jb4647 Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 Conspiracies are secretive. This is out in the open. And Reliant is receiving $200M from the Federal Government to install these meters. They signed contracts with them. So call that what you will. If you were to reread my posts, you would probably notice eventually that my gripe is with being charged against my will for something that is of minimal benefit. You could've saved $30 a month before these. You simply believe these folks care about you and I see it as a con job. Living in a community and free society depends on people 1) paying attention, 2) doing their homework, 3) asking questions and 4) speaking out when they smell a rat. Other types of societies are based on people being told what to do and then doing what their told. These societies depend on deception. Don't let them tell you that questioning and speaking out is "extremist", it's what we should be doing. So I'll log on, check my usage (as the new rate mangling based on time becomes more prevalent) and try to feel good that I'm being a smart and socially responsible citizen. When "speak out" about every little thing and blow them all out of proportion then yes you do come across as an "extremist." Charging a measely $3.24/mo is not tyranny or socialism. Its not the end of Democracy as we know it. Like I said, using these new tools have saved me on average $30.00/mo. Less the $3.24 I'm still ahead by $26.76. So thus, it seems to me that the loser here is the electric companies because now we will be able to better manage how much electricity we use and save money. Like I said, its a matter of "proportion." Complaining and questioning every little thing and you wind up sounding like this fellow: http://www.storyarts.org/library/aesops/stories/boy.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ricco67 Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 Don't forget, it also saves them money when they can more carefully plan where to build new power stations and how to best manage electric flow.Those things are expensive. This is one $3 buck charge I don't mind paying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
innerlooper Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 Now for the gas meters..... on my street all the old gas meters have new plastic covers on the dials....are these new smart meter retrofits as well, or just new plastic covers? The dials still look pretty old and rusty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ricco67 Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 That reminds me,a few weeks ago i saw a reliant truck with, what I had assumed was,a large antenna on top.It was going down the street at about 20 mph or so.never seen one before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fringe Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 Now for the gas meters..... on my street all the old gas meters have new plastic covers on the dials....are these new smart meter retrofits as well, or just new plastic covers? The dials still look pretty old and rusty.Looks like just a new plastic cover. You have one of the really old analog dials. Newer meters are all digital. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Original Timmy Chan's Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 Anybody else participating in CenterPoint's pilot program on in-home energy monitors? I just got confirmation today, was told to expect the monitor within a week. I don't know who the program is open to, I got a letter about it in the mail last weekend.http://www.centerpointenergy.com/services/electricity/residential/smartmeters/IHDpilotCenterPoint will provide me an in-home energy monitor free of charge, and in exchange I agree to participate in 3 surveys about the monitor.Apparently they're going to test several different monitors from various manufacturers. The monitors will provide real-time usage data, which will be much more useful to me than logging on to a website to find out how much energy I used two weeks ago. The website was a neat little novelty to me for a couple of weeks, but I haven't logged on in months now...is was not very useful to me. I hope for better results from real-time monitor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jb4647 Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 I haven't recieved any word but would be interesting in participating. Like you, I find the information useful and interesting but would like to have the ability to track it in real time. Right now I use a programable thermestat. I have it set to come on at 5p each day which is nice for when I got home between 5:30-6. But on days when I either work late or go out for a happy hour or something I'd like to be able to long on to it on my smartphone and shut it off rather than wasting engergy and $$.Anybody else participating in CenterPoint's pilot program on in-home energy monitors? I just got confirmation today, was told to expect the monitor within a week. I don't know who the program is open to, I got a letter about it in the mail last weekend.http://www.centerpointenergy.com/services/electricity/residential/smartmeters/IHDpilotCenterPoint will provide me an in-home energy monitor free of charge, and in exchange I agree to participate in 3 surveys about the monitor.Apparently they're going to test several different monitors from various manufacturers. The monitors will provide real-time usage data, which will be much more useful to me than logging on to a website to find out how much energy I used two weeks ago. The website was a neat little novelty to me for a couple of weeks, but I haven't logged on in months now...is was not very useful to me. I hope for better results from real-time monitor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sevfiv Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 I registered but haven't heard anything - we'll see! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ricco67 Posted February 24, 2011 Share Posted February 24, 2011 Seems like all the hoopla about the meters being another opportunity to simply collect more money might be disappearing. According to the chron article, they are dropping the added cost from $3.24 to $3.05 and will only need to collect for 4 years, instead of the original 10, due to the increased savings the company has seen since the installation of the devices began. Put away the tin foil hats, people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
