Having been pre-announced several times, the official announcement seems to have now been made, although I haven't found it the Government statement yet, the press is full of the details.
It is interesting that it will cover gas and electricity and will require the inclusion of an indoor monitor unit.
As I mentioned in my last post I hope that the opportunity will be taken to make this a positive experience for household energy services in the UK rather than all the focus being on the cost and lack of real benefits to the householder.
The last major change on this scale was the change from "town gas" to "natural gas" that required new meters, cooker burners and fires because of the higher delivery pressure. Although I was young and it was so many years ago, I remember it as a time of disruption throughout the country, with yellow pipes everywhere for years. No direct householder benefits came from all the expense, but the loss of use of portable equipment and months of disruption, was felt by my family.
Even at that time the industry was aware that adding a remote sender would be a good addition, but indecision and opportunity ownership problems prevented the sensors being included.
I am hoping that this time such a loss will not happen. I am not yet convinced, but will be watching for any chance I get to spread the HomeCamp Message.
Thanks for your insightful comments. I'm so pleased to hear that the government will require the inclusion of a display in the roll-out. When we can see how much energy we're using, we can start to use less. Knowlege (...er data?) is power!
ReplyDeleteClaire Sale
@hummenergy
Thank you for your intelligent comment Claire. It is important that a display is included and not an optional cost plus option, for exactly the reason you mention.
ReplyDeleteI do have a CurrentCost meter and it is very good and easy to monitor usage with it, and I can connect it to the Web to collect historical data.
I want the Smart-meter project to be more ambitious, knowing usage and managing usage is the first step, to reduce consumption stage by stage we need to add more inputs (outside temp, humidity, incoming water temp, sun or no sun etc) A well designed modular mass produced smart-meter could be the heart of such a system.