Madam,

When Robert Cheesewright, director of corporate affairs of Smart Energy GB, claims my observations relating to smart meters are incorrect, I am reminded of the unforgettable words of Mandy Rice-Davies when she said, “He would say that, wouldn’t he!”

According to Robert and his ‘magical’ smart meter, power outages will be a thing of the past and our lights will always stay on. But I would suggest he ignores a fundamental fact of life, that if power demand exceeds generation (apart from other system failures), then someone is going to suffer, and indeed the lights will go out!

If he thinks smart meters, wind farms and solar parks are going to save the UK he is going to be very disappointed.

As an example on Wednesday, 27 February, at 12:55 the total UK demand for electricity was 39.75 GW which came from CCGT (gas) at 16.70 GW (42 per cent), nuclear at 6.21 GW (15.6 per cent), coal at 1.41 GW (3.58 per cent), wind at 1.09 GW (3.27 per cent), solar at 6.97 GW (17.5 per cent), with the balance from biomass, hydro, OCGT, pumped storage, French, Dutch and Irish Interconnectors - noting that when there is too little or too much wind there will be no electricity from wind generation, and none from the sun at night!

These are actual facts and can be viewed by anyone, anytime at www.gridwatch.templar.co.uk.

I would urge readers to visit this website if they wish to engage with reality. With reference to the quoted power generation figures, perhaps Robert can explain to readers exactly what he means by a cleaner energy network as a smart meter cannot discriminate from what source generated electrical energy will arrive at a customer’s house, coupled with the fact that solar and wind combined contribute very little to the Grid.

Robert must have had his tongue in his cheek when claiming that by having a smart meter fitted consumers will be empowered to eliminate energy waste at home.

Really, you do not need a smart meter for this as consumers have that ability by simply purchasing an electricity monitor.

There are a number of electricity monitors available in the market.

I have had an Elite portable and compact electricity monitor for a number of years which, apart from indicating energy usage and cost at any instant, can show historical data, tracks carbon emissions, show room temperature and humidity, can view average energy consumption, audio alert indication of power excess, multi-tariff ready, holds up to 24-month data, and multi-currency.

So who needs a smart meter – not for me, thank you!

Yours etc, Dave Haskell, Cardigan.

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