Sigh. Not this s**t again.
Look, I design wireless meter reading equipment and "smart meters" for a living. I hold a patent that is the basis for my company's "drive-by" system. I know a few things about them, OK?
They do not "control life" in citizens' homes. If you agree to have your pool pump or water heater shut down at peak demand times, you can always go and push the button and turn it back on. Demand response SAVES PEOPLE MONEY by avoiding power drain at peak times, when utilities have to bring expensive auxilliary generation on-line.
I guess you'd prefer rolling blackouts. Keep up the attacks on metering, and you'll have them soon enough.
These meters have so little memory in their little computers, there isn't room for surveillance or whatever you think they are doing. And if any of that kind of crap showed up at a software design review at my company, it would immediately be taken out, because that isn't the kind of junk we do.
And "smart grid" is just a method to re-route large electric transmission lines to meet demand and to overcome damage. If there was a severe solar storm, or God forbid, EMP, a "smart grid" might allow us to shut down in time to avoid damage.
And as to "hackable", I'd like to see any hacker try. Oh, wait, they did, and 256-bit AES encryption isn't breakable in a reasonable length of time. That's why the NSA and other government agencies use it for encryption of top-secret data.
I get so tired of these threads that bash American meter manufacturers who create thousands of high-tech jobs. There is plenty of Agenda 21 and other communist crap in government. Take the witch hunt ELSEWHERE.
“I guess you’d prefer rolling blackouts. Keep up the attacks on metering, and you’ll have them soon enough. “
Some of us prefer SUFFICIENT CAPACITY. But there is another story about 200 coal plants being shutdown. Yes, we can shut them down, as long as we control when people use power.
You may like that, being an insider and lining your wallet with it, but most people that I know don’t.
I’m in the industry as well. So tired of the lies and hysteria when it’s much better applied on real problems.