People here are turning to this:
$100 plus $25 / year isn’t nearly enough for that risk.
Hello...Xcel Customer Service?
Yes
Yeah...can I get an advance on my $25 participation reward? I need a fix REAL bad.
And, some weed.
$25 a year is not enough to incent me to give a utility total control over my thermostat.
Right up there with smart tvs and gaming consoles being able to see and hear what’s going on in your home.
Big bro is already here.
But I do love my smart thermostat.
Not only does it automatically cool down the house at night and warm it back up in the morning. But it’s linked into Google Home and I can just say “Hey Google, lower the thermostate a degree”.
It’s magic!
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic” - Authur C. Clarke
And these people were dumb enough to sign up and allow these turds to control their thermostat
And when everyone or a large pe4centage of people will be prisoners to electric vehicles, control of the people will be made that much easier. Powers that be can shut down peoples’ ability for mobility just as they’re doing to their ability to stay cool.
$100 plus $25 / year isn’t nearly enough for that risk.
There will be more “emergencies” declared all the time. It’s how they control us. Declare an emergency, obtain exceptional powers over the folks, and that power cannot be contested.
Just got a “smart” thermometer (in California where we are suffering endless days over 100 degrees- and the fragile electrical grid can barely keep up).
Son-in-law was able to make sure it wasn’t hooked up to any outside agencies that could control it.
I have a feeling we’ll all be forced into this at some point.
These thermostats will be MANDATED by politicians everywhere because it fulfills their religious objective - to control our energy.
“Have a SMART thermostat? Might want to rethink that.”
9/1/2022. Posted and discussed.
Rewards program enrollees only.
Power companies have been at this game a LONG time. I remember 30 years ago the power company would ‘offer’ some kind of discount on your bill if you’d let them install an additional ‘compressor controller’ on your outdoor unit that was probably SCADA controlled over the power lines.
In effect, they’d pulse out that signal over the power lines and any of their devices would shut off power to your AC compressor only. Fans still ran, indoor fans ran, but no cooling - the biggest power drain.
They’re just using technology as a cheaper alternative to the manpower-intensive operation to install that outdoor unit disabler....
IMO, as a public utility that gives all sorts of break to big businesses and huge drains, my wanting to get power for AC that I’m willing to pay for is THEIR problem. IOW, I’d never allow them to install anything they can control if I can help it.
Totally foreseeable, people who installed them must be crazy. Electric cars will be next.
People here are turning to this:
Turn on a lamp with a 100w bulb next to the thermostat. You’ll find it’s not a smart as they say.
a manual thermostat and some wire still works...
“Have a SMART thermostat? Might want to rethink that.”
I have one, but I also studied the wiring and can bypass it when needed.
Tuesday was the first time that Xcel locked those thermostats, a company spokesperson said.
—
“Lock this!”
Disconnects wire leads from thermostat and “short wires” connection to start the A/C.
EBH :" Have a SMART thermostat? Might want to rethink that."
(From the news source):" Xcel started a program six years ago, called the AC Rewards program, in which customers get rebates in exchange for allowing Xcel to adjust their thermostat on the hottest summer days to ease strain on the electrical grid.
Participating customers need to sign up for the program, and about 22,200 have done that in Colorado."
"Tuesday was the first time that Xcel locked those thermostats, a company spokesperson said."
The grid experienced an energy emergency that day, due to high temperatures and a unit at a power plant that went offline.
The company was not selling energy out of state, Xcel said."
Xcel customers who have certain types of smart thermostats can opt into the AC Rewards Program.
They get a onetime $100 enrollment bill credit and $25 every year they participate in the program. "