Posted on 03/12/2010 8:04:49 PM PST by thecodont
When Pacific Gas and Electric Co. announced it was installing smart meters, they weren't exactly giving customers the option of turning down the device. But one Bay Area man demanding his constitutional rights told CBS5 that he doesn't want a new meter. Period.
"To me it's unconstitutional, it's an invasion of my privacy," said Mark Dieteman.
The smart meter allows PG&E to watch energy usage remotely and lets customers monitor how much electricity they use. However, residents have blamed the devices for a dramatic increase in their bills, prompting calls for an investigation. A Bakersfield man also filed a class-action lawsuit, which claims customers were overcharged and should get a refund.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/scavenger/detail?entry_id=59017#ixzz0i1gBR6wC
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
The day is swiftly arriving when one will have to produce most of one’s own electricity off the grid.
Meters that make time-of-usage information available in insecure ways could be a boon to thieves.
Funny indeed. We've been told these things are supposed to save us money. I guess it is like asking a barber about needing a haircut.
Wonder how much $ this is going to end up costing him.
They do. I’m on a time of usage meter and we save about $250 a year.
And apparently in Texas and California they have been charging double with the new meters.
Our bills doubled without a use increase.
They just installed our smart meters,for gas and elec.
We still have a meter reader because the system is not fully operational.
They say it will be 2 or 3 yrs before it is Auto..
Yes they will tell us how to use our gas and elec.
It is all for the Enviro bullshit.........
Fight the POWER !!
sorry, couldn’t resist.
Wow, here's another article about flying cars!
Mine was involuntarily installed three days ago. Big Brother is watching. Not that he will have much to go on: we are very niggardly in our energy usage, especially in heating and air conditioning.
Watch for an increase of clandestine indoor pot farms busted with smart meters.
Careful about using that word “niggardly”!
Jackson and Sharpton will organize a protest at your front door, until someone looks it up in the dictionary. But by that time, it’ll be too late. You’ll be on the hook for reparations...
“Niggardly” was was good enough for my Scandanavian forebears so it is quite good enough for me. Besides, I don’t like having our multicultural language censored by hypersensitive, offensive offenders like Jackson and Sharpton. That and they can’t find me anyway. ;o)
That might be interesting. Several homes in our neck of the woods (San Joaquin Valley just east of Oakland/SFO) were confiscated by cops after a gang from SFO was caught using them as grow stations for marijuana. I guess maybe they can detect unusually high usage and possibly get a search warrant.
really? it’s pretty much legal to grow for medicinal purposes.
wonder what the rest of the story is?
My best meter story is when I was living on the beach and my meter stopped working, it was free electricity for two years.
this is why they have the right to take his meter and along the same lines why an employer can invade and search you (even demand a drug test without a warrant or showing any cause for suspicion), but the state government can't drug test its employess or search them without showing cause
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