Public Accounts Committee demands timetable for replacements, because things have run so smoothly so far...
  • Obinice@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    1 year ago

    I’ll be fucked if I’m getting a smart meter anyway, I’ll stick with nice normal top-up prepay meters thank you kindly.

    I don’t trust British Gas as far as I can throw em.

  • Ghostalmedia@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    1 year ago

    Probably worth noting, this article is about UK energy meters. Also, smart meters are wildly different all over the world.

    Where I live, the meters have a proprietary wireless receiver, with its own frequency, that is owned and operated by the power company.

    • circuscritic@lemmy.caEnglish
      0·
      1 year ago

      It’s going to vary, even within counties. A lot of US utility companies are having the same issue, and there are companies that make and sell 3G to 4G adapters for larger coverage areas. For example, microcell that rebroadcasts/converts the 3G signals into a 4G signal for the local towers. Other areas are swapping out 3G for 4G or Lorawan style meters.

      And I’m sure even more are just going to arbitrarily create billable usage figures because they outsourced their IT to India, and then outsourced the India team to Pakistan or the Philippines, and then fired them because the CEO’s son is really good with computers. Unfortunately, he’s just now reading my comment and going “oh…fuck”.

      • zaphod@feddit.deEnglish
        0·
        1 year ago

        How would those microcells be legal? It’s not just that 3G or whatever gets shut down, the frequencies are usually reallocated to something else so you can’t legally operate a 3G network on those frequencies anymore.

      • 30p87@feddit.deEnglish
        0·
        1 year ago

        I want to see the universe where something as advanced as smart meters is used here.

        • Turun@feddit.deEnglish
          0·
          1 year ago

          You need one when you install solar. So welcome to that universe you wanted!

              • 30p87@feddit.deEnglish
                0·
                1 year ago

                Or you have an older meter (still one that needs to be checked manually) which can count backwards. The only exception for this is if you have so much production on sunny days and can store it with batteries that you need literally 0kw from other sources.