Re: Pope is catholic, bears defecate in woods..
"Easily demonstrated just by looking at your electricity bill and wondering why, if energy supply has gotten 'smarter' and 'greener', it's also got a LOT more expensive. "
'Smarter' and 'greener', even in the theory of smart metering, is that less units are consumed. It says nothing about cost. Having said that, as long as you can still heat your home comfortably, consuming N units at £2 per unit is better than consuming 2N units at £1 per unit - same cost but still less energy use.
"It'll be interesting to see if the Texas electricity grid collapses."
Not sure exactly what the Texas situation is, but while relying heavily on wind in the winter is problematic, sunshine statewide during the summer is extremely strong ( they're on the same latitude as North Africa!!) And unlike wind, it's much more predictable - sunrise/sunset times are known to the minute and cloud cover can usually be forecast relatively accurately a day or two in advance.
Of course as you say they really do need to upgrade their grid!!
Biting the hand that feeds IT
