Md.'s smart grid fiasco

baltimore sun ^ | 7-5-10 | William Yeatman

[WOBBLY BOB]

Last month, the Public Service Commission rejected Baltimore Gas & Electric Co.'s "smart grid" proposal. From start to finish, the whole affair demonstrated everything that is wrong with Maryland's socialized electricity industry.

To begin with, BGE's plan was a dud. The whole idea of "smart grid" is to inform customers how much electricity costs in real time so that they have an incentive to use less electricity during times of peak demand (usually hot summer afternoons), when electricity is expensive to generate and transmit. There are a number of ways to achieve this price signal, but BGE chose an ill-defined, incomplete technology that would not have allowed consumers to see their energy costs in real time and adjust their usage accordingly.

[misterrob]

Local turf protectionism at its finest. Competition and less regulation are what drive innovation, progress and lower costs.

[wolfpat]

When I worked in an electric utility, we looked at the utility safety reports every month.

Our company was consistently first in the ratings with the lowest accident rate among utilities of our size. BG&E seemed to kill one or two of their employees every month.

Now I know why.

[Stosh]

Rule of thumb: any liberal initiative with “smart” in its name is almost certainly stupid.

[palmer]

Absurdly, the commission expressed its support for smart grid technology, but it objected to time of use pricing, which is the entire purpose of smart grid technology. The commission argued that BGE had insufficiently planned an education campaign for real time pricing, as if Baltimoreans are incapable of comparing numbers. This paternalistic explanation likely obfuscates an ulterior motive. If the price of electricity were set by the market, then the commission would lose the power to establish rates.

Says it all.

[indthkr]

Government programs bump for later...

[rigelkentaurus]

I am not comfortable that “smart grid” is anything but more government restrictions and the more the government is involved, the worse is it for us.

What do they mean by realtime pricing? Do they mean applying the incremental spot price for the next purchased kilowatt to each and every kilowatt they produce and sell? Might was well just give them one of the Fed’s money printing presses and be done with it.

[BenKenobi]

exactly, what it means is that your rates will go up, and the bills will be obfuscated. Rather then having one rate for everyone, they can charge differently.

I wonder if that would ever be abused?

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Maryland “Freak State” PING!