The Government is considering giving energy networks the power to switch off a household’s energy supply without warning or compensation for those affected.
A series of ‘modifications’ to the Smart Energy Code have been proposed by officials and look set to pass into law by next spring.
These include giving networks the right to decide when they consider the grid to be in a state of ’emergency’ and the power to switch off high usage electrical devices such as electric vehicle chargers and central heating systems in British homes.
Under the plans all homes would need to have a third generation smart meter installed, to include a function that allows meters in the home to receive and carry out orders made by the energy networks.
This would dramatically alter the role of smart meters, which are currently capable only of sending data on energy use to energy networks.
If passed unchallenged, these ‘modifications’ to the law would mean that electric vehicle owners could plug in at the end of the day and wake up without sufficient charge to travel the next morning.
Similarly, central heating systems could be turned off in homes across a whole area if too many electric vehicles are plugged in to charge at once, for example.
Currently, consumers are entitled to compensation if their power supply is cut off, but under these plans, this recompense would likely be scrapped.
There is also a question mark over whether to force households to install the new smart meters, or make it an opt in or opt out scheme.
When energy networks are allowed to declare an ’emergency’, triggering their right to switch off private domestic energy devices, is also so far undefined.
Really this misrepresents proposals to the point of conspiracy theory.
Look at the ‘what’ and ‘how’ sections of the actual proposal here:
DCP-371_Last-resort-arrangements-for-Distributors-to-manage-specific-consumer-connected-devices.pdf (dcusa.co.uk)
‘It is envisaged that networks will be identified that may be at risk of future issues. The Distributors would then use the market to secure flexibility services from a third party. If these services failed the Distributors would investigate this with the service provider(s) to establish the issue. For example, was the failure a one-off anomaly, a server issue, a hack, or a damage to the connection through construction. If a network failure is not found to be the result of network issues such as this, it may represent a wider issue with the market service provider(s). If this were the case, there would be a need for another mechanism to provide the flexibility needed to keep the network within limits, until another solution can be implemented. Under these circumstances and at this stage, the Distributors would contact the relevant customers, explaining the situation and outlining the solutions they propose to use in the short-term and provide details of any longer-term solutions being considered. The aim will be to obtain the customers consent and then inform the Supplier of this agreement and that the Distributors will be using the load management feature until a more desirable solution is achieved. The Distributors would then report back to the Suppliers, Ofgem and customers on the systems use on an agreed basis.’
Hi Ed,
I look forward to the day when your power is shut off to “save the planet” or whatever…report back to us then.
Light it up, HAL
Huh? So the proposal is not one that would control power supply based extreme system fluctuations requiring near instantaneous action by the utility? It seems to be just another committee to “fairly” distribute the consequences of unreliable electricity supply. How nice. And what will the committee cost? How about instead, a committee to figure out how to provide reliable as-needed electricity as we have now?
Congratulations, Griff. Looks like your work is done. Enjoy freezing in the dark.
Yep. Like California running rolling blackouts last August, the entire SW US was in a heat wave. People were left sweltering in the dark.
When the UK starts shutting off electricity it certainly won’t be be on a pleasant Spring day. It’ll be because the power load during a dark very cold winter. Cold may k1ll, but Green energy m u r d e r s.
In my neck of California they also shut off power on Thanksgiving Day 2020 due to it being a bit windy.
And then again two weeks ago, same reason. I was forced to go to a neighboring town to get a hotel room so I could work! No compensation here!
Griff —>. “short-term and provide details of any longer-term solutions ”
Long term solutions? Does this sound like a one-off problem to anyone? It sounds exactly like what I said, an incentive to minimize growth by using load management instead of responding to increasing demand.
So what happens when the customer does not consent to having their power cut? You can bet that if there are not provisions in there now to allow the Distributors to cut the power without consent, such provisions will be quietly slipped in at the next opportunity.
The customer will be just notified and have power cut off anyway; plus a black mark.
With no power, just how will they be notified?
smoke signals?
no, carrier pigeons
By their computer switching off mid-email.
I expect in a “pays de gaulois” (like France was some time ago), the consumers would just cut the middle man and wire themselves to the fuse box outside their home.
The corona thing IMO was a planed test to check for compliance:
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/technology/bbc-employees-to-wear-proximity-tags-to-prevent-them-breaching-coronavirus-social-distance-rules/ar-BB1cyQOG
The People have failed these moral tests in other words the tests succeeded for the organizers of the tests who are still in the shadows (but who might brag about it in TIMES soon).
https://time.com/5936036/secret-2020-election-campaign/
It’s bizarre that people still doubt that pro vaccine conspiracies can exist in the tiny bio-med-regulatory/public influencers part of the media-medical complex (where a tiny cabal gets to decide what the consensus/majority opinion is) when people are bragging about conspiracies to interfere in a US election.
