Comments on: Are smart meters “thieves”? Bakersfield thinks so http://www.muniwireless.com/2009/11/03/are-smart-meters-thieves-bakersfield-thinks-so/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=are-smart-meters-thieves-bakersfield-thinks-so Citywide WiFi, smart grid, enterprise wireless, public safety, mobile apps Sun, 12 Feb 2012 01:38:22 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: calvin pauley http://www.muniwireless.com/2009/11/03/are-smart-meters-thieves-bakersfield-thinks-so/#comment-43975 calvin pauley Wed, 08 Jun 2011 03:18:02 +0000 http://www.muniwireless.com/?p=11829#comment-43975 the only rea way to check the old versus the new meters is to install two old meters and two new meters in series, outside of a building, in a zone that gets temperatures around 0 in winter and 95 or so in the summer, for a year, and graph the results for each day and compare them, and show them on the net. Now you can make me a believer. I believe in sound scientific experiments following good basic guidelines. the only rea way to check the old versus the new meters is to install two old meters and two new meters in series, outside of a building, in a zone that gets temperatures around 0 in winter and 95 or so in the summer, for a year, and graph the results for each day and compare them, and show them on the net. Now you can make me a believer. I believe in sound scientific experiments following good basic guidelines.

]]> By: steve http://www.muniwireless.com/2009/11/03/are-smart-meters-thieves-bakersfield-thinks-so/#comment-42397 steve Tue, 05 Oct 2010 07:01:51 +0000 http://www.muniwireless.com/?p=11829#comment-42397 I don't know about Smartmeter yet. I don't have one. But, I did have an older PGE meter and my usage was ridicules. I was running an average bill of $350 month and an average use of 1294 KW /mo. When I received my bill last December for Nov 15 to Dec 15th it said I owed $785.00 Two year before that I got a bill that said I owed $1200.00 in January. This time I asked PGE to check my meter which they did after the third request - although reluctantly. 99% of the time I was told the meters were perfectly fine and the customer’s usage was the problem. They came out and checked my meter on Jan 30 2010. The technician said it checked out fine - No problems. He ran a test that sucked 1 KW through my meter and my meter said I used 1 KW. A “Perfect reading” I was told. Something was apparently wrong but it wasn't my meter the tech told me. The tech however stated that I had an older meter and a newer meter they had would allow me to check my actual usage about every 40 seconds easily and digitally. This might help me locate my problem I was told. My Jan 15 to Feb 15th bill arrived reading 1106 KW used. One half of that bill was with the old meter and 1/2 with the new meter. My March bill with the new meter dropped way down. But the month of March is always lower so I didn't pay much attention to it. However, all of my bills since March have been 30 to 65% lower with an average drop of 45% from last year. 2009 Mar 1299 Apr 988 May 1016 June 1080 July 1267 Aug 1434 Sept 1258 Oct 1434 2010 Mar 756 Apr 738 May 719 June 763 July 613 Aug 632 Sept 690 Oct 599 proj. Thanks to the new meter I now know what I am really using and am now being billed correctly. If my meter was NOT faulty why is the new meter registering so much "less" electrical use? I had an independent use check done and it matches the new meter. Wish I had done that on the old meter instead of trusting PGE. The lesson is that a PGE meters can be bad even if their tech say it is not. The fact is, the Smartmeters seem to be having the same problems in some cases. Can PGE actually check the meters to find out if they are faulty? I don't know. Based on my experience apparently not. From what I can tell, I over paid PGE around $3200 in 2009 and $2300 in 2008. I don't know how much the year or years before that, since I don't know how long my meter has been faulty. I just don't have the records to go back and check when my usage was about what it is today. I don’t know about Smartmeter yet. I don’t have one. But, I did have an older PGE meter and my usage was ridicules. I was running an average bill of $350 month and an average use of 1294 KW /mo.

When I received my bill last December for Nov 15 to Dec 15th it said I owed $785.00 Two year before that I got a bill that said I owed $1200.00 in January. This time I asked PGE to check my meter which they did after the third request – although reluctantly. 99% of the time I was told the meters were perfectly fine and the customer’s usage was the problem.

They came out and checked my meter on Jan 30 2010. The technician said it checked out fine – No problems. He ran a test that sucked 1 KW through my meter and my meter said I used 1 KW. A “Perfect reading” I was told. Something was apparently wrong but it wasn’t my meter the tech told me.

The tech however stated that I had an older meter and a newer meter they had would allow me to check my actual usage about every 40 seconds easily and digitally. This might help me locate my problem I was told.

My Jan 15 to Feb 15th bill arrived reading 1106 KW used.

One half of that bill was with the old meter and 1/2 with the new meter.

My March bill with the new meter dropped way down. But the month of March is always lower so I didn’t pay much attention to it.

However, all of my bills since March have been 30 to 65% lower with an average drop of 45% from last year.

2009
Mar 1299 Apr 988 May 1016 June 1080 July 1267 Aug 1434 Sept 1258 Oct 1434

2010
Mar 756 Apr 738 May 719 June 763 July 613 Aug 632 Sept 690 Oct 599 proj.

Thanks to the new meter I now know what I am really using and am now being billed correctly.

If my meter was NOT faulty why is the new meter registering so much “less” electrical use? I had an independent use check done and it matches the new meter. Wish I had done that on the old meter instead of trusting PGE.

The lesson is that a PGE meters can be bad even if their tech say it is not. The fact is, the Smartmeters seem to be having the same problems in some cases. Can PGE actually check the meters to find out if they are faulty? I don’t know. Based on my experience apparently not.

From what I can tell, I over paid PGE around $3200 in 2009 and $2300 in 2008. I don’t know how much the year or years before that, since I don’t know how long my meter has been faulty. I just don’t have the records to go back and check when my usage was about what it is today.

]]> By: Alan http://www.muniwireless.com/2009/11/03/are-smart-meters-thieves-bakersfield-thinks-so/#comment-39520 Alan Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:02:20 +0000 http://www.muniwireless.com/?p=11829#comment-39520 I've been following this saga, and I believe PG&E is correct in their assessment. I think it's just mostly people whining about their validly high bill, and being suspicious of the new meters. In actuality, these wireless smart meters make sense in so many ways, and the technology isn't brand new... just brand new to us. I have it scheduled to go in here in Pleasant Hill within the next few weeks, and have no worries at all. I’ve been following this saga, and I believe PG&E is correct in their assessment. I think it’s just mostly people whining about their validly high bill, and being suspicious of the new meters.

In actuality, these wireless smart meters make sense in so many ways, and the technology isn’t brand new… just brand new to us. I have it scheduled to go in here in Pleasant Hill within the next few weeks, and have no worries at all.

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