Smart Meter rant- technology going Backwards!

[3930dave]

Is it just me, or does paying more for cooking or doing laundry during the day seem ridiculous ???

Can you imaging going to the grocery store (after all these years) and suddenly having to pay an extra 40% because you do your week's worth of shopping on a Thursday, Friday, or Saturday ? Or stopping to gas up your car and paying an extra $20 because you did it at 5:30 on your way home from work instead of at 11pm ???

Something is really, really, wrong here.

It's easy and fun to save money under these Time of Use programs ! Just put your kids to bed hungry right after they get home from school, then wake 'em up at 11pm when you can (maybe) afford to cook them dinner, do some laundry, and run computers and TVs.

If you want to really get ticked off, read up on the companies and export markets (depending where you are) that pay: Little, or Nothing, or actually GET PAID to consume electricity !

Us peasants are definitely getting ****** on this one. Corporations - laughing, as usual.

Rgds, D.

 

[Soundguy]

the smart meter on my house can be read fromt he 80' away with no entry to property. the one on my farm that is? near 300 feet from road can't.. so I have to leave a causeway free of cows for the reader to come on..

Well I know there are a lot of groups fighting the smart meter installs. Big brother, health and safety-all of that.

We were notified that we were scheduled for a Smart meter install. Wife and Discussed it and decided to not opt out and fight the system. Must be progress-right? Besides, the meter/Pole is 200 feet plus from the house (Underground run to bldgs from there), so we weren't going to be bathed in RF soup while we slept. We just didn't want to join the fight I guess. Besides, to opt out meant raising a fuss, paying a $100.00, one-time Opt Out fee, then a monthly nuisance fee ($20.00 extra per month to have a reader actually come out and keep manually reading the box).

What follows is pretty dumb on their part.

1) The smart meter was installed. It was a 15 minute job-literally. Less If we hadn't chatted with contractor.

2) Two weeks later, the power company paid us a visit! It was the local meter reader. Needed access to property to go over and "read the smart meter!!" Boy I laughed..:laughing: Reader said system was not up. OK I said.

3) This next month-a different power company PU rolled up to my gate, unlatched it and came on in again. A different reader. I spoke at length with him.

Here is what I found out:

The signal from the meters is not strong enough to reach their receivers. I'm rural-but it won't work in closest town either.

They used to just drive by the property and they had a RF pinger that would read the meter. They never entered my property.

They are erecting a tower on Brock Mountain 27 miles away in the hopes that they will be able to read the smart meters eventually.

So meantime-the Dumb Meter is going to be monitored physically by the Smart Reader in his PU truck.

All of this does not smell like progress..does it???

BTW-I'm paying ~0.16 per KH

Anyone else have a smart meter issue??:confused2:

 

[3930dave]

In Texas, there were a number of complaints by people who claimed the new smart meters were showing they were using a lot more electricity; huge bills and such. The only thing I read from investigations was that in some cases the individual who changed the meters out misread the old meter.

Anyway, a pleasant young fellow showed up here on June 2 of this year, rang the doorbell, told me he was here to change out the meter. I don't think he had our power off more than a couple of minutes and he was gone. But I had already started a spreadsheet comparing our electricty usage this year to last year. We had a 5 year contract that expired last year and I got a new one year contract at a slightly lower rate; about 2 cents per KwH less. But the bottom line for us is that we used less electricity every month of this year, compared to last year, except May and November. For the year, we used 1,874 fewer KwH and our total electric bill for the year was $572.67 less than last year.

So, yep, Paul, I guess you and I have the same system. I don't bother to go online to see my hourly usage, but can do that, and I get a weekly e-mail showing our usuage for the past week, the cost, and the estimated amount of the next monthly bill. I'm not concerned about big brother watching; hope he enjoys it, if he's watching.:laughing:

Bird - a couple of questions, if I may...

1) Is your new meter running under Time of Use billing ?

2) You appear to have reduced your total consumption quite a bit. Was that the extra insulation you mentioned, or have you taken other measures like a new AC unit ?

I'm curious if you have seen any net benefit that is due to Time of Use, as opposed to general conservation steps.

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

the smart meter on my house can be read fromt he 80' away with no entry to property. the one on my farm that is? near 300 feet from road can't.. so I have to leave a causeway free of cows for the reader to come on..

Whatcha raising there Soundguy - Killer Man Eating Cows ?

Rgds, D.

 

[Soundguy]

longhorns.. curious long horns.

The run up to a vehicle, as I have trained them to do so I can corral them.

IE.. when i pull in I ALWAYS bring a feed bucket.. so they know they get feed if I show.. that helps me get them into a pen when I need to move them or etc.

so they are real friendly.. and with 2-3' of horns.. paint can get scratched.. and they will walk right up to you.. so the meter reader wasn't keen on 2000# animals wanting to be friends..

 

[Bird]

Bird - a couple of questions, if I may...

