Our first OVO Forum VIP day is done!

Darran,

Arriving back home at 1.40am, 4 hours sleep and another nap in the afternoon meant I didn't have a lot of time to find where to post this response (endorsing Tony's comments) but I too would like to thank all those involved and those who attended, all of whom managed to educate me more, some of which I liked and some of which I didn't ( regarding money and electricity being wasted rather than stored...thanks again Transparent...even if you do walk around with a roll of wallpaper under your arm). With regards to future agendas perhaps looking at the make up of those who attend and running your days to suit. Just get those attending to fill in a questionnaire before they arrive so you know their backgrounds, interests and what it is they are after.....I fully understand 6 anoraks with engineering backgrounds staring at a wall of gas and electric meters for 30 minutes....it's just not my cup of tea. EVs and Energy production and distribution however is a different kettle of fish..that said one out of seven isn't a bad success rate so I was happy to listen to all the "oohs and Aahs" from the corridor outside.

I was saddened to hear about Tony's lack of success with Smart Meters which appears to have tainted his view that they are useful and a waste of money. I was also surprised at his dismissal of my suggestion we educate children not to plug in their mobile phones and lap tops at peak period saying that 8 million school children's mobile devices equates to one kettle....so I thought I'd let him have a look at how I use my smart meter.

Below you'll find the print out of electricity usage for the day I was at OVO headquarters, 24 hours when no one was in my house and it was just ticking over. The house used 3 kW of power costing 43p after standing charge was removed. You can also see when the fridge freezer kicked in, more so during the warm day. On the right it shows a summary of what I used in categories for the previous month (It would be nice if I could see the daily use as well). This was the first time I'd been able to see 24 hours uninterrupted usage with the house just ticking over and now has allowed me to see what I should switch off when I go away, like TVs on standby, trickle chargers, fridge freezers, boilers (1.6p for the pilot light alone). In fact if I switch off everything unnecessary I can save 42 kW of electricity for an annual 2 week holiday...that's a full charge for the car or 160 miles worth of electricity, wasted.....or 21 kettles running for one hour......or 168 million schoolchildren plugging in their mobile phones....depending on your point of view (See Tony, I've even taken a positive from your negativity).....perhaps this is a good advert not only for Smart Meter Education but also Electricity conservation. If all the country managed to save 42 kW when they were on holiday, how much carbon dioxide could we reduce?