(Note that people in WUWT have failed many times the moral test of being critical of even the silliest pro vaccine propaganda and the test of not treating provax any text of the administrative Deep State like the Holy Scripture.)
in Aus we have a question they MUST ask by law
do you have a health need for uninterrupted supply?
if yes theyll control supply IN to those specific homes if they possibly can or give as much notice as they can
if your on oxygen youd pray you get decent time to plan
I have a friend in just that situation and her small reserve unit lasts just 80 mins on battery
Same with my husband, he has heart failure, needs cpap machine to sleep also has another machine called latitude that downloads his pacemaker defib on a daily basis and sends a file to the heart unit. Easy peasy for us he will be going straight to the hospital with his machines until the power is restored. We are in Brisbane so under universal health care here in Australia. Our state govt is also telling us we are going to have green power.
The concern isn’t a problem of wording, it is a problem of interpretation and implementation.
For Marxist griff spin is important
Not just important, “spin” is the very essence of being griff.
That is what cultural MARXISM is all about.
Alternately Griff, the proposal might be exactly as described by the Global Warming Policy Forum article and not by the bureau-babble you picked out. The proposal, in fact, states: “This change seeks to give Distributors access to the [Han Connected Auxiliary Load Control Switches] for priority demand control purposes.” I spelled out HCALCS so you could understand it.
What if no one is interested in their explanations or accept to have their power cut off. What then?
I thought that the government were looking even more into some of the small scale nuclear plants. could have sworn I read that about 6 months ago.
Do you really think said Distributors will shrug their shoulders and say “Let’er go into blackout!”
Not really; all griffs should volunteer for power cut off priority and receive a recognition badge for their sacrifice
You can bet that our griff would be the very last people to put their names up for voluntary load management.
Everyone else, first, right, griff / hypocrite.
That’s not a bad idea.
Require that only those who volunteer to have their power shut off be the first ones to go dark!
Unlike dangerous nat gas pipes, or even clumsy water pipes, electric wires are easily extended to a fuse box. LOL
Would it not make more sense to provide enough power even if it means using fossil fuels for back up, but if you freeze enough of your customers to death demand will go down. For Gods sake who is so stupid that they would put people’s lives at risk just to pretend they are doing something for the “climate “.
Griff is.
“For Gods sake who is so stupid that they would put people’s lives at risk just to pretend they are doing something for the “climate “.
Biden
In the “developed” world , you’ve been watching and listening to them for over 30 years now. Start with Michael Mann and go down the list.
And BoJo
From the pdf:
“This change proposes a Distributor smart intervention as a last resort, emergency measure, to protect customers security of supply and the network assets. This proposal is not to enable the Distributor to become a flexibility service provider or to subvert market solutions”
“Whilst the Distributors are aiming to use market-sourced flexibility services to keep the networks within their limits, there is a need for a system to prevent supply interruptions and/or damage to networks in limited circumstances as a short-term, last resort action in emergency scenarios – i.e. the absence or failure of market-based solutions and where failure to act is likely to cause power outages due to overloads. ”
“As this solution involves turning down demand”
While the document does say that customer’s participation would be voluntary one also needs to ask what will happen if not enough customers agree, say during the coldest night of the year. Will the Distributors allow a blackout to occur? Or will non-voluntary participation be implemented? Anyone who thinks the Distributors won’t implement involuntary participation needs to take their mouth off their bong.
The scenario I see is the cold winter evening when heating, cooking and the car are all plugged in. Even the greenest would say something like ‘You can do it AFTER the cassrole is out of the oven and the taties are cooked, the house warmed up and the dishes done, the baby bathed’.
In other words, sure, yes, we’re going to have more power and control over your lives than any totalitarian government has ever had, but when we exercise that control, it’ll only be temporary. You know how averse public sector bureaucrats are to accepting god-like powers. Their only desire will be to use for Good, and then give it right back. As for the energy fix, that defines the temporary period. But you must allow us to FIND the unicorns before we can figure out how to capture their magical farts.
“We need you to quarantine for merely two weeks, three or four at the most, just to flatten the curve.” – April, 2020
The requirement for “Load Management” in a RE grid is simply an admission that you can’t run a grid on low density, unreliable sources of energy. It’s clearly an admission of failure and it highlights the reality of people being forced to live without any power in a zero emissions future. Anyone who is involved in implementing or supporting these policies should be held accountable for the deaths and misery it will inflict on many millions of people.
griff, my caps for emphasis:
“..the AIM will be to obtain the customers consent…”
It’s just an intent to get consent.
Can you imagine how many call staff that would involve 🙂
No doubt the imaginative answer they would settle with is SMS to say your power is going off, if you wish to make a special claim for it to stay on you have to ring them and get stuck in a queue for a couple of hours.
There’s a clear difference between a security theory and conspiracy fact as the world is rapidly discovering. Our Canadian PM accused people of being “Conspiracy Theorists” for bringing up the so called great reset. He had to back off when the facts were (easily) disclosed that it is a real thing the elites jet set to Davos to chat about in their private toys. What I read here is the beginning of more government meddling in a power grid they are horribly messing up by their own doing.
