Posted on 09/01/2022 6:42:58 AM PDT by george76
22,000 people lost control of temperatures in their homes for hours Tuesday..
DENVER — During the dog days of summer, it's important to keep your home cool. But when thousands of Xcel customers in Colorado tried adjusting their thermostats Tuesday, they learned they had no control over the temperatures in their own homes.
...
Xcel confirmed to Contact Denver7 that 22,000 customers who had signed up for the Colorado AC Rewards program were locked out of their smart thermostats for hours on Tuesday.
"It's a voluntary program. Let's remember that this is something that customers choose to be a part of based on the incentives," said Emmett Romine, vice president of customer solutions and innovation at Xcel.
Customers receive a $100 credit for enrolling in the program and $25 annually, but Romine said customers also agree to give up some control to save energy and money and make the system more reliable.
"So, it helps everybody for people to participate in these programs. It is a bit uncomfortable for a short period of time, but it's very, very helpful," said Romine.
This is the first time in the program's six year span that customers could not override their smart thermostats, Romine said. He said the "energy emergency" was due to an unexpected outage in Pueblo combined with hot weather and heavy air conditioner usage.
But Talarico said he had no idea that he could be locked out of the thermostat. While he has solar panels and a smart thermostat to save energy, he says he did not sign up to have this much control taken away.
"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. "Even if it's a once-in-a-blue-moon situation, it just doesn't sit right with us to not be able to control our own thermostat in our house."
“...who had signed up for the Colorado AC Rewards program...”
Interruptible power supplies are a routine part of most electric utilities, both residential and commercial. If the interruptions increase significantly, the utilities will have to increase the incentive, otherwise this story is so unsurprising, I am amazed it was published.
“Lot’s of EV lovers in Colorado.”
28,722 to be exact.
This is like the SMART garage door openers.
I asked the guy trying to sell me one:
“Why would I want to let someone have remote access to my house though my Smart Phone?”
He said:
“So, you can open your garage door when you’re not home.”
I said:
“Why would I want to do that?
“Lot’s of EV lovers in Colorado.”
28,722 to be exact.
That’s 0.71% of all autos in the state.
Penny wise, pound foolish.
“””22,000 customers who had signed up for the Colorado AC Rewards program were locked out”””
Those 22,000 folks signed up for this program and over the years have received a discount on their electrical bill.
This is like the college students who whine that they incurred $100,000 in loans and now have to pay it back.
****
AC Rewards program
They expected something different like no shut down duh.
Yep.
Thermostats output signal are simply heat/cool, on/off.
For most systems, it would be ridiculously easy to install a small on/off switch that would bypass the thermostat.
Yes. Mine was replaced over my objection. Of course I was assured it was strictly for costs savings so that they can ‘read’ the usage at their office/plant instead of sending personnel out to read the meters manually. I wonder what other capability is available with the ‘smart’ meters.
“Smart appliances, stupid owners...”
Yep.
Volunteering to save energy for those who don’t.
You can take your smart thermostat and shove it up your snout.
“It’s a voluntary program. Let’s remember that this is something that customers choose to be a part of based on the incentives,”
For now. Completely compulsory very very soon…….
Pulling the plug on the router requires an IQ of at least 80.
Apparently these homeowners couldn’t qualify.
;-)
We had no choice but to get a s,art meter. I liv in California where they turn our power off for a lot of reasons. We spent a lot of money to buy a whole house generator which is wired into our house. It turns itself on when needed. Thankfully we don’t have a “smart” thermostat!
they never mention a loss of total control with the installation of these “smart” thermostats... it is a loss of total control. it is going to be very cold this winter.
winter is coming.
more people die from the cold, than the warmth. that is the plan.
Well, they had a small incentive, that at the time the signed up may have seemed larger before inflation changed that reality. 😋
NVEnergy has been trying to “give” us interweb controlled thermostats for a couple years now. Uh, NO!. Our elec meter, gas meter and water are all remote connected already. Not sure but the default setting may be(?) ‘OFF’ if there is an issue. 🥵
Well, this is interesting since I just replaced my central heat and air unit. I was made aware of and signed on to the incentives. It was more than just the $100 and $25/year for me. About $800 rebate for this year for going with a high efficiency system.
But the external thermostat control wasnt explained to me at sale, and who reads all the fine print (really who has time?)
My new system has worked great since install. I did notice on recent occasion (like this past week) that while I had the AC on temperature set to 75 during the day, I would come home after work and see the temp at 79 on the thermostat. I am sure the house at the thermostat was not that high though, it was still comfortable, so while confusing, I chalked it up to me not understanding the thermostat settings.
I run the blower to circulate the air all 100% of the time so the AC doesnt have to work nearly as much. I have to check and see if the blower is also being over-ridden by the external control of the thermostat.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.