Hey, it was bound to slip out eventually: why Smart Meters are being mandated. (It’s for your own good!)
First, please note that ERCOT is doing a great job of keeping the electricity zapping throughout this extreme Texas weather. Some plants have had problems since the overnight temperatures (lows about 84) don’t drop enough to cool the water in the cooling reservoirs. Power plant water cooling issues and plants forced to go offline for unplanned maintenance (caused by extreme heat) have concerned ERCOT enough to pulling four mothballed coal plants back online as back-up/peak plants. ERCOT is paying the costs of starting up the plants, covering fixed costs(staff, maintenance, and fuel). The costs will be less than costs of statewide problems from rolling blackouts. ERCOT has developed programs help prevent rolling blackouts where industrial clients immediately dump large numbers of megawatts in an emergency.
Another “demand reduction program” (for when too many people want what power is available) involves much smaller customers helping: residential customers just like you. Austin Energy (Austin, TX) has an agreement with nearly 90,000 homes: residential customers are provided with free digital thermostats in exchange for the right letting the company reduce their AC twice per hour for 10 minutes at a time during the 4-6 p.m. peak demand time period. TXU Energy (Dallas) has a similar program.
That’s a real benefit of Smart gadgets! The energy company can control residential power if it needs to. It’s voluntary, for now.
Texas is wired over the Smart Meter thing. In 2007 Texas passed a state law mandating smart meters “be deployed as rapidly as possible to allow customers to better manage energy use and control costs, and to facilitate demand response initiatives.” The Public Utilities Commission allows utilities to recover costs through a surcharge. (Oncor of Dallas, adds $2.19 per month on customers’ bills – for 11 years)
During a recent meeting (5/19/11) in Washington, Barry Smitherman, the chairman of the PUC, and Texas representatives met with White House people about Smart Grid initiatives, the Texas Smart Meter rollout, and related issues. Some of those present were: Oncor and CenterPoint (utility companies), Reliant Energy (Houston electric retailer), Landis+Gyr (Swiss Smart Meter company) and Itron (Smart Meter manufacturers) and Zigbee Alliance (wireless standards company). Guess the Feds wanted to see what was going on since they (taxpayers) paid for much of it.
The federal government awarded stimulus grants to companies like Oncor ($3.5 million), Austin’s Pecan Street Project ($10.4 million), and CenterPoint ($200 million) for Smart-Grid projects. Not much has been done on the large-scale national Smart-Grid (with long-term benefits), but taxpayers got a bunch of automatic feeder monitors and switches, some stuff for the transmission system, and lots of Smart Meters! Wow. OK. Just start with the “small easy” stuff? Hey, why not?
Smart Meters benefit the providers immediately. These smarty meters can be read remotely. No more sending out meter reader guys (dogs will be thrilled) and dealing with their “errors” that irritate customers. (So that makes the smart meters smarter than the average…..bear?) Actually the electric company frequently just “estimated” usage – which also irritated customers once they found out. So technology solves a couple of problems. If customer moves, their power can be “switched” to the new location instantly without sending a service guy out. That’s convenient, for everyone, I guess. (and one less employee needed) Also if there’s a power outage/interruption of service, customers won’t have to call to clue in the power company. The Smart Meter will just report it! OK. You can’t get anyone on the phone during power outages anyway – and if you do they are frequently cranky because people keep calling them. Maybe better to limit human interaction? And fewer employees means savings!
Eventually Smart-Grid advocates predict technology will let appliances like refrigerators or dishwashers (that’s why they need the standards people involved in those Washington meetings) “coordinate their energy usage with the needs of the electrical grid.” What? Wait a minute! My appliances are going to chat with the electric grid? And then, who gets to decide when the machines run and how much? These are “my” appliances in “my” house? So who’s the boss of them? I am, until the Great Grid wants that electricity for someone else.
OK. Calm down. Smart Meters can be monitored on a website or with a little remote household gadget to show how much electricity is being used in “real-time”. These $50 gadgets show the cost per kilowatt for each minute and what the total electric bill is at that particular time. People can see that using certain things like a microwave uses more energy. (But less than using an electric stove or oven – if you are still stuck with one of those). OK. Great game show type amusement for the kids. Given all the money CenterPoint has spent on TV commercials and bill boards for years, we should all know now if you raise the AC thermostat, it saves money. And, surprise, the TV uses a lot of energy. Smart Meters and monitors will give customers “more control over their energy usage and monthly bill”as they choose which electrical item to use. Reliant (Houston) wants to work with the Citizens’ Assistance office to provide “free” home energy monitors to low-income customers with Smart Meters. Gee, I hope some senior citizens don’t see that bill just getting higher and higher and decide just to cut the AC off. (Can they run some TV ads about that? Oh, it’s really not that hot, anyway.)
