Common sense where a Gov IT initiative is concerned ?
Burn that man for heresy !
Edit: to comply with UK GOV sex discrimination laws the following addendum has been added:
Burn that woman for heresy !
A report from the Institute of Directors (IoD) warns that the government's rollout of smart meters “should be 'halted, altered or scrapped' to avoid a potentially catastrophic government IT disaster.” The report, entitled “Not too clever: will Smart Meters be the next Government IT disaster?” describes the £11bn scheme as “ …
@ Elmer
Perhaps it's:
1) A satire on the assumption that all directors are male
2 ) A satire on Gov interference in speech
3 ) A poke at political correctness
4 ) An essay into the deconstruction of humour
5 ) A Chuck away Christmas cracker joke
6 ) None of the above
7 ) I'm off to get a Maccy D.
Fingers on the buttons.....Go !
>Edit: to comply with UK GOV sex discrimination laws the following addendum has been added:
Hah!
You think the diversity laws are there only to protect men & women? There's a whole range of things which people "feel they are" which have to be promoted. Have you considered the profound effect of smart meters on the furry community?
"Smart Energy GB responded to the IoD report, claiming the IoD "does not understand what’s needed to secure Britain’s energy infrastructure for the future."
Ok then Smart Energy GB, tell us what's needed? Wait... what? Oh. Smart meters. Yeah. They will secure Britain's energy infrastructure.
Silly me. For the briefest instant I thought maybe they were talking about building more nuclear power stations. What was I thinking?
NP is not securing the future. The bulk of the known sources of uranium aka yellow cake is mined in Chad which is not exactly stable, a bit like locating your energy future to the Kush mountains. Also the known reserves of uranium ore, given our present consumption, is no more than a few decades at most.
@John Lilburne - "The bulk of the known sources of uranium aka yellow cake is mined in Chad which is not exactly stable"
According to Wikipedia, the only mineral which Chad mines is small quantities of sodium carbonate. I've not seen any source which says they produce any uranium at all.
The number 2 uranium producer is Canada, and Australia is number 3 (Kazakhstan is number 1). I'm pretty that neither Canada nor Australia are about to fall over due to political instability.
" I'm pretty that neither Canada nor Australia are about to fall over due to political instability."
Canada maybe, but Australia has a bit of a history or doing daft things politically so I'm not sure I'd place any long term bets on that one no matter how stable the country looks right now. And let's face it, the UK could be just a few months away from revolution if the non-voters suddenly realise it was their responsibility to keep UKIP at bay! Thankfully we still have a Queen to overturn such things like she did for them down there :)
1: Most uranium is mined in australia and canada.
2: Uranium is about the worst possible nuclear fuel for a large number of reasons (but it's easy to turn into bombs, which is the real reason most development went into it)
Molten Salt Thorium-cycle systems (Google: LFTR) are arguably the best long-term fission-based solution and can even clean up the uranium cycle's problems (aka "garbage disposal")
They're currently where almost all serious research is being directed. Expect to see the first working LFTR system since the 1960s Oak Ridge experiments operational late this year or early next.
Beyond more nuke plants, there's the need to secure the IT infrastructure and maybe look at using TCP/IP over power cables as a backup for infrastructure in case you lose telco but have power.
I agree that Smart Meters are a joke. If you look back at how they were sold. They tried to show it as a benefit to the consumers. In fact the only advantage is that it makes reading meters easier and lest costly for the power companies.
And of course they add yet another access point for threats to the power infrastructure.
Yes Virginia, there really are bad people out to get you....
Uranium ore has been mined in the UK before, and could probably be mined again, albeit it would cost a massive amount more to mine given that we have higher safety standards for mining and higher wages.
Apart from that, the green lobby would scream blue fucking murder so it's not worth doing politically. While there is a debate over if we have a thousand years worth of uranium at increased usage, nobody seriously says that we haven't got enough easily recoverable to last the next century when the majority of plants will near certainly be Thorium based reactors instead of Uranium ones.
Or Fusion. But that's 30 years away, so we might not have it in a century.
