Petros:
Robbo:Petros » Mon Feb 14, 2011 9:04 pm
Fits in nicely with the smart electricity meters being foisted apon us.
So now we can see how much the electricity is costing us, and thus make clever descisions about how to defer the electricity usage until later when prices are cheaper.
Sounds good. Has anyone heard of the installers leaving you with an instruction manual and a demostration on how to achieve this? No-one in Vic is armed with this knowledge yet the installation process is going flat out at huge cost.
So once installed, the power company (via internet-over-powercircuit technology which has wrecked the household internet for at least one poster to herald-sun today), ....can remotely cut-off one or both electrical contactors that come with the meter that we didnt know about. One contactor is connected, which can cut your power, the other may be used in the future for "sheddable" loads such as your air-conditioner or hot water service - after you've paid a few hundered more for an electrician to configure it. So you can pay even more to be a good citizen ) or as the spin will be, "outlay this and you can save that when prices are high".
Once all up and running, the electricity supply companies can cut your power off when electricity is tight. Sounds like a bit of good old common sense? - funny thing is, when electricity is tight the wholesale price goes up. So now the distributers can now pass their profit risk onto US!!!! If we arent making them any money, well, just turn us off. They wont have to buy the expensive electricity and will have far more power to negotiate better wholesale deals from the generators. And then advertise how much greenhouse gas they have saved the world (while the backroom boys count the profits).
This will reduce the price spikes in wholesale electricity market, that once would have given the power generators profit at the expense of the retailers. Without these up-side price spikes/opportunities, would YOU buy/build a new power station (esp. given the probability of a carbon tax soon to be introduced that you must pay but got no idea how to plan/budget for)? So less new power capital outlay is now occuring OTHER THAN wind generators.... (which we tax payers all pay for via huge Govt subsidies) - ....which dont generate when prices are high, because that is when its hot and calm or cold and calm.
Get ready for frequent black-outs in the near future - which Julia will dress down with statements like "our sacrifice for the planet". We are being treated like mushrooms yet all seem to accept it (like most are accepting that the earths warming is BECAUSE of CO2). END RANT.\\
Robbo » Mon Feb 14, 2011 9:24 pm
My first bill after having an Electricity Smart Meter Installed was .........$1,200
Needless to say i havent paid it ,wont pay it,the Ombudsman has been dealing with this since August 2010.
Oh,i cant wait for a water Smart Meter........lol
Robbo » Mon Feb 14, 2011 9:47 pm
Lily wrote:
Robbo wrote:
My first bill after having an Electricity Smart Meter Installed was .........$1,200
Whaaaaaaat????????? What explanation is there for that?!
My Supplier/Retailer stated that :
1.Charges were correct & True
2.I went to the Ombudsman
During the next few months i was interviewed[phone] by Powercor,Origin & the Ombudsman.
To cut it short,Origin said it was the wiring on my Hot water service or it was a faulty smart meter or the Smart meter DOES not distinguish between peak & Off Peak??? They didnt understand the Meters????
Origin closed the case in there favour in November 2010,said i owed them $1200,pay up.!!They even cancelled my direct Debit payments.
Went back to the Ombudsman where it still sits today,ive had to more bills since then both back at there normal 90 day amounts.
There are a few people here in town who had similar bills to mine,over $1,000 for single live alone persons?
Beyond me how this Smart meter scam was allowed to continue....
Stratospear:
stratospear » Mon Feb 14, 2011 11:57 pm
Robbo, a lot of people have had problems with faulty timers on their Smart(????)meters. I'm in another boat and have been slugged twice for NOT having a smartmeter because a particular company starting with 'O" decided to rely on estimated electrical usage which was a couple of 1000 kwh more than I actually used! Moral of the story: compare what your meter says with what your bill says...
Karl:
Karl Lijnders » Tue Feb 15, 2011 7:55 am
Bodes well for the smart meter I will be getting in a week!!! Can I turn it off!!!?
Should go to solar!!
Australis(Shell):
Australis(Shell3155) » Tue Feb 15, 2011 8:34 am
yeah smart meter will be here in a few days, cant wait for my first bill.
Planning on solar PV in very near future.
Lily:
Lily » Tue Feb 15, 2011 11:52 am
Can you refuse to have the smart meter installed? I've heard on the radio some people are doing that.
I also don't understand how smart meters can be installed without Certificates of Electrical Safety, everything else you get done electrically around your home requires one. Or are they exempt?
We don't have one yet *touch wood we don't get one lol*
Monbulkian:
Monbulkian » Tue Feb 15, 2011 1:11 pm
My husband is an electricial contractor and I have had this debate with him about certificates of electrical safety. I asked if he can install ours instead of the hired labour from overseas who have only been trained how to install the stupid things and cannot rectify any problems they then cause with the electricity supply into your house. He is unable to install them because electricians are not allowed to touch meters and anything that goes on outside the property. I am thinking of locking my meterbox and not letting them install one. Don't know how legal it is. Hopefullt the gov. stops the program before it gets to the hills.
Try to be there when it is due to be installed. Turn off anything that doesn't need to be on in the house if you are not home because I have heard of people losing work on their computer and fridges and stuff being switched off and losing everything inside.
Any doubts or if your power is not working when it is installed, call a registered liscensed electrical contractor and the ombudsman would be my advice
Petros:
Petros » Tue Feb 15, 2011 6:17 pm
We, the Victorian public simply did not know that we were going to be FORCED to have the smart electricity meter installed. I'm in the industry and I assumed it would be an option that green-orientated people could opt to use, I've only found out I was wrong in November.
I have heard of people setting dogs and locking meters and generally preventing access as a passive reistance to this sham.
The ETU are currently voicing their concerns to EngerySafe that licensed electricians are submitting up to 30 electrical wiring certificates (yeah needed Lily) per day - a ohysical impossibility which leads to the question of just WHO is doing the installation and what are their qualifications! IF you are home when they come, we should demand to see that they have evidence that they are a licenced electrical worker - and keep a record of that licence number. There is case already of a meter wired wrongly (active and neutrals crossed - MEGA dangerous in a house - hence one of several reasons why ETU is involved).
PhotoVoltaic's? - I could write 7 pages on this one. Suffice to say - just ask your electricity provider to tell you what you will be paying for night rate power once you have saved them the effort of providing your daytime power. Run a mile away from this one imo.
Lily:
But how can we run a mile if we're being forced, area by area and suburb by suburb, to have them installed? Why the Government doesn't stop all installation until the feasibility stud is complete, God only knows.
I heard Dean from ETU last week questioning the skills of the people installing, allegedly the people doing the installations are being brought in from overseas. The ETU are right to question their skills and qualifications and thank heavens they are.
As to Photo Volta-whatever-it-was, I have no idea what that is rofl
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