Griff opens his mouth to change his feet, again! You never lived through the power rationing in the UK in the 60’s and the “industrial action” by power “workers” and coal miners in the 70’s, that is obvious. I can tell you, even in the South East of the UK, mid-70’s winters WITHOUT heating (The houses I lived in then had no insulation, or installation of central heating) was pretty harsh in my recollection.
hi Griff and you really trust theyd take or HAVE time to do this contacting?
nope it just browns out or goes black rather fast
What? Why don’t they just modernize their electric energy generation capabilities? You know, like nuclear and gas turbines? Because they are committed to the New Green Weenie deal, and value virtue signaling over reality? What a sorry mess. Wait again—if the smart meter sees you charging your electric car they shut off your neighbors electric-controlled central heating?
Or it could be the other way around. Who is going to decide–somebody who doesn’t like you or your neighbor or the guy across the street? Do you even know these decision makers? Is it the guy in your high school class that nobody liked? Or is it some algorithm based on how you voted or are registered to vote? So many questions, that I never thought I would ever have to ask.
“Who is going to decide–somebody who doesn’t like you or your neighbor or the guy across the street?”
No doubt these control systems will be hacked.
And who thinks the rich toffs will ever get THEIR power cut off?
its usually the poorer govt housing and low income areas they shut down first in Aus. the green leafy upperclass burbs go last if at all
Or how about someone in China decides to turn off everybody’s electricity? link
Could I prevent the meter from talking to its masters? Almost certainly. Just create enough noise to overload the meter’s receiver. Would that mean the meter would turn off my power? The problem with that is that a communications disruption would turn off everyone’s power. Unless a significant proportion of the population were hacking their smart meters, that would be a bad design decision.
Why?
Where have you been? We buy nuclear and coal from France and others
France uses about 75% more electricity than the UK, although the UK’s economy is slightly large. France generates more nuclear (47GW) than is the total UK’s grid demand (44GW)
https://www.gridwatch.templar.co.uk/france/
Rather than build any non-renewable capacity…
National Grid Hails New Interconnector Bringing Coal Power From France!
https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2021/01/23/national-grid-hails-new-interconnector-bringing-coal-power-from-france/
Who cares what the French use? That’s irrelevant.
Grid in the UK is in good condition in comparison what is in the USA.
They don’t need smart meter for that, in London not long ago (when wind farm and a gas stations failed simultaneously) electricity was cut to big users while most residential was ok. It is better of two evils, so would go with it. Since they are hell bent on not using coal or gas to maintain high demand supply periods, it is better to loose power for couple of hours at high load time than allow damage to the sensitive parts of infrastructure.
At the moment we are OK, frequency 50,05 Hz, total demand 44GW, from: Gas 18GW, wind 12GW nuclear (constant held @) 5GW, the rest others.
https://www.gridwatch.templar.co.uk
As the popular joke from the year 2025 goes:
What did Britons use for light before candles?
Electricity.
12 GW from wind much of the time, but it can drop as low as 3 GW. What then?
…. more gas or more imports whichever available or cheaper. Long term nuclear is the best available ‘green’ alternative to Norwegian or even Russian gas. As I commented above .”France generates more nuclear (47GW) than is the UK’s total current grid demand (44GW)”
Why not coal? It’s cheapest by far.
We shut down and dismantled almost all of our coal burning power stations
Just build back better!
The last thing the Brits need to do is emulate Biden. You’re in enough of a pickle already.
I meant build back better coal power plants
I think they define coal as “not better”.
They should use the Chinese definition
The UK plans rely heavily on the assumption that we will be able to draw on French nuclear power pretty much at will. The tiny problem the planners seem to have overlooked is that several other countries including Germany have also assumed that they can take delivery of French nuclear power at will
A typical day of French Nuclear power exports to it’s “green™” neighbours.
Macron also said he wanted to shut down I think 50% of France’s nuclear capacity.
I well remember the occasion you refer to. The power cuts were not limited to London and industrial users, but were widespread across the country. The news media focussed on how trains had stopped running in the middle of nowhere. I was directly affected as my workplace in rural Warwickshire was blacked out. The news media focussed on the human interest type stories rather than anything too technical, but after a couple of days they regurgitated the spin that it was all down to a problem with the gas powered generation plant
The UK Grid’s a mess. Businesses in parts of the country can’t expand because there isn’t the capacity available for them to do so. The UK’s walking into an energy mess entirely down to the absurd climate change requirements now passed into law. As the country attempts to recover from covid it will be the poorest who suffer most, as always, as energy costs will spiral.
What an absurd situation. It will do NOTHING to climate change as Mother Nature will continue to do her work while the lights go out across the UK.
If you were trying to make the economy as arbitrary, miserable and bureaucratic deadlocked as possible, what would you do differently?
Racism and environmentalism were pushed by people who wished to destroy the West. The goal wasn’t to resolve problems, but to introduce crippling, irreconcilable and endlessly unsatisfiable grievances.
It will be the other way around. They’ll leave the power on for those charging their cars and turn off the power to those who don’t– presuming they have ICE vehicles and are part of the (imaginary) problem.
Fixing things requires competence. Virtue signalling doesn’t, but you can get paid the same as a captain to endlessly argue how to re-arrange the deckchairs on the Titianic so that everyone, or rather, all the right people have the best view.
—Eat gruel and bugs
—shiver in the cold
—sit in the dark
—wear penitent robes
—remember to carry your whip for self flagellation, and wear masks as a sign of obedience (an obedience amulet)
Obey and Conform!
