Smart Meters - a few common misconceptions cleared up here.

[smokefrogg]

All those manuals are great, there's just 3 problems with them:

A)
No one is gonna read them

B)
If the average person actually IS gonna read them they still wouldn't understand a word!

C)
Regardless of the above it is impossible for the average user to know what actually has been programmed in to a meter.

so the info should not be shared?

i am glad he shared it

 

[Strainhunter]

so the info should not be shared?

i am glad he shared it

You are so awesome!

 

[spainmedman]

A friend in the electrical supply business told me there is something else that some power companies are going with. It is a digital meter that can be read from a remote sensor just like the smart meter, but it is "dumb". It cannot tell what you have on, or record what times. It is much cheaper for the power companies, and does not have the unnecessary smart stuff.
No links or anything, sorry... but he knows his stuff.

 

[Strainhunter]

........

It is a digital meter that can be read from a remote sensor just like the smart meter, but it is "dumb". It cannot tell what you have on, or record what times.
.....

That's correct although those are VERY hard to identify for normal users like you and I.

Maybe smokefrogg can though!

 

[smokefrogg]

@strainhunter - i'm not trying to be a dick here. just because some folks can't use the information does not mean all folks cannot, i am not a know it all, this is new territory for me too, just trying to get a bit involved and came across a few things that piqued my curiosity, i apologize you don't dig this and will bow out of your thread. peace and love ya'all, didn't mean to offend anyone, sorry

 

[Strainhunter]

It's all good smokefrogg

The technical stuff in those manuals is something 99% of us can't do a thing with.
It might be interesting reading though.

 

[smokefrogg]

i can't do much with it either and only understand a fraction of what i have been reading really (lol thought it wouldn't be too bad with me being an i.t. guy, WRONG!), but it does put light at the end of the tunnel for my idea of wishing i could monitor what the smart meter is telling me i am using.

we have been in this house for just over a year,it came with a smart meter, i don't use much power in my grow but man i feel like i'm kind of getting reamed by the power company and my wife gets a bit weird about the high bill when it's a heck of a lot less than buying herbs would be. anyways i would just love a way to monitor what the thing is saying i am using in real time, and bounce that off of what my timers and kill-a-watt says i am actually using. part of me would even like to just shut down that whole area where the grow is, turn everything off, and see if the smart meter is still saying i am using energy, i don't trust the damn thing and am very skeptical that i've been using as much power as it says i have been...man i'm just bitching now, lol it kind of pisses me off

 

[TripleDraw27]

Hi guys,

My take on Smart Meters is this..

I have lived at the same place for 10years, 2 years ago they installed Smart Meters.

The way I see it is, instead of some Johnny from the Power company going from house to house checking meters, and possibly catching a wiff of something, I now see that same Johnny parked once in awhile at our community parking lot probably checking meters on his laptop. The way I see it is, im not doing some crazy grow....and they are doing me a favor of staying the fuck away from my house.

Sure those meters can tell this and that etc etc...But im no Jorge from Sinola and I am not some commerical guy. I am just a dude who lives his life and enjoys his community.


How many growers have been busted by a NOSE from some dude lurking around a house, opposed to a Smart Meter?

Dont sketch, its a wired world we live in. Just adapt and keep on keepin on.


trips

 

[GP73LPC]

Why are so many "hung up" on spikes?

I thought I already covered well enough it is NOT THE SPIKES which are raising the flags!

It is the excessive usage raising flags.

Not in all states but in some.

And most of us will never know which ones those are.

And by the time we do find out...some will already have gone "down the drain".

Just because "your buddy" has "gotten away" with his crazy electricity bill that doesn't mean it'll work for you.

Your "12 hour cycle" is being "interrupted" by PLENTY spikes throughout the day and night.

so heavy usage is a concern and not the fact i have a 600 watt steady usage for 12 hrs every 24 day after day after day (even if there are spikes within that 600 watts)?

seems to me this would be recognizable by a pattern over time...

would it be wiser to run 11/13 or 10/14 maybe to throw that pattern off...?

and definitely when i get in my new place (with a smart meter) i will be running my LED lights the day i move in, so that usage is there from day one... not that 600-800 watts is that much to worry about but this should help as my place is gonna be new with no previous usage history...

thanks for this thread.... just found out smart meters are used here, so when i build i will have no choice...