Hang on a minute. Guess what the energy providers have cooked up about the way your electric bill will be like in the future! Right now you get a monthly bill for the amount of electricity used last month. Visionaries would like to offer prepaid electricity plans – just like prepaid phones! Pre-purchase some kilowatt-hours, buy more if you need them, or carry over extras until next month! Oh, this sounds like fun!
It gets better! (You little residential customers are going to have to get up to speed!) Instead of getting a monthly bill with an electric rate that is priced the same for every hour of the day, the price structure would be “realistic”: more like the “supply and demand” flex rates big companies utilize. Electricity costs more during the day on the wholesale market (When people are using appliances, computers, etc) and is cheaper at night when everyone is asleep. So why should residential customers pay the same rate no matter when the electricity is used? “Reflective pricing” would be more efficient. What? (And you thought the phone bills were confusing) Electric providers would offer rate plans where the customer pays more for electricity during the day and less at night. See! You get to choose! Smart Meters would really help with that sort of billing. People would have more incentive to use appliances during low-cost hours. And you with that electric car – when would be the best time to plug it in? (No more worries that electric car owners would plug in during the day and cause rolling blackouts!) See! You get to choose! The power is in your hands! Save the world!
Smart Meters are just the beginning. The first step towards?
Flush with taxpayer money, Texas energy providers are charging onward. CenterPoint started installing Smart Meters inside Loop 610 and is moving out until all of its 2.2 million customers have the digital meters according to Floyd LeBlanc, Vice-President of CenterPoint Communications. Texas New Mexico Power plans to start installing 240,000 smart meters this year and through 2016.
But the $100 Smart Meters have turned out to be a hot item for the energy providers, literally. The meters have problems and have cause problems nationally with complaints about smart meters and appliance outages in North Carolina, California, Illinois, Florida, Virginia, Maine, and Texas. In Canada, there are also concerns over privacy issues with data collection.
In California, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, admitted recently that about 1,600 so-called “smart meters” had over charged customers in the Bay Area and California’s Central Valley for “phantom power”. It’s been discovered that the Landis+Gyr Smart Meters, malfunction when they get too hot. (Maybe these should just be used in colder climates?) Wary of lawsuits, PG&E admitted Smart Meters may interfere with Ground Fault Indicators, but the company avoids any suggestion of a connection with Smart Meter fires. One California fire captain believes installation contractors are not able to fit Smart Meters in existing spaces, so they spread the receiving clips before forcing the new meter in. If the clips are made wider, creating an area with no contact, dangerous arcing may occur with electrical use inside the home. According to PG&E, less than 1% of their 2.2 million Landis+Gyr meters are faulty – which isn’t an issue – unless it’s your meter. One California county even passed a moratorium on Smart Meters installations because of over-charging concerns , health issues, and fire potential.
In Dallas, Oncor has done side-by-side meters studies in an attempt to show their Smart Meters are accurate after massive complaints. Several house fires there are being blamed on Smart Meters. Local critics are asking why the Landis+Gyr Smart Meters are being made in Mexico (competitive bid) and if quality control might be an issue. Oncor has tried fine tune installation procedure: a smart-meter installation now should cause a brief loss of electricity (“a blink”) quickly followed by a reconnection so there shouldn’t be an electrical surge. They hope to eliminate any surge that could damage customer’s appliances.
In Houston, CenterPoint is seriously pushing Smart Meter benefits in TV media on multiple networks and in newspapers. CenterPoint is determined to switch out the old meters – whether customers want to or not. There have been complaints and stories of damage – even fires. CenterPoint spokesman Floyd Le Blanc says most customers are OK with having the meters installed, but some residents are turning away installation crews. “We’re not gonna’ have a wrestling match with a customer,” LeBlanc told reporters. “We’ll call them. We will work with them to the maximum extent possible, but we are installing smart meters. And it’s not optional. It’s like the move to digital TV.” (How kind, Mr LeBlanc. So apparently homeowners can’t Opt Out – even if you are poor or elderly and cannot afford repairs to home if installation of Smart Meter damages it. Oh, right. CenterPoint will give them a “free” monitoring gadget.) Warning: installation crews may leave when asked , but apparently are returning when no one is home. According to CenterPoint, there have only been about 500 complaints about Smart Meter installations with over 1.3 million meters installed. So the number of problems doesn’t look too big? Maybe. Unless it’s your house or your appliances.
(For related posts on Smart Meters, click the sidebar tag “electricity”)
Smartly monitoring and observing
Phil, the Philosopher Mouse of the Hedge
Discover more from Philosopher Mouse of the Hedge
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Philosopher Mouse of the Hedge 
Smart Meters. Smartly rollin’ on.
