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originally posted by: NiZZiM
These people can tell what type of electronics you use and when you do!
A person coming on your property to look at your meter is pittance compared to a system with no oversight logging your habits and usage.
I don't understand why it's too hard for them to just use the old meter and simply attach a device that reads the usage and sends it over a telephone line, since those are rarely used these days.
They don't need to analyze what I'm doing or any other customer is doing at home in private.
Despite the ongoing chorus against smart meters and the possibility for intrusion, some experts say that it is nothing but mass hysteria.
“Privacy zealots obsess over something that wouldn’t concern a rational person,” Roger Pilon, director of the Cato Institute’s Center for Constitutional Studies, said to FoxNews.com. “It’s the kind of mass hysteria we’ve seen in other eras for other issues.”
“The NSA has better things to do than monitor our A/C use.”
originally posted by: links234
Your first article sites a paper about giving the consumer more information. It seems that information was entirely dependent on the consumer providing the data on what they turned on/off and monitoring their power.
I'm learning some stuff with this discussion and I'm definitely going to have to ask if I can get a smart meter installed if I don't already have one. It's incredibly useful information and I'm not opposed to saving some money.
if they don't know what you're using, and it's all paranoia, how does it help you?
originally posted by: tnhiker
The first article references another paper, one that I am very familiar with. Like I said earlier, its all about consumption, not what is being used. Yes, certain appliances have certain "waveshapes" associated with them, so you could say, hey there is an inductive load turned on here, it could be device a, b, or c. What they are looking for is people who have high usage, use during peak time, etc.
Second, while not encypted by the basic sense of the word, they are coded and you need to understand the language the meter uses to understand. There is no personal data associated with it. Each meter shop will have a program that is used universally, they donwload said program to meter, add a locator ID, test the meter and send it off. The transmission that comes back contains the locator id, which is then referenced internally to the actual user information.
Somebody mentioned about after a smart meter is installed, their bill goes up. Thats possible in some instances, however if you are sure, call the utility and have them come test the meter. The reason some people see an increase is when changing out an old electromechanical that is probably worn down over years, and only around 2% accurate with a new meter that is 0.5% accurate, there is going to be a difference. Most meters I have seen that report incorrectly are in industrial/commercial installations and that is due to the CT's in the circuit being backwards, overburdened, or cross phased. Or the harmonics/load is so bad the meter uses the wrong algorithm to calculate power consumption. But once again thats non-residential. About the only things that would cause a smart meter to incorrectly report a residential load would be if the meter is programmed wrong( somebody assigned the wrong wiring configuration to it and it thinks its a 4 wire wye instead of a split phase 240 system). A damaged meter would read inaccurately, or one that has been tampered with.
On the subject of the main part of this thread, the fires, I found several other instances of this particular meter being pulled due to fire. According to a press release by the manufacture they said over voltage was to blame in part of the fires. Which means the meters were not designed right, have incorrect MOV's, or do not have MOV's at all.