'Smart meters'?

Originally Posted by Oildudeny
i didn't think you had a choice.. when the utility company changes over to smart meters.


We have a choice, and far as I'm concerned, the old meter is working just fine.

Very soon they will split up the cost between those with analog meter and those with smart meter, then only charge the meter reading department's cost to ONLY the analog meter users. Gradually it will cost you guys more and more as fewer and fewer people are on analog meters.
 
Well, the 'Smart meter' ain't so smart. I've been reading my own meter and reporting to Kit Carson Coop because I've been having some real 'spiky' electric bills. I also read and record the daily usage. A dozen days ago, that meter recorded 1018 KWH for one day! Now I'm trying to deal with the bureaucratic numbnuts and get the bill corrected and the meter replaced. Can you believe they want to add an additional $20+ to my monthly bill for a new meter.
I want and demand an analog meter but we shall see. Read this if you think these 'wonderful' electronic meters are any good.
Smart meter
Isn't Kit Carson CoOp(REA)(Taos,NM) the Tri-State member that sued to leave that G&T. I was with Colorado-Ute when Units 1,2 and 3 went on line. Exxon pulling out of the oil shale project at Rifle,CO doomed CU because the company didn't have the know how to market 420 MW from Unit 3 which was to a la part built for oil shale developement. One of the first REA coops to go belly up. Tri-State assumed CU's assets in 1991. It was/is a much better place to work after that. Regards
 
Smart meters are a joke.

After we had the Derecho storm here in Iowa,one feature they have was to let Alliant Energy know that there was a power outage. It didn't do anything of the sort.
 
So far, with the new meter, daily usage readings are low & normal. There must have been something wonky with the old meter but they won't admit it.
 
Well, the 'Smart meter' ain't so smart. I've been reading my own meter and reporting to Kit Carson Coop because I've been having some real 'spiky' electric bills. I also read and record the daily usage. A dozen days ago, that meter recorded 1018 KWH for one day! Now I'm trying to deal with the bureaucratic numbnuts and get the bill corrected and the meter replaced. Can you believe they want to add an additional $20+ to my monthly bill for a new meter.
I want and demand an analog meter but we shall see. Read this if you think these 'wonderful' electronic meters are any good.
Smart meter
Perhaps Tri-State G&T left behind a poison pill is your system. Taos are right?
 
These "Smart Meter" threads are almost getting as repetitious as "blast a dealer" threads.

Maybe if you put aluminium foil over them it will block out the mind control waves they put out.
 
Now that I've had a smart meter for a while I think it's great.

I just put in a new mini split ductless heating system, the smart meter allows me track exactly how much electricity it uses compared to my old system.

I'm looking at about $150 less this month compared to last October. The difference was less when cooling during the summer.
 
Easy to game the old analog meters. Mess with the new meters and you may end up in court being sued by your utility while sitting in the dark. Be very careful......
 
I got a smart meter a few years ago and I have not noticed any irregularities or changes in consumption. One of my neighbors has been complaining about his smart meter.
 
Drinking my morning coffee, this thread reminds me of the days listening to office conversations/debates about the pro's and con's of those new fangled computers :oops:
Its technology and here to stay, if people learn how it works, it saves you money, significant money. This puts you at an advantage because the typical consumer in every low to high income bracket doesnt bother to learn how things like "Peak Time Usage" works or care to understand the workings of their home, regarding cost effective insulation appliances such as ondarvr a few posts above this one.
More or less no one holds your hand and teaches you how to do it. You have to do it on your own, because their is no profit for companies of any kind.

VS

All this garbage marketed to you by the BIG technology companies and every retailer in the world with "smart home" wifi devices.
They make it fun because you buy their devices and they make HUGE profits as well as get into your home internet to learn everything about you/your children and what to sell you next, but never really use them to save money, you use them like a child uses a toy, they hold your hand, you say oh this is cool and then you tire of it and they sell you a new one in another year or two..
The biggest scam in the world are "Smart Thermostats" for most people (NOT EVERYONE) because most people never bother to actually look to save money but they like the idea that google tells them is a smart device to save money, yet they can do it on their own if they by a simple programmable thermostat or stats and actually program them to a schedule and stick to it, rather then the temperature adjusting on a whim so your nice and cozy.
Only place wifi is a true useful tool is in an unoccupied home or vacation home, it allows you to keep up to date about a heat/air malfunction, more so in feeding temperatures. Other then that, the majority of people save no money at all and most like waste more energy because they cant stick to a schedule and everyone in the home adjusts it up and down on a whim.

