Armed Texans reject smart meters

[ronjor]

Armed Texan residents are protecting their homes against what they view as the intrusive policies of utility companies that are trying to install smart meters in their homes.

According to Associated Press, one resident has even put up a sign on her property that reads "No trespassing" and "No smart meters". Thelma Taormina said, although she keeps a gun on her property to protect herself against intruders, the last time she had to use it was to scare off a persistent utility worker. "We have rights to choose what appliances we want in our home," she said.

http://news.techeye.net/security/arm...t-smart-meters

[Techwiz]

Good for them.

[Wroll]

Incredible overreacting. Why are they so scared about those things?

[ronjor]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_meter

[HAN]

Ron, thanks for the article. Interesting to keep up on all this...

[TheWindBringeth]

Originally Posted by Wroll

Incredible overreacting. Why are they so scared about those things?

1) It is being pushed on them and it is costing them more money. They doubt there will be any positive benefits and they don't expect the smart meters to last as long as the old ones.
2) A primary reason for the deployment is to allow utility companies to acquire fine grained usage information. Many people, including a electric company manager I spoke with not that long ago BTW, feel that such billing schemes will end up costing customers more money. Energy consumption being a function of what is going on in the home, it may be revealing in terms of when people are home and what they are doing.
3) Many (most?) smart meters are wireless and some people don't feel the need to be personally exposed to more RF and/or have devices within their home exposed to more RF.
4) At least some and possibly most of the meters support a remote cutoff capability and people don't like that idea very much. Oooops, that was a typo, sorry. Ooops, our smart meters were hacked. Ooops, we experienced a network breach, sorry. Edit: forgot "sorry, you've already used your daily allotment of power for the day... click".
5) The smart meter is connected to the power company's communication network. There is the potential, and more than a few companies are working to pursue it, to establish communication between the smart meter and things within your home. Thus there may if not will be another network you have to protect yourself against (more $) and without proper knowledge, inspection, and/or equipment you may not even know WHAT communicates with the smart meter and electric company.
6) Some smart meter fires have gotten wide spread attention and that isn't making people feel any more comfortable. Edit: Related to this are doubts about the quality of the design, manufacturing, testing, and/or installation of the meters.

[Page42]

With the number of things going on in the world today, I find it difficult to get too worked up about smart meters.

[TheWindBringeth]

Originally Posted by Page42

With the number of things going on in the world today, I find it difficult to get too worked up about smart meters.

On more than a few occasions I've found myself thinking that some of the controversial things that have occurred during this period of extraordinary worry and distraction were "well timed" People are overwhelmed and can't mount a focused response to them.

[Page42]

I see your point, but sometimes their is a conscious effort on some people's part to focus on simpler things, and to rearrange what matters most to them, as opposed to wanting to take action but discovering that they are incapable of doing so due to being overwhelmed. Maybe I'm talking in circles, but what I'm trying to say is, now more than ever, there is a greater need to choose one's battles. I mentioned that I find it difficult to get too worked up about smart meters. A more concise statement would have been, I'm fine with them.

[Wroll]

Originally Posted by TheWindBringeth

1) It is being pushed on them and it is costing them more money. They doubt there will be any positive benefits and they don't expect the smart meters to last as long as the old ones.
2) A primary reason for the deployment is to allow utility companies to acquire fine grained usage information. Many people, including a electric company manager I spoke with not that long ago BTW, feel that such billing schemes will end up costing customers more money. Energy consumption being a function of what is going on in the home, it may be revealing in terms of when people are home and what they are doing.
3) Many (most?) smart meters are wireless and some people don't feel the need to be personally exposed to more RF and/or have devices within their home exposed to more RF.
3) At least some and possibly most of the meters support a remote cutoff capability and people don't like that idea very much. Oooops, that was a typo, sorry. Ooops, our smart meters were hacked. Ooops, we experienced a network breach, sorry. Edit: forgot "sorry, you've already used your daily allotment of power for the day... click".
4) The smart meter is connected to the power company's communication network. There is the potential, and more than a few companies are working to pursue it, to establish communication between the smart meter and things within your home. Thus there may if not will be another network you have to protect yourself against (more $) and without proper knowledge, inspection, and/or equipment you may not even know WHAT communicates with the smart meter and electric company.
5) Some smart meter fires have gotten wide spread attention and that isn't making people feel any more comfortable.

I live in Italy and as you can read in the Wikipedia article Italy is number 1 on these kind of things. I still find crazy overreacting from that woman. If you want some privacy these days you need to go a few meters under the ground.

Last year, while I was listening some music using headphones, a man entered my house to repair the water heater, without me allowing him (he probably knocked or ringed and I didn't hear it, and he just came in). But he was in the wrong apartment. My neighbors need it. With people like that women we sure have got a crime news.

