Slashdot Mirror
Smart Grid Could Pose Threat To Privacy
Presto Vivace writes "Brian Krebs of the Washington Post reports on a study jointly released Tuesday by the Ontario Information and Privacy Commissioner and the Future of Privacy Forum. It seems that in the process of collecting all that feedback about energy use, utility companies will inevitably collect a great deal of information about us. From the article: 'Instead of measuring energy use at the end of each billing period, smart meters will provide this information at much shorter intervals, the report notes. Even if electricity use is not recorded minute by minute, or at the appliance level, information may be gleaned from ongoing monitoring of electricity consumption such as the approximate number of occupants, when they are present, as well as when they are awake or asleep. For many, this will resonate as a "sanctity of the home" issue, where such intimate details of daily life should not be accessible.'"
"Eight armed narcs raided the Dagy home on March 19 and found absolutely nothing. No evidence of pot anywhere, not even stashed in the children's toys. Seems that the coppers mistook the family's constant use of the dishwasher, washer/dryer, three computers, four ceiling fans, and other electronic devices as evidence of a felony drug operation. Oops. The Dagys--Mom's a homemaker and Dad's a general manager of 21 Shell stations--would like an apology from the Carlsbad Police Department. Sadly, we'd recommend that the Dagys not hold their collective breath."
I hate drug cops and homeland security. They keep performing these heinous searches and "eating out the substance" of our citizens
FOX NEWS.com should be BANNED from television and internet. Have the Congress take it over and give us Truespeak.
Part Deux:
They are placing new technology on top of an aging infrastructure instead of improving the actual aging infrastructure. This will not improve power reliability, the segment was already growing and did not need government intervention, and the cost will be passed on to the consumer, increasing the cost of everything in the name of a "green grid".
I work on the grid. Anything more will identify me, so I will stay vague.
The goal of the smart grid is to make a more efficient usage of our electricity. It encourages the homeowner to use their peak electricity usage on the off-hours when electricity is cheaper. Great in theory, but this is all marketing and lawyering and it will hurt the consumer for the benefit of utilities and companies like mine.
How do you improve electrical efficiency?
The same way you improve efficiency in every other system: By increasing the cost. If your electricity costs more, then you will be more conscientious about how much electricity you use. Then, you will buy more expensive electronics that have the "smart grid" capabilities.
Utilities have a government-sanctioned monopoly on their service area. Because of this monopoly status, the Utility has to get approval to raise their rates, usually through the county or state legislature. Many states have Investor Owned Utilities (IOUs) which are in it to make money. They always want to increase their profit. (IOUs are similar to national banks, always looking for profit, As opposed to co-ops, which are more like a "community credit union". I love those guys.)
Utilities want to institute Tiered pricing in every single home. It means that you will be charged 2x during the day vs the night. The utility buys "In Home Displays" that plug into your home outlet and displays the current electricity cost. Some systems are based on a pre-pay system, so the IHD will also display how much energy they have left before they are cut off. (Mainly for poorer, high-risk customers)
Tiered Pricing: How is it cheaper?
Almost all of the utilities out there buy their electricity from a power generation company. They purchase electricity based on tiers. If they buy 499MW in on one month, it is one price, but if they hit 500MW on a single day, their cost for the entire month costs double.
An installation of a Load Control Unit (the one that controls your furnace/AC/Water Heater) can easily cost $1M. (each Load Control Unit costs $100 or so, labor to install is another $50 - $100, and you have to be at the home when the utility installs it...). At a certain user conference, a utility announced that a single load shed event paid for the entire system installation. (I kinda find his announcement hard to believe, but I won't complain) However, their rates did not change. The people served by this utility did not see a rate reduction. They only noticed that their house became warmer for no noticeable reason. The real reason was that the utility turned off their air conditioner for an hour to decrease their costs.
Remember, they need to go to the city/county/state to increase their billing rate. Do you really think that they will go to the legislature, tell them that they saved a bunch of money, and now they can charge less? That would never happen.
Here is another kicker: Thanks to EISA Section 1306, (implemented in 2007 by GW, paved the way for the "Smart Grid"), utilities can increase the rate on any system with a "Smart Grid" to recoup the cost of the Smart Meters. If a utility installs our Smart Grid system, they already recoup their costs just by firing the meter reads. So, not only will they save money by firing the meter readers, they don't have to pay for it because they can charge the homeowner more.
Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics
The "smart grid" will supposedly create 10,000 jobs. They are considering a "job" as a single person touching a part of the system. Even though I still have a job, and my job existed before this system, I am part of this "10,000 jobs created". In fact, more