" While there is a debate over if we have a thousand years worth of uranium at increased usage, nobody seriously says that we haven't got enough easily recoverable to last the next century when the majority of plants will near certainly be Thorium based reactors instead of Uranium ones."
In any case, Canada has enough uranium to last for thousands of years and it's unlikely we will become hostile to the UK any time soon. Help yourselves (at market rates).
Fusion will be 30 years away from commercial use when the total electrical energy output of experimental systems is sustainably more than the total electrical energy input by a factor of at least 10-100
Merely being "over unity" at the business end of the lasers is not enough by a factor of at least 100,000.
So 'smart' meters "could even expose consumers to cyber threats" - that sounds right to me. Same goes if you consider any form of actually connected smartphone app that can perform any sort of control of supply rather than passive meter reading.
I really do think the "vested interests" (Smart Engergy GB's response sounds exactly like what you'd expect from one of these) should be backed off and an independent review undertaken.
"Smart Energy GB's response sounds exactly like what you'd expect from one of these"
Not even the POWER COMPANIES want smart meters (too much cost, too little benefit). This is entirely driven by outfits wanting to push smart meters for their own agendas.
I'm sure that skiddies will love to drive down roads switching off smart-meters as they go. It gives a whole new meaning to "War Driving" (I'm sure many people would pledge a tenner to whoever manages to switch David Cameron/Ed Milliband/Rupert Murdoch/Alec Salmond's power off remotely)
It is not about who "Wants" SMART meters, it is all about who gains from having them installed. This is nothing to do with consumers but is all about the usual suspects involved in the deployment and
ongoing support of this infrastructure.
Captia (What a suprise) £175 million over 12 years
CGI £75 million over 8 years
Arquivi Smart Metering £625 over 15 years but this appears to only cover the north. It would be safe to assume that the lucrative south will be much more with the greater density of homes.
Telephonica 1.5 billion over 15 years
If CGI are the Defence group then I would have even more concerns about the ultimate use of the infrastructure. I also recall some link somewhere about the ability to target power cuts (load shedding?) and to make it easier to cut people off. Given the state of electricity supply in the UK for the next 5 years there are more questions than answers.
reference:
https://www.gov.uk/government/policies/helping-households-to-cut-their-energy-bills/supporting-pages/smart-meters
http://www.computerweekly.com/news/2240205914/DECC-names-IT-suppliers-for-smart-meter-project
http://www.cgi-group.co.uk/
The problem with seeing the numbers (e.g. HS2) is that it just confirms your worst suspicions!
There is nothing more annoying than to read load of post-hoc bullshit whose only purpose is to try to prop up a political decision. The worst example of this in recent years has to be the dodgy Iraq dossier.
"The problem with seeing the numbers (e.g. HS2) is that it just confirms your worst suspicions!"
The numbers show:
1: HS2 has real benefits to Birmingham and the North - so much so that it's arguable that the line should be started NOW between Birmingham and Manchester, with extensions south to be discussed later (maybe) when access rights have been sorted (if ever).
2: Smartmeters are an expensive Boondoggle with no measureable benefit to anyone.
Knowing the numbers will only tell you what everyone already knows - the benefit is not cost based. Sure, a few people will save a few quid, but most won't. The other benefits are currently not quantifiable, as the article stated, and so even with the numbers we wouldn't be able to have a sensible discussion because half the people think energy consumption would drop and the other half don't, just like in the climate debate.
Handing over the report would definitely fan the flames of people who don't think that smart meters will help reduce energy consumption and therefore carbon emissions etc. so I don't think they should hand it over. If they do, the newspapers will publish the numbers, enrage the uneducated masses and the money will definitely have been wasted. If we do nothing, then worst case is everyone gets a replacement meter which can be read remotely which would at the very least improve the archaic system we have now where once a quarter I have to let two men into my house to avoid getting estimated (read imaginary massive numbers) bills.
I'm not necessarily in favour of these meters, but the content of the article was enough to convince me that we shouldn't stop them at this point - someone clearly has an agenda in stopping them.
