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Phil23 Guru Joined: 27/03/2016 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1664
Posted: 07:38pm 05 Feb 2018
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One of Ch 9's morning headlines.
"Smart Meters for Everyone".
Sound like the next step in the "5 year business plan" as someone else here put it.
Ralph2k6 Senior Member Joined: 24/09/2017 Location: AustraliaPosts: 129
Posted: 08:28pm 05 Feb 2018
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On the plus side, if they're inevitable then maybe they won't charge for the change. It's been suggested they will charge me up to $600 to change their damn meters when I get solar because our home is 3 phase, grr. Ralph
Madness Guru Joined: 08/10/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2498
Posted: 08:44pm 05 Feb 2018
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No meters for me at all, the extra charges might tip a few more over the edge to go off grid completely.There are only 10 types of people in the world: those who understand binary, and those who don't.
George65 Guru Joined: 18/09/2017 Location: AustraliaPosts: 308
Posted: 10:48pm 05 Feb 2018
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Going to screw me and my backfeeding with solar. Do you HAAVE to have one? I want to claim EMF sensitivity and keep my old meters. Might have to look at going off grid but wouldn't surprise me if they outlaw that in suburbia.
There has been too much controversy about them and their health effects to be all BS.
Amuses the hell out of me how they go on about benefits for the customer. When was the last time anyone had the inclination to want to check their power bill when away from home or any of the other crap they go on about?
The whole thing is for the power companies to screw their customers for more money and how anyone can swallow their crap that it's going to be a benefit to them is beyond me.
Phil23 Guru Joined: 27/03/2016 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1664
Posted: 09:40am 06 Feb 2018
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We're not actually the Customers, more so The Proletarians, the working class of Oceania.
Un-Quote Orwell, 1949.
It's the shareholders that count & the BOD, CEO, CFO, etc that really count in the financial outcomes.
George65 Guru Joined: 18/09/2017 Location: AustraliaPosts: 308
Posted: 11:22am 06 Feb 2018
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Got that right.
I wonder about the "downward spiral" they talk about with people going off grid due to higher power prices/ costs.
I can see how the theroy works, the higher power prices become the more people go off grid the more the power companies have to charge which sends more off grid etc. but I wonder how it would work in practicality?
I can see how it would not work from a few different angles.
People in units of which they are throwing them up by the thousands in the citys are stuck and have no way to generate any of their own power. Even the new home round here on the handkerchief size 314 SqM blocks would be pretty hard up to do much I think. Might be OK with say 5 power walls but if they could afford that, they wouldn't be living in these rat traps to begin with.
Industry and business will also be locked in.
I do not believe all the hype about batteries getting cheaper. A particular TYPE of newish technology battery may get cheaper but the base level price being Lead acid isn't going to move. They make millions of the things a years now. They tend to go up in price not down. Also Lithium which is the current preferred tech is said to be in quite limited supply and as demand for a limited supply product goes up, so does the price.
There is also the fact that so many people can't change the oil in their cars these days and so many that can couldn't be buggered. Maintenance free energy storage is at the upper end of the scale not the lower end so again the price barrier is greatest there.
Then of course there is the greatest detriment to the idea of going off grid of all.... fear of change and not knowing what one would be getting into.
I'm pretty sure that power companies spend a LOT of money on working out where the tipping point for people is with power prices. They would not work on the cost of production pricing model but much rather the " what the market will bear" pricing structure. They would be running surveys every week if not day to work out what the max they can charge before they hit revolt that will lower profits.
I'm sure there would be an amount of people willing to go off grid to combat higher power prices, how many and the significance to the market and power companies profitability I wonder about.
Madness Guru Joined: 08/10/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2498
Posted: 12:03pm 06 Feb 2018
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I doubt there will be enough people go off-grid to worry the power companies.
If a power company has shareholders it is obligated to make a profit.There are only 10 types of people in the world: those who understand binary, and those who don't.
Notice. New forum software under development. It's going to miss a few functions and look a bit ugly for a while, but I'm working on it full time now as the old forum was too unstable. Couple days, all good. If you notice any issues, please contact me.
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