Posted on 04/07/2011 8:45:08 AM PDT by Clint Williams
After being directed to create a SmartMeter opt-out proposal by the California Public Utilities Commission early last month, PG&E released a proposal that has angered customers who are frustrated with the high costs of disabling the meters, considering that they never gave their consent for installation.
The opt-out proposal, which was released March 24, allows customers to disable the radios inside their gas or electric meters with the option of either paying a $135 up-front fee followed by a $20 monthly charge or a $270 up-front fee followed by a $14 monthly charge to cover the costs of implementing the program, which involves sending workers to manually read meters. ...
(Excerpt) Read more at dailycal.org ...
You are darn right my friend!!
Supply and demand, pure capitalism. If you want to use electricity in peak demand hours, why should it not cost you more?
remotely load shed (shut your stuff off)...
I'm on the fence on this one. On one hand, they can prevent brownouts or blackouts by turning off unnecessary or "convenience" loads. Why should we tolerate a blackout on a 100+ summer day because a bunch of people want it to be 65 degrees inside, when there would be no blackouts if nobody went below 75? Or reverse it, people like Obama wanting it to be 80+ in sub-zero weather? When it's a limited resource, other peoples' actions do affect me.
The 1984 aspect is troubling though.
I would be suing, they never authorized the work in the first place.
This is theft.
Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner.
In addition, being able to shut down power supplied to customers means that the utility company does not have to invest in upgraded transmision lines or new power plants.
They can now use the upgrade and R&D funds for salaries and union dues.
These devices being installed provide no control to inside equipment or have the ability to curtail demand.
They can monitor demand at any moment in time and bill accordingly rather than only on monthly total total consumption.
A lot of people throw out the term smart meter meaning a variety of different things.
But without installing additional equipment inside the home, the smart meter only reports and cannot control.
They think it could send more than basic units-used information?
Yes. It’s going to be used to ‘turn off’ your power (by the company) whenever they want. Purported during high demand times (summer), they’ll spread the ‘pain’ of turning the power off across a wide swatch of people, and rotate it so no one person/neighborhood is turned off for an extended period of time.
However, it essentially means you have ceded control of your electric decisions to someone else; so you CAN’T keep the house at 72 year round, even if you WANTED to.
It’s like having a contract with Comcast or Time Warner (or DirecTv, Dish, etc) and they decided what time the TV will work, and what channels you’ll watch, in my opinion.
I didn’t know that, I thought it was the health problems when you opened your bill to discover that you owe millions for power due to their buggy meters.
*IF* the power company would fire the meter readers and lower the cost of the service they provide, then that makes sense.
However, they won’t. Additionally, it can be used to remotely shut off your power, without anyone ever coming out - just at the touch of a keystroke.
If you MESS WITH UTILITY PROPERTY AT ALL...you are “tampering”...
http://www.pge.com/myhome/saveenergymoney/energysavingprograms/smartac/
Get ready for rolling black outs....
In AMERICA.
The meters being installed by PG&E do not have that capability.
They will be used to increase rates during periods of peak demand.
This program has been ongoing for several years by PG&E.
More info at:
http://www.pge.com/about/newsroom/newsreleases/index.jsp?type=Smart Grid
I see. And they could even pick who they turned off, if they judged that they were using more than they judged was reasonable.
Nasty.
You are already penalized in California for your electric usage. PG&E works on tiers and the baselines are set so low noone can stay under them.
They lie about the reason on their website though. The tiers were put in place to pay back all the borrowing the state did for electricity when Gray Davis was governor. It is one of the main reasons he was recalled. We are still paying for it. I believe it was done through 30 yr bonds.
http://www.pge.com/myhome/myaccount/charges/
“considering that they never gave their consent for installation”
The utilities get around this through existing easements. They’re allowed to do work on your property.
So nothing to do, per installation. Participation in the program (allowing them to cut your power during peak loads) is another story.
I imagine they’ll be stuck yelling at their local gov officials.
I am curious. How did they shut off your air conditioner without shutting off the power for rest of the house?
They attach a device to your air conditioner. I had it at my old house. My air was never shut off (that I noticed0.
Smart Meters inherently have the capability to control any smart appliances in your house. Whirlpool and GE will have washer/dryer units and hot water heaters on the market this year. The system is two way - they send your consumption data and the system at the client end receives commands to control the smart appliances. One utility has boasted of being able to control over 200 electrical devices at a single home. It is expected that smart appliances will be mandated over the next 3-4 years.
See http://epic.org/privacy/smartgrid/smartgrid.html
Absolute nonsense.
Smart Meters do not spy on your house, and they don't turn off your electricity arbitrarily. I design them for a living, and I can tell you, they don't have the computing brainpower to do all the evil things people attribute to them.
They just meter electricity, and transmit the readings by radio signal so meter readers can read more houses in a day. Yes, some smart meters can remotely turn off HVAC. YOU CAN OVERRIDE IT. Geez. What paranoia.
NOT TRUE. I design them, for pete's sake; I know what I'm talking about. Very few smart meters my company ships have the ability to control anything except our load switches, and our partnering companies'. There is not some magic zot beam that can turn appliances off at will. Even the Zigbee Power Profile meters from my company and our competitors can't control just any and every appliance.
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