Incredible really. Open corruption.

I mean, it's Crapita. They fail to deliver on practically everything they're contracted to do, but keep getting major contracts because they're among a handful of firms that are big enough to take them on.

Of course, the government could just accept that the only way to properly perform this business is to do it themselves on a national scale. But that would involve neoliberals not giving money to their rich mates in private enterprise, and might jeopardise their well-paid sinecures after they leave politics.

there is a limit as to how long an individual firm can work on a contract which i think is 10 years, they will be over it & it'll be a must for them to hand it over to someone else, likely Fujitsu.

" the only way to properly perform this business is to do it themselves on a national scale "

Here in France the government mandated that everybody was to have a smart meter. Enedis, which looks after the actual wires, did a massive upgrade of the distribution network in the rural areas, then came and fitted the Linky. It was non-optional although some complained because "electromagnetic emissions equals scary" (it blasts data on the wires near midnight, not unlike a powerful CPL) but by and large everywhere has them now.

As they are owned by a third party (Enedis (*)), they will take the readings and forward them to your provider, so it doesn't matter whose bill you pay.

Plus, the ability to report continual consumption (and thus track your energy use in near real-time) is opt in . If you don't opt, it'll report daily.

But, then, the previous government was far too corrupt to do the right thing here.

* - This is not technically true, they are actually owned by the town mayor for weird historical reasons, but it's Enedis that installs/manages/operates the things so...

As of the end of the year, anyone who still refuses will be billed an extra 5€ per month, to browbeat the remaining holdouts.

Capita should be sued out of existence for fraud (choose your project!) and racketeering (Telly licence). They are a disgrace

The really mindbending part of this is that there are two separate technologies deployed. In the north of England and Scotland it's a wide-area radio network (apparently proprietary) operated by Arqiva. The southern part of the island uses moblile phone technology. Those two contracts are presumably intended to avoid a monopoly supplier, but simply lead to two entirely separate sets of problems in poor signal areas. And of course Capita sits on top of the whole edifice, presumably so the headcount doesn't get added to the civil service.

So, we have a bunch of quasi-monopolistic operations and incompatible implementations largely set up to maintain the fiction that we have functioning competition in the energy supply sector, even though the price cap and various other government regulations mean the supposedly "independent" retailers have little freedom of movement, except to go bust with energy customers forced to pick up the cost.

The French run their smart meters over the powerline network, which isn't perfect (long rural cables, for example), but seems to work more reliably in the general case.

The French run their smart meters over the powerline network

I seem to recall that being illegal in the UK. It doesn't stop powerline networking kit being rolled out, but I have a feeling if it interferes anything Ofcom have the power to lock you in a room while using their budget for rubber hose in the intended manner (metaphorically speaking, of course).

" The French run their smart meters over the powerline network "

Sort of but not really.

The Linky does dump data onto the network but you know it'll not survive the 230V <> 11kV transformer. So what happens is each segment has a little cream box somewhere. This box receives all of the messages from the meters on that bit of the 230V network, and it is then sent via mobile. The box that serves me is mounted on a pole half a kilometre away, probably chosen as the place with the best reception.

This is arguably a better alternative than every Linky trying to get a mobile signal out, my house has thick solid stone walls and it's in a dip. Can't receive anything chez moi...

was going to say the same about the French smart meter system, much better than our shambles as any poor fecker in the middle of no where will tell you.

