Smart Meters

Collapse
X
Collapse
 
  • Page of 1
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts
Previous template Next
  • Moliere
    One man.....one pie
    • Oct 2009
    • 27822
    #1

    Smart Meters

    My house is scheduled to receive a SMART Meter installation later this year, and frankly I'm pumped. Now I just need to find an energy plan that will allow energy billing based on 15 minute increments and then convince MJ to do washing/drying at night...

    Here's a decent intro to the website Texas has set up to help people track their energy usage by 15 minute increments.

    Anyone else on the board have a SMART meter? Do you like it or has it been worth it?
    "Discipleship is not a spectator sport. We cannot expect to experience the blessing of faith by standing inactive on the sidelines any more than we can experience the benefits of health by sitting on a sofa watching sporting events on television and giving advice to the athletes. And yet for some, “spectator discipleship” is a preferred if not primary way of worshipping." -Pres. Uchtdorf
    Tags: None
    • Uncle Ted
      The Big 12 money shot.
      • Apr 2010
      • 28853
      #2
      Don't have one yet but they look fun to hack...

      Digital electric meters being installed throughout North Texas could be sabotaged, according to security experts.

      Unlike analog electric meters that have a wheel that spins and dials that record total electric use, the so-called "smart meters" are digital with a tiny computer and wireless communication capability.

      "There's a little processor in here doing the work now; there's software," said Mitchell Thornton at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

      Mitchell works in the HACNet Lab at SMU's Computer Science and Engineering Department, which is studying potential problems hackers could cause with the new digital meters.
      Uncle Ted loves little processors and software.
      "If there is one thing I am, it's always right." -Ted Nugent.
      "I honestly believe saying someone is a smart lawyer is damning with faint praise. The smartest people become engineers and scientists." -SU.
      "Yet I still see wisdom in that which Uncle Ted posts." -creek.
      GIVE 'EM HELL, BRIGHAM!

        Comment

        • Moliere
          One man.....one pie
          • Oct 2009
          • 27822
          #3
          My REP is now sending me weekly updates on my electricity usage. The updates give me a cost breakdown by week and show electricity usage in graph form (see below). It also gives me an estimate of what my monthly bill is going to be at the end of the billing cycle. This is pretty cool.

          Here's the graph from the email. This was while I was out on vacation so the usage is very uniform as we kept the therms at 90 and obviously little other electicity was being used.

          "Discipleship is not a spectator sport. We cannot expect to experience the blessing of faith by standing inactive on the sidelines any more than we can experience the benefits of health by sitting on a sofa watching sporting events on television and giving advice to the athletes. And yet for some, “spectator discipleship” is a preferred if not primary way of worshipping." -Pres. Uchtdorf

            Comment

            • Uncle Ted
              The Big 12 money shot.
              • Apr 2010
              • 28853
              #4
              I have one of those meters now but don't know how to tap the weekly reports. How do you do that? Is there some website to sign up for it or do I need to hit my power company up for it? If the latter which power company do you use?

              As for lowering my power bill I found two things made a big difference...

              (1) After 12 years we finally replaced our washer/dryer with an energystar set. The dryer is also gas (unlike our old one which was electric) which seemed to make a noticeable difference.

              (2) I replaced my thermostats with ones that are controlled/monitored via "the cloud"...



              In short, it is a thermostat that has wifi and talks to a free service at radiothermostat.com. Therefore, I can program my thermostats via a webpage interface and control them using my iPhone. There have been many times I have left the house forgetting to change my thermostats to "away" mode. Now I can do it with one button in the iPhone app. Also, before I get home I can turn the A/C back on. These thermostats are available at home depot and really don't cost any more that your average programable thermostat.
              "If there is one thing I am, it's always right." -Ted Nugent.
              "I honestly believe saying someone is a smart lawyer is damning with faint praise. The smartest people become engineers and scientists." -SU.
              "Yet I still see wisdom in that which Uncle Ted posts." -creek.
              GIVE 'EM HELL, BRIGHAM!

                Comment

                • Moliere
                  One man.....one pie
                  • Oct 2009
                  • 27822
                  #5
                  Originally posted by Uncle Ted View Post
                  I have one of those meters now but don't know how to tap the weekly reports. How do you do that? Is there some website to sign up for it or do I need to hit my power company up for it? If the latter which power company do you use?

                  As for lowering my power bill I found two things made a big difference...

                  (1) After 12 years we finally replaced our washer/dryer with an energystar set. The dryer is also gas (unlike our old one which was electric) which seemed to make a noticeable difference.

                  (2) I replaced my thermostats with ones that are controlled/monitored via "the cloud"...



                  In short, it is a thermostat that has wifi and talks to a free service at radiothermostat.com. Therefore, I can program my thermostats via a webpage interface and control them using my iPhone. There have been many times I have left the house forgetting to change my thermostats to "away" mode. Now I can do it with one button in the iPhone app. Also, before I get home I can turn the A/C back on. These thermostats are available at home depot and really don't cost any more that your average programable thermostat.
                  You can get your meter information from www.smartmetertexas.com. You just have to have some info from your electricity bill to sign up. You can even share your usage with friends and family if you want to compare your usage to theirs.

                  My REP is Bounce Energy and they just started sending me the weekly updates. I didn't request them, but I like them as they give me a weekly reference point on my usage. This would have been nice back in June when my upstairs A/C unit started struggling, which I didn't notice until I got my bill one month later. Basically it was running nonstop because of a leak (just circulating air and not really cooling it down) and my bill jumped pretty high for one month. If I had weekly reports I probably would have caught it earlier.

                  The wifi thermostats look great. I'd like to get them installed soon although admittedly we don't need to change the thermostat very often as MJ is usually home. However, it would be nice for vacation and weekend travel. I'm also going to look into a plan that allows for cheaper electricity at night (off peak hours) as most of our appliances have delayed start options so we can load them at 10pm and run them at 2am if we want.
                  "Discipleship is not a spectator sport. We cannot expect to experience the blessing of faith by standing inactive on the sidelines any more than we can experience the benefits of health by sitting on a sofa watching sporting events on television and giving advice to the athletes. And yet for some, “spectator discipleship” is a preferred if not primary way of worshipping." -Pres. Uchtdorf

                    Comment

                    Previous template Next
                    Working...