Didn’t they make a movie about this. called “They Live”?
Loved that movie!
Appropriate for what’s going on.
(Sort of today’s “Animal Farms”, maybe? Or maybe “1984”?)
So far I have refused to have a smart meter installed, and interestingly the guy from Scottish Power who comes to read the meter every 3 months says he won’t have one either.
You actually had a choice? Here in Massachusetts they didn’t ask- they just did it. Also, in many towns in this state- they installed smart meters for water- if we get it from the town- installed in our basements.
here in maine on central maine power I have to pay 12/month to keep old one. worth it.
I have the choice regarding who I let into the house, and I wouldn’t let in anyone who wanted to change the meter to a smart one.
The only problem might be if the present meter fails to function and has to be replaced but I’ll cross that bridge when it comes.
We refused as well. Several Electric companies have had the power to turn off our power for several years but have never used it.
Someone we know was pestered into getting a smart meter by her children who in turn had been indoctrinated by their teachers .
She should buy a bicycle powered generator and make sure the kids know that they will be expected to start pedaling whenever the power goes off.
DSM (demand side management) = energy socialism. I’d like to believe that most utilities, if given their druthers, would prefer to meet consumer needs by building out (and earning on) their delivery infrastructure. Unfortunately, public utility commissions, which in the end are just political organizations that are heavily lobbied by green NGOs, usually opt for the DSM route. The utilities do earn on the DSM equipment, but like the capitalists selling rope to the communists, probably lose out in the long run as the ensuing curtailment of demand reduces the peak load upon which their system tariffs are based.
Frank from NoVA, are you living in northern Virginia? If so, you should be following James Bacon’s blog, Bacon’s Rebellion. Among other topics, he and his co-bloggers write extensively about energy issues in Virginia and its neighboring states. Here is today’s energy article:
Dominion VCEA Plan Review Ends with Questions
The fact is that many if not most utilities, even the ones which are publicly owned, know they are caught between a rock and a hard place in fulfilling the renewable mandates which the utility commissions are forcing upon them.
If you are the CEO of one of these utilities, you will play the game in a way which protects your current short-term profit margin while minimizing your future political and financial accountability for the impacts of what is purely a public policy decision.
BB,
Thanks for the link. It’s been a while since I lived in the area. Back then, VA Power was well very known for reliability and reasonable rates. In other words, no nonsense. Of course, with VA’s transition from red to purple to blue, I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re now on the same well-trodden road to energy serfdom as the other RGGI states.
If you’re building an energy system subject to something other than providing energy, you’re going to build interruption into the system. In supply, there is either plenty or there is scarcity.
They should make it voluntary. If you support insane green energy policies, get the meter. Make a brilliant yard sign to go with it so you can virtue signal everyone who wanders by.
Good idea. You either opt in or out of green energy supply. If you opt in, you get supplied up to your pro-rata share of available supply, which of course might be zero on a windless night. I frequently look at the on-line ISO sites to see how much green energy is actually dispatching at any give time – usually not a significant percentage of the total supply.
I had this exact situation 40 years ago. I signed up with my local energy provider for electricity to be cut off between 5-10 pm any day (high usage times). In exchange I received lower energy rates. Only had it occur a few times and I had a wood burning stove to use when this happened in the winter.
So they are banning natural gas and oil heating of new houses forcing use of electric heat pumps, banning ICE cars from 2030 and then allowing network to turn off electricity whenever with no back up. We will freeze and not be able to go anywhere.
They are stupid but the population at large is even more stupid to put up with it. They really have their tails up with us all taking the COVID nonsense. When was it decided that most countries are ruled by the stupid??
What is the objective????
Since even more stupider people voted in the stupid people.
Unless you mean the faceless bureaucrats, in which case the great unwashed were not given the option to decide.
and on the First Day, God created Idiots….
You are beginning to see the light I think. Whoever controls the message controls thought, and controls how nominally democratic societies vote. The pandemic and climate change have been incredibly fortuitous circumstances that have been molded and used very effectively. When you are cold, stuck at home, and have little outside access to information, you become very malleable.
Generally I don’t believe conspiracy theories, but the last year has been very crazy if you think you are a sane person.
“What is the objective????”
Power and control. Anything that can be done to project that power under the guise of the greater good and that will subdue the population reinforces that power among the powerless, at least temporarily…
If the truth about climate science ever reaches the public consciousness, the short sited politicians on the side of self destructive policies will have hell to pay, especially when it’s revealed that the scientists they rely on for cover have always known how wrong they are.
Don’t you realise there is a desperate climate emergency and we all need to revert to the stone age to save the planet. Or something…
tonyb
But … but … what do we use to burn stones?
All this is happening because someone managed to persuade a few politicians that CO2 was a problem for mankind.
If that fateful encounter back in 1988 had not taken place, then we would have zero anxieties about electrical energy supply today. We would be bathed in our own comfort which is enhanced in no small part by the increase in plant growth and better food supply thanks to CO2.
It’s a funny old world. Before you know it, someone will be suggesting a common cold virus will present us with an existential threat and the world bureaucrats that listen, and believe such ramblings will destroy their hard won economic well being.
