Thousands still without power as emergency storm response continues

The focus is on installing smart meters, usually by stealth.

They used to send letters advising that inspectors would need access to backyards to inspect power poles.

Hello, most suburbs around where I live have underground power.

Smart meters indeed.

Capital Retro,
Every time I think your statements can’t get more ludicrous, you outdo yourself.

Firstly, why on earth wouldn’t you want a smart meter and secondly, they can’t replace or inspect anything without sending you those letters you mention. By stealth? hilarious from you. How paranoid can you get.

For Acog, here you go, the type of inspections you talk about are ongoing. But obviously are more directed at vegetation that encroaches on powerlines rather than where trees could potentially fall over on them. Nothing has changed.

https://www.evoenergy.com.au/about-us/media-centre/2021-05-10-annual-aerial-inspections-program-commences

And you really need to go to Specsavers because you are not understanding what I am saying.

Capital Retro,
I’m responding to the actual words you wrote and the dictionary definition of them. If you’re attempting to convey other meanings, perhaps you should try again.

“The focus is on installing smart meters, usually by stealth.”

Simply false. Provide a shred of evidence to support it. Links please.

“They used to send letters advising that inspectors would need access to backyards to inspect power poles.”

And they still do, where it’s required. I had one last year and other maintenance activities occurred in my street.

“Hello, most suburbs around where I live have underground power.”

In newer suburbs, power is now underground. So of course no one would be inspecting poles in those areas, there’s no point to this sentence. Whatever weird conspiracy you’re trying to push, you’ll have to provide some evidence.

They still do – I received a letter advising me to have vegetation trimmed last summer and so did about 10,000 other people at the same time. The small number of arborists certified to do the work were booked up for months.

This does of course only focus on trees that are growing into the power lines, not trees some distance away which could fall into them in a storm.

chewy14, about the smart meters, there might be something in what CR is saying. EvoEnergy decided to replace my old meter with a smart meter late last year. I was preoccupied when I received the letter informing me about it and didn’t pay a lot of attention – and like you said, a smart meter sounded useful. Then I read it more carefully the day before the installation and discovered in the fine print that I would be moved to a time-of-use plan in 12 months whether I want that or not. The pricing of the time-of-use plan is such that I will be worse off. The peak price is so much more expensive than the off-peak and shoulder prices that no amount of adjusting when I have a shower, run the dishwasher or do laundry could make up for the fridge and heater (in winter) being on during the day. I will need to change electricity providers to avoid this.

I allowed the technician to go ahead with installing the smart meter because his job instructions said my meter was faulty. However, when I later called EvoEnergy they said there was some problem with that type of meter in general, not with mine specifically, and they were replacing all of them. Considering it had been on the house for 50 years, it had taken a long time for this ‘fault’ to be discovered. And two months later, I still don’t have access to the usage data from the smart meter.

I asked several times what was the fault with my old meter and who decided it was faulty (I didn’t report it as such) but I got no response.

With my experience and Nightshade’s there’s the proof you need chewy.

By the way chewy, what is “smart” about this new meter? It would have to be pretty good to be smarter than you!

And Nightshade, I changed providers 6 months ago and with senior’s concessions applied (new provider mentioned they were available but ActewAGL never mentioned them before), and my electricity bill has halved!

Nightshade,
You can change your electricity plan with the smart meter:
https://www.actewagl.com.au/plans-and-connections/meters/smart-meters

And just because you can’t remember your old meter being changed in the past, doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. They are typically changed over every 10-20 years.

As for whether you’ll pay more, there is actually plenty you can do to change habits to reduce usage in peak loads.

But If you truly think you’ll pay more, have a think about what has actually been occurring in the past. The costs to the electricity companies are the same, the overall bills across the customer base are the same. But you’ve been utilising more expensive peak power usage, which means other customers have been subsidising you.

The smart meter actually allows true network costs to be apportioned better to those who are using more energy when it’s expensive and network capacity is challenged. In this way, it encourages people to use less energy during these periods, which allows more efficient network usage and lowers costs for everyone.

Capital Retro,
See my answers to Nightshade.

As for your “question”:

“I asked several times what was the fault with my old meter and who decided it was faulty (I didn’t report it as such) but I got no response.”

It’s almost like the company that owns and maintains the meters might know more about them than you do relating to what their accurate lifespans and certifications are.

And they might also know more about the benefits of smart meters in managing both your own power usage as well as the entire grid itself.

Strange huh?

That’s a very lame response, even from you and I know you are aware that the meters are owned by another entity (Macquarie Meters) and managed by another (Acumen).

Neither Actew, EvoEnergy or the two entities named above have sent me any information as to why I now have a smart meter or what it does to “help me”.
By the way, I was also billed over $700 for it.

Capital Retro,
You really don’t like anything new and automatically hate change don’t you?

Also, why were you charged $700? There is no upfront costs for the meter replacements unless other work is being done.

And I’ve already given you some of the reasons why the smart meter can help you. For someone who complains about high electricity prices so much, I would have thought you’d appreciate the ability to manage and reduce your electricity bill with the information that a smart meter provides. Along with the reduced costs that come from your electricity distributor being able to more efficiently manage the grid.

Seems just like with your support of coal, you actually like paying more for some strange reason.

chewy14, my point about the time-of-day pricing is that certain appliances run all the time – like fridges. I’m not going to turn off my fridge all day and only run it late at night. It seems to me that the pricing of the peak tier is so much higher than the other tiers that even if I do every discretionary activity in the middle of the night, I will still pay more than currently. The only incentive that is giving me is to change providers. And I have found someone good to switch to.