 

[Strainhunter]

so heavy usage is a concern and not the fact i have a 600 watt steady usage for 12 hrs every 24 day after day after day (even if there are spikes within that 600 watts)?

seems to me this would be recognizable by a pattern over time...

would it be wiser to run 11/13 or 10/14 maybe to throw that pattern off...?

...

I highly doubt you'll ever have a problem running such relatively low wattage no matter which pattern.

 

[GP73LPC]

I highly doubt you'll ever have a problem running such relatively low wattage no matter which pattern.

that makes me feel relatively safe, i guess...

but you are probably correct.

 

[supermanlives]

my meter is indeed smart. and they can check it anytime they choose to. and can record the time and exact usage at any time. damnit. someone needs to hack the authorization code. i am legal medicinal anyhow but i dont like the intrusion of my privacy

 

[875]

in reference to the remote read meters.... i have never seen a guy come read my meter. i have seen them drive around slowly in a pickup truck with shit attached to it. at the time i wondered if they were in fact remotely reading the meter. gotta like that!!!

 

[michmedclones]

Just got a smart meter installed yesterday. Fuckin rad.

I was reading in the paper yesterday that there is a big stink going around becasue we did not have an option to opt out and a lot of residents don't like that. I own my house and if I knew that they were doing this I would have refused. I was in my room yesterday with my 6 little girls and I heard cranking and banging on the side of my house about made me shit myself thinking I've already been caught before my rooms are even done and that wonderful noise was the power guy ripping off my meter, killing the power, then replacing it and turning the power back on didn't knock didn't tell me anything just went to my neighbors house and did the same. I was worried because we upgraded without telling them but they either didn't see or didn't care I'm definatly going to try to get my old meter back tho if I can even tho I think its probally too late

 

[supermanlives]

my meter was not optional. but atleast the knocked . mostly cause i got a big dog.

 

[EclipseFour20]

in reference to the remote read meters.... i have never seen a guy come read my meter. i have seen them drive around slowly in a pickup truck with shit attached to it. at the time i wondered if they were in fact remotely reading the meter. gotta like that!!!

Many (including mine) are connected to So Cal Edison via wireless connection. No meter reader...no guy in pickup truck....no nothing.

My billing rate is "time of use"...which means cheaper 6 PM - 10 AM, and requires a "smart meter".

Cheers!

 

[selfishbastr]

You guys think 5x 42 watt cfls could be detected as a grow op with these new smart meters??

 

[Strainhunter]

You guys think 5x 42 watt cfls could be detected as a grow op with these new smart meters??

No.

What is being detected is the usage pattern, no one can tell whether the usage is being generated by a Saltwater Fish Tank HPS or a grow light.

It gets hairy once nosy minds start inquiring which is where most growers mess up once that's the case.
(that's IF they have not been snitched on, there was no smell and all the other little things one has to pay attention to when growing)

The above does not cover it all but boils it down to the point & basics.

 

[Strainhunter]

What was it again I've been preaching?

What was it again I've been preaching?

Oh yeah...excessive usage & ratting power companies!


