You know, there are issues with these smart meters. They need addressed. But, what this woman did is, well, not smart. Being more descriptive, stupid.
The story is about how a couple of ladies got arrested for not wishing a “smart meter” to be installed at their residence.
Now, this would be fine, except, it isn’t their meter!!! It isn’t their equipment the meter is being installed in!!!
What logic brings you to a point where you think you can mandate how a person measures what they are selling you?
Let me try to explain this. You have a home. You want electricity to use in that home. You give the local provider a ring and ask them to sell you some electricity. Usually, they’re happy to do so. But, this requires a thing we like to call “delivery“. The provider doesn’t want to continually make trips to your home delivering buckets full of electricity. So, they set up contraptions to continuously deliver that electricity as you demand it! Isn’t that nice? No calling, no going to the store to pick up electricity, no deliverymen showing up at inconvenient times, none of that…… the contraptions (meter loops and the like) allow electricity to be delivered any time you want it!
Now, the providers want to measure how much they are providing. So, they need to “meter” your usage.
Now, back in the day, they used to manufacture meters which pretty much operated as a clock. It had gears and whatnot that spun around and would move the display to the appropriate value so people could see how much you were using. Here’s what one looked like…..
Note: I wrote, “back in the day.” They don’t make these anymore. Worse, because of the nature of gears and whatnot, the parts wear down. When the parts wear down, the meter doesn’t accurately meter the electricity usage.
Today, they make meters which the internal workings look like this…..
The technicians at iFixit got their hands on an Elster Rex2 Watt-hour meter with features that an old-fashioned motor-driven meter lacks: nonvolatile memory with 1 million write cycles, advanced security with full 128-bit AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) encryption, the ability to make remote upgrades, and support for 900-MHz and 2.4-GHz ZigBee communication. The meter can also track overall power usage by time, which raises privacy concerns for some utility customers. On the other hand, some customers welcome the ability to parse their power usage to better manage it and, they hope, save money.
They attach it to an LED display.
Now, I’m not saying there isn’t any legitimate concerns about the capabilities of these meters. There are and some very serious ones. However, here’s a list of some things one shouldn’t be concerned about. …… from the article…..
[T]he health risks associated with transmitter in the smart meter, including headaches, insomnia, tinnitus and DNA breakdown.
Of course, the city is being a bit dishonest about the opt out program. From the story….
According to a Q&A document about the Naperville Smart Grid Initiative, homeowners are able to choose between participating in the smart grid program with a standard, wireless meter. Or they can opt out and will still receive what is being called a “non-standard” smart meter, which has the wireless card removed.
To receive a “non-standard” smart meter costs an initial, one-time fee of $68.35 (this is the cost difference between the two meters) and a monthly fee of $24.75 for manual reading of the meter.
Or, the city could just purchase the smart meter without the wireless card, which is cheaper than the model with. Not all smart meters communicate in the same manner. The communication device would be specific to the technology being used, so, meters get made with certain capabilities, and then the devices are added in.
Here’s the long and short. We’re all going to get “smart meters”. If you don’t have one now, you will. Mostly because they don’t make the old ones anymore. Instead of acting like a lunatic leftist nutter, concentrate on what the real problems and worries are.
It’s an issue of privacy and data. We need to start passing laws dictating that the utilities can’t do anything untoward with the data they’re collecting. Further, concentrate on the capabilities and understand what is and isn’t yours. It’s imperative this is understood, both by you and the utility companies. They are, at some point in the near future, going to try and enter your home. (Notice how that’s yours and not theirs.) You need to concentrate on the programs like the one mentioned in the city’s Q and A document, specifically, “demand response programming”. This is where they will charge you more for your electricity use during the times it is convenient for most to use their electricity. While I am entirely against this practice, it is likely to come. One needs to be asking why? The answer is easy. The pinheaded president you elected and the idiot EPA lunatic he appointed have managed to shut down much of our generating capacity.
Because we’ve lost much of our backup capacity, the energy demand needs to be smoothed out. That’s why they’re gathering data at 15 min intervals. Quit fighting senseless fights and address the real issues and fight those fights.