Stupid on smart meters

Posted by David Roberts at 2:45 PM on 01 Aug 2007

Read more about: energy | California

Southern California Edison wants to distribute smart meters to its customers. That's a great idea.

Consumer group Utility Reform Network is fighting it. That is, as Kevin says, immeasurably stupid.

Argh.

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Utility Reform Network is bullshitting

Blueline has been doing this successfully. Consumers equipped with their product have shown 10-15% reductions.

http://www.bluelineinnovations.com/nlpower/support.html

UK has shown similar results.

Been following these devices for a few years. . . and so so so SO glad they're finally getting a real try here. Texas utilities are also looking at doing same.

These help us consume LESS, which is numero uno.

by Tod at 3:02 PM on 01 Aug 2007

typical

This is not the first time that I've seen TURN come out against progressive energy system reform. They also opposed the various California solar rebate programs, on the grounds that it would increase the consumer's utility bills.

As far as I can tell, TURN's entire purpose is to minimize utility bills in the short term, with no real interest in long-term consequences.

Stupid doesn't even begin to describe it.

by GreenEngineer at 3:34 PM on 01 Aug 2007

that's a terrible argument

against such a great idea.

the idea behind the smart meter is dynamic pricing, and it's a very, very good one.

who are these people claiming to be "consumer advocates?"

by naturescene at 4:11 PM on 01 Aug 2007

Proof that meters work:

In Australia over the last couple of months we have been treated to a television program called 'Carbon Cops'. In each program the cops coached a different family on ways to reduce their carbon footprint. The Families were all pretty average people, but they were chosen because each had emissions that were quite a bit over the Australian national average (about 14ton C)2 per household). Every family managed to cut their emissions in half and save between 5 and 10 thousand $Oz each. And it was relatively easy for them to do it.

It was clear that the electricity/carbon meters that they were given was key to achieving this remarkable outcome. It was a simple device that showed a bar of five squares that changes from green to yellow to flashing red with a beep. The funny thing was that they all fell in love with the beast; the families excitedly scrambled all units to find the cause whenever it showed high usage.

The other amazing thing the show revealed was how often people were wasting huge amounts of energy, with no actual benefit. And they demonstrated how easy it often was to fix a problem.

So simple, soooo effective.

Makes me think that there is a market niche there for a business that to goes into peoples home to show them how to reduce emissions and save money. The fee could be a proportion of the annual money saved by the household. This could be done on a contractual basis. The consultant comes in, does an audit, coaches the family on reducing emissions, signs a contract, organizes for certain changes to be made to the house (perhaps charging for the upfront cost), then returns at the end of a year to do a re-audit and charges a percentage of the money saved.

by picoallen at 9:58 PM on 01 Aug 2007

ADVERTISING POLICY

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