Smart Meters

[chopped]

LOL one same here. the 'guts' came out with the meter and he had to hold it till the power company go there to shut the power off..

My 1922 house had a meter so old the supervisor said they were going to put it on display... no meter socket so it was changed out months after all the neighbors.

The original tech had never seen anything like it in the 4 years he was on the job.

Lots of Brass/Copper parts.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

I'm considering adding my own wattnode power meter as part of my Energy logger system, so I can log my usage. This is really nice if you have solar, because it will record power flow in both directions, so you know how much you put on the grid, and how much you pull. Most of the people opposed to smart meters are opposed to the "radio waves" they transmit, not that they think they are less accurate. I have no doubt that electronic meters will be more accurate than mechanical ones.

 

[300UGUY]

Out West... a lot of power comes from Hydro and the utilities efficiently manage this by throttling back production or even pumping water back into the dam at slack periods.

For decades PG&E said they needed more dams to handle peek loads which are most often on the hottest days... and now, solar is doing just that... it peaks exactly when A/C use is highest.







There are 4 installs on my street... one 100% private and the other 3 are a type of lease.

The one with the biggest array also had a sophisticated grow operation that no one knew about until he went into foreclosure and had a weekend yard sale.

Why did he go into foreclosure? legal woes?

 

[Tig]

Around here the power company has a voluntary program where they provide a web enabled programmable thermostat. They reserve the right to adjust your cooling 4 degrees during a four hour peak usage window in a heat wave. I doubt I'd even notice that. It's humidity that gets us here and that wouldn't change much with a four hour lull in the cooling
Five years ago I tried to get one, but did not qualify because I cool with geothermal. I was going to move the thermostat to my weekend place so I could turn the heat up before I arrive.
My smart meter is on the garage at the other end of the house. I don't give it much thought, it's just there.

 

[ultrarunner]

Why did he go into foreclosure? legal woes?

He bought the new house in a neighborhood of 1950's ranch homes on acre lots for 1.25m... or about double the price of the older homes... Put 100k down and financed the rest back in 2006.

When the market tanked and his construction business slowed... he stopped making mortgage payments. Hadn't paid them for 23 months and the bank paid him 25k to leave the home in good condition.

He simply decided the home he bought was no longer worth paying on...

The large solar array was leased.

In the end, he moved to Thailand with two ocean going containers...

The Bank listed the home for 550k and took offers for 10 days... then, the bank went back and asked for highest and final bids???

In the end, a retired couple from New Zealand bought it for 800k and renegotiated with the solar company and reached agreement.

 

[BobRip]

A person who could look at your load could tell when you are home or not and rob your house at the most opportune time.

 

[wyeguy]

Wow! These meters are smart enough to tell if anyone is home? Cool!
The power co might be able to tell when you use the most power. There's someone here all the time and if any of you paranoid thieves care to stop by by based on my electrical usage, we will introduce you to our friends Barretta and Smith & Wesson.
Really, how paranoid & suspicious can you get?

 

[grsthegreat]

i see tin foil hats everywhere

 

[grsthegreat]

hay...5 more posts and its 5,000

 

[grsthegreat]

oh shoot..make that 4