Bulb Energy

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Paddy O'Dors said:
I think the lad lives in Scotland so thought he might have the THTC heating. Not that I know much about it but pretty sure you have a separate meter for the heating.
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Ah OK could be. Worked North of the border before but never come across a thtc system before. Does sound like the heating engineer has done something rather than a mop which has likely caused the issue.
 


spitfire said:
Anyone using them? Any feedback
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Don’t bother yourself man.
Your hero Lying Donald Trump reckons they’re all a load of shite so he’s rolling back the recommendations made by a certain Black man so we all now have the freedom to pick and choose whichever lightbulbs we want regardless of their detriment to the environment.

I’m sure if Obama had found a cure for cancer Trump would repeal it!
 
Tex said:
Don’t bother yourself man.
Your hero Lying Donald Trump reckons they’re all a load of shite so he’s rolling back the recommendations made by a certain Black man so we all now have the freedom to pick and choose whichever lightbulbs we want regardless of their detriment to the environment.

I’m sure if Obama had found a cure for cancer Trump would repeal it!
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I use them because they are cheap, not green.
 
Rusty said:
Can't say I've ever seen two meters for a two rate supply with storage heaters. Generally one meter
With a teleswitch or time clock that switches the rates at certain times
Do you have a pic you can chuck up?
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I work in a massive house. Has two meters and we are not on storage.
Has a day meter and a night one.
 
Loving Bulb, although I may change to Octopus soon as they give you 8000kwh of overnight charging on EVs if you leave one thru then.

With bulb my gas and leccy last month was £36 for family of 4 in a 3 bed semi.
 
Joe Public said:
Loving Bulb, although I may change to Octopus soon as they give you 8000kwh of overnight charging on EVs if you leave one thru then.

With bulb my gas and leccy last month was £36 for family of 4 in a 3 bed semi.
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Not sure on the first paragraph. Just interested though.
 
Rusty said:
Ah OK could be. Worked North of the border before but never come across a thtc system before. Does sound like the heating engineer has done something rather than a mop which has likely caused the issue.
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Only have 'em the top half of Scotland. Not many people have them cos they're exorbitantly expensive.
 
bowers2 said:
I work in a massive house. Has two meters and we are not on storage.
Has a day meter and a night one.
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There used to be an old tariff called RH1 which had 2 meters,one for daytime use and the other fitted via a time switch to operate off peak heating overnight for 8 hours,also RH2 which did the same but gave an afternoon boost also.
 
I'm with Scottish Power and my bills seem high. This is one of the many ways I waste money with my laziness. I must look into changing supplier.
 
safcsafc said:
They were ok until we got this smart meter in a few month back.
It’s never worked and they don’t accept that their engineer fitted a new elecy meter in so we just get made up bills now.
Pretty usesless customer service although they do credit £20 to the bill every time they fail to sort it out.
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Did you choose to have the smart meter fitted?
I won’t be getting one until they’re compulsory. The propaganda machine has done a great job of convincing people that smart meters are for the benefit of the consumer.

They aren’t, as shall become apparent when it’s too late to do anything about it...
 
Morse said:
Did you choose to have the smart meter fitted?
I won’t be getting one until they’re compulsory. The propaganda machine has done a great job of convincing people that smart meters are for the benefit of the consumer.

They aren’t, as shall become apparent when it’s too late to do anything about it...
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Yes we did, thought it would be canny to keep a check on what we use.
It's been a waste of time
 
Morse said:
Did you choose to have the smart meter fitted?
I won’t be getting one until they’re compulsory. The propaganda machine has done a great job of convincing people that smart meters are for the benefit of the consumer.

They aren’t, as shall become apparent when it’s too late to do anything about it...
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There's a lot of paranoia about them mind.

