[Nottingham] Smart meters

[Martin]

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On 26/08/14 21:07, Jason Irwin wrote:
> Having just been offered a smart meter from our energy supplier,
> what's the deal with them?
> 
> Obviously I've heard the scare stories about them being easily
> hackable etc; but does anyone have any experience or further
> knowledge?
> 
> Maybe I'll take the opportunity to ask my supplier some awkward
> questions.

Obviously, noone else seem to have any!


I've been vaguely following this dinosaur for a while and
unfortunately, the tech being used looks to me to be already badly out
of date and vulnerable... There are privacy concerns for who can see
your minute-by-minute power usage and what that may imply or may be
misconstrued to falsely imply...


A quick DDG quack ;-) gives a good range of hits:


Here is the warm glowing feel from Marketing all for your own good,
trust me!

http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/Electricity/Smart-meters


There's the good and the bad on:

UK consumers wary of electricity smart meters
https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2014/02/27/uk-consumers-wary-of-electricity-smart-meters/


And a very good concern considering various recent examples of lax or
near-non-existent security for various internet connected mundane devices:

Why smart meters might not be so clever after all
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/aug/18/smart-meters-uk-hacking-electricity

... "The off switch creates information security problems of a kind,
and on a scale, that the energy companies have not had to face before,"...


And then there is the view from The Register:

Adam Afriyie MP: Smart meters are NOT so smart
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/07/29/are_smart_meters_really_that_smart_adam_afriyie_mp/


One friend was trialling one of those thingies a few years ago. There
was initial surprise and education from the usage display for how much
the kettle and a small fan heater gobbled up. Once that bit of
education was soaked up, the display/monitor thing was soon forgotten.

You can get the same education for suspiciously power hungry
appliances from using a £10 power meter adapter from a certain nearby
electronics store.

Otherwise, the one benefit I see is automated readings untouched by
human eyes and the power for you to be turned off by a Terry Gilliam
example of Brazil...

Brazil (1985 film)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazil_%281985_film%29


Myself, I'm happy to be well behind the leading edge on that one!

Cheers,
Martin


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