;) this post is only if people look to save energy costs or the "other camp" who claim to want to stop the earth from being warmed by the sun, wifi devices are great if saving money or the need to save money isnt there.
 
An article just came out on the new time of use rates in Ontario.

Here are the rates in Canadian funds. Multiply by .75 for US dollars. It looks like this would work well for people charging electric cars at night.

21.7 cents/ kWhr for :

7-11 AM
5-7 PM

15 cents/ kWhr for:

11 AM - 5 PM

10.5 cents / kWhr for:

7 PM - 7AM Weekdays and around the clock on weekends ( if I interpreted that correctly.)
 
Winter rates
$12/kwhr 6-9AM 7 days a week (not a misprint)
.06 cents /kwhr all other times (not a misprint)

Summer rates
$12/kwhr 4-7PM
.06 cents /kwhr all other times.
 
For seven years now (and have been in this house 40 years) I have been on plans from 3 different companies that give a credit if you use 1000kw a month-you lose it at 999 or less. It was $100 last company, $85 with my current one. It does not go up after that per kw. I think it's odd to have to waste juice in fall and spring to hit 1000, but that's the game. 1500 sq ft all electric with well and septic pump, central AC, LED yard lights (6), etc. Sometimes I run space heaters outside the garage to hit 1000. The Smart Meter has never acted up and I can nail 1000 accurately. My personal best was 1007. I look up the read schedule online and know at midnite it will be read on that day. 1007kw cost me $59.36! Now this summer was hot, used 1147 in August, cost $87. Back in the old days with window units, no yard lights, "borrowed" water from Dad next door (thanks Dad), bill was 100-150 a month. Only thing that sucks is they could care less about keeping you for long term-i have to shop and switch every 2-3 years but I've learned how to read their offerings. It's almost an art to decipher the terms. Near Houston, TX.
 
Among other things, I've actually saved money with a smart meter.

The more or less real-time information(I can read mine in 15 minute intervals through the utility company website, although it only updates a couple of times a day) has let me track down some "phantom" power usage that I didn't realize was there. I'm seeing about 5% lower metered usage over months last year with similar average temperatures, so yeah it's benefited me on the whole.

One of the ones that really hit me was seeing the spike when I was out of town roughly every ~24 hours for when the water heater would kick on. Since pre-plague I traveled a lot(usually nearly every weekend) it got me in the habit of flipping off the breaker for the water heater in all but sub-freezing ambient. That saved me a surprising amount of savings, even though the water heater is less than a year old and supposedly a high efficiency one.

BTW, I should mention that my smart meter replaced a mechanical that was about 13 years old(place was built in 2006, smart meter installed 2019). Although I'm sure it has slowed some, it probably wasn't as dramatic as many of the 30+ year old ones that are out there in service.


I’ve always wondered if this would reduce the life of the tank due to excessive heat-up and cool-down stresses.

Regardless, I still turn mine off if we’re going to be gone for more than a few days.
 
Summary - The consumer is at the
mercy of a computer calculation not
in their control


That summarizes modern life as we know it. It will not go away. It will only get more ubiquitous.

In other news, the sky is blue, water is wet, and cancer is bad.
 
Here is my smart meter story. Few months back I noticed some wonkiness with the electricity in the house. Intermittent light dimming once in awhile, nothing huge. I was out front working on the car when the AEP truck pulls up. He said he needed to ck my meter out because it had reported intermittent electrical outages for my address. He checked it and traced it to a bad transformer bus bar (corrosion) in the alley. No telling how long I would have put up with it without the meter dropping a dime on the problem. Another good thing, in the event of a power outage, AEP knows instantly when and where the power is out.
 
I'm kind of worried about my meter. They're supposed to have a tamper evident clip where it mounts to the wall. However, mine has fallen off. Not sure where it is. I didn't do it. I guess it could have been wind, a bird picking it off, or something else random. I just hope I don't get in trouble for it.
 
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