Just came across this over at el Reg:

UK smart meter rollout years late and less than two thirds complete... https://www.theregister.com/2023/06/...llout_delayed/

Some interesting links down in article.


In a weird way, the arguments for the project sounds so... british?

No offence, Hazel!

Got them here several years ago. No warning, they just did it. One thing that it does, if you are doing electrical work on your house, like the main breaker panel, if you pull the meter off of the base to cut power, like people have always done, the electric company now knows it. If you are not a licensed electrician I think that you can be fined.

Also your whole house's electrical system in now on the power companies LAN. Unless you install some kind of shunt. They communicate with the meter with IP over power lines. US power uses center tapped transformers, because it's an easy way to cut the voltage in half and get 2 phases of power off each end of the transformer from 1 phase feed to neutral.

That means 138,500v standard from the power generator, usually busted into 69,250 for a neighborhood with a center tap transformer, then down to 240v RMS from one end of the transformer to the center tap for a residence. That IP over power line crosses the transformers. Kinda need how you can multiplex signals of different voltages on one conductor.

And of course, your power usage can be monitored on a minute by minute basis. And, if you have certain smart devices plugged in to the power companies LAN, that can be communicated to over power line, the power company can control them.

Pretty much how I experience this in Texas. Greg Abbot in the governors office thinks he knows what is best for us.
It mattered when I deserted my ranch homestead.
All the ranch wiring was ancient. Fuses and knob and tube.

Shop barn breaker box I used a old 3 phase 240v breaker panel from Tonka Toys made by Allen Bradley.

I was a industrial electrician and helicopter avionics crew chief but Texas figures I am not qualified to work on my own homestead.

Uh, I said wrong above. That would be 240 volts RMS measuring across the transformer. It is 120 volts RMS (170 volts peak to peak) from one end of the transformer to the center tap.

The center tap is also where the nuetral from the breaker panel returns to.

If anyone is interested, on subject...
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qxMImzWqpPY
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QC0t_9Z_9hg
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=oPSq__8pnhQ
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lOlWWxh9jHU

Oh, how I miss doing that!

I foolishly agreed to a smart meter a few years ago (I am in the UK). Bad decision - the utility company still tries to over charge me. I foolishly thought that having a meter installed would mean they could accurately monitor my usage so I would get more accurate bills. Nope, every quarter they send me a 'revised estimate of my future use' which is invariably way too high. If I don't watch them I would end up overpaying by hundreds of pounds. This leads me to believe the smart meter is not about giving customers accurate bills, more about spying. Also I think they can use the smart meter to cut off your supply, without requiring access to your home. They should give notice and so on, but still...

They're more likely to try and scam you!

Stay with your current arrangement as long as you can.

Privatised energy was a scam from day 1.

The real reasons behind it are simple enough. It puts a lot of (your) cash in the hands private companies (middlemen) to invest how they see fit. You pay in advance, based on estimated usage and then this gets adjusted to suit.

Your money sits in their investment/hedge fund, rather than your bank account. This is of course entirely contrived. You are supposed to be in credit for most of the month, then they use that credit to pay your bills. All the the while, they're banking and investing your money. This is why they have every reason to spin and exploit the entirely manufactured "energy crisis" to the max - they stand to gain the most from it.

"Smart" meters are just part of this cash cow. It means the energy companies don't have to rely on inaccurate readings and don't have to pay meter reading staff. Smart meters do not equate to something like pre-payment meters, where you only pay for what you use. The objective here is for your money to sit in their bank account accumulating for a period of time - and smart meters are quite deliberately no threat to that.

From https://www.theregister.com/2023/10/...t_meters_will/