1) Is your new meter running under Time of Use billing ?

2) You appear to have reduced your total consumption quite a bit. Was that the extra insulation you mentioned, or have you taken other measures like a new AC unit ?

I'm curious if you have seen any net benefit that is due to Time of Use, as opposed to general conservation steps.

Rgds, D.

(1) No time of day difference as far as I know.

(2) I haven't added any insulation. The house was just well insulated when I bought it 7 years ago.

We have a heat pump and had a new one installed in May, 2010, so that wouldn't account for the difference in 2011 vs. 2012.

And I can't say that we've really taken any conservation measures. I suspect the lower consumption has been due more to milder weather than anything else; i.e., less heating and cooling. However, I've also probably spent less time this year in the shop/recreation room, which has a separate window unit A/C with heat strip, and sixteen 4' florescent lights.

 

[3930dave]

longhorns.. curious long horns.

The run up to a vehicle, as I have trained them to do so I can corral them.

IE.. when i pull in I ALWAYS bring a feed bucket.. so they know they get feed if I show.. that helps me get them into a pen when I need to move them or etc.

so they are real friendly.. and with 2-3' of horns.. paint can get scratched.. and they will walk right up to you.. so the meter reader wasn't keen on 2000# animals wanting to be friends..

Knew there had to be an explanation ! Yeah, they can pretty much use those horns like hands ! Who needs guard dogs ?

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

(1) No time of day difference as far as I know.

(2) I haven't added any insulation. The house was just well insulated when I bought it 7 years ago.

We have a heat pump and had a new one installed in May, 2010, so that wouldn't account for the difference in 2011 vs. 2012.

And I can't say that we've really taken any conservation measures. I suspect the lower consumption has been due more to milder weather than anything else; i.e., less heating and cooling. However, I've also probably spent less time this year in the shop/recreation room, which has a separate window unit A/C with heat strip, and sixteen 4' florescent lights.

Thanks Bird - I'm always curious when different #'s show up. Here (Ontario, Canada), only something like 1 or 2% of customers have had declines in $'s billed under Time of Use billing.

Rgds, D.

 

[Bird]

when i pull in I ALWAYS bring a feed bucket

A neighbor down in Navarro County ran 100-125 head of mixed breed beef cattle. They were pretty wild and no way would any of them get quite close enough to be touched. The only time they were touched by human hands was in a squeeze chute for branding and/or vaccinating. And to try to drive them anywhere was usually futile, but he could set a 5 gallon bucket on the open tailgate of his pickup or in the bed of he Kawasaki Mule and drive slowly along and they'd follow anywhere.:laughing:

But when I'd go in the pasture to pick up pecans with a 5 gallon bucket, they'd all gather round just out of reach.:laughing:

 

[Soundguy]

Knew there had to be an explanation ! Yeah, they can pretty much use those horns like hands ! Who needs guard dogs ?

Rgds, D.

i have plenty of gas tractors. I left one in the feedlot one day came back to find a caow had run her horns all over and pulled the dizzy cap and wires..

 

[Soundguy]

yep.. I found out long ago that you had to get the animals into a routine for rounding them up.. and feed was the easiest way to go. that and putting the water tank inside a cattle panel arangement so you and a helper can corrall them while distracted. I have one such arangement near the side gate so i can backup my stock trailer and open the gate and chute and run them in.

A neighbor down in Navarro County ran 100-125 head of mixed breed beef cattle. They were pretty wild and no way would any of them get quite close enough to be touched. The only time they were touched by human hands was in a squeeze chute for branding and/or vaccinating. And to try to drive them anywhere was usually futile, but he could set a 5 gallon bucket on the open tailgate of his pickup or in the bed of he Kawasaki Mule and drive slowly along and they'd follow anywhere.:laughing:

But when I'd go in the pasture to pick up pecans with a 5 gallon bucket, they'd all gather round just out of reach.:laughing:

 

[3930dave]

i have plenty of gas tractors. I left one in the feedlot one day came back to find a caow had run her horns all over and pulled the dizzy cap and wires..

Maybe there were tractor thieves lurking, and she was just securing it ?

Even w/o horns, heavy animals can create a lot of equipment problems. One of the few times I saw my uncle pissed off was when I found the counter knocked off a baler - turns out the draft horses took a liking to rubbing against the baler.

Fun times ! Good memories, actually.

Rgds, D.

 

[retiredmgn]

It's easy and fun to save money under these Time of Use programs ! Just put your kids to bed hungry right after they get home from school, then wake 'em up at 11pm when you can (maybe) afford to cook them dinner, do some laundry, and run computers and TVs.

If you want to really get ticked off, read up on the companies and export markets (depending where you are) that pay: Little, or Nothing, or actually GET PAID to consume electricity !

Us peasants are definitely getting ****** on this one. Corporations - laughing, as usual.

Rgds, D.

