2015年经济学人 智能电表成电力公司又一诟病

Pricing energy

Remote controls

Smart meters promise another reason to resent energy firms

GOOD neighbours avoid doing laundry in the small hours.

Yet householders in the north east of England are growing keener on late-night loads.

Watched by academics at Durham University, volunteers are testing a tariff¹ that makes power more expensive when demand is high.

Some use washing machines that run only when energy is cheap.

Britons are used to paying variable prices for hotel rooms, train tickets and telephone calls.

Now some hope that smart electricity meters, which the government wants installed in every home by 2020,

will help energy suppliers charge in a similar way. Boosters say dynamic pricing can hold down bills and help save the planet.

It is also likely to make power firms even less popular than they already are.

Flexible pricing is supposed to discourage power use at peak times,

thereby² bringing down the overall cost of generation by cutting the need for power stations that run only a few hours each day.

Controlling energy use would also help network operators handle fluctuations³ in renewable power,

which rises and falls depending on how windy or sunny it is.

These problems will get more serious as Britain decarbonises:

using more green electricity to power things such as cars and heating will make demand spikes⁴ bigger—

and thus more costly—just as growth in renewables makes supply less dependable.

Some Britons have been using cheaper off-peak power since the late 1970s,

when “Economy 7” tariffs⁵ were created to encourage overnight demand for juice from nuclear power stations.

Smart meters, which will add about ￡12 billion ($20 billion) to energy bills as they are rolled out over the next five years,

are meant to save suppliers money by wirelessly⁶ transmitting meter readings,

and to provide households with information that can help them to use less power.

What excites energy experts is that, by recording⁷ full details of energy consumption,

they could also make it easier for suppliers to create several peak and off-peak periods during each day,

or even let prices float freely depending on the weather.

Last month Ofgem, the energy regulator, said it was mulling reforms that could enable rates to change every half-hour.

The problem is that a proliferation of complex tariffs risks making it more difficult for bill-payers to identify the cheapest ones,

even as regulators battle to simplify the market.

Critics also say that punitive⁸ charges at peak times could affect the poorest families disproportionately,

because they already use power only when it is essential.

And some fear that, without stronger competition, energy firms would use dynamic tariffs to raise prices, not just to even out demand.

The biggest worry is that people will not be persuaded to change their routines.

Many already pay too much for their energy because they have never bothered to switch supplier.

A study in 2012 by Consumer Focus—now part of the Citizens Advice Bureau—found that 38% of households with Economy 7 or similar tariffs did not use enough off-peak power to make it cheaper than a standard rate.

Trials of more dynamic tariffs report mixed success—and almost all of those have involved green-minded volunteers, not busy families.

Enthusiasts⁹ say variable pricing will work best when people can set gear such as freezers,

boilers¹⁰ and air-conditioners to respond automatically to pricing signals broadcast to their smart meter,

in exchange for a discount from their supplier. Fridges need not run constantly to keep their contents fresh, for example;

clever ones might perhaps turn themselves off during peak demand periods.

Yet bill-payers will probably find it creepy to hand outsiders control of their appliances.

A household full of smart devices would delight hackers¹¹.

And it will bring chewy legal problems, such as working out who to blame should faulty appliances churn through premium-priced power.

As Britain’s smart grid¹² expands, rumbling¹³ washing machines may not be the only thing keeping people awake.

1 tariff   

n.关税，税率；(旅馆、饭店等)价目表，收费表

参考例句：

• There is a very high tariff on jewelry.宝石类的关税率很高。
• The government is going to lower the tariff on importing cars.政府打算降低进口汽车的关税。

2 thereby   

adv.因此，从而

参考例句：

• I have never been to that city,,ereby I don't know much about it.我从未去过那座城市，因此对它不怎么熟悉。
• He became a British citizen,thereby gaining the right to vote.他成了英国公民，因而得到了投票权。

3 fluctuations   

波动，涨落，起伏( fluctuation的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He showed the price fluctuations in a statistical table. 他用统计表显示价格的波动。
• There were so many unpredictable fluctuations on the Stock Exchange. 股票市场瞬息万变。

4 spikes   

n.穗( spike的名词复数 )；跑鞋；（防滑）鞋钉；尖状物v.加烈酒于( spike的第三人称单数 )；偷偷地给某人的饮料加入（更多）酒精（ 或药物）；把尖状物钉入；打乱某人的计划

参考例句：

• a row of iron spikes on a wall 墙头的一排尖铁
• There is a row of spikes on top of the prison wall to prevent the prisoners escaping. 监狱墙头装有一排尖钉，以防犯人逃跑。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 tariffs   

关税制度； 关税( tariff的名词复数 )； 关税表； （旅馆或饭店等的）收费表； 量刑标准

参考例句：

• British industry was sheltered from foreign competition by protective tariffs. 保护性关税使英国工业免受国际竞争影响。
• The new tariffs have put a stranglehold on trade. 新的关税制对开展贸易极为不利。

6 wirelessly   

不用电线的，用无线电波传送的

参考例句：

• I heard it on the wireless. 我是从无线电收音机里听到的。
• There are a lot of wireless links in a radio. 收音机里有许多无线电线路。

7 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

8 punitive   

adj.惩罚的，刑罚的

参考例句：

• They took punitive measures against the whole gang.他们对整帮人采取惩罚性措施。
• The punitive tariff was imposed to discourage tire imports from China.该惩罚性关税的征收是用以限制中国轮胎进口的措施。

9 enthusiasts   

n.热心人，热衷者( enthusiast的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• A group of enthusiasts have undertaken the reconstruction of a steam locomotive. 一群火车迷已担负起重造蒸汽机车的任务。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Now a group of enthusiasts are going to have the plane restored. 一群热心人计划修复这架飞机。 来自新概念英语第二册

10 boilers   

锅炉，烧水器，水壶( boiler的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Even then the boilers often burst or came apart at the seams. 甚至那时的锅炉也经常从焊接处爆炸或裂开。 来自英汉非文学 - 科学史
• The clean coal is sent to a crusher and the boilers. 干净的煤送入破碎机和锅炉。

11 hackers   

n.计算机迷( hacker的名词复数 )；私自存取或篡改电脑资料者，电脑“黑客”

参考例句：

• They think of viruses that infect an organization from the outside.They envision hackers breaking into their information vaults. 他们考虑来自外部的感染公司的病毒，他们设想黑客侵入到信息宝库中。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Arranging a meeting with the hackers took weeks againoff-again email exchanges. 通过几星期电子邮件往来安排见面，他们最终同意了。 来自互联网

12 grid   

n.高压输电线路网；地图坐标方格；格栅

参考例句：

• In this application,the carrier is used to encapsulate the grid.在这种情况下，要用载体把格栅密封起来。
• Modern gauges consist of metal foil in the form of a grid.现代应变仪则由网格形式的金属片组成。

13 rumbling   

n. 隆隆声, 辘辘声 adj. 隆隆响的 动词rumble的现在分词

参考例句：

• The earthquake began with a deep [low] rumbling sound. 地震开始时发出低沉的隆隆声。
• The crane made rumbling sound. 吊车发出隆隆的响声。