Posted on 03/18/2012 3:01:05 PM PDT by RedMDer
Starting in May, Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. will begin installing "smart meters" in a huge undertaking intended to modernize Central Maryland's electricity grid and save customers money by helping them control energy use. ...
"We look at this as the most transformational change in the electricity grid in the last 100 years," said Mark D. Case, BGE's vice president of strategy and regulatory affairs. "It is really not overstating it to describe it in those terms."
(Excerpt) Read more at baltimoresun.com ...
More transformational change where we can’t opt out.
“..save customers money by helping them control energy use...”
Gee, I wonder what ‘control energy use’ means.
>>>Gee, I wonder what ‘control energy use’ means.
It means they can “pull the plug” on you at their will by sending a signal to the meter.
Exactly. They already know what the usage is for each customer.
More government takeover of people’s lives. Denying people the right to set their thermostats to what is comfortable to them.
I wonder if Obama still has the Whitey House at 80 degrees in the winter?
Cause he is from Hawaii dontcha know.
He can do WHATEVER he WANTS, and don’t you ever forget that, you unruly peasant!!;)
You mean, the White Shack, no?
Or as other FRpers put it, the White Hut.
They've been able to do that for years. These new meters are digital and the user is able to "track" their power use daily, keep a log of it. I've had one for years, and it's been very helpful. But now they want radio transmissions to track it from their headquarters. My big objection is the radio waves it introduces to your home.
Florida Power and Light is also deep into the installation project. Over 500 unskilled jobs will be lost as a result. It makes economic sense but the unprecedented automation - e.g. rubbish pickup has gone down from a truck with three men to only one operating the truck and barrel lift - is quickly making unskilled labor a thing of the past. Heaven help the unschooled inner city youth.
I opted out here in SoCal, at least until they do whatever the heck they want. They’ve done our neighborhood but mine has opt out tag on it. I just don’t trust anything this government says will “help me.”
“Or as other FRpers put it, the White Hut.”
I thought it was “The White Crib.”
I also installed programmable light switches that turned off and on according to my schedule whether I was at home or not. Being a single woman, I liked coming home into a house with some lights on especially in the dark winter months without having to burn electricity all day long when I didn’t need to.
Heh, heh, good one!!!
We went on a delayed installation list, but that will go away after April. If we want to opt out after that, we get a one time fee of $75 and $10 a month charge for the privilege of not having a smart meter. Seems they are better as tracking parasitic useage and most bills go up. I detest SCE because they shorten and extend our days between readings, and because we are three tiered, we inevitably get to pay more per kilowath hour on the 35 day readings. If the smart meters eliminate that problem it’ll be a small miracle.
It appears as though the electric companies have figured out that people are going to be able to afford and pay for the energy rates we are going to get from Barry the Kenyan Guy and his EPA energy gestapo. Whatever happened to America? The Obama voters sure need their asses kicked for causing this crap.
I was talking with a local HVAC guy here. He told me of a NEW regulation that is going into effect later on this year. Before the inspector can sign off on an installation he MUST install a programmable thermostat and is SHALL be programmed for certain temperatures. I think it was 65 for heat and 78 or 80 for cool. I’m not really sure about the settings.
He was angry about it because many of his customers will balk at a new installation if they can’t keep their old thermostat. He said he could teach them how to program it after the inspection but not before hand. Just another set of intrusive regulations as far as he was concerned.
Well,,,, all my Black buddies refer to their domicile as their “Crib.” That’s old slang, going back at least 40 years.
There is almost always someone at home here and I really don’t like the idea of a radio transmitter attached to our house. Besides it should be none of the energy company’s business how much I want to spend in electrical or gas power. Evidently they now want to make their business.
We’ve had those for quite a while down here in Georgia...you know, “Tobacco Road”, “Crackerville”...hey, it’s St. Crackers Day today down here. Hold muh beer!
NJ tried that on a voluntary basis. People signed up and within one year most of them opted out. Why? When one powers down the AC not all AC units can handle that resulting in damaged AC. Other problem is when the AC is powered down that it generates only luke cool air in the ducts, the vent ducts condensate water damaging wall sheet rock and cause mold growth. One customer had drippings from a vent above his electrical panel that he almost failed to sell his house when the inspector found rust spots on his electrical panel. BGE will end up with lawsuits for damage if they impose these smart meters on customers. If mold growth caused health problems to the customer the damage can be even worst.
