Woman chases off Smart-meter installer with a gun. The cops support her.

Originally posted by TKDRL
reply to post by FortAnthem

 

Isn't that frikken typical......
NY times blows......

In all fairness, they do give her side of the story and mention that the worker shoved he several times before she produced the gun.

Still, the headline and ending quote speak volumes.

They would not install my Smart-meter because there was a 2 foot long piece of 2x4 against the wall under the meter not in the way of there working on the meter.

Had to call them back to tell them i had moved the 2x4 so they could do the job.

The other house i watch over is vacant and they have replaced the smart meter twice because there is only two Led lights on in it for security.
They never ask if anyone was living in the home and must think the meters were bad from the low reading they were getting, why clue them in

She was worried about the smart meter making them sick? How would that thing make them sick? I can understand not wanting to have their power usage tracked but i hadn't heard anything on them making people sick.

reply to post by FortAnthem

I was wondering about the ability to identify which appliances are actually being used due to "signature". Dude mentions that in the OP video at about 1 minute mark:


Anybody got a take on that?

over emotional Americans.

we need to give up guns for our safety. The meter is for her good. The government supports it. Would they lie?

don't get all over emotional.

This is why my utilities are behind a locked fence, if they want in, they have to knock on my door for me to open the fence. Otherwise if Im not home....they get no nachos.

And if they destroy my fence just to get to a meter....they will run across my long time furry friend cujo. he doesnt like people stopping in unannounced. And he does not respond to commands in english...

Surely if they want to change the meter then they should arrange a date & time to swap it over and the only reason that they wouldn't need it was if the electrics was dangerous and threatened life/property

and as for telling whats connected to the electricity, it won't be able to tell if its a TV or a fridge connected to the mains but i suppose you could use the meter to build a time profile so you could probably tell what time the lights come on by noticing the same load increase at roughly the same time every day but unless they are some sort of smart device using powerline tech there will be no way of knowing

This the part of the article that everyone overlooks : " the 55-year-old Taormina, who is licensed to carry a weapon"

You don't need a license to carry. I see this time and again, and people believe it.

I hate to interrupt the celebrations but lets not forget the other victim here.
A guy was just doing his job and had a gun pulled on him, I know all of you identify with the woman, but you must all also have jobs, imagine if you had his job...

Its his bosses who sent him to do some sneaky work without permission, but some ordingary guy like you or me was the victim.

reply to post by FortAnthem


How is that anti gun? Because it relayed the statement from the power company? Did you really want them to not state what the power company said because it might give people a negative thought about guns? That is not real journalism.

reply to post by emaildogs


It depends on the state.

As soon as Bloom Generators are available for home use, I for sure will get one.

I really like to get off the grid.

Good for her!

It was a voluntary choice as long as she chose what they wanted. She stood up from being bullied into making the choice she didn't want.

I say, press charges.

I posted this in another thread. Reading that someone wrote that their bill is higher. Link

Okay, so these are probably stupid questions but, here goes.

Who is paying for the electricity that a smart meter uses?

How much electricity does it take to power a smart meter? Is there any way a consumer can regulate/see the power usage of just the smart meter?

I ask these questions because I'm in Ohio and we don't have smart meters where I am, yet. No, sir I don't want one.

I've looked on the net and have educated myself on all the other aspects of a smart meter.

I have yet to find these facts.

Seems like a great argument that wouldn't put you on the "fringe list". Funny how you can be put on that list because you don't want your privacy "infringed" upon or your health "infringed" upon. But lets face it, people seem to get behind standing up for yourself when it is your wallet being "infringed" upon. Sometimes.

Originally posted by freethinker123
I hate to interrupt the celebrations but lets not forget the other victim here.
A guy was just doing his job and had a gun pulled on him, I know all of you identify with the woman, but you must all also have jobs, imagine if you had his job...

Its his bosses who sent him to do some sneaky work without permission, but some ordingary guy like you or me was the victim.

Sure, you could say he was put in a bad situation by the company that sent him out but, his job is not the reason he had a gun pulled on him. The way in which he went about doing his job is what caused this whole confrontation.

The yard was clearly marked saying that they did not want the meters. That should have been his first clue to just go to the next house or call out a supervisor for assistance. Next, when he entered her yard after being denied entry by the homeowner, he then proceeded to push her aside and even bodyslammed her in his attempts to gain access to the meter.

His physical assault of the homeowner is what caused the homeowner to get her gun. If he had waited for the police or his supervisor to arrive at the scene, none of this would have been necessary and the homeowner would have allowed the proper authorities to handle the situation. By taking the law into his own hands and assaulting the woman, he forced her to act to protect herself and her property.

No employee from any company should feel they have the right to assault a homeowner in the course of their duties. It was the assault that caused the gun incident, not his job. No employer should stand behind an employee who uses physical force on a customer. The installer and the company he works for acted dispicablly IMO.

I hope she presses charges against the installer for assault and sues the hell out of the company he works for for battery for supporting his actions.

Odd Jobs

Originally posted by freethinker123
A guy was just doing his job and had a gun pulled on him,

I'm fairly sure his job description doesn't include battery against homeowners. While the question of whether he repeatedly pushed Ms. Taormina may be argued (I would expect him to deny that in court), the question of whether he should have been there may not.

When a homeowner tells you to leave, you are required by law to leave. He met resistance while he was illegally trespassing, according Ms. Taormina and the police.

He was breaking the law. He should have left and reported the problem to his bosses. If they knowingly sent him to trespass, then they also broke the law, and are all liable to both civil and criminal prosecution.

There are right ways to handle situations like these and wrong ways. This employee, as a representative of CenterPoint Energy, handled it the wrong way.