Now that could not possibly happen, could it?
I’ll bet the meters already installed can have their software upgraded remotely.
A switch to cut off power isn’t mere software.
There are already smart meters that do that, and power interruption has been part of the strategy of utilities for years–at least 40–for load management. When I worked in the utility industry, my employer offered that sort of smart meter–you opted in and got a discount on your electric rate. Whether the current generation of smart meters can be reprogrammed remotely is a different discussion, but I would bet they can be.
I expect there is an algorithm which can monitor a smart meter and determine if a customer is using more than their “fair share” of electricity and throttle or terminate the current. In my area I have always said that in case of shortages due to lack of wind and or solar, the climate concious customers who have chosen “green energy” plans should be moderated first.
You think so?
“Alexa, turn the lights off……”
exactly whathappened when the gurgle blacked out n people had no light power and some couldnt unlock their own doors i gather
made me laugh
Can we link this to twitter or some other social media so when someone posts “hate” speech online they can cut their supply?
Okay, but don’t make the Russian hackers mad. They already have the run of the place.
This is going to take more than just installing a meter. Current fuse/breaker boxes have no way to communicate with a house meter to turn off individual circuits. You are talking about another box with solenoids that can control a breaker or relay to kill a circuit.
Heating with a central gas system doesn’t take much electricity. Just the gas control and fan are energized. Electrical savings would be minimal. Electric heating would be different as would air conditioning. These could save considerable electricity.
The big concern here is moving from a demand driven capacity to one that is driven by demand reduction. Who decides when reducing demand must stop and new production added? How much demand reduction is too much? The incentive could quickly become reduction in capital expenditures. When politicians learn they can shovel money elsewhere rather than electricity production due to the ability to control demand, LOOK OUT.
The end will come when the greens go too far and the mass of people decide it is time for a counter revolution. That may be peaceful through voting or it may become violent. But it will come. Politicians beware, you are inviting a massive change in the parties in power some time in the future.
You are correct, it is misrepresented as a smart meter. An “on call” device was attached between the circuit breaker and my electric water heater. When FPL determined, they could cut the power to the water heater via that device. I got a credit of about $5 per month just for the feature being there. When I had my entire electrical panel redone 3 months ago, I had the contractor remove the device so the water heater is now directly connected to the panel.
if your piezo electric starter goes out on a gas heater but the gas stays on? hmm?
And with all these “smart” controllers in people’s homes they can decide that you don’t need it that warm or cool and adjust accordingly.
How much for a LFTR again?
Yes, they can already do that–the programs I have heard of are opt-in programs. You opt in to let them adjust your heating or cooling, or shut off your power altogether when necessary, and get a discount on your electric rate. All in the name of load management.
How about no?
I knew this would happen as soon as Blair stopped building nuclear and went for wind. Just amazed its taken so long.
UK Nuclear hmmm!
Number of units in service:
10 of 16
Number of reactors in service:
9 of 15
TornessLast updated: 08 Feb 2021 12.12hrs
Generation (MW) data as at: 08 Feb 2021 12.00hrs
Reactor 1
Turbine Generator 1Offline-14MW
Shutdown category Planned
Expected return to service April 16 2021
Hinkley Point BLast updated: 08 Feb 2021 12.12hrs
Generation (MW) data as at: 08 Feb 2021 12.00hrs
Reactor 3
Turbine Generator 7Offline
-15MW
Shutdown category Planned
Expected return to service 25 March 2021
Status Graphite inspection outage
Reactor 4
Turbine Generator 8Offline
-15 MW
Shutdown category Planned
Expected return to service 21 March 2021
Status Graphite inspection outage
Heysham 2Last updated: 08 Feb 2021 12.12hrs
Generation (MW) data as at: 08 Feb 2021 12.00hrs
Reactor 7
Turbine Generator 7Offline
-29 MW
Shutdown category Non planned
Expected return to service Feb 20 2021
Status Automatic trip following a turbine/generator trip
Next statutory outage May 2021
Reactor 8
Turbine Generator 8In service
265 MW
StatusAt reduced load to conserve fuel until next refuelling
Next statutory outage March 2023
Dungeness BLast updated:08 Feb 2021 12.12hrs
Generation (MW) data as at: 08 Feb 2021 12.00hrs
Reactor 21
Turbine Generator 21Offline
-10MW
Shutdown category Planned
Expected return to service 27 May 2021
Status Shutdown for common statutory outage work
Next statutory outage Jan 2022
Reactor 22
Turbine Generator 22Offline
-10 MW
Shutdown category Planned
Expected return to service 17 May 2021
Status Statutory outage
Next statutory outage On Outage
Yes, these are planned interruptions, unlike the unreliable wind and solar
I doubt ghoulFont understands the difference.
Reactor 7
Turbine Generator 7Offline
-29 MW
Shutdown category Non planned
Expected return to service Feb 20 2021
Status Automatic trip following a turbine/generator trip
does not AUTOMATIC TRIP mean that 500MW was removed rather quickly without planning?? And removed for 15 days+
The problems you describe come under preventative maintenance and spare capacity, nothing to do with unreliability.
