Smart meter?

down home wrote:
Our last home when they came out with these smart meters switched ours to one.Not supposed to affect consumption or rates.
Well our bill went up and quite a bit each month. The meters , but they were not mandatory at the time, but refused to switch it back.
They don't have to read the meters directly it is done from their vehicle about 300 ft from the road.
her in this somewhat larger home the y bill us a heck or a lot more than I think it should be.
And they won't switch it back.

"Smart meter's" are part of the Grid Modernization Effort.

If I remember correctly it was part of one of those pieces of Federal legislation that banned Incadescent and many types of Fluorescent bulbs..

Most States do not allow one to "opt out" of a smart meter, some states do but you might be subject to a surcharge or a one time fee to keep your Analog meter.

SEE HERE FOR MORE INFO

We got ours a couple of yrs ago, so far no ill side effects and it is nice to get ACTUAL METER READINGS EVERY MONTH!! Our Electric co would read every other month, then as a cost saving move they fired a lot of readers and our meter reading was often estimated for two or three months in a row.. Yeah, that would cause a few heated calls to to POCO when the corrected billing happened..

As far as POCO "limiting" the power through a smart meter, yeah, it may be possible.. They CAN shut off your power REMOTELY if you don't pay your bill! They are supposed to be able to directly be addressable remotely once all of the smart grid infrastructure is in place..

Our last home when they came out with these smart meters switched ours to one.Not supposed to affect consumption or rates.
Well our bill went up and quite a bit each month. The meters , but they were not mandatory at the time, but refused to switch it back.
They don't have to read the meters directly it is done from their vehicle about 300 ft from the road.
her in this somewhat larger home the y bill us a heck or a lot more than I think it should be.
And they won't switch it back.

Down here a utility truck roams.
Using thermal imagery on transformers and sub stations. But this is a city of 600K population. Still have the analog meter. Too many periodic loads like a soldering gun and heat shrink gun to voluntarily opt for a digital meter.

63 day bill cycle this time. 156 kWh. 203 pesos @ 24 to the dollar.

ScottG wrote:
I know what a SM is. My question is, since it is metered by a Smart Meter, what happens if we exceed 7KW?

Generally with the SM the power company can know close to real time load on the transformer. This allows the transformer to be replaced if it starts to run over the design max.

In the old days the meter reading at the end of the month was a wild guess on the actual intermittent load peak.

ScottG wrote:
My question is, since it is metered by a Smart Meter, what happens if we exceed 7KW?

Your post is very interesting regarding the power company's admission of substandard service. However, your question can only be answered by the power company. No one here, unless they work for that power company and are familiar with the specific account, can answer your question. Call the power company and get your answer!

Hey Scott, this just came up on the local buy n sell, 30KW diesel generator for $1500. Your buddy can park this on his lot and tell the PoCo to go scratch.

One ringy-dingy...

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
That's what utility sheds are for

Minimum square footage is 800.
They've thought of everything.

That's what utility sheds are for


I have lost track of the number of proposed new-houses building aps friends have gotten then things

s-l-o-w-e-d

w-a-y

d-o-w-n

Pour the slab. Set the studs. The studs can be hidden with planters. A 20 x 40 slab is not Angkor Wat