[GP73LPC]

Originally Posted by Strainhunter

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]

Originally Posted by 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!!!

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]

Originally Posted by selfishbastr

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]

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


https://archives.postandcourier.com/a...13410211.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]

Originally Posted by EclipseFour20

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?