Just said NO to 'Smrt' Meters

[Nebula]

It's all bogus scare mongering by people who have figured out one can use the Internet to spread misinformation. Mass hysteria for the wired world.

It's no different than a few years back when the federal government was going to regulate 'natural' foods and medicines. Holy cow did people get up in arms. There was a flurry of websites (most set up by the non-regulated industry) that claimed with the new law, government stormtroopers would be allowed to enter private homes and arrest parents for giving their kids vitamins.

What a crock. It was a crock then and a crock now. That part of the legislation was set up so that if Aunt Mary was collecting turnip tops and dandelion farts in the backyard and packaging them in her kitchen in bottles that claimed they were a cure for diabetes, that inspectors could in fact go have a little chat with Aunt Mary and confiscate her witch doctor products.

[Bagotricks]

From what I hear, there are quite a few "faulty" meters.

Guess who's responsibility it is to "prove" you didn't use 500% more electricity this month? Got a 1000 dollar hydro bill for a cabin you weren't even living in that cost you 120 dollars to power for the entire year?

You have to pay for a electrical audit and you are on the hook for the bill until proven otherwise. Audits are not cheap. Might as well just pay the super-inflated bill.

The line from BC Hydro is "It was a cold winter you probably used more electricity" - deny deny deny.

That part of the legislation was set up so that if Aunt Mary was collecting turnip tops and dandelion farts in the backyard and packaging them in her kitchen in bottles that claimed they were a cure for diabetes, that inspectors could in fact go have a little chat with Aunt Mary and confiscate her witch doctor products.

...but they still sell Q-Ray bracelets...

[Glacier]

Those water meters dont transmit continuous information. There is a little black square usually glued to the side of your house that a city meter reader has to get close to in order to obtain a reading via hand held device. Or they can just locate the meter in the ground( usually in a little vault) and read the numbers manually. Never heard of them being "smart" and able to tell when you use water. What was explained to me is that they simply record usuage and you get billed as to how much.
They dont care when you use water, bylaw has no power to read your meter and give you a fine for say watering on the wrong day during a water restriction, they have to actually catch you in the act because whos to say how you used the water. Thus no one cares about the water "smart" meter.

Look, they are called smart meters: http://www.abbotsford.ca/engineering_an ... meters.htm

There is very little difference between a water "smart" meter and a hydro "smart" meter. They are both called smart meters because they ARE both smart meters. My water "smart" meter is installed in the middle of my house, whereas a a hydro "smart" meter would be installed on the outside of my house. They both send out "big bad radio signals." Neither of them send out continuous radio signals, but they do continually send out radio signals.

Government authorities has no control over your hydro useage so I'm not sure why they would over your water useage either. They are capable of monitoring both if they really wanted to, however.

______________________________________________________
A smart meter is a smart meter. And when you have a good smart meter, it's because it's proven.

[Rwede]

Of course, the decliners can all rejoice when they have the "Manual Meter Reading Fee" tacked on to their bills. $16/month, IIRC.

I'm glad some people's stupidity and unfounded paranoia will help to offset my cost of electricity. MMRFs will help bolster Hydro's coffers, making a taxpayer subsidy and/or rate hikes less likely for the sane portion of the population.

[Popeye69]

Of course, the decliners can all rejoice when they have the "Manual Meter Reading Fee" tacked on to their bills. $16/month, IIRC.

I'm glad some people's stupidity and unfounded paranoia will help to offset my cost of electricity. MMRFs will help bolster Hydro's coffers, making a taxpayer subsidy and/or rate hikes less likely for the sane portion of the population.

Fortis will be glad with some people's stupidity having the meter installed especially when they start peak time billing.
I'd rather pay the $16 dollar a month fee than a over inflated bill due to peak time usuage or haywire smart meter that randomly decides to bill you more. Who's truly stupid here Rwede... I guess time will tell.
P.S if you think Fortis/ Hydro will ever cut you any deals and make rate hikes less likely you probably should put down the pipe.

[Captain Awesome]

I'm looking forward to peak time billing.

[grammafreddy]

I'm looking forward to peak time billing.

Why?

[Captain Awesome]

Why?

Most of our electricity consumption falls outside of peak hours. So, we'll save money.

[grammafreddy]

WOW ... you must dine fashionably late and do laundry at midnight.

That's kinda hard for families with kids in school and two parents working the day shift.

Edited to add ... at one time, Fortis had their new Smart Meter rates and peak/off-peak hours posted on their website. They aren't there now, but I had posted them here viewtopic.php?f=26&t=37154&start=15#p1146511.

Are these hours something an average family with small kids can work around or are they gonna get dinged for peak hour useage?

[Dash5]

It's all bogus scare mongering by people who have figured out one can use the Internet to spread misinformation. Mass hysteria for the wired world.

Talk about hitting the nail squarely on the head!

[grammafreddy]

It's all bogus scare mongering by people who have figured out one can use the Internet to spread misinformation. Mass hysteria for the wired world.

So Aunt Mary can bake cookies during peak hours and not pay any more than if she was doing it in off-peak times?

[Nebula]

So Aunt Mary can bake cookies during peak hours and not pay any more than if she was doing it in off-peak times?

I have no idea. Just so long as she doesn't try to hawk them as a cure for cancer.

[Captain Awesome]

Are these hours something an average family with small kids can work around or are they gonna get dinged for peak hour useage?

Well, you can't completely eliminate peak hour electricity usage - unless you completely unplug everything and check your meter every 10 minutes - and I think only Nab has enough interest for that. But shuffling things around isn't that hard, doing laundry before you go to school or before you go to bed isn't that complicated really. How do you say that - choices, choices?

[grammafreddy]

It's things that heat and cool that will be a killer for quite a few people (and low income ones, too). Things like the fridge, the freezer (which we don't normally think of as heating but that's what they do) are impossible to unplug for peak times.

Consider, too, if businesses will also be hit with peak/off-peak rates and how grocery stores, florists, restaurants, bars, etc run ovens, freezers and coolers and meat lockers. Will prices go up to the consumer if rates increase?

I don't know if there are any medical devices people need that are required 24/7 and need heat or cold to work. I guess there could be.

And yeah, I spose a mom who has worked all day and has to get up early in the morning could do the family laundry at midnight. Sucks, though.

[NAB]

Why?

most of our electricity consumption falls outside of peak hours. So, we'll save money.

You of course have no way of knowing that Captain, since it will probably be a year or two before anyone knows what the structure of BC Hydro's time of use periods will be, or even how your life style may have changed by then (particularly if you have a family and growing children in school). Just the same, it is all just relative rates one period to another, and you can only control the optional timing of certain things that consume electricity anyway. But as for saving money on electricity, I can virtually guarantee you that when the time comes for the change to TOU billing based on smartmeters, you will be paying far more per year for what electricity you consume in total than you are today - regardless of how much you manage to shift into daily "off peak" time periods.

This is the TOU Ontario has settled on as of the other day (Approximately two years after the commencement of smart meter installs), and subject to the rate structure being reviewed every six months. So if six months down the road they find revenues are falling because many people have indeed shifted their consumption patterns, it is a simple matter to just regularly raise the rate structure to generate more money from off peak use periods, or even make a slight adjustment to the periods themselves to capture more people if and as the peak use periods change. (Edit to add: Note too that in Ontario's case, and on an annual basis, "off peak" applies only from 7 PM to 7 AM. All the rest of the weekday is peak use from 7 AM to 7 PM depending on the time of year.



Nab