My spy is here!

NYlakesider

NYlakesider

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The power company has been saying for a while now that we are to get a "New Upgraded power meter. " Got a robo call about a hour ago saying they would be here in a maximum of a week. OK-fine. I'm realy not impressed with this new meter concept as from what I have seen it opens us to much more spying on and they can remotely control the power delivery to my house.

Well that up to a week turned out to be a little off, as the utility worker just walked up my driveway, unplugged the old meter and plugged in the new one and then left. Of course that shut off my power for a few seconds. I went back and reviewed the camera system and they certainly moved real fast.

Yes you can fight them but they have it so well set up that it will cost you much more per month if you do not want the new spy efficient meter.:mad:
 
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Ah yes...the smart meter. They did that here some years ago. Of course, they sold it to the smart phone generation as the greatest thing since sliced bread, but in reality, it allowed them to eliminate meter readers and now they can disconnect someone's power using a computer in the office. They call it progress.
 
Our electric utility sent out professionally produced video via e-mail explaining the meter change over and assured everyone that there would be NO power disruption. The video showed the service person attaching a jumper between the meter lugs, pulling the old meter then re-installing the new meter with NO disruption. However I was home when the sub-contractor switched over all the homes on my street and I watched him do mine. Apparently the 15 seconds it took to install/remove the jumper was just too much effort because there was none used at any of our houses. I had to reset every single device in the house. And yes even in their video they touched on their ability to throttle energy usage if required (they used a more appealing term) with the new meters.
In addition, a couple years ago they offered a significant discounted price on new wi-fi / internet connected electronic thermostats for the house. Buried deep in the fine print was the mention that the NEW ADVANCED thermostats would ALLOW THE UTILITY to control the settings to reduce your power consumption. NO THANKS!
 
NYlakesider said:
The power company has been saying for a while now that we are to get a "New Upgraded power meter. " Got a robo call about a hour ago saying they would be here in a maximum of a week. OK-fine. I'm realy not impressed with this new meter concept as from what I have seen it opens us to much more spying on and they can remotely control the power delivery to my house.

Well that up to a week turned out to be a little off, as the utility worker just walked up my driveway, unplugged the old meter and plugged in the new one and then left. Of course that shut off my power for a few seconds. I went back and reviewed the camera system and they certainly moved real fast.

Yes you can fight them but they have it so well set up that it will cost you much more per month if you do not want the new spy efficient meter.:mad:
Click to expand...
Let me tell you why I prefer the new "smart meters" over the old ones that were manually read...

Years ago I caught our local power company in what I believe to be a scam. The cost for power here actually goes up slightly if you surpass a set number of KWH per billing cycle and our usage was always at the very cusp of this breakover point. During billing cycles with known lower usage (usually the cooler months here in Central Florida), I began noticing that the cycles were getting slightly extended, running up to 33-34 days on the usual 30-31 day cycle. When looking at my bill I noticed it was pushing my usage just past the breakover point for that cycle and I was being charged the higher rate for the amount over that point. This never happened during the warmer months when I naturally went over that point; the billing cycles remained a constant 30-31 days or got shortened slightly so long as I was over the minimum.. To me, I still believe this to be a scam because even if it only happened for a few months out of the year it was a pretty consistent practice year-over-year. And No, I was never enrolled in any program to "level out" my monthly bills.

We had a smart meter installed about 10+ years ago, and ever since the power readings have always been taken on the exact same day of every month without exception. Frankly I don't care if they keep a closer watch on how much power I use and when, or can tell what I am using at any given time due to patterns of usage during the day. I don't have an interesting enough life for it to be a concern, and the monthly emails the power company sends me detailing how much power I am using every month on A/C, cooking, water heating, etc. were interesting enough at first but now I manage to successfully ignore them.
 
Jon651 said:
Let me tell you why I prefer the new "smart meters" over the old ones that were manually read...

Years ago I caught our local power company in what I believe to be a scam. The cost for power here actually goes up slightly if you surpass a set number of KWH per billing cycle and our usage was always at the very cusp of this breakover point. During billing cycles with known lower usage (usually the cooler months here in Central Florida), I began noticing that the cycles were getting slightly extended, running up to 33-34 days on the usual 30-31 day cycle. When looking at my bill I noticed it was pushing my usage just past the breakover point for that cycle and I was being charged the higher rate for the amount over that point. This never happened during the warmer months when I naturally went over that point; the billing cycles remained a constant 30-31 days or got shortened slightly so long as I was over the minimum.. To me, I still believe this to be a scam because even if it only happened for a few months out of the year it was a pretty consistent practice year-over-year. And No, I was never enrolled in any program to "level out" my monthly bills.

