Ominous: UK begins mandatory roll out of ‘smart’ meters for gas and water, gas users will suffer ‘net zero’ penalties
Sat 8:01 am +01:00, 1 Apr 2023 1
In a bid to reach net zero goals, households are set to be penalised if they don’t switch from gas in a brand new rule to be announced today. Speaking on Wednesday, Grant Shapps, secretary of state for energy security and net zero, commented on the new proposal.
He said: “If we want people to switch to an electricity-based economy, it would be better if [levies] were shifted onto the gas side of things.
“It automatically makes the economics of an electric-driven economy better.”
But anger has erupted over the plans, with Craig Mackinlay, chair of the Conservative net zero scrutiny group, claiming “hugely expensive” heat pumps are “untried and unwanted”.
He said: “If green levies are shifted from electricity to gas one wonders what will be achieved given that gas remains the mainstay and balancing source of electricity generation especially on cloudy, still days.
“All green levies, interference taxes and manipulations should be removed across the energy market so that energy security can be restored.
“Further tinkering is not going to shift households to untried and unwanted heat pumps that are hugely expensive and rarely work well.”
Electricity is considered a more environmentally-friendly choice due to its ability to be produced from renewable sources like solar panels and wind turbines.
In contrast, burning gas emits carbon into the atmosphere.
Other projects pushing for a greener UK have been receiving more support.
They include capturing carbon underground, insulating homes and producing clean hydrogen.
Comment: The BBC reports:
Compulsory water meters set to be fitted across Oxford
Compulsory water meters are set to be fitted in homes across Oxford.
Oxford seems to be making quite the name for itself as one of the testing grounds for an agenda quite in line with that of the Great Reset, because it’s also one of the first regions to adopt the dystopian 15 Minute Cities.Thames Water said its engineers were currently surveying streets ahead of installations.
The water firm, which has the power to force households to install meters, said new meter pits – vaults to house the meters – would start in April.
Residents set to have a smart meter will be contacted in the coming weeks – the smart meter rollout to homes will begin from the autumn.
A spokesperson said: “The south east of England is a water stressed region and we need to act now to protect our future resources.
England, infamous for its endless rain. Note that no new reservoirs have been built in the UK for over 30 years, and it’s known that vast quantities of water – at least one fifth – is lost through the pipes, because the private water companies are not maintaining them.“Under legislation consumers cannot refuse a smart meter, however, we always assess the suitability of a meter for each property.”
The firm added it would write to homeowners “a week or so before we start working on your street”.
You can use this calculator to work out whether you would be better or worse off.
During this winter’s energy crisis, governments made it quite clear that they’re willing to use their ‘off switch’ for these critical supplies if they so deem the situation to be an emergency: France to shut off household smart water heaters REMOTELY to avoid blackouts as nuclear reactors remain offline and energy prices spike 28%
When I was a kid in the 1950’s I went to my aunty and Uncle’s house in Newcastle for a couple of weeks. The first thing I noticed was a funny smell in their house. It was from the gas hob, as they burned coal gas in those days. It was really cheap they said to my mother, and always was. We of course couldn’t get gas where we lived. Just a few years ago, we finally were able to get gas. It was however not so cheap, and has increased stupidly lately. I only use gas for heating water mostly and use a log burner in the house, but that all looks set to change.