On Sun, 11 Dec 2016 19:55:42 +1100, Bruce >
wrote:

>In article >, Ophelia says...
>>
>> "U.S. Janet B." wrote in message
>> ...
>>
>> >We have generators but they don't come on automatically.
>> >
>> >We prefer them not to have so much power over us and so long as it not
>> >compulsory we won't have those meters.
>>
>> you can always go off the grid and then they have no power over you --
>> go solar. Or get gas powered appliances. By accepting modern
>> amenities like roads, water, electricity you are accepting the rules
>> of civilization. By tempering the amount of power some individuals
>> get during a stressed period, the utilities make sure enough power is
>> available for necessary functions like hospitals, police, the water
>> plant, individuals at home that must have electricity to live etc. The
>> utility is just spreading the impact among users. If this happens
>> often and you are worried about your electrical devices you should
>> hook all of them up to a either a whole house surge protector or
>> individual surge protectors. Looking at Google I see that whole house
>> surger protectors run from about $100 to $200 US if you buy and
>> install yourself. My utility does have a program where you as a
>> homeowner can volunteer to have less power delivered to your house
>> during periods when you know you will not be there. They offer
>> additional savings for participating in this program.
>> I guess the thing is that if we as citizens of this planet want to
>> continue to have babies, drive cars, use refrigerators etc. we need to
>> anticipate that we will have to all be part of sharing resources.
>> Sorry about the sermon. . .it wasn't aimed at you in particular.
>> Janet US
>>
>> =====================
>>
>> If the situation was that desperate here they would make it compulsory.
>
>In the two countries I've lived in, I've never heard of "tempering the
>amount of power some individuals get during a stressed period". Also, as
>countries use more sustainable energy, they're consuming a never ending
>resource.

There is off peak power here - if you set the dishwasher or dryer to
operate in the small hours of the morning, that power is cheaper. You
can also install night storage heaters which take power off peak and
then release it through the day. There is some commitment to do it
but those who do say it works when you get used to doing it.