Smart Meters (Big brother is watching you)

[Brett]

Not sure how accurate this is but I would not be surprised.

http://goldsilver.com/video/smart-meters/

[powderman]

BRETT. Interesting, hadn't heard of this. POWDERMAN. 

[LONGTOM]

I could not find the drop down box next to the video he refered to.
Where is it?
 
 
 
LONGTOM

[oldandslow]

Total BS. It's a way for the electric supplier to cut expenses and keep your bill lower. It eliminates meter readers and (in my case) a truck to come and physically read the meter. For my co-op that is a large savings as they serve a large geographic area and eliminates several trucks.

Kilowatts are kilowatts and the meter simply counts how many of these you consume. It can't determine what is consuming them. By his reckoning I should have had a visit from the sheriff's department a few weeks ago. I spent several days using power tools all day long including a couple of weekends. That was a sudden large increase in my normal power consumption but no one showed up asking if I had powered up a bunch of grow lights. The only thing I saw different was the increase in my electric bill.   

[BUGEYE]

Total BS. It's a way for the electric supplier to cut expenses and keep your bill lower. It eliminates meter readers and (in my case) a truck to come and physically read the meter. For my co-op that is a large savings as they serve a large geographic area and eliminates several trucks.

Kilowatts are kilowatts and the meter simply counts how many of these you consume. It can't determine what is consuming them. By his reckoning I should have had a visit from the sheriff's department a few weeks ago. I spent several days using power tools all day long including a couple of weekends. That was a sudden large increase in my normal power consumption but no one showed up asking if I had powered up a bunch of grow lights. The only thing I saw different was the increase in my electric bill.   

you're absolutely right.  but obama would love that info since he's pushing his green agenda.

[Sourdough]

We've had them for about five years.  I had the welder running all weekend, no one showed up here.

[The Hermit]

They showed up at my brother inlaws place after he retired and stopped farming. They thought that he had by passed the meter because his usage dropped dramatically.
 
 
The Hermit

[Conan The Librarian]

Aside from all the BS, there are some good points, like giving the power company the ability to more finely analyze usage patterns of individuals. However, they'd have to have a receiver very close by. One watt is not much power. The real value is more likely simplifying meter reading. At one watt, a meter reader could drive down a street and a receiving computer in the car can collect data as he drives by. No more cases where the reader can't get in because of a vicious dog. Less time. Fewer people. These have traditionally been high turnover positions. Overall a better way to do the job, and it can be done more often, rather than the periodic readings power companies like mine perform. They bill for what you have historically used. Then take a reading and adjust billing to correct for the error. With this system, they could do the reading every month and give me an accurate bill.
 
To the power company, in terms of usage, what's really important is what the total load on the system is so that the power company can accommodate that load. They know what they need not by individual usage but by aggregate usage of all the customers in a service area.
 
 

[no guns here]

My wife used to be a meter reader for a couple of years in OK.  She loves the smart meters since she didn't have to get out of the truck and fight with dogs, jerkwad people (get off my property!) and at least one bull on her route.  Just drive up, hit a button and drive on.  The bad part was the company cut some employees and then she had to cover their routes too, BUT she could do two or three routes in a day.  She kept her hours but a couple folks lost decent jobs.  The water company where we live just installed a smart meter this past Monday.  Our electric meter is still the old style though.  Wouldn't be surprised to see them changed out in a year or two.  Just makes sense for the company.
 
 
NGH

[magooch]

Ah, but wait, the best is yet to come.  With the new meters they can tell when the power is used and will be able to arrange the rates so that power costs more when used at peak times.

[no guns here]

and costs less when used off peak.
 
This has been used in Europe for a while.  So, you do your laundry and dishes in the late evening or early morning to take advantage of the lower costs.  Appliances have timers to set for a certain start time to help with this.
 
NGH

[Spirithawk]

I don't think it's the sudden heavy use of electric, over a short period of time, that rings alarm bells. It's the sudden heavy increase over extended periods of time that might make them give you a look. I've heard other LE say as much and know it drew our attention when I was a Deputy Sheriff. Then too, in areas where drugs are a problem, it's much more likely to draw attention. You may be getting checked out and not even realise it. A simple fly over will reveal if grow lights are being used as they give off quite a heat signature.

[lakota]

It is not hard to imagine how this technology could be abused.

[SHOOTALL]

No doubt the smart meter is good to cut cost. And it might be hard to locate a pot grower just using it. But couple the data from an elec meter and cross it with a water meter then maybe phone records add to that where your cell phone has been and when along with smart tag movements etc etc and its not hard to get a good profile on what a person may be doing . Add to this the fact that much if not all this data passes thru computers in countries where our consitution can't protect you it might be as simple as someone setting up a criteria and running all the data from all the listed sources . They may have reason to believe you are doing something in less than a few min. On the other hand if your water use goes up they may reconise a leak before it gets large and costly.Anything helpful can be abused .
 
Just think about all the over seas operaters and help lines , insurance people etc that operate in other countries .
here they have police cars that read lic plates and equipment that gets a signature off diesel engines. Check out the camera/computer set up going on line in N.Y.city . Tell it a guy in a red shirt is commiting a crime and every camera will ID everyone with a red shirt, oh yea that's why you are ask not to smile when getting dri lic or govt issued ID . It takes seconds from points on your face , like finger prints but better. So what are Americans willing to do / allow /give up to be safe ? What do some hide ?