Denver-area power company "locks" smart thermostats....

[ultrarunner]

I’m not… just another outlaw in the making… first brush cutters and now keeping the home fire going.

Many if not most of the older neighborhoods don’t have the electrical service plus the utility poles date from the 1920’s and 30’s

I manage 3 bedroom 1 bath homes with 30 amp service because gas heat, gas water, gas dryer, gas cooking… no issue.

New construction is different but a lot of older neighborhoods here.

Fundamentally the more sources to operate your home the better.

In the big 1989 quake power was out for a week but those of us that had not upgraded only affected refrigerator.

My neighbors were coming to my house to take showers snd cook because natural gas not affected here plus my central gravity furnace worked great…

If we go all electric the more gas we can export… right.

As long as we don’t burn it here all is good.

The irony is incentives and cash payments for installing gas not that long ago…

 

[Dftodd]

I don't know how "smart" our electric meter is. The electric co. can read it remotely, but AFAIK it's only by driving past the house and pinging it. I don't think they have the infrastructure to do anything else.

They have had some issues with the smart meters around here. But it was human error causing customers grief.

And then frustration trying to get Entergy to actually fix the issue.

One couple were getting billed for their neighbors electricity. They never did figure out who was getting billed for theirs. After getting the local news station involved Entergy finally sent someone out and got it figured out.

Another couple never recieved one bill for 1.5 years. Had to get the local news station involved again. Then the people were stuck with 1.5 years worth of electrical bill.

So..... if your local electricity supplier is using smart meters. Be sure to verify the serial number listed on your bill with the serial number on the meter.

I figure the installer wrote down serial numbers for the addresses he was set to install ahead of rime. And then installed a meter allocated for a different address.

 

[ultrarunner]

I’ve had some shocking bills at Washington State after Smart Meter Install…

How can vacant with breakers turned off for most things and still several hundred dollars but 800 miles away my options limited as everything is complicated when not onsite.

Even thought squatters moved in!

Turns out bill estimated but not shown as such so when new tenant moved in had a account credit!

At the cabin I simply turn off the main and no more usage.

 

[kenmac]

I don't know how "smart" our electric meter is. The electric co. can read it remotely, but AFAIK it's only by driving past the house and pinging it. I don't think they have the infrastructure to do anything else.

about all elect companies. But there they can disconnect your power remotely just much the phone company can. They also know when there is a power outage in my area without actually calling it in

 

[LouNY]

about all elect companies. But there they can disconnect your power remotely just much the phone company can. They also know when there is a power outage in my area without actually calling it in

Maybe in your area but not in mine they can remotely read the meter but the only disconnect is to physically pull the meter or the line fuses to the transformer.

 

[5030]

Maybe in your area but not in mine they can remotely read the meter but the only disconnect is to physically pull the meter or the line fuses to the transformer.

Same here.

 

[ultrarunner]

the answer is: Yes.

Smart meters do have the ability to turn off a customer’s service remotely, according to a written statement from Southern California Edison

 

[Hay Dude]

Maybe in your area but not in mine they can remotely read the meter but the only disconnect is to physically pull the meter or the line fuses to the transformer.

Kind of sobering when you add to that electric cars will be controlled from them, too.

 

[TheMan419]

I only heat cold water.

Do you unthaw frozen ice?

 

[TheMan419]

In my opinion the viability of most alternate energy sources comes down to having an effective means of storage, maybe batteries will get there somehow someday.

Nuclear certainly seems to me as a very attractive solution, just with a high cost in the rare instance when something goes wrong.

Our passion to dump fossil fuels will cause a lot of short-mid term pain, hopefully not long term pain.

Best,

ed

Lots of fun ways to do it without batteries. Pumped hydro storage is one. Another one I read about was using the excess power to lift a bunch of heavy weights. Then when you need power let the weights drop to generate power. Sure there is loss in both of those systems, but there is with batteries too. Heck there are some models to do it with compressed air.