[geoffers]

Originally Posted by retrotecchie

@Mailman... smart metering had cost 30-odd billion quid ... Not exactly good value for money, is it?...

Don't see many people here moaning about the cost to the consumer of decommissioning the phone network and rolling out full fibre FttP - maybe we should have stuck with the old tried & tested copper line network 😂 (at least this rollout seems to be being executed in an orderly fashion)

[meldrewreborn]

Originally Posted by geoffers

Don't see many people here moaning about the cost to the consumer of decommissioning the phone network and rolling out full fibre FttP - maybe we should have stuck with the old tried & tested copper line network 😂 (at least this rollout seems to be being executed in an orderly fashion)

In your example risk taking corporate entities are paying. They have to remain competitive in the market. Smart metering is being foisted on consumers who have no choice whether to go for a smart supplier or not.

[meldrewreborn]

And consumers can see the benefits flowing from fibre installations whereas with smart metering………..

[retrotecchie]

@meldrewreborn

Exactly what I was going to say.

I used 300 baud dialup and an acoustically coupled modem and terminal back in the 80s. 128k ISDN and 56k dialup in the 90s. 1Mb broadband when it first became available in the early 2000s. Now I'm running 100Mbps on FTTC in a tiny and remote rural village in the middle of nowhere. In every case, the cost per megabyte has plummeted and the benefits to me have increased immensely.

Smart metering has just cost me (and everyone) more and more each year on my 'leccy bills, against my will, and has conferred precisely no benefits in any way shape or form.

[meldrewreborn]

@retrotecchie

Glad to be of service M'lud.

[meldrewreborn]

@retrotecchie

I watched it today. Like many programmes it only briefly focused on the role of the unaccountable DCC. The problems are not with the meters - its the communications which are deficient. Things like the 2g/3g switch off were not mentioned, and nobody brought up the ridiculous costs being incurred by replacing meters time and time again without diagnosing the reason why the previous meter (sorry communication system) wasn't working. The benefits keep being pushed back and costs are continuing to rise - 4g communication hub installation still to come.

It is indeed a great case study in how not to manage a project effectively - something all Government have a track record of creating complete mess ups - but this might be one of the biggest.

BG got it in the neck. But gas meters perform worse than electricity meters and BG has a lot of gas customers from the old days. And gas meters have even less utility than electric smart meters.

Where was Milliband?

[geoffers]

Originally Posted by meldrewreborn

@retrotecchie
It is indeed a great case study in how not to manage a project effectively - something all Governments have a track record of creating complete mess ups
...but this might be one of the biggest.

Oooh : not so sure about that ... here's a new game we can play - can you beat these? 🤓

The UK's High Speed 2 (HS2) project is estimated to cost around £100 billion, which is about £200 million per kilometer. This is much higher than the average cost of high-speed rail in Europe, which is around £25–32 million per kilometer

£37 billion was spent on the entire NHS Test and Trace programme in its first two years. In the 2020-21 financial year (of which the app cost around £35 million)

over £4 billion has been spent so far on the much maligned Ajax armoured vehicle programme with only 44 of 589 vehicles delivered

[meldrewreborn]

@geoffers

indeed, one of the biggest. Opinions will differ on the value actually obtained from the others. But we can agree all have been lucrative job creation schemes for some.

[retrotecchie]

@meldrewreborn

Our Trident SLBM system cost £12.52bn when bought - about £21bn in 2022-23 prices, according to a House of Commons Library briefing . Annual running costs are estimated at 6% of the defence budget - about £3bn for 2023-24.

Now that at least is real value for taxpayers money compared to the consumers money wasted on smart meters 👍

[geoffers]

Originally Posted by retrotecchie

@meldrewreborn

Our Trident SLBM system cost £12.52bn when bought - about £21bn in 2022-23 prices, according to a House of Commons Library briefing . Annual running costs are estimated at 6% of the defence budget - about £3bn for 2023-24.

Now that at least is real value for taxpayers money compared to the consumers money wasted on smart meters 👍

Good point, but then again you get the government pushing other white elephant projects in the Queen Elizabeth class carriers.. Nice large target-practice for modern anti-ship missile systems 🥴
https://www.theguardian.com/news/def...s-on-the-ocean