Anyone smart enough to talk about 'leccy meters?

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Mick F
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Re: Anyone smart enough to talk about 'leccy meters?

Post by Mick F »

We have a smart TV, but it isn't smart in the slightest. :wink:
Mick F. Cornwall
thirdcrank
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Re: Anyone smart enough to talk about 'leccy meters?

Post by thirdcrank »

None of our tellies is new, but they are obviously all digital. Tuning or retuning them is a total doddle: switch on, follow the menu and orf you jolly well go. My comparison is with the days when a trained television "engineer" faffed with the horizontal hold, vertical hold for half a day just to receive one B&W channel for a few hours each evening and a test card for the rest of the time.
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Re: Anyone smart enough to talk about 'leccy meters?

Post by Jdsk »

Mick F wrote: 20 Apr 2021, 3:39pm We have a smart TV, but it isn't smart in the slightest.
Your TV has:

Smart platform Toshiba Smart Centre
Smart TV services - Catch up TV: BBC iPlayer, ITV Hub, All 4, My5, UKTV Play
- Streaming: Netflix, Prime Video
- Full internet browser
- Social media apps: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube
- Gaming apps
Voice controlled assistant Amazon Alexa
Smartphone app Yes
Electronic programme guide 7-day EPG and 7-day catch up with Freeview Play


What were you expecting?

Thanks

Jonathan
Last edited by Jdsk on 20 Apr 2021, 4:25pm, edited 1 time in total.
Jdsk
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Re: Anyone smart enough to talk about 'leccy meters?

Post by Jdsk »

thirdcrank wrote: 20 Apr 2021, 3:45pmTuning or retuning them is a total doddle: switch on, follow the menu and orf you jolly well go.
This one seems to have been exceptionally difficult...

viewtopic.php?p=1587542#p1587542

Jonathan
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simonineaston
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Re: Anyone smart enough to talk about 'leccy meters?

Post by simonineaston »

The more I read about so-called smart meters, the more it sounds to me as if the whole inititive was simply pressed into being to pay lip-service to some political target or other, and has been a pointless and expensive white elephant. The companies engaged to carry out the initiall roll-out will simply have passed any extra costs to us the customer, ticked the boxes, trousered any government grant available and walked away...
I now know for sure that my latest supplier (bearing in mind we the consumers are encourged to switch - otherwise, we are reminded, market forces will not operate properly... whatever that means!!) have confirmed in writing that they will not utilise the possibilities of my "smart meter", so I find myself having a) paid indirectly for the pleasure and b) effectively am now back to pre-smart-meter days ie having to submit my own meter readings periodically... otherwise risking estimated charges ie erring on the side of the suppliers.
And they call this progress.
S
(on the look out for Armageddon, on board a Brompton nano & ever-changing Moultons)
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Re: Anyone smart enough to talk about 'leccy meters?

Post by simonineaston »

Drifting away from the topic of the smartness or otherwise of the meters, the whole tariff thing makes me quite upset. The idea of letting market forces apply isn't in itself a completely daft idea, except that it's not a proper market. You don't go out to buy utiltiies in the same way you shop for carrots or cars - one unit of domestic electricity is indistiguishable from the next, of course! And so the suppliers make up these artificial 'tariffs' as if that gives us the customers any real choice, when in fact the real-world variations are controlled ny the companies and applied to us, in the form of pre-payment and default tariffs, over-estimated bills and most sickening of all - delayed return of over payments...
And they have the temerity to try to reassure us by telling us its all over-seen by a so-called industry watchdog - don't make me larf!! I wait with baited breath to see how I'm treated by Utility Point, who actually (and I can hardly believe this!) get positive feedback from the Citizens Advice Bureau...
S
(on the look out for Armageddon, on board a Brompton nano & ever-changing Moultons)
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Mick F
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Re: Anyone smart enough to talk about 'leccy meters?

Post by Mick F »

Jdsk wrote: 20 Apr 2021, 4:01pm What were you expecting?
Consistency?
If on TV, you can hit Guide and 704 and get R4. Press the green button to close the screen, but you get "press the green button to show the screen".

If you switch on from the off position, you have to go to TV/Guide/704 and get a blank screen .................. just like we have now with the 6pm news on.

If you switch on from the off, you can go to Apps, and select BBC Sounds and select R4, then you get the green button question again. Given the choice, I'd select the TV, and hit Guide/704 so I then get a blank screen .................. like now.

Consistency would be good.

Smart?
Don't make me laugh.
Mick F. Cornwall
Jdsk
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Re: Anyone smart enough to talk about 'leccy meters?

Post by Jdsk »

Smart as in Smart TV is describes functionality rather than usability.

Jonathan
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Re: Anyone smart enough to talk about 'leccy meters?

