Thousands of Xcel customers locked out of thermostats during ‘energy emergency’
https://t.co/QpZLxRBCoy
— SemperFidelity (@semper_fidelity) September 1, 2022
Posted on 09/01/2022 7:36:10 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
For many Americans, the summer of 2022 has been a blistering hot and humid miserable existence. It’s just one of those years when one truly appreciates the comfort provided by something as simple as an air conditioning unit. How did we live without them?
But for some 22,000 Xcel Energy customers in Colorado who wanted to be a little more comfortable on Tuesday when the thermometer was pegged at 90+ degrees, a bizarre message flashed on their thermostats indicating they’d lost the ability to control the temperature in their own homes.
According to KMGH-TV, “Energy Emergency” was part of the message that flashed on thermostats as temperatures skyrocketed and Xcel customers desperately tried to crank the A/C.
“Temperature locked temporarily during energy emergency. Due to a rare energy emergency that may affect the local energy grid, your temperature slider has been changed from 8:00 pm – 8:00 pm because you enrolled in a Community Energy Savings Program,” the full message read.
Thousands of Xcel customers locked out of thermostats during ‘energy emergency’
https://t.co/QpZLxRBCoy— SemperFidelity (@semper_fidelity) September 1, 2022
However, customers enrolled in the otherwise innocent-sounding “program,” like Tony Talarico, had absolutely no idea they could lose full control of the ability to cool down their house during a nasty heat wave.
“Normally, when we see a message like that, we’re able to override it,” Talarico said, according to KMGH-TV. “In this case, we weren’t. So, our thermostat was locked in at 78 or 79.”
“To me, an emergency means there is, you know, life, limb, or, you know, some other danger out there — some, you know, massive wildfires,” Talarico said.
(Excerpt) Read more at pjmedia.com ...
Nanny state ping.
“Isn’t this what they signed up for when they made the deal with the energy company?”
They didn’t make a ‘deal’ with the energy company. The PUC did. And I’m pretty sure the Colorado PUC is corrupt.
NEVER! Never allow the power company to deign to give you a lower rate so they can have you use a thermostat they can control OR a device placed on your AC that allows them to cycle the compressor off whenever they want to, period. NEVER
Why the IOT is going to be a bad thing.
Can't say for sure, but I think if you have a "smart" thermostat you also have a "smart" meter. It will know if the thermostat has been removed.
They can just shut off your power from the office.
Keep an old mercury thermostat switch to swap in - hard lesson learned by a tech friend that installed an app-controlled thermostat...darn near froze when a power outage during a hard freeze took away his ability to control his gas furnace.
But the family all can’t charge their cell phones at once. Boys on even daze, girls on odd daze.
The same day, Honeywell saw a boom of sales of old-school mercury switch thermostats in Colorado. Odd coincidence.
UGH! Energy company locks thermostats at +80 degrees for 22,000 customers during ‘energy crisis’
I wonder if the company did that to elderly customers, too...
and be able to spend time outdoors burning calories mowing the lawn and inside cleaning the house, learning to cook real food...etc.
...but we need our time for FB, Pinterest, TikTok, etc...
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I was talking to a family member in the last day or two. The prediction is that the US is headed for pre-WWII conditions. So folks will have to be more self-sufficient and find ways to take care of themselves ... requires actual ‘work’, cooking, growing food, perhaps chopping wood if the grid isn’t working, etc. “Losing” the things you mentioned above will be a ‘good’ thing, IMO. For those who have common sense, think people should be self-sufficient and are willing to work at it, they’ll be just fine. The folks who want to sit back and have the government provide everything, want to work from their basements in their PJs, rely on grocery stores, and on and on .... life is going to be super hard & they’ll either make it or they won’t. People in cities are going to be screwed .... why I’m seeing a lot of prescient public (conservative) folks saying “get out of the cities”. What I’m most worried about is when city life becomes untenable and those ferals & others who have no qualms about taking what is not theirs, even if they have to kill for it, flee the cities .... we’ve got land, trees, a garden, could raise our own meat .... but I don’t think we’re far enough outside of the fleeing city masses that we won’t have to contend with those who want what we have. I see a ‘dystopian’ situation coming our way.
No power = no furnace fan anyway.
“because you enrolled in a Community Energy Savings Program...”
So once again, people failed to read the fine print.
“How are these thermostats connected to the utility?”
Doesn’t matter because the utility company owns the thermostats and I’m sure if you break the connection for any significant amount of time, they will simply cease to function. These people signed up for allowing the utility company to control their thermostats and they are getting what they agreed to.
yup.. I’d have that POS off the wall in less than a minute and the wires shorted so the a/c comes back on..
then I’d go searching for the old t-stat.
The very reason I refused to sign onto that program, despite City Public Service’s protestations that “We’d NEVER do that! You’ll ALWAY have override control!”
“At your air handler just jump R-Y-G to keep cool”
99.99% of adults have no idea what you’re saying. I do, though.
I’d have to see the numbers to determine if I’d want their “we can turn it off” option. If the annual savings were great enough I’d probably do it. I don’t mind suffering a little.
Poor babies. Locked at 78 or 79? That’s awful.
NOT.
Ours stays at 78 all summer and has since the 70s. It has been done for economics alone all those years. In the winter it is at 68 for the same reason.
If I lived in Denver most of the other dry places in Colorado I would use evaporative coolers just like we did in the desert regions of Texas. They are cheap to operate and work very well in those climates.
How do snowflakes ever make it out of the house in the mornings?
How do snowflakes ever make it out of the house in the mornings?
Heyyyyy! “Every avalanche starts with a snowflake.” /s
We learn more about smart meters everyday.
Most of us on our culdesac open our windows and skylights in the evening and close them in the morning as the temps rise.
We have 2 retired MDs on our street, one from Boston and one from Gay Frisco. Their acs are on 24/7, and they are now complaining about $700 PG&E bills and more per month just for electric bills.
It is supposed to get to 95/98 later this afternoon. It is still only 64 outside. So most of us have opened windows. patio doors and skylights and no AC on. We will close up later to preserve the cool air and to avoid using AC.
You can hear their AC units cranking 24/7 and wasting money. Both families are old line liberals. They feel that they should get special rates to run their AC’s 24/7.
NOTHING is free from the government!
NOTHING!
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