SmartMeters, any news?

[Barbapopa]

Not sure where else this would be posted, General Indoor seemed the most appropriate.
Has anyone had any issues with smartmeters being put onto their house? Has this brought undue attention to your indoor gardens?
The electric company PG&E put on my grow spot recently and the dang thing measures not only how much power you are using, it also measures WHEN. So they jack your charges up if you use it in peek hours.
These things can also be read remotely as they are wireless devices. Sounds like they are ripe for hacking IMO. Not that I would do that, just an observation. Since this thing has been put on, my electrical bill went up dramatically, the last bill was over 1000 bucks.
My concern is that the elevated bill will bring unwanted attention. I have my medical card and all and still I want to remain under the radar.
If any one has any info on these things, personal experiences and such it would be appreciated.

 

[DirtySouth]

Interesting, not sure bout that! B careful that $1000 bill is cool for a big house w/ pool spa ect. Not if your in a lil house and your bill is 2-3x higher that the neighborhood, well then I'd sweat it. I believe its about your consumption in the area over a period of time that they look for. Altho their loosin a G a month if something was to end your electric consumption. IMO

 

[dirtyolsouth]

Big brother or what? Geeez... I was just posting a question on this very topic a week or so ago. I was wondering when the meter reader would be made a thing of the past and whether this type of technology existed in homes yet and BOOM... there you are: living proof.

That's a drag... do you run your lights at night? Rates should be cheaper at Bendover Electric Co. then aren't they?

Peace!

 

[PencilHead]

Big brother or what? Geeez... I was just posting a question on this very topic a week or so ago. I was wondering when the meter reader would be made a thing of the past and whether this type of technology existed in homes yet and BOOM... there you are: living proof.

That's a drag... do you run your lights at night? Rates should be cheaper at Bendover Electric Co. then aren't they?

Peace!

Wouldn't running high consumption at night be even more of a flag? I re-did my fence line and got a reader on both my electric and my gas because of the dogs--they're so lazy I was afraid the meter guy would trip over one of them if he came in to read the meter. The kid comes by, holds a dingus up over the fence and pushes a button--boom, he's done.

Seriously, I do worry if anyone at the power company is looking to see why old Pencil is sucking up KWs all day, every day, from 7am to 7pm. I keep tons of woodworking equipment in my shed I got from my pa-in-law, and I have it all hooked up like I'd actually get out there in that heat and do something.

 

[NorCalHal]

I run all my lights at night. I have the new "smart meters" in place also, and for the last 6 months or so. No Issues.

 

[Smokey Mcpotster]

I don't think the power co.s idea is to find the 1 out of 4200 houses that are groing some smoke. They are trying to manage the electricity. I don't like the idea of them monitoring my use by the minute though.

Boy I would hate to think of the number of times my power co would have to come out, cuz well the thing just quit working again. hmmmm

edit
I think that if your use stays the same, you wont have a problem. If you have huge spikes or are running a lot of lights, I suppose it could show up. Pay your bill on time. Stay reasonable about the amount of lights you use.

 

[Barbapopa]

Thanks for all the input. I am going to see what I can do about conserving as much power as I can. If it was in the budget, I would install some solar panels or a wind mill of some sort. I am going to try to run them at night and see how that works. I think your right Smokey, just pay the bill and do not go nuts. i am definitely not going to run more then the lights I have that's for sure. I have a sneaking suspicion that NorCalHal and I are in very close proximity to each other so if you are not being bothered then I should be cool as well.

 

[smokingjoe]

If you can afford to, install a grid connect solar system and augment your power consumption. If not and assuming you've not got a 10kw grow, just conserve energy elsewhere, anything <2kw isn't going to raise much suspiscion. If at all possible schedule your grow consumption midday and mid night. If you are seriously concerned about it, convert mums and veg chambers to T5 or CFL and scale back to a 400 watter.

But before you going jumping to any conspiracy theories and or ingest a huge dose of paranoia stop and think a little; pay your bill, and try and avoid huge inductant loads.

There a perfectly logical reasons for continuos loads on the system at regular intervals.