Comments on: People are smarter than smart meters

By: Fair Electricity

Fair Electricity — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 03:44:29 +0000

Molly Melhuish posts a regular blog on these issues, and this week the blog is about smart meters, so check it out at http://www.issues.co.nz/fairelectricity/Blog

By: Ari Sargent

Ari Sargent — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 01:55:30 +0000

@Mike:

Most retailers (including Powershop) have arrangements in place with all meter owners in the areas they operate. This means that if a customer switches to a new retailer there is normally no need to change the meter.

In the future, if retailers develop products or pricing structures that are reliant on a particular meter provider or configuration they may not be able to provide these products to some customers without changing the meter, but they should be able to supply them with a ’standard’ tariff at least.

Meters essentially only measure the power being consumed. True, smart meters can measure consumption more frequently (typically in 30 minute intervals), but this does not necessarily mean that every half hour will have a different price, and it certainly doesn’t mean that all smart meter customers will need to pay a rate linked to the spot price. Some customers may choose to, but there will always be a role for more predictable and fixed tariffs. So, at this stage we have no set plans to change the way we charge for electricity and if we do make changes we will be focused on saving our customers money.

By: Mike

Mike — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 23:17:55 +0000

Once smart meters are installed and they are charging a variable rate for power depending on the spot prices at the time, how will this affect your product pricing to the consumer.

By: Mike

Mike — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 23:04:30 +0000

Our area (Wellington) is having its customer meters upgraded by Genesis to their new “Advanced Meter”.
My question is: what happens if I want to switch to another provider that also uses a smart meter but its incompatible with the one already in use, eg Meridians meter; does the meter have to be changed again, if so who pays.

By: peteandmegan.com » Powershop Review - 1 Month On

peteandmegan.com » Powershop Review - 1 Month On — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 20:51:58 +0000

[...] Sargent, head of Powershop made a post a while back to stick his foot into the ’smart meter’ debate. He advocated power users as the [...]

By: Ari Sargent

Ari Sargent — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 01:03:23 +0000

@Felix:

New product is taking shape nicely - we’re probably still a few weeks away from launch. We are exploring options for our own deployment in Auckland.

By: Felix

Felix — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 00:17:47 +0000

How’s the new product coming along? Are there any smart meter roll out plans in Auckland soon?

By: Steven

Steven — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 22:50:46 +0000

I agree with Ari.

As a qualified planner I don’t really trust so-called automation, which is simply programmed to follow certain algorithm. Demand and capacity management is far more complicated than a given algorithm to cope therefore needs more understanding of the background operations. Once people get a rough idea, they can choose to manage themselves or opt out for Powershop management.

Looking forward to your new product, Ari!

By: Ari Sargent

Ari Sargent — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 20:31:05 +0000

@Mike:

Our view is that people need to understand their overall consumption before they get into more sophisticated load-shifting, and to be honest most people won’t bother - that is where home area networks that automate demand response without consumers even knowing do come into play, but these are several years away yet.

In the meantime, the focus of Powershop is to deliver simple, understandable information that allows customers to easily see what they are using, and hopefully start using power more wisely.

Powershop will evolve and add more services as in-home technology evolves.

By: Mike

Mike — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 20:21:46 +0000

Smart metering will alter the rate for power during peak, off peak and normal times, The end user must be informed when these periods occur, dont see how Powershop product is going to do this.