Smart Meters - Public Service Commission

9/23/12 Pricing Problems - Stop OC Smart Meters
Electromechanical Analog Meter
The old, trusty (and ugly) analog meter attached to the side of a house has a series of dials or guages that move with the home's
electrical usage. There is a starting point and an ending point. Usage is calculated as the difference between the two numbers....just
like putting miles on a car. You can watch the dials move, you can audit your own usage.
Analog Meter Pricing
Analog metering systems used by SCE bill for electrical usage using a monthly 5-tier graduated rate structure. (For example,
currently tiered winter rates on my bill start at $0.13 per kWh for the first tier up to $0.31 per kWh for the fifth and final tier.)
Unfortunately, we understand that there is talk of removing the 5 tier pricing levels down to only one rate for all electrical usage. Further, the rate imposed will
be set at a penalizing level.
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Smart Meter
This is the shiny, new and digital Smart Meter for all Southern California Edison customers. It flashes numbers periodically as it
calculates electrcal usage. It digitally accumulates electrical usage internally then transmits the data wireless to your neighbors meter,
which transmits the information on to wireless collector boxes then back to the utlity compay.
Just like your cell phone bill, a Smart Meter accumulates usage digitally and periodically. However, unlike a cell phone bill you cannot
see where or how the use was generated. There is no beginning or ending guage to verify your electrical use. ​Do we just trust the
computer? Is it accurate? Can the numbers be verified? There is no way to know.
Smart Meter Pricing
Smart Metering calculates electrical usage based on Time Of Use (TOU) pricing by applying changing hourly rates. For example, since the heaviest time for
electrical usage takes place between the hours of 2pm to 6pm a penalizing high rate will be applied to discourage use during those hours. Lower rates apply in the
late evening and extreme early morning.
Seniors, Low Income, Home Businesses, Other Stay-At-Homes Most Effected
As a result, those that are home during the day like seniors, retirees, those on medical support systems, small work-at-home business owners, and parents with
small children will be most effected. Also, low-income and fixed-income households that are unable to shift the time of day that they use energy will also see their
bills rise.
Demand Response (SCE Selectively Shutting Down Your Appliances)
Are you using the correct amount of electricity? If the utility thinks you are then they will do what is called "demand response" to your appliances.
"Demand response" programs encourage consumers (charge high rates or shut off) to reduce or shift their electricity use (e.g. from afternoon to
evening) in response to price signals or to reduce the possibility of overloading the electric grid in times of high demand. Such programs, now available to
commercial and industrial customers, could be extended to residential and small business customers with smart meters. Through such optional (like the Smart
Meters?) programs, utilities could offer price incentives, payments or rebates to consumers for shifting or reducing their electricity consumption. Under such
demand response programs, with customer authorization, utilities can cycle air conditioners off or adjust programmable communicating thermostats
when demand for electric service exceeds available supply."
---From CenterPoint Energy, a Houston-based utility
Smart Meter Pricing Complaints
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