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.
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?