Smart meters are probably not a dumb idea for utility companies but they might be for the consumer. We are reading about more and more utility companies installing smart meters. It has been reported that bills are going up since analog meters have been replaced. There have even been health effects and reported safety violations. No one is talking about the privacy issues. So, the question is, do we really need wireless smart meters?
The mayor didn't want them. Siemens said that well, they're not really that "smart" but they are selling them to us. On Tuesday night, part of the Siemens plan is to sell us Smart Meters. What was the sales pitch for this when we just spent thousands replacing meters throughout the city.
Advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) is an integrated system of smart meters, communications networks, and data management systems that enables two-way communication between utilities and customers. Siemens says, the CITY shall continue to be responsible for reading meters until all commissioning and acceptance plan steps are completed for the AMI system.
As one person said and I thought it very enlightening--
“Smart” Meters do not allow for fair commerce or trust.
The “smart” meter internal program and calibration settings can be changed from remote at any time and in milliseconds. No one would ever know.
This is not fair commerce for either party. The power company could easily raise the calibration settings and no one would ever know since they are the only ones who can come and check the meter. Any inspection of the internal program would only be done by them too.
The incentive to do that is hundreds of thousands of dollars per month more for a very small change in the calibration settings of millions of meters.
Also, a “hacker” could easily change the calibration settings to make the meter read less kilowatt hours. The loss to the power company would be offset by other customers through rate increases since power generation needs would not go down.
Mechanical meters are fair to both parties because it can be seen through the glass that there are no tricks going on, and the spinning dial indicator can be used to quickly check the meter readings against a small load.
In a “hacking” or reprogrammed situation, the digital LCD display could be made to show anything the programmer wanted to show, so the normal homeowner couldn’t easily tell what the immediate power usage billed for really is. It may also fool power company employees.
“Smart” Meters are a dumb idea.
I guess we'll find out tomorrow night if the mayor and commission has been compromised by the snake oil salesman.
ReplyDeleteExcellent point. Especially with this
ReplyDeletebunch. Does this mean anytime they
want more $, we can expect our bills
to balloon? Like the hurricanes when
I had to pay almost $500 for one
week's electricity? I think we need
proof of everything with the present
majority.
Is the same program Siemens was presenting on before? If its a different program, why is Siemens getting all the "ins" with the City?
ReplyDeleteThis is just to funny. I believe the utility has rid themselves of the 2 people who knew this was a bad idea and voiced that and now they are gone. Yes our rates will increase once the CM can say he met FPL rates then run them back up to meet costs.
ReplyDelete