Smart meters

[MAINIAC XV]

For you home owners I just got back from a selectmans meeting in Acton where a CMP spokesperson was pushing the new smart meters. True it has it`s advantages but I believe you give up too much power and privacy. You can opt out but the Public Service Commission is considering giving CMP the right to charge you more for opting out. What you say ?

 

[stiXXX]

I agree, & opted OUT.

 

[MAINIAC XV]

He said with the smart meter you can control your lights, etc from your computer or cell phone. If you can do it so can the bad guys.

 

[Stein]

He said with the smart meter you can control your lights, etc from your computer or cell phone. If you can do it so can the bad guys.

Well, theoretically.

But yes, I'd much prefer to build my own remote power control system than use a mass produced one that everybody in my town gets.

It would be sweet for automation though (launch a movie on the home-theater PC, the lights automatically dim is my first thought).

 

[boxer3main]

I'd like to see it in apartment buildings.

this place I am renting has 5 meters, and the fat slob keeps asking for extra.. I even fixed outlets on my own, a fuse box problem, and found 13watt energy green lights...

speaking of bad guys. the smart meter can stop a fat landlord from getting fatter...and find the 220volt short ciruits randomly smacking everyones cars outside.

home owners are very self conscious anyway.. landlords are not. there is a use for smart meters.

 

[Ty Ty]

Are ya'll wearing tinfoil hats on your heads?

 

[2point5RS_Dan]

Are ya'll wearing tinfoil hats on your heads?

+1

 

[Meyagi]

they just turned up one morning and changed mine, i came home and there it was.....

 

[Matt]

same here....i never knew it was there until my father in law pointed it out......

 

[Pedro]

how in the hell do they think you can control your lights from a cell phone? It is the meter on the service entrance cable. not individual outlets or circuits.

 

[Stein]

how in the hell do they think you can control your lights from a cell phone? It is the meter on the service entrance cable. not individual outlets or circuits.

Possibly some sort of fancy interface that lets you hook up to light circuits as another "switch," which can be triggered by the meter's computer.

 

[Pedro]

well you still would need to run a second service entrance cable to your breaker box.

I think that part of the presentation was full of BS.

 

[MAINIAC XV]

how in the hell do they think you can control your lights from a cell phone? It is the meter on the service entrance cable. not individual outlets or circuits.

This is what the CMP spokesman said. Remember the Smart Meter is a " computer " connected wirelessly and with the proper ap why not?

[

 

[Iboc_C64]

It probably using the Home Control system from Radio Shack and IBM that has been around for 15 years or so now. I got a starter kit with my IBM Aptiva back in 1997. It was pretty cool, but it just turns the power on and off or dims dimmable lights. that's pretty much it. It works by sending signals through the elecrical wiring. Any devices you control must be on the same pole, or 120v circuit. By that I mean that if your power comes in a 240vac from your service entry, for most people the 2 120v circuits that make up the 240v service entry are split equally between the circuits in your home to balance load to the transformer. Due to this, the transmitter from the computer can only control about 1/2 of the circuits in the typical home. With a smart meter you could theoretically solve that problem if it was designed to do so. BTW, I don't really understand how these things are supposed to be superior, they have a relatively short wireless range and need to bounce the signal from one meter to the next before it reaches thier metering station. Seems sketchy and hackable to me.

 

[Iboc_C64]

This is what the CMP spokesman said. Remember the Smart Meter is a " computer " connected wirelessly and with the proper ap why not?

Because the switches in the house and the circuit breakers themselves are not magic and they do not computerize themselves. You cannot control individual circuits or switches from the service entry, unless you take extra steps and spend your own money. The best you could expect without buying extra equipment is to turn on or off the entire house at once, or turn the current up and down, which is stupid because it could cause damage to just about everything electronic in your home and then with no power for your furnace your pipes would freeze and burst.

 

[MAINIAC XV]

Because the switches in the house and the circuit breakers themselves are not magic and they do not computerize themselves. You cannot control individual circuits or switches from the service entry, unless you take extra steps and spend your own money. The best you could expect without buying extra equipment is to turn on or off the entire house at once, or turn the current up and down, which is stupid because it could cause damage to just about everything electronic in your home and then with no power for your furnace your pipes would freeze and burst.

Don`t get me wrong I am not for the smart meter and will be opting out.

 

[Pedro]

First: The only opt out on the table right now is to go without power

Second: The only thing that they can turn off is your power. Completely, not individual circuts (as per CMP website)

thirdly, why the big uproar over this? We had a "smart meter" when we had Kennebunk light and power. It was great because we ddin't have to shovel a path for the electric dude, and never got the ridiculous "estimated" usage bills. nobody died or got hacked. They knew our power was out before we called, and our rates were lower than CMP.

So for those of you with WIFI at home, why the aversion?

 

[Carter]

New generation vs older generation. I think it's a good thing and people are complaining about nothing. Otter cities around the country have been using them for years.

 

[Pedro]

same here.

The only thing I didn't like about the way Kennebunk Light and Power did it, is that they didn't give the initial reading and the ending reading. So I couldn't double check and we were pretty sure that we got our neighbor's (same property different meter) bill as we used nothing in the summer (no AC) and the bill went up (neighbor had AC) But that was only on the last bill.