Smart Meters. What exactly are they?

a reply to: Hecate666

HA HA

Thanks for your reply.

a reply to: Hecate666

HA HA

Thanks for your reply.

originally posted by: Moohide
The thing that made me laugh was the fact that, if Company A installs a smart meter and you switch to Company B for whatever reason, that meter then becomes a useless paperweight. If you then want another smart meter with Company B they have to come and install a NEW one.

The only advantage is for those on prepayment meters, who could get a smart meter installed and then switch over to a much cheaper tariff because they can see what is spent per day, it would also gets rid of the standing charge for prepay meters, which is 30p per DAY on electric, and 30p per DAY on gas BEFORE you used anything.

so there's no standing charge on smart meters? Didn't know that, thought you'd still be charged for it waiting there

a reply to: Indigent

he power companies need to produce more power during peak hour, this extra power may be produced with more expensive sources.

yes and after cap and trade or a carbon tax gets shoved down everyone's throats they can shut your power off for using too much or more than your share.

a reply to: TruthxIsxInxThexMist

They can monitor you from the street...brown you out....cut you completely...all from nowhere near you.

As far as not allowing them? I tried that...when I wasn't home...they hopped the back fence, installed one and locked it.

a reply to: Lysergic

that was funny!

originally posted by: mysterioustranger
a reply to: TruthxIsxInxThexMist

They can monitor you from the street...brown you out....cut you completely...all from nowhere near you.

As far as not allowing them? I tried that...when I wasn't home...they hopped the back fence, installed one and locked it.

That's gotta be a lie about installing one without your permision.

A few years back I read an article about this. In case of a major disaster, energy can be regulated and transferred through the grid to an area that is effected by a plant failure. With the smart meters they can shut your power off and allow it to come on remotely to regulate people's energy use. It may only be that you get two hours in the morning and two hours in the evening, that way you can keep your house from freezing up. They also make it so a meter reader does not have to go to your house to read the meter. This saves money. I asked about it here, if you do not want one, you get charged extra because a meter man has to come to your house. It was about seven bucks a month extra if I remember right but I live out in the country, it would probably cost more than that to have a meter reader come out here. I opted for the smart meter. We had an increase in our bills to pay for them, they told us about that surcharge, but you pay that either way, if you denied getting it or accepted it.

originally posted by: Moohide
The thing that made me laugh was the fact that, if Company A installs a smart meter and you switch to Company B for whatever reason, that meter then becomes a useless paperweight. If you then want another smart meter with Company B they have to come and install a NEW one.

Maybe it's not the same in every state, but in Texas, your meter is your meter, regardless of electric provider. I could change every six months to a new provider if I wanted to. The lines and meters all belong to Atmos Energy, but I'm free to use any of hundreds of service providers. And I pay a flat rate per kwh, so my smart meter isn't charging me more at peak times at all.

Now we're in the country so we're on a coop electric, which is dirt cheap. The lines and the meter are still owned by Atmos Energy though.

a reply to: usernameconspiracy

I live in England. Every company (energy, transport etc) thinks we have magic money growing trees in our vast orchards and that we can pick money for them at our leisure for their pleasure. We call them robbing b@st@rds. Dirt cheap is not in our vocabulary any more.

a reply to: Moohide

Ah. Just got all mixed up on where we were talking about. Carry on, my friend.

originally posted by: TruthxIsxInxThexMist

originally posted by: mysterioustranger
a reply to: TruthxIsxInxThexMist

They can monitor you from the street...brown you out....cut you completely...all from nowhere near you.

As far as not allowing them? I tried that...when I wasn't home...they hopped the back fence, installed one and locked it.

That's gotta be a lie about installing one without your permision.

It's not...I stalled them and said I don't want it for about 2 months....one day I came home to find my clocks flashing 12:00:00...went out back at there it was.

The DTE transformer on pole hangs over my yard and they have alley access to the pole...they just hopped down my side and installed.

I was beyond ticked...the meter outside is like 5' from where wife and I sleep, and the EMF's worry me.

Called said "take it out"...they said no...and if I broke the plastic box lock...that's their property and a misdemeaner and like $1,000 fine for tampering with a public utility...

I've heard of several protest groups against them...and also you can pay not to have them..dont know if that's true.

PS I have 2 homes...and a cottage 200 miles north. They all been converted to those bastards...when I wasn't around.

Sadly...all true.

The other funny thing about them is the Mk1 smart meters have all stopped working now. They broke. Software failure or something. So all the early adopters who wanted one most have now got a broken meter.


I went right off them when I found out they had to be connected to your household internet and they could send packets of information back to home base, with no details on exactly what data they were collecting and sharing.

a reply to: rickymouse

Someone only needs to come read the meter once every 2 years and I'm still asking myself now, after 30 years, why do they bother? They don't do anything except 'read the meter' which is exactly what I and others do anyway. They don't check the meters to see if there's a problem with wiring or cables etc.. they just come out to check you aren't fiddling the meters!

They are leeches and snoopers and don't trust us.

a reply to: mysterioustranger

Think I'd take them to court about it. It's your property, not theirs

originally posted by: TruthxIsxInxThexMist
a reply to: mysterioustranger

Think I'd take them to court about it. It's your property, not theirs

See...it's their property...on my property...and the meters are their property. They don't need to get to theirs for reading, service whatever