Re: Primary long term purpose
Primary long term purpose, short term purpose, and medium term purpose, is to get more money from government and the masses.
Smart meters exist for profit. All other "reasons" are selling points or sales pitches, including load shedding and grid stability.
System operators already had and have the ability to load shed, increase or decrease voltage, add or remove vars. Some of the most stable systems use 1950's tech.
But Load shedding is part of the sales pitch. Being able to handle renewable unstable and unreliable sources of generation was also part of the sales pitch. Being able to operate the grid closer to instability and failure is pitched as a good thing and it is if you do not have to pay for the consequences.
IMO we should all look at it as Lee does. What is best for you?
For many going off grid makes a lot of sense both when it comes to their own money and reliability.
Everyone around here has fossil fuel powered generators thanks to unreliable power. Some have looked at the math and determined that it would be cheaper to disconnect from the grid and run them full time. In at least one case it would be cheaper to buy little Honda generators and run them continuously to failure and replace with new.
If our power suppliers gave a damn about anything other than profit they wouldn't charge those who use the least the most per unit. This wouldn't be the case if we had better regulation and accountability to citizens but it is what it is.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