We had a meter installed that didn't work (not even commissioned) for 2 years! Installer shouldn't have even installed it, but did, and just fecked off when the meter wasn't getting a signal. We're in Cornwall so use the telefonica mobile network (basically O2) we get a signal outside the house but not inside as its old with thick walls, indeed my daughter was on GiffGaff and couldn't get a signal in the house, me and the wife on EE are fine. Once you go off piste with an issue you're buggered as you have to deal with your energy provider who then deal with the DCC and you get stuck in the middle of the shambles. the origonal energy provider who installed the meter went titsup its replacement then went titsup (I got no where with both) I already had a T2 (larger aerial) fitted but it has a pathetic 2m cable that goes from the aerial to the meter, ALL I needed was a aerial with a longer (5M) cable I could then place the aerial near a window from where it could get a signal, GOD knows it should have been simple enough, but NOPE! You can only get a T3 aerial (this has a longer cable and is designed to be mounted externally) if agreed to by the DCC which will only agree if you're in a poor signal area according to their reception maps. So our house is fine, yes if you're OUTSIDE, certainly NOT fine where my meter is, aaaaarrrrggggghhhhhhhh! Any road up EVENTUALLY I managed to get the meter replaced by shell (after the 3rd provider went titsup and Shell were the provider of last resort, for the 2nd time!) As the meter hadn't even been commissioned they had to replace it rather than attempting to commission it with an installers visit. Lucky for me in the proceeding 2 years enough of my neighbors must have had working smart meters installed so my new meter now connects via a mesh network (still no WAN signal) but has now been working for 2 years. The 2 years of non working cost us well over £1k as the wife has an EV as a company car and we couldn't access cheap EV tarrifs as we didn't have a working smart meter. Not having a smart meter isn't just inconvenient or a bit of a pain it can cost you HARD CASH! :-( The whole rollout is an utter sh1t show which isn't surprising when you look who's running it!

Had two calls in one day from what sounded like an AI bot about installing a smart meter for my gas supply. I know, I know, why didn't I block the number on the first attempt? Second time I told them never to call me again, take me off your list. After a five second pause, the bot replied that I did not need to shout.

Had two calls in one day from what sounded like an AI bot about installing a smart meter for my gas supply.

I keep getting these, even though I keep telling them not to call. I also keep asking for Scottish Power what discounts they're offering for 'smart' meters because their sales message is that they'll somehow save me money. I also ask what compensation they'll offer for any faults with the meter or remote display. They really don't seem very confident in their product.

I was contacted about a smart meter, I rang my then supplier and pointed out I have a complicated install (Mains, PV, Generator feed). They said they didn't want to touch it (good) and took me off their list.

Unfortunately it seems that list had already gone to their installer subcontractor.

I got 5 calls to "arrange the fitting of the agreed on smart meter". They stopped calling after I gave up, and said if they want to send a domestic installer to what is more a commercial install, they can't hold me responsible and their tech kills themselves when they didn't do the job correctly. They accused of me threatening to kill their staff, and thankfully haven't contacted me since.

Got to love the downvoters who agree that if a supplier cancels an install, it's perfectly acceptable for their sub contractor to try to go again anyway, and try to pressure the end user into accept it, even when their staff aren't up to the job of doing the install.

In a pre-canned statement, Capita Public Service CEO Richard Holroyd said: "We are exceptionally proud of the central role Capita plays in..

Trousering money from both energy consumers and suppliers. Which sounds like it will keep filling the trough as 4G & 5G becomes obsolete, and the next wave of 'smart' meters need replacing.

Since moving into a new house, for two years I've been asking for a smart meter every month.

Because I'm on an old radio teleswitch meter, that runs from a BBC-produced long-wave radio signal from Droitwich, which is entirely reliant on giant VALVES (I kid you not), that nobody has made in years and the BBC snapped up the entire worldwide supply of them some years back when they realised they couldn't get replacements.

When the valves blow, they can only replace them. And they only have a few replacements left. When the last one dies, they literally decommission the entire site - that's without question. There is a date published for the absolute deadline of when they expect that to be, and they've been telling the energy companies (only OVO will deal with those meters!) endlessly to move customers away as it could stop at any time, and each time the deadline approaches it's been bumped forward half a dozen times to my knowledge.

For two years, whenever I ask for a smart meter, I've been rebuffed. Every time the radio station nears it's cutoff deadline, they renew it another year because they haven't yet converted everyone on those types of meters. In fact, they haven't even STARTED really.

Now, suddenly, this month - oh yes, we can replace your meter before 9-5, M-F. Go fish. You weren't interested all this time.

I would not be surprised if this forms part of their argument for not having done the smart meter rollout, but they haven't even TRIED. "There are just over 900,000 RTS meters in Great Britain."

Nearly a million households are still reliant on VALVES and LONG WAVE to supply their electricity at the correct rate.