"once a quarter I have to let two men into my house to avoid getting estimated (read imaginary massive numbers) bills."
This particular issue was solved 40+ years ago. Put a remote display externally or mount the meter in an external locked cabinet.
Smart meters are a solution looking for a problem.
Smart meters are a solution looking for a problem
Not really. In that particular case, the power companies still have to send people out to read the meter. This costs.
I think the main problem is the costs involved. Myself, I would suggest that they make it voluntary, charge for the meter and installation for those who want it, but allow the companies to charge a reasonable* fee for sending people out to read the meter. This would allow consumers to do a real cost/benefit analysis of their own: Are they happy to pay out for the meter, given that it may take N years to pay for itself? Are the other benefits involved worth the cost? And so on...
In the end, forcing the rollout at this stage is a bad idea, IMHO. I agree that the meters will probably be obsolete before they have paid for themselves. By then we may have things like smart appliances, more electric cars, more solar panels and/or home generation/storage systems, all of which will benefit from more advanced smart meter technology, but noone will be happy rolling out updated models so soon.
Let those who want them, get them and pay for them.
"... once a quarter I have to let two men into my house to avoid getting estimated (read imaginary massive numbers) bills."
Where do you live that is so dangerous that it requires two men to read a meter? Also I just post my meter readings online or phone them through, the meter rarely gets read by a company representative unless it seems wildly wrong.
the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has refused to publish them, citing commercial sensitivity.
So, the upshot is this, the vast majority of the public will be hoodwinked into these meters because the government will dare not see another IT project fall flat on its arse...
They will do EVERYTHING in their power to complete this roll out.
How many times have independent scientists shown the government true stats only to have them brushed aside or removed from office....
They are coming. Be prepared to defend against them... Tinfoil at the ready...
This is all well and good until their recommendation:
"Abandon the whole programme and develop a smart phone app instead – look into developing a smart app which would convert a photo of their current mechanical meter into a meaningful number for the suppliers. This would cost tens of thousands of pounds rather than billions."
This could rapidly become "convert an edited photo of their current mechanical meter into a meaningless number" and "cost customers tens of pounds rather than hundreds".
This could rapidly become "convert an edited photo of their current mechanical meter into a meaningless number" and "cost customers tens of pounds rather than hundreds".
When I read this part of the article I immediately thought of something like SecurID. Have the display present both the units-used counter and some cryptographically-generated hash or time signature (like a HMAC involving the current time, the value of the counter and the serial number of the meter). Of course, once the meter is in people's hands, you're bound to find someone who has the skill needed to hack the device (eg, to find the secret serial number) but the vast majority of people won't.
I agree with the people who suggested the smartphone app idea. Done right it would be vastly better (and more secure) than "smart" meters that need to be networked.
Without wanting to blow my own trumpet (too much), I'm sure I could knock up a proof of concept for this in an afternoon with a Raspberry Pi, a small screen and a mobile phone. Just use QR code libraries on the Pi and phone and you've got a fault-tolerant reader (QR includes error correction) that can automatically send an SMS reading to wherever. Of course, this is probably way too easy. I'd have to massively over-engineer it for the government to have any interest in it.
Really, government IT disasters fall into two categories:
1) Projects that are too ambitious
2) Projects that are not ambitious enough / outdated / not implemented
It's not sufficient to simply sit around not doing any IT projects, just because a few don't work out. Over the long run, not implementing anything will be far, far more costly - both in waste, and in having to do much larger projects to catch up, rather than smaller projects to renew.
It's ok for government projects to fail - what needs to happen is to restructure them to recognise that they might fail, and to ensure they don't fail quite so expensively. The problem isn't the project, but the archaic way in which it is constructed and awarded, which does not work for the benefit of the client (government / the public), but to ensure that contractors can extract as much money from the public purse as possible.
As for the IoD - they are an organisation that largely exists to ensure that the "haves", have more... I do strongly believe that a strong economy is important - we can't share wealth when we nobody has wealth - but more often than not anything that annoys the IoD is something we should be doing.
