[iot-discussion] What role does the SP play in protecting consumers re IoT?

> On 10 Apr 2017, at 16:00, Jim Reid <jim at rfc1035.com> wrote:
> 
> Thanks to the EU’s enthusiasm for smart meters, this is going happen with or without IoT pixie dust. The shiny new meters allow utility company computers cut you off if they think you’ve not paid your bill on time. The power companies won’t need to send someone round to physically cut the supply. For bonus points, now imagine the possibilities when customers switch energy providers or tariffs.

At least in NL their is some soft regulation that energy companies agree to not cut off people when it is freezing outside. My best bet is that the lawyers don’t want to end up defending proportionality between a death and an unpaid bill in a court room.

Of course as soon as the temperature is above 0C you are out of luck and in the dark. Also it only applies to new cases, if they already switched you off they maintain that state, which sadly has led to incidents even this winter involving CO poisoning because of a make shift indoor fire.

On the topic at hand, with more and more people generating their own electricity and feeding surplus back onto the grid, you probably also want a reliable way to make sure you can cut off those installations and properly neutralise the grid before doing any work. As much as I do not like them to switch me off remotely, I also would like to make sure that when an installation is ’safe” to work, it remains that way.

Marco
(and we haven’t even talked about tornado sirens yet)