for Heavens sake don’t get a dopy all life sickness making Electric Microwave and actually far from Smart Meter for your home or small busines or a dopy gas-smart Meter or a dopy Water Smart Meter, none of them are smart in any way at all.
Ah but that solves nothing, the whole point of Smart Meters is they can be controlled by remote. They dont need access to them, so padlocking the boxes stops nothing. If you TRULY want to take back control, you need to arrange a manual bypass for when they close it off. Now, thats easy on an electric meter, but not so easy on gas or water without some spadework……