If I was a civil or criminal lawyer in the Houston area, I would give strong consideration to taking this case on contingency basis, not only for the money, but for the publicity.

And as far as cases go, this one's a slam dunk, because by CenterPoint Energy's own admission, their employee was there against Ms. Taormina's will.

The gun angle is tangential. The real story is the misconduct of CenterPoint Energy, and if they follow through with their threat to pursue Ms. Taormina, they will get what's coming to them.

Originally posted by Maxatoria
Surely if they want to change the meter then they should arrange a date & time to swap it over and the only reason that they wouldn't need it was if the electrics was dangerous and threatened life/property

and as for telling whats connected to the electricity, it won't be able to tell if its a TV or a fridge connected to the mains but i suppose you could use the meter to build a time profile so you could probably tell what time the lights come on by noticing the same load increase at roughly the same time every day but unless they are some sort of smart device using powerline tech there will be no way of knowing

Oh but you are wrong... the new series of "smart appliances" will communicate directly with the smart meter using wifi....

did you know that the meters have a range of about 1000 feet?

did you know that the meters transmit data up to 40,000 times a day?

did you realize that these meters are a "mesh network" that can be used as a backbone conduit in to your house and any unsecured wireless device?

Originally posted by intrptr
reply to post by FortAnthem

 

I was wondering about the ability to identify which appliances are actually being used due to "signature". Dude mentions that in the OP video at about 1 minute mark:

Anybody got a take on that?

Here's a few sources on the privacy concerns:

New electricity grids may be smart, but not so private

The "smart" electric grid may be just a little too smart. Once a smart meter is attached to a home, it can gather a lot more data than just how much electricity a family uses. It can tell how many people live in the house, when they get up, when they go to sleep and when they aren't home. It can tell how many showers they take and loads of laundry they do. How often they use the microwave. How much television they watch and what kind of TV they watch it on.

Utilities Still Struggling With IT Security Issues, Study Says

Seventy-five percent of energy and utility companies have suffered an IT security breach in the past year, and the situation doesn't seem likely to improve anytime soon, according to a study published today. According to the "State of IT Security: Study of Utilities & Energy Companies" report -- which was conducted by Ponemon Institute and sponsored by security monitoring software vendor Q1 Labs -- more than three-quarters of global energy organizations surveyed admit to having suffered at least one data breach during the past 12 months. Sixty-nine percent think a data breach is very likely or likely to occur in the coming year.

Rutgers

But privacy experts gathered in Madrid for a three-day conference which wraps up Friday warned that the meters can also reveal intimate details about customers' habits such as when they eat, what time they go to sleep or how much television they watch.

With cars expected to be fuelled increasingly by electricity in the coming years, the new meters could soon be used to gather information on consumer behaviour beyond the home, they added.

Utilities could be tempted to sell the data on their customers' behaviour to marketers who use it to pitch advertising geared to their habits, said Quinn.

A restless sleeper who gets up frequently throughout the night -- identified by electricity consumption records that show he frequently turns on the lights -- could be targeted with adverts for sleep aids for example.

Insurance firms, meanwhile, could use the data to justify charging higher fees to a driver whose electricity consumption records indicate he often drives while sleep deprived or regularly gets home at around the time the bars close.

Phys.org

Here's some info from Centerpoint's website on the meters.

Our Energy InSightSM system features digital smart meters with two-way communications able to send and receive information to and from consumers and CenterPoint Energy. These meters capture not only electricity consumed, but also surplus electricity generated by distributed generation sources such as solar panels or wind turbines. CenterPoint Energy can read these meters remotely. The meters also measure usage in 15-minute intervals, which can give consumers valuable information about their consumption habits while allowing Retail Electric Providers (REPs) to offer new services such as time-of-use rates.

Energy InSight is more than a meter, however. It’s a complex system that integrates many technologies. Data is transmitted from the meters to cell relays, which are wireless devices installed on power distribution poles. Cell relays pick up signals from meters in the vicinity and transmit the data via radio to a “Take out Point (TOP).” TOPs collect data from cell relays within a several-mile radius and deliver it via microwave or fiber optic cable to CenterPoint Energy’s data center, where computing systems gather and process 96 daily reads .

These new meters will also automatically notify CenterPoint Energy when the power goes out. As an added benefit, smart meters will also enable communication with future smart appliances in homes and businesses.

Center Point Energy

So, it appears as if they will be able to communicate directly with your appliances in the future as the technology comes out.



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Originally posted by freethinker123
I hate to interrupt the celebrations but lets not forget the other victim here.
A guy was just doing his job and had a gun pulled on him, I know all of you identify with the woman, but you must all also have jobs, imagine if you had his job...

Its his bosses who sent him to do some sneaky work without permission, but some ordingary guy like you or me was the victim.

So, this "sheepleman" is dumb enough to break the law because his boss tells him to? The contractor has no excuse...... please stop trying to defend this guys actions by claiming that he was acting under instructions from his boss....

Actually you are correct in a way. I have seen people do thing they know is wrong under a bosses direction because they are afraid for their contract..... however most of the time they are sales people not utility company contractors!

reply to post by lonewolf19792000


These smart meters are coming up as a huge debate. The meters send signals back to the power company about usage and such.

The people who are against them for health reasons, point out that you now have these signals beaming from every house, and long term studies on the health effects of these signals have not been done.

Which is a valid point.

You are now living in a bunch of information beams coming from every house.

Her electrical service should be terminated immediately. The power company has every right to service or replace their equipment and you agree to that when you sign up for their services. She broke that agreement so the contract should now be null and void. So the power company should just pull the plug and let her get her electricity somewhere else.