I just found out our electric company will be laying off workers!

[napi21]

No, they didn't tell me that, but they DID call to tell me they were installing a "Smart Meter" to replace the meter I currently have, and if I want more info, go to their web site. I did, and here's the "advantages" they have listed.

We will no longer have to come to your home to read your meter. We will be able to do it remotely.

That means we'll have fewer trucks on the road, thus reducing polution.

We'll be able to fix power outages quicker.

I like the reduced polution idea, but if they no longer have to have meter readers, how many people are they going to lay off?????

I also wonder what else will change that I'm not aware of???

[Parche]

1. That Is SHOCKING News

:woohoo: :woohoo:

I guess this economy is still awesome...:sarcasm:

:hi:

[napi21]

2. I love technology...don't know what I'd do without my computer, but

I'm also skeptical about this remote access stuff and how accurate it is. We do after all have experience with blackbox voting technology too!

I always watch all my bills vvery closely for any variance from the norm. You can bet your butt I'm going to be watching the pwoer bill REALLY CLOSE after they install this new "Smart Meter"!

[coriolis]

4. All it amounts to is a little circuit that counts the revolutions on the rotor

and transmits the number over the wiring back to the office. Nothing nefarious...ours were fitted with these years ago. We like it because we don't have to worry about people coming into the back yard and maybe letting the dogs out, etc.

[VP505]

5. You can always go read your own meter

to verify if it matches what your bill shows.

[uppityperson]

6. We got some really odd bills a couple yrs ago, turns out they weren't reading meter every month.

They read for a couple months, then extrapolated what they thought we should be using based on our and our neighbor's and area's typical usage. They got a lot of calls and had to check a lot of meters fast when people caught on since of course everyone was getting billed high.

It's a good idea to check your meter once in a while, with what they say it says.

[LibertyLover]

3. We just got the news that our rates are going up - again

As of June they will be going up about $140 per household per year. Co-incidental our state legislature just passed a bill requiring BGE to give every customer back about $140 because of incorrectly billed charges for business expenses that they passed on to us. Gosh, amazing coincidence isn't it? :sarcasm: Because of the incredible increase they got last year, 40% or so which is just killing us, there has been talk about re regulating utilities in Maryland. I don't know how they got this increase past the oversight board - oh, wait, yes I do. It's called there really isn't one currently that can do anything. Definitely time to re-regulate.

[Breeze54]

7. 'Smart' meters can give consumers an edge - for $137.00!!

'Smart' meters can give consumers an edge

http://www.businessedge.ca/article.cfm/newsID/15619.cfm

Pilot project finds significant energy savings


By Eli Schuster - Business Edge
Published: 06/15/2007 - Vol. 7, No. 12

How much energy - and money - would you save in your home if you could see the cost of the electricity being used in real time?

Apparently, about 15 per cent.

As the market for green technology heats up, consumers across Canada will soon be introduced to so-called smart-meter technology and one Canadian firm, Blue Line Innovations, will reap some of the rewards.

In May, Blue Line signed an agreement with Newmarket Hydro in Ontario, through which the utility will offer home electricity monitors to residential customers at cost.

For $137.50 plus GST and provincial sales tax, homeowners can buy a PowerCost Monitor, which consists of two components - a sensor that is attached to the outside of the electricity meter (homeowners can install the meter themselves and it does not require access to the electrical panel) and a small display that can be placed anywhere in the house.

The sensor on the meter sends a wireless signal to the display, which shows the current and accumulated electricity consumption in dollars and cents, and in real-time feedback.

James McMillan, Blue Line's vice-president of sales and marketing, said the PowerCost Monitor "will pay for itself in a matter of months."

During a 2004-2005 pilot project, Blue Line provided PowerCost Monitors to 500 Hydro One customers in Ontario. That pilot, which was monitored "rigorously" by McMaster University, found that homeowners who used the monitors saved up to 15 per cent on their electric bills.

According to Blue Line, the savings in greenhouse-gas emissions would equal the shutting down of one coal-fired power plant or taking 1.2 million cars off the roads if every home in Canada had a PowerCost Monitor for one year.

Calling the PowerCost Monitor a "speedometer for the home," McMillan argued that it allows customers to make informed decisions on how to spend money on electricity.

more...