Not surprisingly, take-up of smart meters has been far slower than governments have hoped. Nobody wants a device in their home whose only function will be to enable an energy company to charge them five quid for a shower before work. Yet to avoid public pushback, ministers since Miliband have falsely claimed that smart meters will help households ‘reduce bills’ and put the onus on energy retailers to implement the rollout – if they don’t show sufficient effort in enforcement of the Government’s policy, they can then be fined. Thus, the public standing of energy companies has diminished over the duration, fuelling a growing antagonism between customers and retailers, as smart meters and other policies, such as the destruction of coal-fired power stations, have caused power prices to triple since the early 2000s. Energy companies take much of the blame for Westminster’s policy failures.
Don’t misunderstand the point. This is not a defence of energy companies. Of course, companies like National Grid have their greedy eyes on the opportunities created for them by green dirigisme. But only a fool would expect them not to. And one thing that there is no scarcity of is fools in SW1A. Energy companies have been relatively candid, if one cares to look, whereas Energy and Environment Ministers, from Gummer, Yeo, and Huhne, to more ideological zombies such as Miliband and Davey, have promised that climate targets can be hit with no downsides. But whereas the targets are binding in law, the upsides they promise are not. Anyway, rationing is good for you, donchaknow?
– Ben Pile
I always get a kick out of statements like this. Frankly, I usually have my greedy eyes open, looking for opportunities for me to make a profit. I yearn for such opportunities.
And I consider that yearning to be a good, moral thing.
“Nobody wants a device in their home whose only function will be to enable an energy company to charge them five quid for a shower before work.“
That’s not its only function. It also opens a backdoor for remote access to shut off supply when – not if, when – supply reduces below demand and brown outs and grid instability need to be avoided.
Nobody wants that either.
Then there’s the wonderful level of security for IoT generally. So this backdoor for the energy companies is absolutely guaranteed to have other organisations – perhaps less kind hearted and noble than our energy companies – stepping through them.
Few are fans of that either.
Good post.
bobby b = making a profit by honest means is a good moral thing, making a profit by fraud and by the antics of the Corporate State is NOT a good moral thing – quite the contrary.
The pedant-general = yes indeed.
The Corporate State is not a friend.
My meters are in my cellar, and – along with my neighbours – the signals can’t get to, so it’s pointless putting smart meters in. We’ve had an surveyor/installer come and point out that it would be pointless installing a smart meter, yet we still keep getting nagging letters from the suppliers demanding a date to install them.
I had these charlatans trying to get me to have one installed. They didn’t get the message, so I blocked them. I presume they are still trying. No one can hear you scream in the spam queue.