Posted on 03/12/2010 8:04:49 PM PST by thecodont
When Pacific Gas and Electric Co. announced it was installing smart meters, they weren't exactly giving customers the option of turning down the device. But one Bay Area man demanding his constitutional rights told CBS5 that he doesn't want a new meter. Period.
"To me it's unconstitutional, it's an invasion of my privacy," said Mark Dieteman.
The smart meter allows PG&E to watch energy usage remotely and lets customers monitor how much electricity they use. However, residents have blamed the devices for a dramatic increase in their bills, prompting calls for an investigation. A Bakersfield man also filed a class-action lawsuit, which claims customers were overcharged and should get a refund.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/scavenger/detail?entry_id=59017#ixzz0i1gBR6wC
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
That happen to me too. However, it did not completely stop. It just started moving at a snails pace. My bill went down 90%.
You are so right.
Did you use your heavy appliances during the cheaper hours?
You must not be in TEXAS!
I’ve heard that one can encourage that with strong magnets. They sell very strong magnets at Harbor Freighht Tools.
They never told us anything about “cheaper hours”. They installed a new digital meter a few months ago is all we know.
lol. You were in no hurry to report it I guess.
LOL
Years ago, our meter seemed to be on the fritz and we were getting very low readings. After a few months, my wife reported it, just because she was afraid that we would get some kind of retroactive estimate dumped on us. They didn’t do anything, and I believe she reported the apparent problem again one or more times. I think it was a year or more before they came out and fixed it. I think they finally discovered it for themselves ... not sure. They didn’t seem concerned about making any billing adjustments. Maybe such a thing is legally impossible, dunno.
Funny thing about electric meters...
Check out the one on your house or apartment. Watch how fast it spins. Now turn on a heavy draw appliance like your oven and observe how quickly the dial spins up.
Now turn off the appliance and notice that the dial spins down, but at an appreciably slower rate of decline than its previous rate of acceleration.
Funny, huh?
I didn’t think so either...
Maybe they just figured it cost more to get it than it was worth
Yes, but apparently as a matter of standing policy. I feel sure that the costs have their basis in consumer protection in one way or another. Not that I'm complaining! What would give them the right to bill for unmetered usage ?
Hmmm...maybe the smart meter and time of usage meter are two different things. We have a set time when power is cheaper and we use our heavier appliances around those times.
That would be a really interesting court case, but you don’t need smart meters to notice a house using 10 times the power of a regular home.
Then there had to have been a rate increase. It’s absurd to think the power co is “making up” usage numbers because this is impossible to conceal.
you don’t need smart meters to notice a house using 10 times the power of a regular home.
HHHMMMM ALGORES growing an indoor crop.
My parents farm had a meter in the middle of all the out buildings. That metered all electrical use for everything. It got hit by lightning and stopped working. My Dad called the electric company twice but they did nothing so he quit calling. They got a CREDIT every month of $25.00 because they didn’t use any electricity!
This went on for 3 years until we re-wired the house and installed a new 200 amp service. We had a new meter installed on the house and stopped using the other meter. Once the power company saw the actual usage they wanted a refund of three years worth of credits.
Of course my Dad told them where to go and after a while they stopped asking.
Similarly my business was in a rented office building where we were for 5 years (we moved to bigger digs). For the whole 5 years the power company was reading the wrong meter and we were billed for the neighboring office and they got our bills. We always wondered why they had most of their lights off all the time and kept the A/C at 80 degrees! So after we moved the power company figured it out and tried to bill us for a couple thousand bucks - what a joke!
In our part of Northern Arkansas, redneck country, our Coop installed digital meters two or three years ago. I did not experience any great or noticeable increase in usage. I do keep monthly records. Nobody comes by to read the meter as is is done by radio interrogation.
This week my water company came by and installed new digital water meters that can be read by a truck driving down the street. California has got to get modern like our part of Arkansas
/Salute
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