Smart Meters

[Scooby074]

You don't see it now but in the future, major appliances will have modules in them so they can communicate/be controlled by smart meters.

I think some of you guys have your tin foil hats on a bit too tight (although I agree that the ability to communicate will happen, its been tested in labs)

The day they start shutting down our toaster ovens will be the day somebody creates a filter to stop the toaster oven from communicating with the grid. (if these filters are declared illegal, you can thank the DMCA and those politicians that created it)

That said, Time Of Use will become a bigger thing than it is now. My european made Washer and Dryer has a delay feature so you can do laundry when the power is cheaper. This feature is becoming much more common. Storage heaters have been around for while and incorporate similar cost saving features. Save on Heating With Electric Thermal storage heating (ETS) Systems

Smart metres are intriguing to me. There is a program here that allows you to go to TOU billing. Off peak rates are cheaper than my "all day" rate however peak is higher. I could probably save some money by switching but im not sure it would jive with our lifestyle. I got to think more about it.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

they will probably come up with tiered tax, make the energy hogs pay more. Saw something yesterday about a county that is going to start billing hybrid car users $100 extra a year, because they save so much gas, the county isn't getting it "fair share" of gas tax from them. Sometimes I think I have the twilight zone on, but it's the evening news. I'm sure they will come up with the solar tax also.

 

[GGB]

Someone smarter than me will have to tell me if my concern about a smart meter is valid. My issue is that our house has two heat pumps, with the main level of the house which includes the master bedroom being a 18 SEER and the second level containing the guest bedrooms being a 16 SEER. My concern is that our HVAC heat pumps would be working in the second stage to get the temperature down after the power company shut them down, thus using more electricity than if the units had simply stayed on. Maybe if our house was insulated with foam it would work, but it's not........

And this would be even worse in the winter, as we are total electric. My bills are high enough without going into the heat strips when the "smart" thermostat try's to bring the temperature to the indicated setting when the ambient temperature is more than 2 degrees off. My office is now at home, and I really don't like being uncomfortable.

It just seems counterproductive to me for homes with heat pump systems. From what I understand, these systems are optimized to run most of the time on the first stage.

Anyone else with these concerns?

 

[Scooby074]

You'd have to "opt in" to any " peak shaving" program (things like shutting down high draw equipment like AC).

Worse they can do if you dont opt in to the program, would be to bill you at maximum rate for the hours that your running your AC.

I dont believe that forcing anyone into a shaving program is on the radar.

 

[ededic]

Why is that when they came out and read my meter it was a $12 per month service charge. Now for the last three years with the remotely next gen read meters I have to pay $18 per month per meter. I have three meters, house, barn and cottage. Gets expensive before I even use one kilowatt.

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[ultrarunner]

Why is that when they came out and read my meter it was a $12 per month service charge. Now for the last three years with the remotely next gen read meters I have to pay $18 per month per meter. I have three meters, house, barn and cottage. Gets expensive before I even use one kilowatt.

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Amen... I know what you mean because I have a meter for a single 12 watt night light my city required me to have.

 

[JBourquin]

Amen... I know what you mean because I have a meter for a single 12 watt night light my city required me to have.

Have you thought about a solar panel and battery? If all you're running is a single light I'd tell the po/co to take a hike..

 

[KTurner]

Someone smarter than me will have to tell me if my concern about a smart meter is valid. My issue is that our house has two heat pumps, with the main level of the house which includes the master bedroom being a 18 SEER and the second level containing the guest bedrooms being a 16 SEER. My concern is that our HVAC heat pumps would be working in the second stage to get the temperature down after the power company shut them down, thus using more electricity than if the units had simply stayed on. Maybe if our house was insulated with foam it would work, but it's not........

And this would be even worse in the winter, as we are total electric. My bills are high enough without going into the heat strips when the "smart" thermostat try's to bring the temperature to the indicated setting when the ambient temperature is more than 2 degrees off. My office is now at home, and I really don't like being uncomfortable.

It just seems counterproductive to me for homes with heat pump systems. From what I understand, these systems are optimized to run most of the time on the first stage.

Anyone else with these concerns?

I've not seen anything to indicate they are targeting heating systems, in my area. The peak shaving letters I received, while not related to smart meters, were talking about shutting off AC, not heat. I doubt they'd attempt something for heating due to the heat strips. And, heat is going to be most demanding while its the coldest out - at night. AC is most demanding during the day, when all the businesses are at their peak also. Just look at how they label the tiers in a multi-tier pricing program, day = peak, night = off peak.

Keith

 

[Grumpy Old Man]

I'm installing a windmill to pump water and provide electricity also a water wheel , when they continue to raise the costs I'll learn to live with less of their services .

 

[Travelover]

I recently had a power outage and I was reminded of this thread. We don't have smart meters and the only way for the linemen to find the problem was to go walk the lines looking for problems. It would seem that in this day and age a problem could be pinpointed just by seeing which houses are out based on the smart meter feedback.