BGE to begin smart meter installation in May

The Baltimore Sun ^ | March 18, 2012 | Hanah Cho

[RedMDer]

Snip:
BGE customers who still have concerns currently cannot opt out of the smart-meter project. The Maryland Public Service Commission, however, plans to consider at a hearing in May whether to require the state's utilities to have an opt-out provision.

[RedMDer]

More transformational change where we can’t opt out.

[lacrew]

“..save customers money by helping them control energy use...”

Gee, I wonder what ‘control energy use’ means.

[Keith in Iowa]

>>>Gee, I wonder what ‘control energy use’ means.

It means they can “pull the plug” on you at their will by sending a signal to the meter.

[RedMDer]

Exactly. They already know what the usage is for each customer.

[dforest]

More government takeover of people’s lives. Denying people the right to set their thermostats to what is comfortable to them.

I wonder if Obama still has the Whitey House at 80 degrees in the winter?

Cause he is from Hawaii dontcha know.

[Frank_2001]

He can do WHATEVER he WANTS, and don’t you ever forget that, you unruly peasant!!;)

[Levante]

You mean, the White Shack, no?

Or as other FRpers put it, the White Hut.

[EggsAckley]

".........they can “pull the plug” on you at their will by sending a signal to the meter."

They've been able to do that for years. These new meters are digital and the user is able to "track" their power use daily, keep a log of it. I've had one for years, and it's been very helpful. But now they want radio transmissions to track it from their headquarters. My big objection is the radio waves it introduces to your home.

[NonValueAdded]

Florida Power and Light is also deep into the installation project. Over 500 unskilled jobs will be lost as a result. It makes economic sense but the unprecedented automation - e.g. rubbish pickup has gone down from a truck with three men to only one operating the truck and barrel lift - is quickly making unskilled labor a thing of the past. Heaven help the unschooled inner city youth.

[RGF]

I opted out here in SoCal, at least until they do whatever the heck they want. They’ve done our neighborhood but mine has opt out tag on it. I just don’t trust anything this government says will “help me.”

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

“Or as other FRpers put it, the White Hut.”

I thought it was “The White Crib.”

[MD Expat in PA]

When I live in MD some years ago, I voluntarily agreed to have BGE install a smart meter. It did actually save me a lot of money over time in usage and I got a monthly rebate for participating as did the programmable thermostat that I installed myself. I never noticed any down side. But that was as I said, voluntary at the time.

I also installed programmable light switches that turned off and on according to my schedule whether I was at home or not. Being a single woman, I liked coming home into a house with some lights on especially in the dark winter months without having to burn electricity all day long when I didn’t need to.

[Levante]

Heh, heh, good one!!!

[soupbone1]

While stationed at Ft. Benning in early 1990’s I remember the base purchased power at a discounted rate for the year. The caveat was that if the base came close to exceeding their power usage they would cut power to the AC in the Enlisted Housing. This would last for up to nine hours on some really hot days.
Some of the Enlisted Wives confronted the Housing Office and were told everyone was sharing the hardship. During one such outage the Wives went around and found out that Officer Housing still had power, and that caused a big stink. When confronted a new policy was adopted that power would only be off for up to four hours and all Base Housing would share the burden.
I wonder if this smart metering is a way to force people to not exceed their allowed maximum power usage. Of course exceptions will be applied to those who have been deemed important.

[pacpam]

We went on a delayed installation list, but that will go away after April. If we want to opt out after that, we get a one time fee of $75 and $10 a month charge for the privilege of not having a smart meter. Seems they are better as tracking parasitic useage and most bills go up. I detest SCE because they shorten and extend our days between readings, and because we are three tiered, we inevitably get to pay more per kilowath hour on the 35 day readings. If the smart meters eliminate that problem it’ll be a small miracle.

[FlingWingFlyer]

It appears as though the electric companies have figured out that people are going to be able to afford and pay for the energy rates we are going to get from Barry the Kenyan Guy and his EPA energy gestapo. Whatever happened to America? The Obama voters sure need their asses kicked for causing this crap.

[The Working Man]

I was talking with a local HVAC guy here. He told me of a NEW regulation that is going into effect later on this year. Before the inspector can sign off on an installation he MUST install a programmable thermostat and is SHALL be programmed for certain temperatures. I think it was 65 for heat and 78 or 80 for cool. I’m not really sure about the settings.

He was angry about it because many of his customers will balk at a new installation if they can’t keep their old thermostat. He said he could teach them how to program it after the inspection but not before hand. Just another set of intrusive regulations as far as he was concerned.

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

Well,,,, all my Black buddies refer to their domicile as their “Crib.” That’s old slang, going back at least 40 years.

[RedMDer]

There is almost always someone at home here and I really don’t like the idea of a radio transmitter attached to our house. Besides it should be none of the energy company’s business how much I want to spend in electrical or gas power. Evidently they now want to make their business.