How does a shutdown category of NON PLANNED equate to preventative maintenance? When I worked for a major telephone company preventative maintenance was *always* planned.
And how many non planned interventions were there?
And yet half-runt worships solar , that shuts down EVERY EVENING and when ever there are clouds.
And worships wind, which shuts down whenever the wind stops, no warning, then starts up again . erratic, unreliable, and for a lot of the time producing well less than 30% of nameplate.
half-runt is a fool. !
Ghalfrunt you are as dumb as Griff.
Also 2 reactors have been offline for over a year another now working was offline for over a year this was planned? Not really if you read the info to investors:
Work on the Hunterston Reactor 3 safety case continues and we have revised our latest expectation for its return to service to 10 April 2020 – previously we expected it to return on 28 February.
===
then
===
As outlined at last week’s SSG meeting, we brought Hunterston B’s Reactor 3 back online last Monday 31 August following a two year inspection and investment programme which has given the regulator, the ONR, the confidence that the station would shut down as designed even in an earthquake far worse than the UK has ever experienced.
Today I want to give you an update on Reactor 4. We took it offline in mid-December 2019, following a four-month run of safe and reliable generation. The ONR is currently assessing the safety case for the return to service of Reactor 4.
In the US near me they have 2 reactors that have been running since the 70s.
I won’t have a smart meter
They can jog on
I think there are a lot of smart meters out there–you may not know if you have one. They do not need to come to your house to read the meter–it calls in the reading so you can get a bill. What else they can do, I don’t know, but once you have the communication link in place, it would seem to be easy to cut you off selectively.
you may not know if you have one
Are you for real? Of course I know I don’t have one.
I am pretty sure we have one, because no one ever comes to read the meter. But no one ever told us it was a smart meter. Not everybody pays that much attention.
If it has a digital display, it’s probably a smart meter. When PGE migrated their customers to smart meters, you couldn’t even opt out.
BTW most do have remote shutoff capabilities just in case you don’t pay your bill…
A few years ago, the government rolled out ”smart meters” here. Although they didn’t mention it, it was not enacted into law. Some sleazy back door deal done with the power companies who promised cheaper power and many people swallowed it ( jezzuz christ some people are stupid). Power prices are now at an all time high. I was pressured with regular letters and phone calls for about a year form the smart meter people who told me I could not refuse.
I refused with more and more conviction with every exchange – I can’t really say here what I told them. I still have no smart meter……
If I were a dictator and wanted to control everyone, I would first get everyone hooked on electronic devices so that eventually they would become dependent on those devices. Then I would get rid of all non electric devices and transportation. Then I would take control of the electrical generation and distribution grid. Then I would require all devices and transportation to transmit electronically use and location information. Then I would shut down all my enemies.
Then I would threaten anyone who doesn’t conform to be designated as enemies. Then I would give bonus electricity to those who ratted on their neighbors. And when all that is done, I would begin with diminishing electricity to all so that everyone would be beholding to my “generosity” to survive.
But that would never happen.
If they give me enough of a discount, I might be talked into letting them turn off my electric car charger.
Heck, I might even buy an electric car charger so that they can turn it off whenever it pleases them.
If you control the language, you control the argument
If you control the argument, you control information
If you control information, you control history
If you control history, you control the past
He who controls the past controls the future.” – Big Brother, 1984
If you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face – forever. George Orwell
The future is already here – and it is stamping a baby’s face
Police fine baby’s birthday party-goers £11k
In other news, the rats get ever hungrier for other rats
angry motorists submit dash cam clips to police
Where next?
What are the rules in lockdown?
I think our police need to upgrade their uniform, brown shirts maybe?
All this may take another year or two of needless expense and wishful thinking, but I think that once people have been cut off from either transport and/or heating during cold spells, then the reaction at the ballot box will be fierce. Is there a political party with the sense to foresee this? In the UK, it seems not. The Conservatives ought to be there, allowing good information and market forces to decide (i.e. no global warming, no climate crisis, carry on using fossil fuels until the modular nuclear reactors arrive [no rush]). But they have been talked into stupidity, so we may have to let events take their brutal course. For my part, I have just bought four gallons of paraffin. Using the greenhouse paraffin heater, in the kitchen, will keep me and my wife warm for a day or two. We can fry eggs on it as well.
We have a wood burning stove, with a surface big enough to cook on. It keeps the house warm enough in a 3 day power outage, and I can cook. It is not great but it is better than the alternative.
Nothing beats a propane cook stove either. I do have a wood stove as well that I cook on when I’m home all day.
Propane can be a bear when it is below freezing. A white gas (if you can get it) stove is much easier to use in all temps.
This is old news, from last September. https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bills/article-8706033/Smart-meters-used-switch-electricity-without-warning-compensation.html.
