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The cost of energy in constant dollars has been going down, not up.

Bzzt. http://www.ontario-hydro.com/c...

> Unless the only things you have hooked to your TV are an antenna and a
> DVD player the chances are it already is connected to the Internet or
> whatever you are using to view videos is connected. There are great reasons to
> connect a TV to the internet, watching all the content you can get from the internet.

I prefer to connect an HDMI cable from my computer, which I know is updated/firewalled properly. BTW, a 30-foot HDMI cable is only 30 dollars Canadian at Home Depot http://www.primecables.com/p-3...

> A smart dishwasher might be sending sensor information to the manufacturer where
> early signs of failure can be identified and you alerted prior to the dishwasher failing.

Beyond stupid. Howsabout a "trouble light" like in your car? Again, it's absolutely unnecessary for packets to traverse the internet for that to happen.

>A microwave oven might have a voice interactive control
> system and the voice recognition is done in the cloud.

Beyond beyond stupid.

> Your dryer might communicate with the power company who gives you a discounted
> rate if they are allowed to shut it off for short intervals to minimize peak power draw.

Or like, you know, do your laundry, etc, on weekends or after 7:00 PM weekdays to take advantage of "Time-of-Use Pricing" http://www.ontario-hydro.com/c...

Well, as you might've guessed I'm from Quebec, so I'll fully admit that I knew Hydro One was state owned but I wasn't aware it was problematic.

I've just looked it up and ouch Ontario power is twice as expensive as Quebec. The only place where it's more expensive is Nova Scotia and PEI ( which is normal I guess ): http://www.ontario-hydro.com/i...

Still, the point stands that state owned and run power *can* be done right.

For those who want to know numbers: http://www.ontario-hydro.com/index.php?page=electricity_rates_by_province

not likely. At some point everyone will go with TOU billing (Time of Use) like we have here (Ontario). it forces everyone to do their laundry and such on the weekends when rates are much lower. Over the years the spread between peak/mid-peak and off peak have been narrowing and overall it sort of sucks. http://www.ontario-hydro.com/index.php?page=current_rates

If his bill is like mine (Time of Use based) its 8 cents as NO ONE wants the power at that time.
http://www.ontario-hydro.com/index.php?page=current_rates

When people do want to use electricty (say heating our houses in the winter while we are home and awake) its closer to 12 cents.
Out of interest, here is what it looked like in 2011 and the current rates (2013).

2011
off peak 5.9
mid peak 8.9 (50% more)
peak 10.7 (20% more)

2013
off peak 7.2
mid peak 10.9 (51 % more)
peak 12.9 (18% more)

Same in ontario. http://www.ontario-hydro.com/index.php?page=current_rates I run the AC at night to really cold temperatures, and then keep it off during the day :P

I think the major load on the charging systems would either be early morning when you just get to work and plug in, or early evening when you just get home and plug in. Not exactly prime time for brown outs..

My understanding, based on the time-of-use billing coming soon to a power company near me, is that early evening when you just get home and plug in is exactly prime time for power shortages.

You could centrally control when recharging stations activate, but is somebody plugging in at 5:30 pm because they want to recharge it overnight, or because they want to pick up their kids from (band/soccer/whatever) practise at 9pm?

- RG>

Buy a timer:

http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/browse/3/HouseHome/Lighting/ElectricalTimers.jsp

I think the major load on the charging systems would either be early morning when you just get to work and plug in, or early evening when you just get home and plug in. Not exactly prime time for brown outs..

My understanding, based on the time-of-use billing coming soon to a power company near me, is that early evening when you just get home and plug in is exactly prime time for power shortages.

You could centrally control when recharging stations activate, but is somebody plugging in at 5:30 pm because they want to recharge it overnight, or because they want to pick up their kids from (band/soccer/whatever) practise at 9pm?

- RG>