Hey, it was bound to slip out eventually: why Smart Meters are being mandated. (It’s for your own good!)
First, please note that ERCOT is doing a great job of keeping the electricity zapping throughout this extreme Texas weather. Some plants have had problems since the overnight temperatures (lows about 84) don’t drop enough to cool the water in the cooling reservoirs. Power plant water cooling issues and plants forced to go offline for unplanned maintenance (caused by extreme heat) have concerned ERCOT enough to pulling four mothballed coal plants back online as back-up/peak plants. ERCOT is paying the costs of starting up the plants, covering fixed costs(staff, maintenance, and fuel). The costs will be less than costs of statewide problems from rolling blackouts. ERCOT has developed programs help prevent rolling blackouts where industrial clients immediately dump large numbers of megawatts in an emergency.
Another “demand reduction program” (for when too many people want what power is available) involves much smaller customers helping: residential customers just like you. Austin Energy (Austin, TX) has an agreement with nearly 90,000 homes: residential customers are provided with free digital thermostats in exchange for the right letting the company reduce their AC twice per hour for 10 minutes at a time during the 4-6 p.m. peak demand time period. TXU Energy (Dallas) has a similar program.
That’s a real benefit of Smart gadgets! The energy company can control residential power if it needs to. It’s voluntary, for now.
Texas is wired over the Smart Meter thing. In 2007 Texas passed a state law mandating smart meters “be deployed as rapidly as possible to allow customers to better manage energy use and control costs, and to facilitate demand response initiatives.” The Public Utilities Commission allows utilities to recover costs through a surcharge. (Oncor of Dallas, adds $2.19 per month on customers’ bills – for 11 years)
During a recent meeting (5/19/11) in Washington, Barry Smitherman, the chairman of the PUC, and Texas representatives met with White House people about Smart Grid initiatives, the Texas Smart Meter rollout, and related issues. Some of those present were: Oncor and CenterPoint (utility companies), Reliant Energy (Houston electric retailer), Landis+Gyr (Swiss Smart Meter company) and Itron (Smart Meter manufacturers) and Zigbee Alliance (wireless standards company). Guess the Feds wanted to see what was going on since they (taxpayers) paid for much of it.
The federal government awarded stimulus grants to companies like Oncor ($3.5 million), Austin’s Pecan Street Project ($10.4 million), and CenterPoint ($200 million) for Smart-Grid projects. Not much has been done on the large-scale national Smart-Grid (with long-term benefits), but taxpayers got a bunch of automatic feeder monitors and switches, some stuff for the transmission system, and lots of Smart Meters! Wow. OK. Just start with the “small easy” stuff? Hey, why not?
Smart Meters benefit the providers immediately. These smarty meters can be read remotely. No more sending out meter reader guys (dogs will be thrilled) and dealing with their “errors” that irritate customers. (So that makes the smart meters smarter than the average…..bear?) Actually the electric company frequently just “estimated” usage – which also irritated customers once they found out. So technology solves a couple of problems. If customer moves, their power can be “switched” to the new location instantly without sending a service guy out. That’s convenient, for everyone, I guess. (and one less employee needed) Also if there’s a power outage/interruption of service, customers won’t have to call to clue in the power company. The Smart Meter will just report it! OK. You can’t get anyone on the phone during power outages anyway – and if you do they are frequently cranky because people keep calling them. Maybe better to limit human interaction? And fewer employees means savings!
Eventually Smart-Grid advocates predict technology will let appliances like refrigerators or dishwashers (that’s why they need the standards people involved in those Washington meetings) “coordinate their energy usage with the needs of the electrical grid.” What? Wait a minute! My appliances are going to chat with the electric grid? And then, who gets to decide when the machines run and how much? These are “my” appliances in “my” house? So who’s the boss of them? I am, until the Great Grid wants that electricity for someone else.
OK. Calm down. Smart Meters can be monitored on a website or with a little remote household gadget to show how much electricity is being used in “real-time”. These $50 gadgets show the cost per kilowatt for each minute and what the total electric bill is at that particular time. People can see that using certain things like a microwave uses more energy. (But less than using an electric stove or oven – if you are still stuck with one of those). OK. Great game show type amusement for the kids. Given all the money CenterPoint has spent on TV commercials and bill boards for years, we should all know now if you raise the AC thermostat, it saves money. And, surprise, the TV uses a lot of energy. Smart Meters and monitors will give customers “more control over their energy usage and monthly bill”as they choose which electrical item to use. Reliant (Houston) wants to work with the Citizens’ Assistance office to provide “free” home energy monitors to low-income customers with Smart Meters. Gee, I hope some senior citizens don’t see that bill just getting higher and higher and decide just to cut the AC off. (Can they run some TV ads about that? Oh, it’s really not that hot, anyway.)