I haven't got one cos anyone with half a brain should be able to manage their energy use efficiently.
 
safcsafc said:
Yes we did, thought it would be canny to keep a check on what we use.
It's been a waste of time
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Ah. The real reason power companies are pushing them is that they can be programmed to bill for ‘apparent power’ in the future. Its not power you’re actually using. It’s very technical and difficult to explain, but AC electrical devices all have a ‘power factor’. Basically, an ideal power factor is 1, which is where voltage and current waveforms are in perfect phase. Devices with poor power factor cause problems with the power distribution system, like harmonics, heating, etc. Smart meters can bill for apparent power...

Consider a basic LED spotlight. It might be rated to use 5 Watt/hrs of electricity. They often have notoriously poor power factors, as bad as, say, 0.2. Suddenly your 5 watt bulb is causing your smart meter to bill you for perhaps 25Watt/hrs of power you’re not actually consuming!

I’ve probably explained that badly, but that’s the gist.

You might have seen PC power supplies labelled ‘with PFC’ (power factor correction). The EU mandates PFC for all switch mode power supplies over, iirc, 60Watts. This is great, but there’s dozens of small devices in the average home that don’t have it, and would be more expensive to buy if they had to have it. These are where people are going to lose out.
Paddy O'Dors said:
There's a lot of paranoia about them mind.

I haven't got one cos anyone with half a brain should be able to manage their energy use efficiently.
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It’s not paranoia! Just wait a few years...
 
Morse said:
Ah. The real reason power companies are pushing them is that they can be programmed to bill for ‘apparent power’ in the future. Its not power you’re actually using. It’s very technical and difficult to explain, but AC electrical devices all have a ‘power factor’. Basically, an ideal power factor is 1, which is where voltage and current waveforms are in perfect phase. Devices with poor power factor cause problems with the power distribution system, like harmonics, heating, etc. Smart meters can bill for apparent power...

Consider a basic LED spotlight. It might be rated to use 5 Watt/hrs of electricity. They often have notoriously poor power factors, as bad as, say, 0.2. Suddenly your 5 watt bulb is causing your smart meter to bill you for perhaps 25Watt/hrs of power you’re not actually consuming!

I’ve probably explained that badly, but that’s the gist.

You might have seen PC power supplies labelled ‘with PFC’ (power factor correction). The EU mandates PFC for all switch mode power supplies over, iirc, 60Watts. This is great, but there’s dozens of small devices in the average home that don’t have it, and would be more expensive to buy if they had to have it. These are where people are going to lose out.


It’s not paranoia! Just wait a few years...
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I'll be honest that's all to technical for me :)
But it wouldnt surprise me at all if these are a way of taking more money from us in future.
 
Morse said:
Ah. The real reason power companies are pushing them is that they can be programmed to bill for ‘apparent power’ in the future. Its not power you’re actually using. It’s very technical and difficult to explain, but AC electrical devices all have a ‘power factor’. Basically, an ideal power factor is 1, which is where voltage and current waveforms are in perfect phase. Devices with poor power factor cause problems with the power distribution system, like harmonics, heating, etc. Smart meters can bill for apparent power...

Consider a basic LED spotlight. It might be rated to use 5 Watt/hrs of electricity. They often have notoriously poor power factors, as bad as, say, 0.2. Suddenly your 5 watt bulb is causing your smart meter to bill you for perhaps 25Watt/hrs of power you’re not actually consuming!

I’ve probably explained that badly, but that’s the gist.

You might have seen PC power supplies labelled ‘with PFC’ (power factor correction). The EU mandates PFC for all switch mode power supplies over, iirc, 60Watts. This is great, but there’s dozens of small devices in the average home that don’t have it, and would be more expensive to buy if they had to have it. These are where people are going to lose out.


It’s not paranoia! Just wait a few years...
Click to expand...

The Russians are gonna hack into everyone's home too iirc.
 
Paddy O'Dors said:
The Russians are gonna hack into everyone's home too iirc.
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:lol:

This isn’t conspiracy theory stuff, it’s going to happen. It’d have happened decades ago if the technology and funding had made it practical.

Gone are the days when everyone just powered perfect loads like electric fires and incandescent light bulbs. Modern electronic devices are unfriendly to the distribution system.
Some commercial premises are already being charged for apparent power, btw.
 
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