Comments on: PG&E smart meter communication failure – lessons for the rest of us

By: GERALD TCIMPIDIS

GERALD TCIMPIDIS — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 20:29:27 +0000

In regard to these newfangled electronic utility electric meters (ALL TYPES, MAKES AND MODELS), the utility companies could have a serious problem on their hands in 6-8 years when these things begin dropping dead, left and right, all around the country. For technical reasons I won’t go into, there is NO WAY these electronic meters will have the longevity of the old mechanical models. Case in point: the mechanical meter at my house is now 36 years old, and still works fine (others out in the field are considerably older than this). I predict that the average useful life of these electronic meters will ultimately be under 10 years – - – especially for ones that are subjected to harsh environments, such as in Phoenix, Arizona, where the temperature can (and does) exceed 100 degrees during the warmer months.

Anyone care to comment?

—– Gerald Tcimpidis, electronics technician
(Columbus, Ohio)

By: Lessons learnt on Smart Meter rollout

Lessons learnt on Smart Meter rollout — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 09:16:33 +0000

[...] reading an interesting post on Greenmonks Blog http://greenmonk.net/pge-smart-meter-communication-failure/ on how not to roll out a smart meter [...]

By: If Utilities don’t step up their customer communications, they risk their considerable smart grid investments – GreenMonk: the blog

Mon, 06 Jun 2011 09:32:25 +0000

[...] What is worrying though is that while 71% of utilities say securing customer buy-in is key to successful smart grid roll-outs, only 43% say they are educating their customers on the value proposition of smart grids. This is hugely problematic because, as we have seen, customer push-back can go a long way to de-railing smart grid projects. [...]

By: admin

admin — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 17:13:18 +0000

smart meters vs smart monitors – there will likely be a discrepancy. going forward monitors will be hardened as certified as meters, but for there is difference between consumer-driven attempts at monitor-driven behaviour change and the Smart Grid meters.

By: Michael Stubbs

Michael Stubbs — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 14:39:32 +0000

My electric company recently installed a smart meter on my home which is equipped with solar power. My bill increased dramatically to my surprise. I also have a monitoring tool that provides me with electrical usage statistics and have found that the monitoring system and the electric company’s usage numbers are never in sink with each other. I’m very disappointed with the smart meter and would advise that you fight having one installed until the power company can provide more information on how it works. They should also provide the customer with real time readout of what is being monitored and power usage. Would have been nice if they would have done testing before they deployed the solution.

By: Utilities developing more of a customer focus

Utilities developing more of a customer focus — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 23:12:27 +0000

[...] mentioned the need to involve consumers in the process. Obviously, this is a point I have been banging on about for some time, but it is fantastic to see that the utilities are starting to finally get the [...]

By: Utilities developing more of a customer focus – GreenMonk: the blog

Utilities developing more of a customer focus – GreenMonk: the blog — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 14:35:10 +0000

By: Todd Glassey

Todd Glassey — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 13:52:05 +0000

Folks – there is a formal motion up before PG&E as a Petition to Amend Rulemaking Practice to “Accept and enforce the ruling in California v Khaled” against the SmartGrid

Khaled was the ruling which shutdown red-light cameras because the evidencde models do not meet basic court admissibility standards. This petition (P1007015) is what the Grid needs to become transparent.

The reasoning is simple – all billiung disputes are handled by the ALJ’s (The PUC’s own Administrative Law Judges) meaning they are in fact a real California Court. If the minimum standards for court admissible evidence was set by Khaled then all Court’s reviewing digital evidence need to enforce that same standard here in the State of California.

At the very least this is true for all of the Division 4 Appellate district’s cities and any entity operating within that district or who sells power in or through that district.

Additionally the evidence quality mandate will mean properly tracking the firmwar and runtime configuration for the people who evidently installed tens of thousands of meters with bad or wrong firmware in them.

We would like your support on this matter and we point you to my CTO’s blog at sup1.certichron.com for more information

Todd Glassey CISM CIFI
CTO Certichron Inc
800-511-2301

By: GE’s U.S. Consumer Impressions of the Smart Grid survey — GreenMonk: the blog

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 12:27:37 +0000

[...] have seen some instances where utilities failure to communicate effectively with their customers has led to blowback against Smart Meter and Smart Grid [...]

By: ema-1

ema-1 — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 01:10:00 +0000

I maintain a small website aggregating New Zealand sourced smart meter related news. News from other sources is published now and then. The site also describes and links to to New Zealand Electricity Commission (NZEC) documents and discussion papers. NZEC is NZ’s electricity market regulator.

http://sites.google.com/site/smartmetersinnz