Sorry, but would you not have prioritised those ancient pieces of nonsense first for smart meters? Apparently not.

Downvoted because "valves" are in use in high-power radio transmitters all over the world in the form of klystrons. The one in that particular transmitter might be defunct, but others are still in production. They share some features with the magnetron in your microwave.

Other valves available are a headphone amplifier based on vacuum fluorescent technology, and your standard audio amps (though I think they're having issues as a lot of the actual valves used to come from Russia).

BBC Droitwich transmitter was built to a custom design in the 1930s, the current Marconi one dates from the mid-80s. IIRC it uses a matched pair of valves which can handle the 500kW output and have not been made for many years and the BBC now has the whole remaining stock. The only practical approach to keeping it running would be a whole new transmitter, which is of dubious value considering how little interest there is in analogue LW (198kHz) these days.

That's just not cricket...

You don't use klystrons for long wave.

"only OVO will deal with those meters!"

Interesting - I wanted to move off OVO to another supplier but they wouldn't accept my account for electricity due to the meter - and OVO wouldn't replace it (apparently it's OVO's responsibility to replace the meter). Now you've got me wondering if that's the kind of meter I've got.

Weird things you learn on El Reg...

I’m still completely at a loss as to how a smart meter saves you ANYTHING. Does is magically make the ’leccy cheaper because I’m pretty sure you don’t get a discount for having one.

We're the wrong audience. We're clued up and smart, and not afraid to look at numbers; we don't need to see the meter spinning to work out the cost. And we are also aware of the downsides. Which is wht none of us will take them.

I'm willing to accept there are people who are no so bright and for whom having a meter in the house will encourage energy saving measures. It makes it tangible and they can use basic empiricism to reduce their bills.

There's also the issue of being able to record the time of day the energy is used and so use tariffs that give you cheaper energy.

things like turning the kettle and the toaster off at the wall save money, right?

So you're getting an average unit cost of under 10p by watching the disc spin?

No - we are a different audience, but we're not all so stupid to think that the word smart means anything... The half hourly billing however is genuinely a good thing for the consumer and the grid.

My best guess: the backers of the smartmeter concept think you'll start turning things off and get under a duvet or into a sleeping bag when the meter shows that you've exceeded your weekly power and/or gas budget.

As far as I can see the only useful smartmeter feature is that its also a rather ugly digital clock.

I think every household should have to complete a survey

- I am happy for Pylons to be built in my area

- I support wind farms in my area etc

When there is a shortage of electricity, those that say no to the above get the "brown out" first via the smart meter, so they have to turn off the car charger, TV, electric blanket etc.

Or "I am happy to pay a >much< higher electricity bill to have the electric cables buried, and not to use pylons".

Whoosh ,there goes a flying pig.

All the adverts for smart meters will state somewhere that 'consumer action is required'.

I have a shelly power meter and home assistant so have very accurate plots of what I use and when.

"Does is magically make the ’leccy cheaper"

Not magically, but by allowing you to be billed per half hour, rather than per quarter... you get to avail yourself of time of day tariffs which do reduce energy costs, and do so by encouraging you to move consumption to times when it's cheaper (and greener).

A standard flexible tariff has a unit rate of about 26p, or 14p/32p for E7.

Using a half hourly metering I get 7p/27p

That's not magic, it's just the reality of the electricity market. Indeed with the addition of some home electronics I had an average unit rate last year of 7.5p.

Smart is the single worst description ever made - they're just half hourly meters.

No they are not just half hourly meters

They are half-hourly meters with a remote controlled disconnect switch

That's the single biggest reason why i'm not having one

Have you come across pre payment meters?

This isn't a new capability, and activating the kill switch is not something which can be done without serious steps being taken for quite some time in advance.

But if you want to pay several times more for power than I do then feel free to empty your bank account.

It's against the law to force people onto prepayment meters if they have never missed a payment.

Yet smart meters have remote disconnect capability built into their hardware, software and comms specs. So they are able to get everyone onto remote controlled meters by the back door.

Also prepayment meters didn't need a data connection..

