Re: Auto Switching@ CaptainHook
"The only Smart Meter that I would consider worth while would be one which compares the unit prices on offer from each supplier at different times during the day and auto switched supplier for me."
Well, ask OFGEM to mandate what they call "dynamic pricing". A smart meter can do this, even the skanky SMETS2 specification ones that DECC have mandated
Because of the way the wholesale markets work you will only have a rough idea what you'll be charged in advance, but a smart meter could avoid suppliers altogether - you pay whatever half hourly price the market is charging at wholesale. Obviously you'd need to contract your minimum capacity at system peaks (otherwise you'd be hit with vast "out of balance" charges at the price charged by rarely running system peaking plant) so there's a fixed charge for that generating capacity. Then you've got to pay your levies - all those subsidies for solar, biomass and wind have to come from your bills, along with climate change levy payments, carbon price floor payments, and transmission and balancing system costs. Of course if you're supplier free, you need to contract to hire your meter from a regulated provider, so don't forget that.
Then you need to pay for the LV distribution. This involves a capacity charge that you'd agree, that is set by by your maximum possible load (set by an MCB or a limit switch in the meter). Then there's the maximum load charge (separate from your capacity charge). If your household load is reactive there's extra charges for that. Then the distribution unit rate charges have three rates during the day that vary, and vary by DNO. And then there's fun like Load Adjustment Factors that operate across five daily and seasonally varied periods to reflect the system losses. If you're going down the "pay only what it costs" route, you'd also have to opt in to TRIAD payments, where there's an extra charge for your demand at the three peak periods within the year (which cannot be accurately predicted in advance). And a whole lot more besides.
Obviously you'll be paying a lot more in winter than in summer, and during the day whenever people want to use a lot of energy. And because of the way that the markets work, you'd need to post collateral if you want credit, so in practice this vastly complex structure would be pre-payment only. Given that most residential suppliers are making about 4% net margin, I'd suggest that's a small price for a flat rate, year round credit tariff.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