IOD = people who generally have to make things work in their domains and who get booted round the countryside and out if they don't. Contrast that with many government projects where the team move on to a higher grade before the sh1t hits the rapidly rotating object. and the bill for the mess goes to the general public.
There is nothing smart about a meter that will tell the world when you are, and are not at home. Frankly the whole idea is dumb, My family uses the washing machine when we want to wash clothes, the microwave when we want things heated, ditto the kettle, the toaster the heating and the rest of the gubbins in the house, not forgetting the PC and its printers. Power consumption is not helped by being retired, so we are always in the house with a dependant who is largely house bound and able to do only so much for themselves.
Farming Today this morning - this scheme http://ec.europa.eu/fisheries/cfp/control/technologies/ers/index_en.htm - laptop data entry on fishing vessels then uploading it. What could possibly go wrong?
And this recent fail:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/03/26/part_of_cap_it_system_may_be_scrapped_after_digital_fail/
Avoidance of apps and mobile devices in favour of laptops. Weird when you think what a productive and creative app ecosystem is out there.
We need is a compact optical/WiFi device to clip onto our old electricity & gas meters that sends images to a cloud for digitization. Random checks by wetware meter readers. Done cheaply in months.
> We need is a compact optical/WiFi device to clip onto our old electricity & gas meters that sends images to a cloud for digitization. Random checks by wetware meter readers.
Most meters have an optical port for the "wetware" meter reader. At least one company is already building clip-on hardware that will interrogate the meter using the optical port and transmit the reading to HQ via GSM.
And there is also Automated Meter Reading which has been around for years - short-range RF transceivers on the meters, meter-reading human drives down the street with an interrogation device which picks up the readings.
IMO the lure of "smart" meters is in differentiated tariffs, i.e. charging more at peak times to flatten the peaks and reduce the amount of generating capacity that needs to be kept on standby.
Unfortunately people use lots of power at peak times for a good reason (such as, they're at home and not in bed yet), so it pretty much boils down to soaking the public unless they expect half the populace to sleep from 6 p.m. to midnight, and the rest to sleep from midnight to 6 a.m.
IIRC the electricity company in South Africa determined that differentiated peak tariffs for domestic consumers only had an effect on behaviour at a level 10 times the normal electricity price.
"Farming Today this morning - this scheme http://ec.europa.eu/fisheries/cfp/control/technologies/ers/index_en.htm - laptop data entry on fishing vessels then uploading it. What could possibly go wrong?"
I built something like this a decade ago for the local(ish) prawn fisheries. It consisted of an Excel spreadsheet to fill out and a button to FTP the resulting file server where it was collated with a script and imported into an Oracle database. No need for laptops 'cause every boat already had at least three PCs on the bridge and a GSM data connection (invariably with an illegal signal amp inline - the chaos that resulted whenever a skipper forgot to turn if off when entering port was a joy to behold).
The real trick is to structure the scheme so its in the fishermen's best interest to report honestly. It turns out that if you make them feel they are part of the management process, rather than the thing being managed, you get much better data. Who'd have guessed?
"Speaking as a Scottish Power customer who, despite several frustrating phone calls and the involvement of the Ombudsman, has not had a bill for a year"
I didn't tell you this, but most of the large energy suppliers only keep all billing records for 6 months. Meaning that when they eventually ask you when you last paid a bill, say about 7 months ago...
When I last moved SP were unable to bill me, or read the meter, for about three years because there was no postcode (the postman seemed to manage just fine 'though). Eventually I received bill only for one metered quarter plus one precedding estimated quarter. Then I was able to change suppliers, which took about five months).
...if a energy meter could be made with an e-ink display which displayed a QR code consisting of:-
Meter reading | MPAN | Meter number | {some random value unique to meter and not known to end consumer} | md5 of previous fields
It just updates at every full unit "click". Then just read it with your suppliers smart phone QR reader app and the consumer can never fiddle the reading.
Hack proof and no more tiny dials to read and discern the clockwise/anti clockwise sequence etc but does need a smart phone which isn't necessarily universal yet I suppose.