innerlooper Posted February 24, 2011 Share Posted February 24, 2011 Yeah just a new cover....Itron does have a retrofit remote-read dial unit for attaching to older gas meters. I see the 40 series in bad-dog yards and behind high fences. https://www.itron.co...0Endpoints.aspxLooks like just a new plastic cover. You have one of the really old analog dials. Newer meters are all digital. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GettaClue Posted February 26, 2011 Share Posted February 26, 2011 They aren't cutting the fee because they've seen "cost savings." They're cutting it because they took wicked heat about all the federal tax stimulus money they took to speed up the installation process. As a result they were being widely accused of double-dipping on consumers/taxpayers. Corproate welfare is drawing more scrutiny from the peons these days, you know.So sorry, but their little 19 cent drop in the monthly charge isn't enough to convince me to put away my tin foil hat. You might want to get one yourself, a good heavy-duty model even, once you see what they're going to start doing to consumers as soon as the meters are all installed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
innerlooper Posted March 1, 2011 Share Posted March 1, 2011 Correction.....there are new Itron remote-sense guts behind the old rusty gas meter dials. Neighbors have the same thing, new Itron devices on the old meters and old dials. This way they did not have to alert consumers as meters were not turned off, and no resetting/ keeping track of old/ new readings as had to be done with the electric meters. And presumably by not alerting public, cut down on calls from the tin-foil hat crowd. Apparently in California folks complained about the radio emissions from smart elec meters. Yeah just a new cover....Itron does have a retrofit remote-read dial unit for attaching to older gas meters. I see the 40 series in bad-dog yards and behind high fences. https://www.itron.co...0Endpoints.aspx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sevfiv Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 We received our in-home monitor for the pilot program today -- at first look, it seems like it gives almost the same information as the web site.It is "connected" to the meter but hasn't had time to do much...we'll see later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedScare Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 Corproate welfare is drawing more scrutiny from the peons these days, you know.No, it's not. The GOP just swept into power in November. Corporate welfare is alive and well, as the slashing of entitlement programs will free up more money for the corporations. And federal, state and local governments are cutting their payrolls, which will require more corporate contracts to do the work that was formerly performed by government workers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Original Timmy Chan's Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 We received our in-home monitor for the pilot program today -- at first look, it seems like it gives almost the same information as the web site.It is "connected" to the meter but hasn't had time to do much...we'll see later.I got mine about a week ago. Probably about the same info as the web site, but the difference is, this is in real time. I have walked around the house with the monitor (it's wirelessly connected to smart meter) and turned appliances on and off to see what kind of draw they have. It was pretty cool for the first day or two...now I just have it set on the "monthly" setting, to predict what my electric bill will be for the month. Right now, after 7 days, it's telling me to anticipate a $35.00 electric bill for the month. For some reason I think that's gonna change...as soon as we turn on the AC again!All in all, I like the monitor, but I wouldn't pay $100 for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samagon Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 I got mine about a week ago. Probably about the same info as the web site, but the difference is, this is in real time. I have walked around the house with the monitor (it's wirelessly connected to smart meter) and turned appliances on and off to see what kind of draw they have. It was pretty cool for the first day or two...now I just have it set on the "monthly" setting, to predict what my electric bill will be for the month. Right now, after 7 days, it's telling me to anticipate a $35.00 electric bill for the month. For some reason I think that's gonna change...as soon as we turn on the AC again!All in all, I like the monitor, but I wouldn't pay $100 for it.since it uses standard wifi, I imagine it's only a matter of time before someone hacks an android/ or iphone app that will do the same thing.just did a cursory check of the android market and came up empty, but that doesn't mean I didn't look for the right keywords. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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