Post by rjb »

Mick F wrote: 20 Apr 2021, 6:30pm
Jdsk wrote: 20 Apr 2021, 4:01pm What were you expecting?
Consistency?
If on TV, you can hit Guide and 704 and get R4. Press the green button to close the screen, but you get "press the green button to show the screen".

If you switch on from the off position, you have to go to TV/Guide/704 and get a blank screen .................. just like we have now with the 6pm news on.

If you switch on from the off, you can go to Apps, and select BBC Sounds and select R4, then you get the green button question again. Given the choice, I'd select the TV, and hit Guide/704 so I then get a blank screen .................. like now.
Consistency would be good.

Smart?
Don't make me laugh.
You won't find "Naked Attraction" on 704. Try channel 4 tonight at 10.00pm.
Past your bedtime. You don't know what your missing. :lol:
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Re: Anyone smart enough to talk about 'leccy meters?

Post by Jdsk »

simonineaston wrote: 20 Apr 2021, 4:58pmDrifting away from the topic of the smartness or otherwise of the meters, the whole tariff thing makes me quite upset. The idea of letting market forces apply isn't in itself a completely daft idea, except that it's not a proper market. You don't go out to buy utiltiies in the same way you shop for carrots or cars - one unit of domestic electricity is indistiguishable from the next, of course! And so the suppliers make up these artificial 'tariffs' as if that gives us the customers any real choice, when in fact the real-world variations are controlled ny the companies and applied to us, in the form of pre-payment and default tariffs, over-estimated bills and most sickening of all - delayed return of over payments...
And they have the temerity to try to reassure us by telling us its all over-seen by a so-called industry watchdog - don't make me larf!! I wait with baited breath to see how I'm treated by Utility Point, who actually (and I can hardly believe this!) get positive feedback from the Citizens Advice Bureau...
I and others have mentioned how important they are to microcharging and the future grid. That doesn't imply support for the way that privatisation of the utilities has been managed or how the vendors behave.

Jonathan

PS: Ahem... ;- )
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simonineaston
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Re: Anyone smart enough to talk about 'leccy meters?

Post by simonineaston »

My radio has an array of five buttons, the outer two select 4 extra, the inner two, R4 & the middle one R3. Job done... smart enough for me :D
S
(on the look out for Armageddon, on board a Brompton nano & ever-changing Moultons)
Jdsk
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Re: Anyone smart enough to talk about 'leccy meters?

Post by Jdsk »

Ours are Araldited to Radio 4.

: - )

Jonathan
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Re: Anyone smart enough to talk about 'leccy meters?

Post by [XAP]Bob »

Whilst one kWh is as good as another as it comes off the grid there are good reasons for various tariffs...

Smoothing the cost fluctuations of power throughout the day is the most important thing for some customers, having cheap power when load is generally low is preferably for others, and it encourages load shifting, which benefits the grid. Smart meters enable customers to be more exposed to the wholesale market, which means they can potentially get very cheap electricity when supply exceeds demand, but they pay more when supply is relatively constrained.

With battery systems becoming more and more affordable, and with the potential to throw some micro generation into the mix as well, people can load shift away from those times, with a financial incentive, and consume electricity when the wholesale price is low (because there is lots of wind in the middle of the night). It can actually be beneficial to consume energy, charging a battery, at night and then discharge that battery back to grid when demand spikes. The benefit is economic for the consumer, but is also a net benefit to the grid (hence the economic incentive).

Additionally the energy market basically requires consumers to buy power from producers, so you can buy “green” power, despite the fact that all the energy is mixed up on the grid itself.
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Re: Anyone smart enough to talk about 'leccy meters?

Post by ClappedOut »

simonineaston wrote: 20 Apr 2021, 4:39pm The more I read about so-called smart meters, the more it sounds to me as if the whole inititive was simply pressed into being to pay lip-service to some political target or other, and has been a pointless and expensive white elephant. The companies engaged to carry out the initiall roll-out will simply have passed any extra costs to us the customer, ticked the boxes, trousered any government grant available and walked away...
I now know for sure that my latest supplier (bearing in mind we the consumers are encourged to switch - otherwise, we are reminded, market forces will not operate properly... whatever that means!!) have confirmed in writing that they will not utilise the possibilities of my "smart meter", so I find myself having a) paid indirectly for the pleasure and b) effectively am now back to pre-smart-meter days ie having to submit my own meter readings periodically... otherwise risking estimated charges ie erring on the side of the suppliers.
And they call this progress.
Brown matter rolled in glitter = Smart metering
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Re: Anyone smart enough to talk about 'leccy meters?

Post by Oldjohnw »

A bit like ever more glittery environmental targets with zero plan to actually achieve them.
John
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