We had a smart meter installed about 10+ years ago, and ever since the power readings have always been taken on the exact same day of every month without exception. Frankly I don't care if they keep a closer watch on how much power I use and when, or can tell what I am using at any given time due to patterns of usage during the day. I don't have an interesting enough life for it to be a concern, and the monthly emails the power company sends me detailing how much power I am using every month on A/C, cooking, water heating, etc. were interesting enough at first but now I manage to successfully ignore them.
Click to expand...

Thanks, that is a different read on this subject.

One of the biggies I do not like is the potential for them to limit power or set up different prices for difeenrt times. That might be helpful or best bet NOT.

I do have a standby generator and that might give me a little more semblance of control. Just for giggles consider the term hackers. I see the very serious potential for extremely nasty chicanery.
 
NYlakesider said:
Thanks, that is a different read on this subject.

One of the biggies I do not like is the potential for them to limit power or set up different prices for difeenrt times. That might be helpful or best bet NOT.

I do have a standby generator and that might give me a little more semblance of control. Just for giggles consider the term hackers. I see the very serious potential for extremely nasty chicanery.
Click to expand...
We got notified last month that our power company was instituting surge pricing whether we liked it or not. I don't think they can limit power to a specific item like my AC or water heater unless I agree to have a remote device attached to those specific circuits, but there is nothing stopping them from charging me more during periods of higher usage. We will be making some basic changes such as running the dishwasher and dryer overnight, but otherwise we are good to go. As the years go by, our Public Utilities Commission has been more friendly with the "utilities" and less so to the "public"...
 
GaryS said:
They are implementing these in England and apparently can use them to fine people who are using too much electricity.
Click to expand...

I get some paper every few months from the power company. It always says I use much more power than my neighbors.

Well DUH 95% of my neighbors use their property as a camp not a year around house. Of course I use much more electric than they do. Shoe size IQ at the power company I guess! :rolleyes:
 
We have had them for several years and I see no issue with them. All my life, I had to go out an read the meter, now that is no longer an issue. We have frequent outages with Summer Thunderstorms and when the power goes off the utility company is notified and that has sped up recovery times. It is progress as far as I am concerned.
 
Smart meters here for several years. More recently added them for city water.

Now they read the meters just by driving down the street. Saves time and manpower.

Of course, you can also opt in to allow them to shut down your power "briefly" during times of high demand. I did not do so.
 
dockmurgw said:
Ah yes...the smart meter. They did that here some years ago. Of course, they sold it to the smart phone generation as the greatest thing since sliced bread, but in reality, it allowed them to eliminate meter readers and now they can disconnect someone's power using a computer in the office. They call it progress.
Click to expand...
Yes, terrible, and I hear they've fired all the elevator operators in NYC too. Next thing you know the grocery stores will make us check out our own groceries so they can fire the cashiers.
 
I got an email from Scottish Power telling me that I hadn't made an appointment for my new smart meter to be installed. It wasn't an option, they could cut off my power if I didn't do that.

I wasn't too worried as I don't live in Scotland and don't get my power from them. During my research on how to tell them that they sent the email to the wrong person I looked into what that was all about. Yes, they can use the smart meter to cut off you power if they think that you are using too much. No option to refuse.

One of my email addresses is very popular in Great Britain. I got an email questionnaire from a real estate agent there. They wanted me to fill it out before they could list my house for sale. I sent an email back and asked them how many houses they sold in Texas over the past couple of years?

They replied with an apology. The funny thing is that both incorrect emails were meant for the same person.

Weird.

TX-Dennis said:
Smart meters here for several years. More recently added them for city water.

Now they read the meters just by driving down the street. Saves time and manpower.

Of course, you can also opt in to allow them to shut down your power "briefly" during times of high demand. I did not do so.
Click to expand...
 
22hipower said:
Yes, terrible, and I hear they've fired all the elevator operators in NYC too. Next thing you know the grocery stores will make us check out our own groceries so they can fire the cashiers.
Click to expand...
One of the big box home improvement stores has done that. Took me 10 minutes to find someone to show me how to scan two bolts. Stopped going to that store and now go to the other store in town who have real live breathing people to check you out.
 
Last time I checked automated elevators might break down, but they wouldn't strand you between floors because you took too many trips in it.

22hipower said:
Yes, terrible, and I hear they've fired all the elevator operators in NYC too. Next thing you know the grocery stores will make us check out our own groceries so they can fire the cashiers.
Click to expand...
 
I had a rental property that turned into a nightmare. The "tennants" were stealing meters from vacant houses and came very close to burning the house down over the 15 months they were committing these multiple felonies. The smart meters allowed the elimination of "readers" but it also prevented the felonious disregard for my property. I even offered to witness for the power company but they declined. The last straw was the "tennant" lying in court telling the judge that he had cut the grass, then I get an assessment for $200 for cutting the grass which took me 28 minutes with an unpowered push mower. The police told me if I stepped on my property I would be arrested for trespassing. No surprise I am an advocate of "smart meters".
The police had no legal right to threaten me with incarceration since it was my only rental property which gave me rights beyond normal landlords.
 
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