Doug wrote:A house locally burnt down recently & forensics pinpointed the cause as the smart meter so I’m past worrying about the dishwasher running at night (it has for the last 19 years) but I’m putting a smoke alarm under the stairs now
A neighbour asked me to look this electrics as he had no power and other neighbours did. He had power but no neutral connection on the supply and the smart meter appeared dead. I called Scottish Power on his behalf. They were out quickly and diagnosed a loose connection in the tails to the smart meter that had been fitted a few weeks before. A potential cause of fire in slightly different circumstances. His energy provider would not accept a complaint from the Scottish Power engineer due to data protection. When my neighbour wrote a letter of complaint about their smart meter fitters incompetence, he got a reply thanking him for asking for home visit!
Smart meters give the power providers the option of variable pricing so when there is surplus power you get a cheap rate and can turn the washing machine, car charger or immersion heater on automatically. This of course then demands a smart home. As surplus power will probably come at night, unless everyone is trying to charge their cars up, the potential for more fires from appliances increases.
The advice used to be not to run appliances when there was no one around. I can't believe the modern ones are less likely to burst into flame.
I am resisting the incessant calls for me to fit a smart meter as long as possible, the only ones to benefit are the power companies who do not need to read the meter. I also try to persuade my wife not to leave the dishwasher running when she comes to bed.