I pay for a smart meter but don’t have one.
I don’t disagree with you one bit. It should not be mandatory. I however found it was a good fit for me and saved me money as I lived alone and worked. Honestly the times I was a home during the day and worked from home, which was quite often at my last job, I noticed very little difference and had my programmable thermostat programmed such as the heat or air was turned down anyway and if I found it too hot or too cold, I could still override the thermostat and the smart meter and set the temperature to where I wanted. It’s not as if BGE is going to completely turn off the air or heat at their whim.
Good points. It also takes a lot of energy to cool a hot house and warm a cold one. IMHO, it is better to set it and forget it.
It means cutting your arsssss off when they feel like it. New form of civil disobedience punishment when you get out of line. Don't need no stinking court order, just shut up and don't mess with us.
Maryland "Freak State" PING!
With my electric baseboard heat, I do manually turn it down in the kitchen/living room at night (the dog doesn't care) but leave the bedrooms/baths at one temp (somewhere around 60).
We have Delmarva Power and so far we get the offers in the mail for smart meters, but nothing mandatory yet from MD.
I thought I had a smart meter but I am beginning to wonder what I have. What I have allows the electric company to read my meter, first from the street without coming around into my back yard, and now I think they can read it from their office. What I have is great and has nothing to do with turning my a/c or heat off.
We got our smart meters a couple of years ago. That is when we started to research alternative electrical energy systems. We are planning a move out of the burbs soon and have found our alternative system. So when the power company shuts down our electricity because we have exceeded our alotted, rationed KW’s for the month we will just pull a switch and be back in business. Its coming folks.
The transmitter may be tied to a computer with a voter registration data base... just saying.
As crappy as it was to have the power go off a few times a day for short periods I’d rather they did that than being without any for days at a time.
ping
About the same as Moochelle telling you what you can and can't eat.
double-standard-alert.
I shred those offers every single time,
Really IMO the only reason for the so-called “Smart Meters” is to eliminate costly meter reading jobs for the power companies, and to comply with U.N. restrictive energy use goals for AGW aka; “Climate Change”.
Part real in cost reductions, yet quite unreal in the sheer idiocy of the fantasy of AGW.
Getting the U.S. out of the U.N., or at least getting the ICLEI the “H” out of our State’s affairs would be advantageous to remaining a free nation.
I shred them too.
Put them in the White House first since the Dictator in Chief insists on keeping the White House warm while telling taxpaying Americans they are not permitted to just set their thermostat at whatever temperature they want.
People using a lot of grow lamps in their basements for herb production should probably be concerned. The smart reader is also harder to bypass.
Why would one want to opt out? There will be big cost savings by eliminating all the meter readers,their vehicles and the personnel needed to manually process the data.
I have such a meter and it poses no threat, neither real nor imagined
Don’t you have a hand held radio transmitter called a cell phone? The system is essentially a cell phone that transmits preprogrammed data.
The meter doesn’t pose a threat, just as turning in our guns poses no threat, just as relinquishing control of anything you use poos no threat.
The threat will come later when the masses are impotent to resist the controlling authority.
FWIW, I agree there are cost savings associated with remote meter reading, but coupled with motion detector switches and timer switches, which also may be monitored by others, the privacy of each citizen is being stalked.
It is now feasible to identify the exact location of every person on military bases simply by controlling their energy management systems. Great intel tool if one were an adversary of the Constitution.
Since the motives to install these are economic, why aren’t the costs to install also included in their economic analyses?
Why perform $200-$2000 in materials and labor while inviting huge public relations liabilities to save no more than $2-20 in power?
Why interrupt the normal utility cycles with higher dynamic transients in demand metrics when larger utility systems are more reliable with slower changing systems?
There are more significant arguments against their distribution and use than supporting them. Additionally, they empower centralized control and allow communication of previously private information.
No more hiding places for Anne Franks.
Life is for living, not for fearing
Exactly. Great argument for not installing such invasive technology.
So you do not see it as the way for the utility to limit your use? Or perhaps you enjoy the idea of outside control of your home and your own ability to ‘control’ your energy usage?
Out here in the boonies of east TN, when we want to control our energy use, we use those little wall thingies, I think you might call them ‘switches’ or somesuch.
Perhaps you will also welcome a mandated engine governor for your vehicle that can be monitored and adjusted to give you the very best milage while you drive?
What does it look like down there under all that sand?
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