I don't have my smart meter yet. I meed to do this (and an all new box as well) so we can get our PV system. However we are out in the country, a 30 minute drive from cell access. We are in a block spot a and even our FreeView TV signals (with a very high quality antenna) are dodgy. so we have no wireless "mesh network" and never will.
How do rural properties gain ANYTHING real from new smart meters given that there is now way to get anything from them without sending person there? It seems to me that people without any real access to wifi or cell networks, are gaining no real-time information as to their costs at all.
*** One Other Remark here
Our home energy use is very steady and predictable. We do not trust our old meter system at all. We are disabled pensioners in the country and do nothing odd or different from day to day. The majority of the time this is directly reflecting our bill. However, we will (from time to time) have a massive change in our 'supposed' KWH usage which simply can;t be made to make any sense for our habits. The meter reading on the bill will match.
This happens to use about once every 1 1/2 years. It makes no sense. Most of our bills put our 3 person home, at below the average use of an average 1 person home. We do not use electric heat or electric hot water and yet this last quarter (including a part of the winter) was listed at above the average use for a 3 person home!
The truth is that we use more electricity in the summer than the winter as in the summer we have fans running all day, all over the house & we have no air conditioning.
My two last bills did this thing again. There is no effective way to make this problem go away other than getting the new meter put in (at my cost - for their billing equipment). I wonder how the head of AGL would feel, if when shopping at Coles he had to pay the cost for an entire new cash register just to buy 1 can of food.
Posted Sunday 22 Jun 2014 @ 3:43:41 am from IP
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