I absolutely abhor these devices that curtail your electricity arbitrarily, because we were vexed by one such device a few years ago at a townhouse served by Southern California Edison. We had purchased this home in Feb of the year and inspection found A/C was functional. Being in a beach city, A/C is hardly necessary even in summer most of the time, but later that year in September there was a hot Santa Ana event which drove a heat wave for several weeks. The A/C began to kick on and then on the second day of heat wave, the compressor suddenly refused to start in mid-afternoon. The HVAC technician pointed to a small gray box mounted next to the power ports on the compressor; it was an Edison device that let the firm arbitrarily shut off power at will. He said it was likely installed for a prior homeowner who signed up to the “economy program” and Edison never bothers to stop the program when account ownership changes. He removed the box and my A/C resumed normal function. It was ridiculous that I couldn’t use A/C on the only days which it mattered because SCE couldn’t manage power generation properly; perhaps they shouldn’t have shuttered San Onofre nuclear power station in favor of intermittent green sources.
It’s high time becoming grid-independent.
Solar panels on the roof, batteries in cellar.
Communities should bury local min-nukes.
Nah, get something like a Generac whole home generator, either propane or natural gas. Then start saving money for a swamp cooler and a wood burning stove. Then start saving to buy 40 acres of hardwood trees.
I warned you people. This is the next step.
I’ve got it in mind that UK smart meters already have the hardware to do this – remotely commanded switch off.
It’s “only” rules/regs/legislation that currently prevent the feature’s use.
Anyone confirm?
I guess they really do want total war to come to the country and by extension the planet.
Biden: Hey, man! What a great idear! Commie, come ‘er, I got a great one…..
It seem to me that this ties in pretty well with National Health Care- the government gets to decide who lives and who dies.
And the same reasoning applies, “It’s for your own good!”
‘The nine most terrifying words in the English language: I’m from the Government, and I’m here to help’ (Ronald Reagan 1986).
Deja vu, 1984 all over again. Big Brother is watching you. Smartmeter is a doublethink tool to make lives miserable for thoughtcrime of denying catastrophic climate change or voting for wrong political party. Conform, or your electricity will be cut at the most inconvenient times! The thoughtpolice are in control.
Love Big Brother Rel.
It always takes time for these people to learn how all of their Utopian dreams when enacted turn to sh!t and don’t work. Some of them gradually learn; others do that, and thus great nations may take the great fall.
So now energy companies receive massive subsidies to build unreliable power and there is no consequences for them when it collapses?
Sounds about right.
This is already on the way in Australia. It is known as DRED – Demand Reduction Enabled Device.
I’m not sure how much of the country saw the Florida Power and Light ads running during yesterday’s Super Bowl, but they were so amazingly duplicitous and misleading. A young teen girl, very much Greta-like pronounce all the wonderful solar and green energy that FPL is committed to bringing us and succeeding in harnessing, while in reality, FPL has been very focused on the correct ideas, keeping reliable base loads operating at inexpensive rates. But at some point, this infernal lip service MUST give way to reality. If they keep feeding that green idiot dragon (or should I say, ‘feeding the Griff’), it will some day consume them. When that day comes the people of Florida will join the idiots in South Australia, California, Germany and the UK in having energy Command Economy solutions forced down their throats by the few smart Socialists who really understand what evil things they’re doing to human thriving and human civilization.
Concern about thin ends of wedges like this is the main reason I have not installed a smart meter despite hectoring on the telephone from companies urging one to install them.
Rich.
“Great” Britain is a has been, and is a joke in terms of electricity use on a global scale.
Two power facilities in Asia, the Three Gorges Dam (20 GW) and the Kori nuclear reactor in South Korea( 7.8GW), could supply most of the average daily demand of electricity that England uses (28.5GW).
The UK produces 1-2% of the world’s CO2 emissions. Everything they are doing to cut down on CO2 emissions is pure virtue signaling. Pathetic. The people should really revolt.
This combination of stupidity and arrogance will be the undoing of Western society.
It’s no longer a ‘meter’ is it, if it has the ability to ‘control’ the power. I’d expect a meter to be a thing that monitors some variable, not switch something on/off.
Let’s give these next-gen things the correct name.
Remote-control?
I wonder about those devices. Do the contain a sim-card? A microphone? A camera?
Yes, I was getting regular visits to read the “smart” meter until eventually a service engineer came to change the sim card to another network.
The regulations as stated are nonsense – why would anyone volunteer to accept a reduced service for no compensation? However, once in place, a minor change from voluntary to compulsory is much easier to sneak in at some later date.
If they really wanted volunteers for their emergency use of pausing EV charging, they would specify terms similar to the feed in tariff for rooftop solar. Say that forestalled consumption is compensated for at double the normal tariff, for example.
Honda is going to make a fortune in the UK with their home generators! Ahhh… smell the petrol fumes in the air
In the short term, but for how much longer after the government bans the sale of petrol vehicles in 2030 will petrol be available at an almost affordable price.
Diesel will be around for a long time. Too many commercial backup generators, like for telephone system use, that use diesel. Over-the-road trucks using diesel won’t be replaced for a long, long time.
Kubota makes an 11KW diesel generator for about $7500. Generac makes a 15KW for about $12K. These are permanent installed on-site.
Generac makes a portable 5KW diesel generator for about $4K. Others make similar ones.
Someone *is* going to make a fortune. And the government won’t help a doggone thing with their bans.