[Critter2]

i'm with them, don't want that crap on my house
just will turn into a excuse to double rates down the road

[MarcP]

Originally Posted by TheWindBringeth

1) It is being pushed on them and it is costing them more money. They doubt there will be any positive benefits and they don't expect the smart meters to last as long as the old ones.
2) A primary reason for the deployment is to allow utility companies to acquire fine grained usage information. Many people, including a electric company manager I spoke with not that long ago BTW, feel that such billing schemes will end up costing customers more money. Energy consumption being a function of what is going on in the home, it may be revealing in terms of when people are home and what they are doing.
3) Many (most?) smart meters are wireless and some people don't feel the need to be personally exposed to more RF and/or have devices within their home exposed to more RF.
3) At least some and possibly most of the meters support a remote cutoff capability and people don't like that idea very much. Oooops, that was a typo, sorry. Ooops, our smart meters were hacked. Ooops, we experienced a network breach, sorry. Edit: forgot "sorry, you've already used your daily allotment of power for the day... click".
4) The smart meter is connected to the power company's communication network. There is the potential, and more than a few companies are working to pursue it, to establish communication between the smart meter and things within your home. Thus there may if not will be another network you have to protect yourself against (more $) and without proper knowledge, inspection, and/or equipment you may not even know WHAT communicates with the smart meter and electric company.
5) Some smart meter fires have gotten wide spread attention and that isn't making people feel any more comfortable.

There is so much BS in those arguments, I won't bother to address each individually. I've had a smart meter on my house for over 3 years now and my bill hasn't changed. It still follows the same old seasonal mood swings, but it gives me a much easier way to follow rate of consumption using the utility's web site. By playing around with the equipment I have in the house, I was able to identify the power "vampire" devices and make adjustments (or replace them) that lowered my power bill.

Regulations up here forces utility companies to calibrate meters on a regular basis to ensure accurate measurement. I'm not against that. In the end, it ensures a fair measurement and billing.

[Dark Shadow]

I am all for texas gun laws but some people should not have them.As far as smart meters It's not a big deal IMO.I have smart meters as of last year and my bill is the same.The only time i will see a lower bill is when my kids grow and move out.Hopefully there out before 30 ish.

[Dermot7]

Smart meters – the future of spying?

http://www.bigbrotherwatch.org.uk/ho...re-spying.html

European Data Protection Supervisor warns 'massive collection of personal data' could be accessed without safeguards

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environmen...cy?INTCMP=SRCH

[MarcP]

Originally Posted by Dermot7

http://www.bigbrotherwatch.org.uk/ho...re-spying.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environmen...cy?INTCMP=SRCH

Wow those articles are full of BS.

First, the first link comes from a site called "bigbrotherwatch". No agenda displayed right there.

Second, the other article claims that just measuring your power consumption can tell if "someone uses a specific medical device or a baby monitor, or how they spend their free time". Just by measuring the power you use at a given time of day. Oh wow... The ultimate is investigative journalism. And yet that article falls terribly short in details of how. Nothing else is revealed other than the empty warnings.

Good job.

[Dermot7]

He pulls up examples of baby monitors and medical devices, which have identifiable patterns of energy consumption and could therefore be used to monitor what people are doing.

That might sound fanciful, but researchers have already demonstrated that the pattern of energy consumed by a decent flat-screen TV can be used to work out what programme is being watched, and Hustinx is probably right that this isn't information most of us would wish to share with our electricity providers.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/06...meter_privacy/
I would imagine the European Data Protection Supervisor knows what he's talking about, and fyi BigBrotherWatch are a respected and well-regarded organisation...http://www.bigbrotherwatch.org.uk/research-and-reports

But we are, of course, all entitled to our opinions and feelings on issues such as this

[LockBox]

Originally Posted by MarcP

Wow those articles are full of BS.

First, the first link comes from a site called "bigbrotherwatch". No agenda displayed right there.

Second, the other article claims that just measuring your power consumption can tell if "someone uses a specific medical device or a baby monitor, or how they spend their free time". Just by measuring the power you use at a given time of day. Oh wow... The ultimate is investigative journalism. And yet that article falls terribly short in details of how. Nothing else is revealed other than the empty warnings.

Good job.

Which utility company did you say you worked for? So-called "Smart" Meters are an invasion of the home. Two-way capability will allow the power companies to determine when you'll be comfortable, or not. They are already engaging in price gouging and calling it "smart" use and demand-based pricing.

It's wrong in so many ways.

[TheWindBringeth]

@Page42: I see your point too. In fact, smart meters is one of those subjects I've not spent any significant time on because of time constraints and prioritization. I think we're scheduled to get them next year, so at some point in the near future I hope to make the time for more due diligence. I don't even know which specific unit they are intending to install and whether it has any track record to speak of. That will play a big role in my decision whether or not to opt-out. I may opt-out just to be conservative... let my neighbors be the guinea pigs for a while.