Smart meters are just a national cyberattack waiting to happen.. And they are controlled by Crapita! Are you so confident in Crapita's IT security?

It tells you that if you switch things off, you will use less electricity.

Seriously, that is it.

Doesn't save me money, in the manner implied by the publicity, but it does mean I can sell electricity back to the grid... which has been worth £247.97 so far this year (I also haven't used £1k of grid electricity either; or rather I prepaid that £1k as part of the investment in solar+battery - 10% tax free is a reasonable rate of return)

Bargain - 30 minutes offline from Electricity and Gas, then £250 a year profit? lovely.

it doesn't BUT it gives you access to cheaper tariffs which you can only get with a smart meter

the losers are the bill payers who have to pay for the nonsense whilst an artificial billing and metering system was created greatly enriching some (Dale Vince from extricate springs to mind) & impoverishing others (us bill payers).

People should remember that when those billing companies go bust, they add their debts to our standing charges which is why it’s so high now.

The whole smart meter thing is of no use to consumers as it’s pushed bills up over the years, it’s only use is in load shedding where centrally they can cut consumers supply or more likely limit consumer supply to provide enough for lights and occasional kettle use.

This is all instead of providing additional generating capacity, especially for when people need it most which is getting earlier in the day as the day light is getting shorter etc.

No number of solar panels on fields that could grow crops will help bridge the energy gap when it’s dark outside!!!!!

Most of the energy retailers that went bust after the Russian invasion of Ukraine did not hedge their energy purchasing, opting instead to purchase the energy they needed at spot prices. When the cost of energy rose way above the price cap at which they could sell it their capital dried up and they folded. It was a case of (very) poor business practice and a regulator, Ofgem, who were well aware of the risks of the operating model, but chose to turn a blind eye.

It's fine that you have no desire to engage in your energy management, but please do not jump to the conclusion that, just because you think smart meters are of no use, it means they are of no use to all consumers.

If you think smart meters are required for load shedding you are sadly mistaken. If "they" need to load shed, "they" will do it regardless of your meter type.

Your assertion that all we need to do is "provide additional generating capacity" and that solar panels are useless when it is dark demonstrates a, dare I say, wilful lack of understanding about net zero goals, climate change considerations and the role of renewables in demand side flexibility.

It is to be hoped your tin foil hat will keep you warm this winter.

It will be a new type of load shedding that looks a lot like racketeering:

disconnect anyone who hasn't paid the premium to be kept online

I guarantee this will start happening as soon as we reach 99% smart meter adoption

" it’s only use is in load shedding"

Have you seen load shedding plans? You do realise that they do this at substations, not meters...

....the cost of installing them outweighs the supposed savings costs.

"It will help manage power going forward"

Easy fix. Make solar panels compulsory on all new builds.

Don't worry about the lifespan of the panels, they'll last longer than the utter shit housing thrown up these days.

Rewarding the above

Is this how it works

Tender

======

Company A (realistic). It will cost £200m and take 4 years

Capta: It will cost £70m and be done in 3 years

Gvt: Well done Capita

3 years later

==========

Capita: We are not near completion

Gvt: Here is £100m and a few more years

decade later

==========

Capita: Still not done, and now some older devices can't work

Gvt: Here is another $130m

When will they learn to use realistic companies, and how can he Capita bod say he is proud. It is a abject failure

"The poster child of UK outsourcing, Capita"

as in

WANTED for CRIMES AGAINST TAXPAYERS

I had "Smart" meters installed years ago. They have never worked w.r.t. sending the data so I get a nag email from my provider every month to give them a reading. These days I mostly ignore those emails in the hopes that it will all get so wildly out of step that they might get their fingers out of their collective arses and come and have a look at and maybe fix/replace the non-working meters. Yes, it means that they have several hundreds of pounds of MY MONEY in their bank account earning them interest.

I live in the middle of a large red-brick housing estate ("subdivision" for los Americanos) and none of my neighbours have problems with their "Smart" meters, so it's either their crappy meters, or else the specific location doesn't work, so may need an external antenna? Either way I'm not giving a reading until someone does something about the current situation.