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Smart meter - they update readings every 10 seconds, so usage per hour is simple. Currently, I'm using 381W per hour at a cost of £0.10.
THey have also had events where you can use less electricity in an hour than your norm, and out of four such events I've entered I've been rewarded with a total of £40.
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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Presumably not Gritish Bas then? 
At our previous house, we spent two years fighting to get them to fix the smart meter. They'd tell us it was working, then tell us we hadn't submitted a meter reading. When we complained, they'd say "it's a known issue, it'll be fixed in six months", then close the complaint as "resolved".
At our new house, the standard smart meters don't work because we're too close to RAF Fylingdales. Their call-centre staff don't understand, and think we're talking about the "known issue" - which still isn't fixed! - and just keep sending back canned responses to fob us off. We ended up having to go to the ombudsman just to get to talk to someone who actually understands the issue.
We've now ended up jumping ship to the Cthulhu-themed energy provider.
"These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined."
- Homer
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Yes, that's the one I've ended up with. Not by choice, the one I started with after research went bust, and I was transferred - on the orginal cheap rate - and they then went bust - but fitted the smart meter. Then they went bust and cheap deals dried up. So the government hit them with windfall taxes and they decided to get out of the business, so I ended up with Call of Cthulhu Energy Ltd. They don't seem too bad, but it looks like it may be worth starting to shop around again before winter sets in.
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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Not having a clue as what a "Cthulhu-themed energy provider" might be (they're not around here), I'm actually a bit impressed that I could google it without any problems.
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OK, maybe it's a bit of a stretch to get from Octopus[^] to Cthulhu. 
"These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined."
- Homer
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1.21GW, let's go travlin'!
"the debugger doesn't tell me anything because this code compiles just fine" - random QA comment
"Facebook is where you tell lies to your friends. Twitter is where you tell the truth to strangers." - chriselst
"I don't drink any more... then again, I don't drink any less." - Mike Mullikins uncle
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I can chain my extension cords together, but it'll still be a very short trip!
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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OriginalGriff wrote: so whack on anything I want and they'll credit my account with that much within 14 days ...
So charge up $10,000 tomorrow and then the day after they bill and charge your card that much. But it is ok because two weeks (or so with utilities) they will refund it.
No way that can go wrong.
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Sort the laundry now and load the washing machine, prepare the vacuum cleaner, prep your welding projects, build a vacuum enclosed fly wheel, turn your freezer to max cold, put all of warm beer in the fridge, etc.
It is going to be a busy hour!
Don’t forget to skew the data and power off your main the day before!
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When power companies contract to take a certain quantity of energy or at a certain power rate, if they miss the contracted rate they can be charged enormous fees. It sound like they've over bought for their current customer usage. Usually it works out at the wholesale market, because somebody is likely to have unexpected loads, but not always. If seen certain periods of time on the big exchanges where, for a small time, the cost swings from $50/MWh to $-200/MWh and worse. It's likely cheaper for your provider to pay the contract amount and give it to you than to pay the penalty rate for missing their target!
Will Rogers never met me.
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"Dear sir, I wish to help you to use as much electricity for free as possible all year round so you meet targets. My rate for this service is ..."
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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I would love to provide that service! 
This purchased power world can be challenging. I'm in the middle of a deal right now. I work for an Indian Tribe and have a Board of Directors I have to get approval from to move forward. The Western Area Power Authority (WAPA) markets all the cheap hydropower in the western US and operates the transmission grid to deliver it. We are entitled to small allocation of this power for $0.03/kWh, but we have no way to collect it, since our power company has no connection to the WAPA grid to gather it for us. The Navajo Tribe has offered us $0.053/kWh to take it on our behalf but I can't get my Board to agree to it. Go figure...
Will Rogers never met me.
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What would it cost to connect so you could? Remember, you could still sell some of it on at $0.04/kWh and recoup costs over the long term ...
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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The nearest WAPA substation where we could take delivery is about 30 miles away, with a lot of very rugged, mountainous desert between. I'd guess it would take roughly $200 million to build a line. Not happening soon, I suspect!
Will Rogers never met me.
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As a frequent visitor of the lounge, I've seen the many posts from suffering souls who have received a Windows upgrade and now stuff doesn't work, and I thought to myself: what a wonderful world I live in! (yes, I can see you at the punch line, please wait for me there  ) I've never had any upgrade problems, things kept working and the only inconvenience was that sometimes I'd find my laptop rebooted overnight. Bah! I can live with that.
This morning I see my laptop rebooted again for a Windows update and didn't thought much of it until I started VMware Workstation. The window would not resize! When I try to resize and shrink it a bit it keeps getting bigger. All the other apps work normally (at least those I tried). I don't even know if its' a Windows or a VMware thing.
Serves me well for being so insolent! From now on I'll try to be humble: Microsoft giveth (with an update), Microsoft taketh away (with the next update), blessedcursed be the name of Microsoft.
EPILOGUE - the day after
I set VMWare to run in compatibility mode (Windows 8) and was able to resize windows and all went back to normal. Than I removed the compatibility mode and it continues to run well. As I often say: only noobs still believe computers are deterministic machines 
Mircea
modified 15-Aug-24 10:07am.
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Insolent or just overly optimistic? 
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Greg Utas wrote: Insolent or just overly optimistic?
And, by, overly optimistic, you mean, “Oh, windows actually works as I expect it to.” 
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That's not optimisitic, that's unrealisitic 
M.D.V. 
If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about?
Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you
Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
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Who'd a thunk that after nearly 40 years of Windows things would be like this?
"the debugger doesn't tell me anything because this code compiles just fine" - random QA comment
"Facebook is where you tell lies to your friends. Twitter is where you tell the truth to strangers." - chriselst
"I don't drink any more... then again, I don't drink any less." - Mike Mullikins uncle
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Me?
>64
It’s weird being the same age as old people. Live every day like it is your last; one day, it will be.
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..and I'm usually considered the skeptical one.
"the debugger doesn't tell me anything because this code compiles just fine" - random QA comment
"Facebook is where you tell lies to your friends. Twitter is where you tell the truth to strangers." - chriselst
"I don't drink any more... then again, I don't drink any less." - Mike Mullikins uncle
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Mircea Neacsu wrote: to resize and shrink it a bit it keeps getting bigger
That would seem like something was remapped incorrectly.
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<ranting>
Pour out Thy wrath upon the heathens that know Thee not! (Psalms 79, 6)
</ranting>
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.
-- 6079 Smith W.
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Ironic. You would think with a name like "Windows" that managing Windows would be what the product does best.
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This phenomenon is quite common.
The Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
The People Republic's of China.
The United States Department of Education...
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