http://archives.postandcourier.com/archive/arch12/0112/arc012913410211.shtml

Pot bust shines light on utilities

Shared meter data led to arrest

BY GLENN SMITH
Published on 01/29/12

The electric meter outside your house helps the power company determine just how much to bill you every month. But it can also give authorities a peek into your life to see if you've been up to no good.
A former state trooper learned that lesson when Dorchester County deputies raided his Ridgeville rental property in January 2010 and discovered a sophisticated indoor marijuana farm.
Court papers recently filed in the case revealed that investigators were tipped off by the tenant's utility company. Edisto Electric workers called police after noticing unusually high electricity use on the property and numerous instances of tripping circuits, authorities said.
The find was a boon for law enforcement, but it raises questions about the electric company's role in the process: Should a utility function as an arm of law enforcement and share information about its paying customers without a warrant based purely on its suspicions?
Edisto Electric, a rural electric cooperative based in Bamberg, refused to comment on the incident or its policies for sharing information with police. Spokesman Frank Furtick cited the pending criminal case and "a policy of Edisto Electric to refrain from publicly commenting on such things."
Area police and utility company officials say such incidents are relatively rare, and some power companies insist they wouldn't turn in customers simply because their bills are high. Spikes in power usages more often result from faulty heating systems, leaking duct work or other mundane maladies, they said.
Santee Cooper workers have notified police when they've stumbled across marijuana farms, but utility officials couldn't recall reporting anyone for high energy use, spokeswoman Mollie Gore said.
South Carolina Electric and Gas spokesman Eric Boomhower was even more direct.
"Do we report people to authorities based on a given customer's electric usage? The answer is a flat-out 'No.' "
Big Brother concerns
The potential for power company privacy intrusions has sparked debates in California, Florida and other states with the spread of so-called "smart" meters that transmit consumption data to utilities from homes and businesses.
Designed to make America's power transmission system more efficient, the meters have drawn suspicion from folks worried about Big Brother spying on their household habits.
Identifying illicit pot growers through excessive electrical use is nothing new. Indoor growers often give themselves away by using high-intensity lamps and climate-control equipment to nurture their plants.
Tracking diverted power helped police in suburban Port St. Lucie, Fla., shut down dozens of grow houses five years ago. Or take the case of a Nashville grower undone two years ago by racking up electricity bills three times larger than his neighbors'.
In most cases, however, police approach power companies for information after receiving a tip or evidence of a marijuana-growing operation.
In the Dorchester County case, Edisto Electric took the first step and, in essence, became a police informant, authorities said.
Dorchester County sheriff's Maj. John Garrison said the utility was being a good corporate citizen and helped the sheriff's office uncover a significant growing operation that might otherwise have escaped attention.
"I don't know if we would have found it without them," he said.
Narcotics Detective Shaun Tumbleston testified in a hearing on the case last week that Edisto Electric was concerned in late 2009 because its workers kept having to go to Stable Lane to reset a transformer after the circuits overloaded. They couldn't figure out why a rural property with no residence was racking up electric bills of $800 a month, he said.
That tip yielded several arrests and the seizure of more than 300 marijuana plants being grown in the sheds and a container on the property of former state trooper Kurt Steffen, authorities said.
A duty to share?
Danny Lee Kyllo is an Oregon man whose marijuana-growing case helped define national standards for police searches. In 2001, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled authorities overstepped their bounds when they uncovered more than 100 pot plants in his home based on heat detected by a thermal imaging camera. The court ruled that a warrant was needed to conduct such a search.
Kyllo, who is writing a book about his case, said he was troubled by several aspects of the Dorchester County incident, including the utility company's willingness to drop a dime on a customer who paid for a service.
"For them to call up the police on this person because the electric bill was too high, that is going beyond what that service is supposed to be," he said.
However, Charleston criminal defense lawyer Michael O'Connell said the power company appears to be within its right to do so.
"People don't have an expectation to privacy in every area of their lives," he said. "And I don't think you have a privacy as to what your electricity bill is."
The issue is bound to crop up again, as indoor marijuana cultivation is said to be on the rise as growers use advanced hydroponic techniques to avoid scrutiny in open fields. Indoor growers are estimated to consume about 1 percent of the nation's electricity, enough to power some 2 million homes, according to a study released last year by Evan Mills, a scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California.
Jim Dempsey, vice president for public policy for the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Democracy & Technology, said questions about the Dorchester County case are part of a larger debate about a lack of national privacy standards.
Under current law, customers have no constitutional right to protect data held by third-party companies they do business with, whether it be a utility, bank or Internet travel service, Dempsey said. In an age when more business is being conducted electronically, police often no longer need to bust down your door to learn your habits and intimate secrets, he said.
"There is all of this sensitive data all over the place," he said. "That data is only getting richer, and it's only getting easier to collect it, analyze it and share it."

 

[MiMedicineMan]

My billing rate is "time of use"...which means cheaper 6 PM - 10 AM, and requires a "smart meter".

Cheers!

we have that here also. Now if you're medical its ok to be on one of these or why give them the power to check up on you?

Here the savings is significant. Almost 40%. It's super worth it if you have the need...

what do you guys think?