Thu 24 Apr 2014 1:02PM
Energy
Danyl Strype
Public
Seen by 219
Considering that everything the Pirates stand for in terms of internet rights and freedoms depends on a reliable supply of electricity, it seems sensible that we should have policy on how we want to see that supply maintained into the future. This policy could cover issues of:
- source - renewables? coal? nuclear? etc
- generation - local-scale? large-scale? publicly-owned? privately-owned?
- distribution - old grid? smart grid?
- pricing - let the market decide? intervene to make it affordable for everyone?
- technology - smart meters? solar panels?
Andrew McPherson Tue 11 Aug 2015 9:24AM
I had a smart meter installed by meridian a couple of months ago, which took an hour to install, the main advantage is that the billing data can be read for each day after a few days time.
The smart meter lets me know what the daily costs are, so I can easily cover the bill without guessing what housemates are using.
Danyl Strype · Sat 8 Aug 2015 4:18PM
I suggest the following principles, which would apply to all electricity users, whether owners or tenants, homes or businesses.
User Choice: whether to use a smart meter or not should be the user's choice. If a person moves into a building with a smart meter installed, when they set up their power account, they should be able to have the meter replaced with a dumb meter, which is only capable of sending a monthly reading.
Software Freedom: a smart meter is a specialized computer, designed to connect people's buildings to data networks. The source code for all software running on the smart meter should be available under a free license, approved by the Free Software Foundation/ Open Source Initiative, so it can be audited for user privacy, as well as security, efficiency and other technical criteria.
User Control: if a person agrees to use a smart meter, they should have access to both the controls on the device, and any data it collects, through open standards (USB? Ethernet? Something else?). They should be able to decide what data, if any, is sent outside the house, and to manually set the address to which that's sent (eg an IP address or URL provided by their power company), and ensure it is being sent privately. Power company technicians must get permission from the user before working with their smart meter.
Secure Location: smart meters should only be installed indoors, or in otherwise secure areas, where they can not be interfered or modified by anyone other than the user they are metering, or someone they have authorized.
User Benefit: In the future, as smart grids are developed, it may be possible to make more agile use of multiple renewable energy sources (at large, medium, and micro scales), or provide broadband through the electricity network. The primary goal of smart meters design and configuration, all stages of this evolution, must be to provide the maximum possible benefit to the user, not the power company, the smart meter vendor, the government, or any other third party.