Hang on a minute. Guess what the energy providers have cooked up about the way your electric bill will be like in the future! Right now you get a monthly bill for the amount of electricity used last month. Visionaries would like to offer prepaid electricity plans – just like prepaid phones! Pre-purchase some kilowatt-hours, buy more if you need them, or carry over extras until next month! Oh, this sounds like fun!
It gets better! (You little residential customers are going to have to get up to speed!) Instead of getting a monthly bill with an electric rate that is priced the same for every hour of the day, the price structure would be “realistic”: more like the “supply and demand” flex rates big companies utilize. Electricity costs more during the day on the wholesale market (When people are using appliances, computers, etc) and is cheaper at night when everyone is asleep. So why should residential customers pay the same rate no matter when the electricity is used? “Reflective pricing” would be more efficient. What? (And you thought the phone bills were confusing) Electric providers would offer rate plans where the customer pays more for electricity during the day and less at night. See! You get to choose! Smart Meters would really help with that sort of billing. People would have more incentive to use appliances during low-cost hours. And you with that electric car – when would be the best time to plug it in? (No more worries that electric car owners would plug in during the day and cause rolling blackouts!) See! You get to choose! The power is in your hands! Save the world!
Smart Meters are just the beginning. The first step towards?
Flush with taxpayer money, Texas energy providers are charging onward. CenterPoint started installing Smart Meters inside Loop 610 and is moving out until all of its 2.2 million customers have the digital meters according to Floyd LeBlanc, Vice-President of CenterPoint Communications. Texas New Mexico Power plans to start installing 240,000 smart meters this year and through 2016.
But the $100 Smart Meters have turned out to be a hot item for the energy providers, literally. The meters have problems and have cause problems nationally with complaints about smart meters and appliance outages in North Carolina, California, Illinois, Florida, Virginia, Maine, and Texas. In Canada, there are also concerns over privacy issues with data collection.
In California, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, admitted recently that about 1,600 so-called “smart meters” had over charged customers in the Bay Area and California’s Central Valley for “phantom power”. It’s been discovered that the Landis+Gyr Smart Meters, malfunction when they get too hot. (Maybe these should just be used in colder climates?) Wary of lawsuits, PG&E admitted Smart Meters may interfere with Ground Fault Indicators, but the company avoids any suggestion of a connection with Smart Meter fires. One California fire captain believes installation contractors are not able to fit Smart Meters in existing spaces, so they spread the receiving clips before forcing the new meter in. If the clips are made wider, creating an area with no contact, dangerous arcing may occur with electrical use inside the home. According to PG&E, less than 1% of their 2.2 million Landis+Gyr meters are faulty – which isn’t an issue – unless it’s your meter. One California county even passed a moratorium on Smart Meters installations because of over-charging concerns , health issues, and fire potential.
In Dallas, Oncor has done side-by-side meters studies in an attempt to show their Smart Meters are accurate after massive complaints. Several house fires there are being blamed on Smart Meters. Local critics are asking why the Landis+Gyr Smart Meters are being made in Mexico (competitive bid) and if quality control might be an issue. Oncor has tried fine tune installation procedure: a smart-meter installation now should cause a brief loss of electricity (“a blink”) quickly followed by a reconnection so there shouldn’t be an electrical surge. They hope to eliminate any surge that could damage customer’s appliances.
In Houston, CenterPoint is seriously pushing Smart Meter benefits in TV media on multiple networks and in newspapers. CenterPoint is determined to switch out the old meters – whether customers want to or not. There have been complaints and stories of damage – even fires. CenterPoint spokesman Floyd Le Blanc says most customers are OK with having the meters installed, but some residents are turning away installation crews. “We’re not gonna’ have a wrestling match with a customer,” LeBlanc told reporters. “We’ll call them. We will work with them to the maximum extent possible, but we are installing smart meters. And it’s not optional. It’s like the move to digital TV.” (How kind, Mr LeBlanc. So apparently homeowners can’t Opt Out – even if you are poor or elderly and cannot afford repairs to home if installation of Smart Meter damages it. Oh, right. CenterPoint will give them a “free” monitoring gadget.) Warning: installation crews may leave when asked , but apparently are returning when no one is home. According to CenterPoint, there have only been about 500 complaints about Smart Meter installations with over 1.3 million meters installed. So the number of problems doesn’t look too big? Maybe. Unless it’s your house or your appliances.
(For related posts on Smart Meters, click the sidebar tag “electricity”)
Smartly monitoring and observing
Phil, the Philosopher Mouse of the Hedge
Discover more from Philosopher Mouse of the Hedge
Subscribe to get the latest posts to your email.
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