That’s a bit steep. My 5.5kW diesel generator was AU$1,500 (about US$1,000). The only thing it won’t run is my pool heat pump, but only because the compressor starting is a bit much for it.
It’s not steep for a whole house generator. That’s why I listed Generac’s 5KW portable diesel generator as well. A 5KW will run a furnace, lights, and a few small appliances. I doubt it will run an elec oven, elec dryer, etc. unless you turn off everything else. The estimated load for a furnace, gas hot water heater, microwave, security system, 2 computers, lights, and a garage door opener is about 7500 watts. No dishwasher, no oven, no AC, no refrigerator, no freezer, no clothes washer, no dryer. Just enough to survive a winter outage.
NEVER ACCEPT INSTALLATION OF A SMART METER. NEVER!!
Under tort law, negligence refers to an institution or individual’s failure to use reasonable care that may result in damage or injury to another.
if an actor fails to meet a reasonable level care for a duty that is owed, and this failure causes harm or injury, then the negligent party is legally obligated to compensate the offended party for direct damages caused by their negligence.
I think an excellent case can be made that governments’ insane push to replace fossil fuel energy with wind and solar constitutes gross negligence which means governments are also obligated to pay additional penalties on top of direct damages caused by governments being forced to shut down the electrical grid due to their gross negligence.
Grid-level wind and solar well known to be dangerously unreliable and intermittent, especially if reasonable care is not taken to have sufficient immediate electrical backup power from fossil-fuel generated electricity to replace wind and solar energy when they cannot produce sufficient power during natural and very common events such as: high wind, no wind, clouds, nighttime, snow covering solar panels, ice covering windmill blades, etc., occur.
If someone dies from exposure due to the government shutting down the electoral grid, it would constitute criminal gross negligence, which would obligate even higher penalties…
Governments will, of course, use the lame defense that shutting down the grid during severe weather events is an Act of God, but it’s actually an act of government stupidity and criminal gross negligence.
Don’t think you can sue the government. Something like qualified immunity. Unless a statutory or constitutional right is violated then the government can’t be sued. And I don’t think reliable power is a statutory or constitutional right. If you want reliable power then buy your own generator.
Sovereign immunity.
Tim-san:
It is possible to sue the US government because under The Federal Tort Law Act, the government waived its sovereign immunity for cases involving government negligence resulting in harm or financial loss to individuals or businesses.
The government’s terrible negligence in managing the electrical grid where people or businesses are harmed both physically and monetarily is certainly possible, especially the negligence made in switching to highly unstable and intermittent wind/solar power.
If the government owned the power plants and distribution networks you might be right. The problem is that, except for the few municipal power plants still in existence in small towns, all of this is privately owned. Hard to sue the government for negligence when they don’t own anything. Sovereign immunity would prevent this.
LOL
It was OBVIOUS from day 1 that the EU mandated “smart” meters were installed to be able to do that.
Otherwise, we would have electronic, communicating meters (removing the need for an appointment to check meters in each home every 6 months); not remotely managed, programmable ones.
All the idiots complaining about dangerous waves… not even remotely on target.
The next sentence, which was not included in the excerpt, is most telling: a spokesman for Southern Electric said these powers must be given if the country is to manage the transition from fossil fuel to renewables. The honesty is most refreshing.
Isn’t there a famous series of sci-fi, space opera movies where the villain says, “The power you give me I will lay down when this crisis has abated.”
Ha!
leowaj
Like Senator Palpatine in the Revenge of the Sith for instance?
Which also had that great line from Amidala:
“That’s how democracy dies. To thunderous applause.”
Palpatine would be a good name for Joe Biden.
From “palpate” meaning to touch in a creepy way
yeah?
welcome to Australia where the bast*rd smart meters already allow this and our powercos rarely apologise or compensate unless forced by the regulator or ombudsman
Sounds like a climate emergency calling for drastic measures Englishmen-
Gold Coast Meter Maids
As you were Griff-
metoo weirdo women – Bing images
How many systems are safety critical?
Such that an unplanned power reduction will have a dangerous result?
Sounds like time to buy a diesel generator while they’re not contraband.
My local, volunteer staffed fire station, about 300 yards away, is dependent on the power grid. It does *NOT* have a backup generator. My local grocery store does not have a backup generator – meaning food shortages over a long outage. It’s been a while but one bad ice storm about 10 years ago had our power out for a *WEEK*! We had to shut off the water at the meter, drain all the pipes, and move to a hotel out-of-town because all the rooms had already been taken!
The Leftists could always just outlaw single-family homes and the zoning that creates them…oh, wait, they’re trying that here in LA. No success yet, but they always come back. Always.
That’s going to be pretty hard to do out here in rural America. Good luck trying!
Or… design and build the system to meet demand with dispatchable resources…
Just an idea.
This is why anyone with modicum of sense will refuse any type of “smart meter”. It is clear where this is going.
The “consent” will probably be in the form of preferencial tarifs whereby the rich can remain connected and poor will have to accept a cheaper line which can be cut off at the whim of the power company.
Why doesn’t this surprise me one little bit?
I thought that the government were looking even more into some of the small scale nuclear plants. could have sworn I read that about 6 months ago.