# Smart grids and smart meters



## dpeters11 (May 30, 2007)

So I got two postcards from our electric and gas company (one card for each meter I'm assuming) that said I was getting new meters, and based on these new boxes on the utility poles I see on my street, I get the feeling we're getting a smart meter.

Does anyone else have this type of thing? I'm wondering if I'll see any real benefit to it, though never having to let them in to read the gas meter is high up there.

I never expected my little dead-end street to be on the forefront of tech, fiber to the house and now a smart grid.


----------



## coolyman (Oct 4, 2007)

dpeters11 said:


> So I got two postcards from our electric and gas company (one card for each meter I'm assuming) that said I was getting new meters, and based on these new boxes on the utility poles I see on my street, I get the feeling we're getting a smart meter.
> 
> Does anyone else have this type of thing? I'm wondering if I'll see any real benefit to it, though never having to let them in to read the gas meter is high up there.
> 
> I never expected my little dead-end street to be on the forefront of tech, fiber to the house and now a smart grid.


That's so the EPA can turn off your power or cause brown-outs because you're hurting the environment by using too much, even though you pay for it. :lol:


----------



## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

We got natural gas meters last year with a promise for easy Internet access, but (perhaps hacked ?) the PG&E guy still wandering around and reading those values manually.


----------



## matt (Jan 12, 2010)

They're going to do that with out water meters soon.


----------



## JACKIEGAGA (Dec 11, 2006)

matt said:


> They're going to do that with out water meters soon.


My water was changed 2 years ago they can read the meter from the car parked in front of my house.

I wish they would do this to my gas meter they are a real PIA. Im always getting calls that they couldnt get it in. Im going to be charged $25.00 extra if they cant get in to read the meter.


----------



## matt (Jan 12, 2010)

The insert in my bill said they will network back to city hall. I guess maybe they trunk off each other? The insert did say that meters far from the city will be read by a truck driving by.

Can you not self read the gas meter? I do that with my electric because my gate is always locked.


----------



## dpeters11 (May 30, 2007)

coolyman said:


> That's so the EPA can turn off your power or cause brown-outs because you're hurting the environment by using too much, even though you pay for it. :lol:


Duke already has access to turn off my AC. Though the rule is that it can only happen during the day on a weekday, no more than 2 15 minute cycles.

Our water meters were switched over 6-7 years ago, was soon after we moved in. The Duke meter left us a note that the key didn't work. Changing the locks was the first thing we did.

Will be interesting to see how it all goes.


----------



## SayWhat? (Jun 7, 2009)

They changed my electric meter quite a while ago, maybe a year or more. I hadn't even thought about it much, but I can't remember seeing the meter reader lately. I used to see them quite often. I guess I don't know if I'm just missing them or if it's being read remotely now.

-------------------

Side question; whatever happened to broadband internet over power lines?


----------



## matt (Jan 12, 2010)

It's so weird to me that some providers put the meters inside the house. My sister had a house like that in New York.


----------



## SayWhat? (Jun 7, 2009)

_It's so weird to me that some providers put the meters inside the house. My sister had a house like that in New York._

I think all of my houses in SE MI had inside water and gas meters, electric was outside. Something to do with freezing I guess.

At my last house there, the water department came out and installed an outside remote digital odometer type device hardwired to a transducer on the inside meter.


----------



## BattleZone (Nov 13, 2007)

Most towns in California got these at least two years ago. In suburban neighborhoods, you'll see boxes and cellular-type antennas on light poles every couple hundred yards, which collects the information from that neighborhood. The meters pass their information along each other until they get to the main box on the pole.

You can log into your utility account online and see in hour blocks where your gas and power usage is. That, and the fact that you don't need meter readers anymore, are the only advantages.

The DISadvantage is that they put everyone on this 5-tiered system. The first so many KW/h are really cheap, but the price goes WAY up as you increase tiers. Tons of folks got these huge bills and were trying to blame it on faulty "SmartMeters", but the meters weren't the problem; it was the billing tiers.


----------



## matt (Jan 12, 2010)

I think it should be the other way around, the more you use the cheaper it gets.


----------



## SayWhat? (Jun 7, 2009)

BattleZone said:


> The DISadvantage is that they put everyone on this 5-tiered system. The first so many KW/h are really cheap, but the price goes WAY up as you increase tiers. Tons of folks got these huge bills and were trying to blame it on faulty "SmartMeters",* but the meters weren't the problem; it was the billing tiers*.


No, the problem was excessive usage. Use less, pay less.



matt said:


> I think it should be the other way around, the more you use the cheaper it gets.


Nuh-Uh. They're trying to get people to cut down and penalizing those who don't.


----------



## Grentz (Jan 10, 2007)

We got an electric smart meter a few months ago. No real change except we can now use google power meter which is kinda cool. Wish it was realtime though (updates every 12hrs)


----------



## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

BattleZone said:


> Most towns in California got these at least two years ago. In suburban neighborhoods, you'll see boxes and cellular-type antennas on light poles every couple hundred yards, which collects the information from that neighborhood. The meters pass their information along each other until they get to the main box on the pole.
> 
> You can log into your utility account online and see in hour blocks where your gas and power usage is. That, and the fact that you don't need meter readers anymore, are the only advantages.
> 
> The DISadvantage is that they put everyone on this 5-tiered system. The first so many KW/h are really cheap, but the price goes WAY up as you increase tiers. Tons of folks got these huge bills and were trying to blame it on faulty "SmartMeters", but the meters weren't the problem; it was the billing tiers.


So far a lot of the North Bay has not gotten Smart Meters from PG&E yet. They're "coming soon" I guess. I have no problem with them.

When I retired in 2001 the PG&E rates were a two tier, two season structure established in 1993 and the rates had been in effect for two years.

Today, of course, we have the five tier system which actually started in 2004. PG&E has had five rate changes since January 2010.

Comparing 2001 rates to 2010 rates using the 2010 usage, we paid slightly more than double in 2010 than we would have under the old rate structure. Guess who didn't factor in an average 10% a year power bill increase into his retirement plan.:eek2:

But that's life as I know it....


----------



## ChoppedLiver (Jan 17, 2008)

I'm in north county San Luis Obispo. We got them a couple months back. (I have PG&E) They actually transmit their data in the power lines. Pro: Nearly instant access to usage online. Con: they don't have to have a person to come out and kill your power when you didn't pay your bill they can do it remotely via the meter. Pro: if you do forget to pay your bill they can turn it on almost right away when you do pay it. Big Con: although I haven't seen it yet are the claims of 50% higher bills with them vs. the old style. The county made them stop until they could prove it wasn't affecting rates. They must have because last I heard is they started up again...


----------



## scooper (Apr 22, 2002)

The power company I get service from (Progress Energy) switched over to remotely readable digital meters a couple years ago, when I switched rate plans I got a much smarter meter. Also, last year I took advantage of a price break for them to do the shut off A/C thing. With the new rate plan, I saved over $700 in 2010 over what the flat rate would have been.

And if you have a TED5000, you can still do the Google Powermeter thing, even if your utility doesn't.


----------



## trdrjeff (Dec 3, 2007)

matt said:


> I think it should be the other way around, the more you use the cheaper it gets.


I know some people in the midwest get billed that way 

Wish it worked that way out here in SoCal lol, SDG&E shares the data through google power meter. No real advantages to it in reality, you sure know when your AC comes on in the summer though


----------

