Energy efficient are smart meters?
While some of those reading the subtitle of this article may associate the words ‘energy efficient’ with kitchen appliances (fridges, freezers etc), those two words were used in relation to smart meters by my energy supplier in their booklet about switching to smart meters, which was accompanied by a letter from them dated 2nd November 2017.
I gave it some thought and subsequently took up their offer, receiving a letter from them dated 11 November 2018. The first line of the letter read: ‘We’re coming to install your smart meter[s] soon.’ The date specified was 25 January 2018.
Over two months later, I received the same letter dated 23 January 2018. The date for the installation was now 12 April 2018. When their representative visited my flat, I was told it needed a 1B engineer.
Time went by. I didn’t hear anymore from them about when the 1B engineer would call. During that time and since, in using the internet, I noticed numerous adverts for smart meters on my personnel e-mail account page and others.
In searching for an example as to what this article/exposé is all about, I came across this:
The wording below the photo (pre ‘successful roll out’) indicates it was one of the first smart meters produced. Since then, as noted by this scan of the smart meter in the booklet I received from my energy supplier, it is more compact:
That improvement aside, one akin to the development of cell-phones, the first image tells it all.
The lights on the smart meter’s in-home display (see final image below) not only use but waste energy. Furthermore, the information is relayed by wi-fi at the users preferred time:
As anyone who uses a computer, laptop etc with wi-fi capability should know, the modem for the computer needs to be connected to an electrical socket as does the computer. On the points above, the more regular a meter-reading is sent to your supplier the more energy is used.
A half-hourly reading is 48 times more than a daily reading while on average it’s 1460 times more than a monthly reading.
In these next two screenprints that the TRUTH found on the internet, they each give an indication as to the workings and information gathering of a smart meter – the second one being a flow chart. Notice ‘Secure communications network’ in the cloud-like shape thereon.
The excuse given for the switch over to smart meters is, you can see how much energy you are using on the ‘in-home display’.
Note. It’s an excuse and not a reason, as it is devoid of logic – logic being:
1: The science of reason. Also, the one word answer to the crossword clue ‘reason’ is logic and vice versa.
2: The pursuit of truth and integrity. That by which this internet news magazine gets at the TRUTH. Hence its name: the ‘TRUTH’.
Thus, when it comes to energy, we, as adults, use what we need. I do my part, without a smart meter, by limiting what I watch on TV and watching it with the light turned off. If you really want to save energy, I suggest you do the same.
There is also that saying about taking a shower together instead of individually, while dishwashers use energy compared with that of doing the washing up yourself. A wind up alarm clock compared with an electrically run digital one is another way of saving energy. I also do not use a drier to dry my laundry. Instead, I hang it on an indoor three arm drying tidy and hang my laundry on hangers. Most efficient.
The TRUTH. Helpful as always!
You will find more helpful articles on the ‘Wrongdoing’ and ‘General interest & Fun’ contents pages.
Remember, of course, if you do have a smart meter, to change how often your energy supplier receives a reading to the most efficient one for you, which, on the scan above, is monthly and not half-hourly.
To return to the main Contents page, left click the standard electricity meter below:
