The cars maybe - but without a charger which supports VTG it’s not much use, and that’s only just been made available.
Otherwise, yes, this is a thing you need intelligence in the consumer side equipment to achieve so needs smart meters in the general sense - but a Linky installed today will be as much use as a 1930’s electromechanical meter.
Feed-in tariffs have been a thing in several countries for a good while now, without use of a Linky - though, yes, it does require an intelligent controller to make it work.
Artistic licence
I’ll give you that one
Though I just read the meter when we leave send in an “about right” figure when due.
Beyond rumour I can’t come up with one - though that story of a faulty motor registering consumption on a Linky where none at all was registered on an electromechanical meter did make me wonder. The test would be to strap a suitaly rated capacitor straight across the mains and see what consumption it registers (I guess this is a test which can only be done with a Linky and the phone app, but there again, you wouldn’t need to do it if you had an electromechanical meter).
They certainly *can* measure PF, real and apparent power though - so it would be possible. Whether it is worthwhile in a domestic setting where the big users of power (ovens, chauffe eau’s) are resistive, I’m not so sure.
To be fair I’m playing devil’s advocate here, I don’t have any great problem with the Linky per-se - it’s just an electricity meter. Well, the reported “twitchyness” in transient over-current conditions does bother me a bit because it’s clear our pompe à chaleur has a significant inrush current and if it did cause any Linky to drop out I’m not sure how I fix that without the application of a lot of money.
I do have a bit of a problem with how they are marketed - at least in the UK - as though they are, in and of themselves, the answer to everyone’s problems without actually explaining how.
Strangely after resisting Linky with most of my commune (many sealed their meters and put a legal notice on them regarding tresspass!) I let them install the smart meter because of threats they made about charging me to read the meter twice a year and other costs and to be honest, it actually made me more aware of how wasteful I was and therefore I began to cut down and my bills were so much lower because I made alternative decisions about leaving things plugged in, not cutting the grass weekly which two plus hours of using an electric mower racked it up and all this because of a little orange blinking light that I knew when it went fast I was paying! People who keep resisting installation could find eventually they will be disconnected for that reason
IIRC (and there was a topic to this effect on SF some time ago) initial resistance to the Linky came from social media activity suggesting that these things caught fire spontaneously.
Now, I don’t know for sure if there was ever any clear evidence of this but it does go to show just how social media can control attitudes to sensible change.
I think a lot of resistance to the Linky comes from the tin foil hat brigade, the fact that it uses an over the mains communication protocol had all sorts of rumours going regarding what information was fed back to the grid and had the “EMF pollution” set up in arms about all the EMF to which they were being subjected.
Not just the Linky came under fire - most smart meters did.
There’s also the fact that the Linky has gained a reputation for tripping out a lot - I think this is “real” but mostly born of the fact that people in France frequently had abonnements that were at too low a power rating, but got away with it because fuses will take a LOT of abuse before blowing.
For the house in Brittany - if it gets to the point of actually having to pay to NOT have one, I’ll put more effort into sorting a rendez-vous.
For the UK, I’ve resisted but mainly due to lack of interest. I know how much electricity I use, I know that some of it is “unnecessary” stuff like running servers 24/7 (even though - <checks UPS read-out> it’s only about 110W/125VA it adds up over the day to about 3kWh) or running the dehumidifier in the garage - but, then, without that it gets very damp in the winter.
So, colour me disinterested rather than hostile, come up with a real advantage to me and you’ll have my attention.
It’s a bit like self-scan at the supermarket - I see no advantage to me in scanning my own purchases, often in a space which is (as far as I can see) ill suited to the task. It doesn’t save me work - in fact the opposite.
But I went for one of the handheld scanners as soon as they were available as that actually *does* save me effort and makes shopping faster.
A smart meter reporting in real time will allow energy suppliers to offer all kinds of variable tarifs, well beyond the blunt instrument of HC/HP.
True, but until recently you needed a second meter to monitor the production you are supplying back to the grid. Now it’s done with just the one.
A Linky has an “Index Injection” which shows you how much solar power you’ve lost out on by letting it go back to the grid (i.e that which you haven’t been able to consume).
I’ve never come across of such a problem except when, after a Linky was fitted, the client has been put back to the “puissance souscrite” that they had been paying for, rather than a higher rating that had been achieved by the illegal adjusting of their “disjoncteur de branchement”
OTOH, looking at it from the supermarket perspective, it could save them money which could be reflected in lower staffing costs perhaps translating to less increases in prices
It wont take long for others to adopt, I listened to an interview of the lady who owns one of the charger companies and they have built in many features that can be unlocked when the time is right.
Its a journey as I have said before many times. Look at the early cars a hundred years ago massively expensive and pretty crap, look how they have developed
Clearly the infrastructure needs to be in place for them to be offered, hence why I feel pity for people who are cutting of their noses to spite their faces by wanting to hang on to old tech that will eventually cost them money.
I’ve already seen various offers that require a Linky, most notably the Virtual Battery idea.
Which is just a feed-in tariff, but renamed. Yes, the Linky might facilitate it but it’s been done in a “non smart meter” environment previously.
Rather like EVs they will be ubiquitous given time so we’ll all end up with one. I just haven’t seen a compelling reason to actively seek one out at present (I got a lot closer with EVs than Linkies though ). Most of the advantages seem to be on the supplier’s side.