Boy, you sir are a cynic. My kind of guy.
There are not only excess charges for peak time usage, you pay extra for 'on shoulder', 'off shoulder'.
These are 'pre peak', 'post peak' times - computed on the TOU (time of usage) curve.
In Maine the Public Utilities Commission decided transmission and power companies should be seperated.
Good God. If you tried to explain, to a normal person, what was going on with their electric bill they would walk away confused and shaking their head.

 

[3930dave]

Boy, you sir are a cynic. My kind of guy.
There are not only excess charges for peak time usage, you pay extra for 'on shoulder', 'off shoulder'.
These are 'pre peak', 'post peak' times - computed on the TOU (time of usage) curve.
In Maine the Public Utilities Commission decided transmission and power companies should be seperated.
Good God. If you tried to explain, to a normal person, what was going on with their electric bill they would walk away confused and shaking their head.

Obfuscation - well played.

I think it is worse than that. (Me - cynical ? ) I think there are few utility employees who would get very far trying to rationally and coherently explain what is really going on with these bills.

In the People's Republic of Ontario, we see "Debt Retirement Charge" on our bills. AFAIK, this is just going to someone's personal Cayman Island retirement account.

I'm actually serious when I say that if I saw a line item on the bill that said "Some BS name for ripping you off even more", I'd gladly make a double payment that month.

I was headed that direction anyway, but if I ever needed motivation to go off-grid.......

Rgds, D.

 

[retiredmgn]

Obfuscation - well played.

I'm actually serious when I say that if I saw a line item on the bill that said "Some BS name for ripping you off even more", I'd gladly make a double payment that month.

D.

Well, in behalf of all the retired electric utility people, we appreciate your support.

:laughing:

 

[3930dave]

Well, in behalf of all the retired electric utility people, we appreciate your support.

:laughing:

:laughing:

My generation has been mostly conditioned to expect little or nothing in terms of retirement plans/stability. (Not a whine, just a datapoint).

For the most part, I don't have a problem with retired workers getting a stable pension.

What I do have a problem with is that all the new utility surcharges that have been dreamed up in the People's Republic of Ontario, IMO, are just being dumped into general revenue.

Just another tax, on a service you can not do without. AKA, part of the Big Squeeze.

Rgds, D.

 

[Mousefield]

:laughing:

My generation has been mostly conditioned to expect little or nothing in terms of retirement plans/stability. (Not a whine, just a datapoint).

For the most part, I don't have a problem with retired workers getting a stable pension.

What I do have a problem with is that all the new utility surcharges that have been dreamed up in the People's Republic of Ontario, IMO, are just being dumped into general revenue.

Just another tax, on a service you can not do without. AKA, part of the Big Squeeze.

Rgds, D.

Well, in the People's Republic of British Columbia we just had our free medical service monthly fee go up about 4%. So for the wife and me it is about $120.00 per month. Think it has gone up 22% in 4 years, doesn't seem to have helped the wait lines for services though. And to keep on topic I have applied for a farm rate for our hydro, should save us a bit of $$.
Hydro is going up 3.7% as well. :ashamed::ashamed::confused2::confused2: :2cents::2cents:

 

[General Lee]

Just the beginning.........I read an article these smart readers will be able to tell the electric company which appliances are running and when they run. Will decide if your using to much electricity and soon enough they will be in control of when you can wash and dry your clothes. Just like the thermostats that can be controlled by the electric company.

 

[3930dave]

Just the beginning.........I read an article these smart readers will be able to tell the electric company which appliances are running and when they run. Will decide if your using to much electricity and soon enough they will be in control of when you can wash and dry your clothes. Just like the thermostats that can be controlled by the electric company.

One guy I talked to tried this type of program with his heat pump. Real mess - was never on when he really needed it, AND his bill went up. I talked with this guy long enough to see that he understood exactly what everything in his house consumed for power.

Load shedding (grid wise) is only really is effective with a large plant, or smelter. The Ontario economy has already closed most of those down - Go Team Turn Off the Lights !

If it is forced down to my level, I'll do my own version (Lister clone, in the backyard).

Rgds, D.

 

[ultrarunner]

Just the beginning.........I read an article these smart readers will be able to tell the electric company which appliances are running and when they run. Will decide if your using to much electricity and soon enough they will be in control of when you can wash and dry your clothes. Just like the thermostats that can be controlled by the electric company.

My brother has A/C and maybe uses it one week a year... it was in the home when he bought it.

When the smart meter was going in the installer told him the Utility would pay him $25 if my brother would also have a utility controlled A/C switch installed at the same time.

My brother did and got his $25 credit.

Over the summer, there were a couple days of record heat... he calls me and says the A/C doesn't work and assumed it was the switch... after speaking with the Utility he learns it should be working some of the time..

I go and take a look and find the wire to his thermostat was disconnected... there was no way it was ever going to work...