Electricity needs when the grids down.

[bigpaul]

no smart meters here yet, I will resist one for as long as I can.

[Straight Shooter]

We keep getting asked ....but refuse every time .......so there !

[Pete Grey]

Our supply company would only change our tariff to the lowest one if we agreed to a smart meter so we had little choice.

If we were twenty years younger (in our fifties, not late seventies) we would now be off-grid with a full solar system with all the trimmings.

Our electricity bill is around £600-£700 a year and a system would pay for itself at least twice over twenty years, the life of the panels, even if the batteries would need replacing during this time.

At the present our current electricity preps are still as the first post of this
thread, but I will probably get another folding 100w panel and a better marine or deep discharge battery.

By the way as the smart meters are all made in China there is a good chance they could be hacked and switched off remotely at the whim of Xi Jinping...................Oh Sh#t.

[Mortblanc]

Over here the power companies own the meter and it is outside of the house. Anything past the meter is owned by the home owner.

If they want to put in a "smart meter" they do not need your permission. The meter is their property and not yours.

I understand that your meters are generally inside the house.

So why would you rather have a stranger come into your home for a visual assessment of your situation and possessions while they read the meter rather than have the meter read remotely?

Having a person cross my property to read the meter always made me more antsy than knowing the company could tell that I turned on the AC at 5 pm.

You are going to get a bill either way.

[kellys_eye]

Quote:Our electricity bill is around £600-£700 a year

Lucky you. Mine is around £2.5k

[Pete Grey]

(24 June 2021, 21:12)Mortblanc Wrote: Over here the power companies own the meter and it is outside of the house. Anything past the meter is owned by the home owner.

If they want to put in a "smart meter" they do not need your permission. The meter is their property and not yours.

I understand that your meters are generally inside the house.

So why would you rather have a stranger come into your home for a visual assessment of your situation and possessions while they read the meter rather than have the meter read remotely?

Having a person cross my property to read the meter always made me more antsy than knowing the company could tell that I turned on the AC at 5 pm.

You are going to get a bill either way.

Yes our meters are inside the house, they are read remotely as they have internet connection, this is so they do not have to pay anyone to come round and read the meters physically.

The official excuse for meters is they allow consumers to see where energy is being used and to avoid waste and so save money - BIG LIE.

[kellys_eye]

As above. Meters are in the property and access is only permitted with permission of the owner so you can, in theory, prevent the supplier from entry permanently if you wanted to. I believe they might have legal recourse for access in the event of a situation where life may be at risk???? Dunno - any legal eagles here? (so we can identify you when we need some target practice!).

As for reading them, we are allowed to forward readings ourselves or the supplier sends an estimated bill based on whatever previous readings they may have. You can, of course, game the system and under-read but you only build up future debt this way and they will, eventually, get a reading.

Smart Meters are already on course to limit electricity use in Commifornia (even Texas FFS) where shortages are rampant due to ignorant belief in global warming (CO2) and concentrating energy production on green systems that simply don't cut the mustard.

Very little is made of the real purpose behind Smart Meters but you only need to know that you never get freedoms awarded, you have to fight for them and if you just 'allow' Smart Meters to roll out you're giving away freedom (of one sort or another) eventually.

Remember, it's not what they do with them NOW that's of concern. It's what they will do with them WHEN THEY FEEL THEY ARE READY that you have to worry about.

[bigpaul]

dosent matter if the meter is inside or outside the building, the power company needs your permission to come onto your property.
our meters are only read once a year, all other times its estimated.

[Pete Grey]

(25 March 2020, 22:00)Pete Grey Wrote: ....................all we want is charging for 12v batteries (leisure and vehicle) usb devices, AA and AAA rechargeables, these are our very basic requirements for led lanterns , cb, walkie talkies, flash lights etc.

At the moment our rechargeable AA and AAA batteries are ni-cad’s, I am thinking about getting some li-ion’s as the can go through more than 2,000 charge cycles and are more resistant to leakage.

We will when possible use solar for recharging but may in future get a small wind generator.

[bigpaul]

When the power grid is down our simple basic post SHTF lifestyle will not require electricity.