The Future

A question about : The Future

Imagine the situation. For the first time since 1966, England and Germany are on the field playing for the World Cup. Its 1/1 at half time , and millions of energy customers dash out to put the kettle on. Before doing so, they check their SMART meter Household Information Display (HID) and find that their constantly variable tariff has doubled from 14p/kWh to 28p/kWh. Thirty minutes later, the tariff has dropped to 7p/kWh to reflect the low demand on the Grid. Could it happen?

From yesterday's CMA Report:

We have also considered the potential role of smart meters – which will be rolled out to all homes by 2020 – in improving customer engagement in retail energy markets. The evidence we have reviewed suggests that smart meters may lead to an overall reduction in energy bills and that they may also lead to a more active engagement in the market from a subset of customers, through ‘time-of-use’ tariffs, which give the opportunity and incentive to shift demand away from peak periods

Is this just hype? Probably not, as SMART meters will have the capacity to 'log' usage in 30 minute packages. Will it happen for domestic customers? Possibly, because its adoption would lead to a reduction in the amount of generating capacity required 'just in case'. Choosing the best tariff, though, might well become a PhD subject. Discuss.

Best answers:

• Whilst i can see multiple issues with this from a consumer perspective the biggest issue i could see with that is how in the world could you ever know what it is you really used when and how much you are paying is the true value?
  As it stands today you have a meter which is calibrated and measures a volume. You have an agreed price for each unit of volume and that's what you pay (give or take standing charges).
  E10 and E7 switch between various meters so again it's possible to work out roughly how it's all broken down.
  In this scenario you have to 100% accept the meters values of consumption and the "variable" price paid at that point in time (taking 30 minutes as an example).
  Would you want to trust a system that can be remotely fiddled with to have on the fly billing?
  As an example:-
  Your washing machines typical 2 hour cycle could have 4 different price points in one wash / spin cycle.
  How would you possibly reconcile that with what you are charged?
  You also have a possible scenario where the meter says "cheap rates" so everyone decides to use the electric and then you would have weird scenarios of peak demand on cheap rates?
  Does the value suddenly switch up and screw everyone?
  I can understand the concept of trying to shift usage patterns and even offer incentives to do this but i'm not sure i fully buy into this "smart meters" save the day mantra.
• I wasn't particularly having a "swing" at the OP.
  Just trying to throw out some general "pub time" type comments that i couldn't see how it would work from a home consumer perspective.
  Fully accept when peak demand happens also.
  Call centres, as an example, tend to get hammered in breaks on ITV soaps.
  Maybe phone companies need to introduce peak phone usage pricing
• It's a nightmare scenario. Well, a bad dream anyway. I never read my meters and just check once a year that everything is ok with billing. Who, other than train spotter types, would want to be constantly monitoring energy usage and adjusting it throughout the day to meet some external factor such as differential charging? The vast majority of people are not interested. Given half a chance, the energy companies will try to foist this lot on us - stop them in their tracks.
  1) Don't have a smart meter
  2) If it ever becomes compulsory don't permit anything other than the longest possible reporting cycle
• The only reason that I posted the CMA remarks is that they clearly feel that this aspect of the market will need some form of regulation. It is clear that a single SMART meter could replace, for example, the existing economy 7 meters. How far down the road of 30 minute charging we go will be an interesting debate. I am not a great fan of SMART meters but my guess is that they will become mandatory.
• Forget your tea and have an ice-cold Beck's to toast a glorious German victory on penalties. I'll be doing something more productive. Like washing my hair.
• British Gas is already thinking along these lines:
  https://www.centrica.com/index.asp?pa...042&blogid=908
• It will make the comparison networks job almost impossible.
  How do you tell them you use xx kWh between 17:00 and 18:00 in January and yy kWh in August etc etc.
• I've been resisting the "free upograde" to smartmeters for years now, as far as I can see, the only winner would be the supplier, as they can finally sack the last meter reader.
  I don't believe any hype about "more accurate", as the old clockwork ones would have been built to give me the benefit of any innacuracy.
  My biggest fear is the installer taking one look at my perfectly serviceable bakelite fusebox, and condemming the whole lot until I get the house bought upto 21st century standards.
• Is 2020 a realistic year for everyone to have smart meters when all the suppliers are fitting meters that do not work when you switch provider?
• Variable (time of use) tariffs don't mean that the Supplier maintains some sort of interactive pricing system with you. Its effectively a block tariff, where different prices are charged for different time periods - a bit like a more complex economy 7. eg:
  off-peak 10pm to 7am / 10am to 12pm / 1pm to 4pm - 5p/KWh
  breakfast and lunch 7am to 10am / 12pm to 1pm - 10p/KWh
  peak 4pm to 10pm = 50p/KWh
  that way they can "incentivise" people off the peak periods (where the cost of buying in the generation is more). The high peak price will be the stick, the much cheaper off-peak is the carrot. It will be attractive to some, hated by others.
  The meters record a reading every half hour and send that back to the supplier so they can easily match up the cost against the number of units.
• How exactly am I supposed to move my consumption?
  In The Olden Days you could get night storage heaters, but about the only thing you can do now is set the washing machine on delayed start.
  It would be nice if someone could produce a cheap, efficient energy storage device that I could charge up off peak, and discharge on-peak.
  Unless I go nocturnal, I'm stuck with needing energy at peak times.
  Somewhat like the helpful "Energy Saving" advice you get from the energy saving toolkit:
  "Are you warm?" (If yes, turn the heating down)
  "Can you see to read this?" (If yes, turn the lights off)
• Coming your way soon. Para 1.3 is worth a read:
  https://www.parliament.uk/Templates/B...?bp-id=sn06179
• It strikes me that section 1.3 is a "cover" for a long term lack of coherent energy policy and has very little to do with a lot of the other fluffy things it talks about.
  I assume the people that tend to write these things are either, not right in the head, or trying to lipstick up a pig.