Electric Meter

Power company came out today and replaced the old mechanical meter with the new fancy-schmancy one.

Chatting up the meter-man, I learned:

  1. The old meters are going to be junked. Not sold to Mexico or Lithuania like the 'phone company did with their mechanical central office stuff. We're talking, oh, one million meters in a city of 5.5 million. That's a pretty big pile.

  1. His quota is 60-100 meters swapped out per day.

  2. One purpose is to allow the meter to be read from the street.

  1. It is alleged I can check my meter on the 'net. We'll see.

Reply to
HeyBub
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Hi, Now it is happening where you live? Here power, gas, water meter is all read remotely. I heard they can even do it using the bird in the future. The option is already there and a mtter of activating it.

Reply to
Tony Hwang

They are coming here by 2012.

They will communicate with the power company using wireless technology (no more meter readers).

They will report power outages and the restoration of power automatically.

The will constantly report usage so that the power company can adjust the generation to just meet the needs and conserve resources (i.e. water behind dams - hydro electric)

Smart appliances will communicate with the meter and if there is no hurry start automatically when the rate drops (rates are/will be tiered so that it will be cheaper at curtain times of the day).

They even say we will be able to control light switches remotely from their web-page (I assume that will mean replacing switches to a wireless type)?

Soon your appliances and switches will be reporting to the mother ship...

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Reply to
Ned Flanders

There's not much of a market for such labor-intensive stuff.

Yup. Just break the seal, take the old meter reading, pop out the old meter, pop the new one in, seal it, and scan the bar code. Service is interrupted just long enough to cause refrigerators to overload.

Or by radio or carrier-current. That's the primary motivator for changing them. Service can also be controlled remotely -- they can easily cut you off for non-payment.

True, depending on the utility. It also allows for time-of-day pricing. See for the spin from a utility that has been the source of considerable public criticism over smart meter implementation.

Reply to
Bob

Please provide the name of the manufacturer and the model number for a meter that can actually open the service conductors.

-- Tom Horne

Reply to
Tom Horne

I view Smart Meters with the same suspicion that I have for OnStar. Perhaps I'm just paranoid? Aluminum foil hats don't work, it's already been tried.

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TDD

Reply to
The Daring Dufas

"HeyBub" wrote in news:R_OdnRlr9dZ3ioHRnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@earthlink.com:

My local company changed mine about 5 years ago. It's great. They don't bother me to come in the house anymore. Same with the gas meter.

Reply to
RobertPatrick

I doubt old meters are worth enough to try to sell. They will just scrap them for the metal. You can buy a refurb meter (set to 0000) for $10-15 bucks the last time I looked. I have a couple, one I got for free (not set to 0000)

Reply to
gfretwell

Andy comments: Solid state relay devices at these power levels have been available for two decades. It is a non-prolem.

C A Sharpe, licensed PE

Reply to
Andy

Hope you all enjoy those fancy new meters. They are brought to you courtesy of the fed govt and $3Bil more of our deficit. And like most new spending, it was justified with a pack of lies. An example being, that this was needed and is critical for solar and wind power being delivered to your home. Funny I see all these new solar installs popping up here without smart meters.

Reply to
trader4

Our electric utility is a little better than that. They require meter bases to have manual bypass. They changed all of the meters out here maybe 4 years ago. I pulled in just as the guy was walking down the front steps. He clipped the seal, opened the cover and connected jumpers to the bypass tabs and was then able to swap the meter without service interruption.

They do it by carrier current here.

Reply to
George

They used to be and it was really common practice to refurb them for reuse. Now there is a glut of "old style" meters because of the mass "smart meter" upgrades.

Reply to
George

They already read the meters remotely here in KC. It's done over the lines in real time back to the office. Yes, we can see our usage online, and the number will be exactly what the meter says at any given point.

Reply to
Steve Barker

Your electric and gas meters were inside the house? Yeah, riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.....

Reply to
Doug Miller

UH, not.

Reply to
Steve Barker

With these smart meters and the proper thermostats, the power company in my area (Ontario Canada) will give you rebates if you let them cycle down from their office your air conditioner during peak demand periods. There are times where our power company actually has to import power from the US (ohio and michigan) in summer. We use a lot of nuclear power here and Ohio uses a lot of coal, but Ohio's pollution comes and hangs out over Ontario. So It makes some sense to set-up the meter to avoid importing power during peak times although I would never sign up for this program, I hope others do.

Also these new meters charge different electrical rates during low demand periods so if you run your dryer or dishwasher after say 10pm you will pay

50% less for the energy used during this period.
Reply to
The Henchman

It would seem you need more than just a smart meter to be able to do this. Here in NJ they've been doing this for 25+ years, using just an RF controlled device on the AC unit, no smart meter.

Reply to
trader4

-snip-

Pretty common in the northeast in old houses in the cities.

My water meter is still in my basement and I've been reading it every

6 months for 25 years. Supposed to go to electronic, remote read meters this summer.

Jim

Reply to
Jim Elbrecht

I have *never* seen either a gas or electric meter inside a house. Water meters, sure. Gas and electric? Won't believe it without a photo.

Reply to
Doug Miller

TWIAVBP - If you really think you have seen everything that is real, then it is time for you to end your journey.

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?q=electric+meter+in+basement Here's a picture for you-
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Jim

Reply to
Jim Elbrecht

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