Smart Electric meter...coming soon to your neighbor hood

[hunter63]

This is kinda scary.........
Smart Electric meter....Big Brother is watching.....but it's for your own good....right......






http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oik1agiIam4

[canid]

i am nearly certain that the issue (implementation, and capability) is being dramatically overstated.

i believe similar statistical information has been used to detect the use of indoor grow-lights in certain investigations though.

i'm thinking of the data transmission, storage and manipulation infrastructure it would take to keep (any in any worthwhile way employ) the level of records this speaker is asserting. methinks this technology is intended to gather and analyse general usage statistics in a more comprehensive way to tailor infrastructure and rates to demand.

[hunter63]

Yeah, ...sure ....OK.....It's for my own good....LOL.... Good point......
Thought it was intersting......
(Football game coming on in a while,,,,need to put away my tinfoil hat)

[canid]

for real life scary:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TEMPEST

[canid]

i didn't say it was for your own good. in fact, i'm nearly certain it's to help them maximize their profit margins.

i just think that if you want to be paranoid about incredibly interesting subjects you should start here in the real world with known, documented technology and practice instead of with the wild claims of some guy on youtube.

[canid]

here is a good starting point for good, factual information on the documented implementation of such metering technologies: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_meter#United_States

i do recommend you check out the information on TEMPEST/EMSEC technologies though.

[hunter63]

oops..............
This was a double post......
but as it occured after a few additional posts.......
Just was a FYI....i don't waste a lot of time worring about stuff like this.......

[Rick]

Ask yourself this question. Do you bother with the information you gather at your work? Do you pull all the data you can access on the customers you deal with? The answer is no. Why? Because no one gives a flyin' fig. I promise you the residential linemen that install the power meter don't care. The folks collecting the data don't care. Those creating the bill don't care. And if the cops show up and want to look through my house because my Russian radio transmitter looks a lot like a marijuana grow house on the old power bill then bring the search warrant and the donuts. I'll put on a pot of coffee and we'll have a good laugh about the whole thing. Until then........"Red Square, Red Square, come in Red Square......."

[JPGreco]

Not sure about where you guys are, but my local power company already reads meters digitally. The meter reader walks up to the meter with the reader, pushes a button, and it transfers the meter reading into the reader and is stored until they go back to the office. It's only one small step from there to these smart meters. It's not like they couldn't gather this information before hand anyway, this way would just make it easier.

[canid]

yeah; we have digital meters with rf transmitters. the meter guy just has to go down the alley pointing his handheld over the fence to take the readings.

the issue with the youtube guy's claims is a simple logistical one. these meters would either have to have large memory capacities to store this data between readings, a substantial computing power to proccess more than minor statistics on-site or the utility would have to have an extremely extensive wireless network infrastructure to do realtime capture of every meter in town. that's a lot of computing power, and a lot of equipment either way. it would also be a great deal of expense. i have a hard time imagining this to be plausible.

on the other hand; i wonder what my usage statistics will look like when i get my laser to the testing phase

[JPGreco]

Yeah, if the electric company was interested in individual meterings, they would do the simple thing and do a sample survey. A few houses in every area would be selected to have a system put in place. Most likely volunteers. A few houses in every neighborhood would give them a large enough sample without a doubt.

[Rick]

You don't have to anything special to determine how many kilowatts are being used. If LE wants that information they will get a court order and get it today. Same on telephone. If they want to wiretap all they need is a court order.

[canid]

indeed. targeted surveillance and monitoring is a different ballgame, and one which does not require the house to house installation of 'nanny-meters' over a wide area.

[hunter63]

Yeah, OK, yeah...it will, be fine.......Yeah.....

[crashdive123]

Just to throw this into the mix..... http://www.builderonline.com/technol...k=Smart+Meters

From Article: The strategic goal of smart metering is to let utilities interact with the home directly. Homes with automation systems on which ride major electrical appliances such as HVAC and refrigerators can have the power consumption of each appliance measured remotely and, ultimately, the utility will have the ability to turn appliances down or off as needed during peak periods.

While the goal of improving service to customers is laudable, having somebody decide where my thermostat will be set does not improve my level of comfort.

[Rick]

Locally, they have been doing this on a voluntary basis for a couple of years. I receive a notice in the mail every couple of months that I can have my air conditioner turned off during the day during peak time to save me money. Not such a good deal if you happen to be home during the day when they shut you down. No thanks I tell them but they are persistent little cusses.

http://www.duke-energy.com/ohio/savi...er-manager.asp

[hunter63]

I used to have to deal with these during service calls......."My A/C doesn't work"...."Yeah, I know, call your power company...red light is on...No- Go per power company, That will be $129 bucks for a service call, Ma'am,..... It will fix it's self at 4:00 PM"

[Camp10]

Im on the company computer, so I will try to give a better post later. The company here is going to smart meters and there is quite a bit of controversy over them. I cant access the original link because of the firewalls here but I think it is one I've seen before. The fact is the meter does have the ability to gather, store and transmit all kinds of info about your useage and your patterns including any changes in them. However, Rick is right.. none of us here give a rats rump about what they might gather... if it gives the billing dept the info they need, all is good with the world. The biggest problem us field workers have with them is that they have a fairly high failure rate (compaired to the bread and butter meters) and will leave customers with half or no power.

[Rick]

Sounds like some easy Sunday and Holiday call outs. Gotta love those when all you have to do is swap meters.

Camp - Can you disconnect for non-pay remotely with the smart meters or do you still have to go to the house?

[Camp10]

Sorry I didnt get back to you yesterday Rick. yes, you can disconnect and reconnect remotely with them. That is part of the half or no power problems we are seeing. The coils that opperate the blades are weak and have a fairly high failure rate (it seems). The real advantage for us is that they will also transmit outage information back to the dispatch. The system isnt up and running yet but if the wire is broken at the insulator and down at pole 14, for example, the dispatch will see that the first 13 sections are still energized and we will know better where to find our problem.