Pellet stove and electric usage?

[BrotherBart]

I have been ragging on our co-op for two years to get off their butts and get me on a smart meter.,

 

[IHATEPROPANE]

I have been ragging on our co-op for two years to get off their butts and get me on a smart meter.,

Can you describe some of the potential benefits of having a smart meter?

 

[BrotherBart]

Gives me better information than my monitor strapped on the meter and lowers the co-ops cost.
I ain't afraid of my electric company.

As well as letting them know when they have my power back on after an outage. They always get everybody else's back on and think I am too since I have a separate transformer up here in the woods . And have to come back out one more time.

 

[IHATEPROPANE]

Gives me better information than my monitor strapped on the meter and lowers the co-ops cost.
I ain't afraid of my electric company.

As well as letting them know when they have my power back on after an outage. They always get everybody else's back on and think I am too since I have a separate transformer up here in the woods . And have to come back out one more time.

Would it give you more information or just them? Is there a website one could log into?

My biggest concern would be that they charge more for the specific hours where we would use max kwh.

Ps, sucks about being the last to get power back.

 

[chken]

They want to impose smart meters here (big brother in all walks of life), We as a consumers continue to fight it and have been successful for the last 5 years, but they will ultimately win at some point and force us to all use smart meters. They passed legislation in PA to force it but we have kept it in appeals for the last few years. Like I posted before (maybe not in this thread) we use a time of day meter, we pay on peak and off peak rates, which saves us money since our schedules leave the house pretty much empty all day.

I'm a civil libertarian, but I see no issue with a smart meter.

I looked into variable rates for on/off peak, but in Maine it's not at all financially attractive, since there's a surcharge for that service, or so it appeared to me when I looked into it. If one can shift more of their energy use to off-peak hours, then it makes more sense, so if you have an electric car that you charge at night, or if you can do laundry at night, then it starts to make sense.

 

[chken]

Would it give you more information or just them? Is there a website one could log into?

My biggest concern would be that they charge more for the specific hours where we would use max kwh.

Ps, sucks about being the last to get power back.

Here in Maine, you can see your power use from the prior day on back, down to every 15 mins intervals. That's a lot of granularity. And as someone else noted, it tells them when you have an outage, and when your power is back. I don't see a downside. The amount of electricity used was the same. No inaccuracy that I can see.

As far as charging more, I think their goal is more for load balancing than picking on individual homes and trying to max revenue. At least in Maine, there's a rate-setting committee, so our rates don't change often, I think yearly. And, there's a variable rate option for those who can take advantage of off-peak rates, but it's an option, not forced upon anyone.

 

[wsar10]

Gives me better information than my monitor strapped on the meter and lowers the co-ops cost.
I ain't afraid of my electric company.

As well as letting them know when they have my power back on after an outage. They always get everybody else's back on and think I am too since I have a separate transformer up here in the woods . And have to come back out one more time.

Thats how they sale you on it......
But wait till the day comes when "they" feel your using too much electricity and all of a sudden your compressor motor in your A/C quits ! The point of a smart meter is monitoring so "they" can make adjustments where needed, than when they make that adjustment your food spoils and so so you on a 90 degree day. NOTHING good can come from extending the governments reach ! Penn-Elec wants to the customer to make up for there poor fiscal responsibility rather than looking with-in. Maybe in your area "smart meter" means something different, or nobody has figured out what "smart" truly means.

My "time of day meter" is digital, and will tell me days usage, total usage, 30 day usage, and current usage. We have no surcharge other than an increased rate from 7a-5p (IIRC), but if you DO NOT use at least %60 of your electricity on "off peak times" than a time of day meter will cost you more. We use (most months) %70 "off peak" so it's a good thing for our lifestyle. We had to bump the kids "bath time" up an hour later but other than that no real changes.

 

[BrotherBart]

I hardly think my electric co-op installing a smart meter is going to extend "the governments reach". And no smart meter I know of can shut off the A/C or fridge without shutting down all of the juice to the house. Which is an instant lawsuit.

But this one has gone so far off the rails it is ridiculous. With my participation. Sheesh!

 

[wsar10]

I hardly think my electric co-op installing a smart meter is going to extend "the governments reach". And no smart meter I know of can shut off the A/C or fridge without shutting down all of the juice to the house. Which is an instant lawsuit.

But this one has gone so far off the rails it is ridiculous. With my participation. Sheesh!

A smart meter (micro-controlled)is designed be able limit your power by the supplier as needed to even out loads elsewhere. and your A/C motors will be the first to notice.

 

[BrotherBart]

We have had load management controllers on the water heater and A/C to let them do that with this co-op since 1982. 54,000 of us.

Let's get back to how much juice a pellet stove uses.

 

[john193]

I live in PA and just had a smart meter installed. I like it because it can give me more real time data (I say real time in relative terms, it's still about 24hrs delayed).

I also recently locked in a generation rate of 7.99 a kWh. With my PECO customer and distribution charges I pay about 14.5 cents a kWh.

 

[john193]

A smart meter (micro-controlled)is designed be able limit your power by the supplier as needed to even out loads elsewhere. and your A/C motors will be the first to notice.

Only if you sign up for it. At least that is the case here in PA.

 

[hoverwheel]

...I did go away last month and left my mother in law in the house with the kids ...

Mystery solved

I'm a civil libertarian, but I see no issue with a smart meter....

You should be able to have your smart meter if you want it. The issue is they are being forced on people that don't want them, for whatever reason. That is antithetical to the libertarian ideals you mentioned.

 

[BrotherBart]

And on that note...