I’m actually an extreme night owl and do most discretionary things at odd times compared with most people, but still come out worse with the time-of-day pricing. That was surprising as I thought it might work out well for me.

chew14, regarding my meter having been changed in the past, I’ve owned the house for 16 years and it definitely hasn’t been changed in that time. Regarding changing plans, after 12 months the only one that EvoEnergy will allow me to have is the time-of-use pricing plan. But it’s OK, I’ve found another provider who offers much better plans.

Nightshade,
I know some appliances run all the day but the main drivers of electricity use for a typical house are heating/cooling and hot water usage. Typically this is 60-70% of all demand and definitely has discretionary components.

And as I said before, the electricity retailers and distributors are heavily regulated and can only make a certain amount of profit, so if you think time of use pricing would cost you more then it’s usually because you use more electricity during peak periods and other customers have been subsidising you in the past.

With your comment around retailers, people should always shop around for the best deals. But you should be aware that the retailers basically have identical fixed underlying distributor costs (there’s only one electricity distributor in the ACT, Evoenergy) and the differences in retail price are more around how they manage that retail component and customer service to you.

I’ve already written elsewhere that I have halved my electricity bill by changing suppliers so I am not complaining anymore, am I. There is no scope to change the way I consume electricity either so a “smart” meter is totally useless to me but a good device for the supplier to control our consumption apparently.

I have no idea why I was charged $700 and no other work is being done.

And when you refer to “grid managers efficiently managing the grid” I don’t recall any problems until renewables came along.

Good to see you have also “seen the light” and changed providers, Nightshade.

Capital Retro,
So many things wrong with that last comment.

“I’ve already written elsewhere that I have halved my electricity bill by changing suppliers so I am not complaining anymore, am I.”

Yes, but you still claimed to be avoiding the mandated government caused price increase despite my explanations how that wasnt possible in the ACT, due to its linkages role our sole electricity distributorthat you are forced to use. Your comments just highlighted that you’d previously signed up to an unsuitable electricity deal and then switched to a better one. Well done.

“There is no scope to change the way I consume electricity either”

Well you’ve already admitted your ignorance here repeatedly so I suppose I can let this ridiculous statement slide. Hardly surprising that you were on an unsuitable deal if you actually believe this.

“I have no idea why I was charged $700 and no other work is being done.”

Oh well, sort of fits in with your clear willingness to pay more for nothing.

“And when you refer to “grid managers efficiently managing the grid” I don’t recall any problems until renewables came along.”

Also not surprising. You don’t seem to “recall” anything that doesn’t fit your predetermined narrative. But regardless, these issues always have existed, whether you knew about them or not.

Did you get charged the $700 before or after you changed suppliers?

Reason being with the separation of retail and poles and wires when you change suppliers they often replace the meter with theirs. The cost may well be part of your change over cost.

If it wasn’t then dispute it as you shouldn’t be charged for a new meter unless you requested it. And even then I’d you “request” it as part of a solar installation they normally waive that cost anymore.

Oh as for the old meters after 50 years their accuracy waivers. That’s why they are being replaced. That may cost you more of the old meter was under charging and cost you less if you was over charging.

Yes, JC before I changed providers. It was for a 3 phase smart meter.

There are no poles and wires where I live.

It wasn’t requested.

The original meter (1995) failed about 2010 (full of tiny ants from country of manufacture) and was replaced free of charge. The cost of ActewAGL electricity just kept rising after the “smart” meter was installed.

Capital Retro,
Why did you need a 3 phase meter?

Sounds like you aren’t telling the whole story.

Were you installing a new solar system at the time?

Were you installing other high electricity use appliances that might have required capacity upgrades? ie Air Conditioners, heating etc?

You wouldn’t have been charged for a simple replacement meter due to the old one failing.

If you were, as JC says, you can challenge it. For someone so worried about high bills, it’s telling that you haven’t done that.

The house had 3-phase power when I bought it. There were a lot in-built 2400w electric wall heaters in it. I threw them out and put in RC heat pump heating and cooling about 15 years ago. There was originally only one meter but for some reason they decided to put in one for the three phase which never draws power anyhow.

Stop looking for the fifth leg on the cat, chewy.

Well seeing as you have shown a penchant for deliberate mistruths, I’ll take your statements with the wheelbarrow of salt they deserve.

But now you’ve been advised to clearly challenge the charge based on your own information, do let us know how it turns out and what response you get (which they legally have to provide). Won’t hold my breath.

Is it me or does Belco seem to be a ‘hail and mini cyclone” corridor? Agree. Evoenergy needs to step up. Of course they will come cap in hand to ACT Govt for a handout.
Bit like Telstra really.

Most of the newer suburbs in Tuggers have underground power.

Whilst not good, maybe stop and think for a while as to why that would be. Clearly the damage to the distribution network is large enough that it will take that time. The effected area Is largely overhead wires on poles. Not a five minute fix.

3rd world btw you would be having daily issues and if a storm hit like it did here you would be waiting months or having unskilled labourers up poles tapping into an already overloaded network.

Are your beloved trams still running, JC?

Interestingly, a couple of times when I’ve criticised Evoenergy on Twitter yesterday, I got prompt responses defending them and telling me I’m being unreasonable, from accounts with no followers and only created in January 2022. It’s as if Evo has employed a troll army. 🙂

Not including you in that by the way, I was just amused by it. Look I know they have a big job but 6 days without power is really s***.

Ian,
I’m betting if they put the resources together that would allow them to fix these problems really quickly, the same people whinging about the delay would be whinging about the increase in their bills to fund it.

Probably. Although I think we’re already paying premium level prices.