Tinfoil Hat Club

[sheepfarmer]

Ok I've officially gone ballistic over not big brother, the gubmint, or any other foreign country, but rather the local electric company. I'm joining the tinfoil hat club.

Found a notice in the bushes that they'd stopped by to install a new upgraded meter, but found my gates "locked", and "Sign's of Dog's unable to contact customer" and so they didn't. Card said to read up on it at consumers energy.com/smartenergy. So I did. Found that they want to install a meter that transmits my energy use wirelessly via a transmitter.
First off they can access the meter without going in any of the gates, dogs or no dogs. Second, website says I am supposed to get a postcard and a phone call before they come out. Didn't happen. Third, to opt out it will cost me $69 plus $9.72 a month forever after to cover cost of reading meter. I am still thinking about that one. They only ever read it every other month. That really ticks me off. I don't want their new fangled "service" that allows me to monitor my use online. I can walk out the garage and watch the little wheel go around if I want to know what is happening. I also don't want anyone else monitoring my use or hacking the transmission in some way to mess up my bill. Finally I don't want anyone so undereducated that they don't know that plural nouns don't require apostrophes messing with my wiring Their reading level might be on a par with their grammar. (Yup a grammar snob here.)

Ok rant over. Time to put in the batteries, windmills, and solar panels and go off the grid.

 

[OldeEnglish]

I've had the same problem with the water department. They changed the meter out and 9 months later they wanted to change it again. I called the office to find out why and they said they're switching to the radio monitors on all meters. The funny thing is I have 2 other houses in town and they're still running meters over 20 yrs old. That was about a year ago and still no notices on the other properties. I don't get it...

As far as the electric meters,as well as gas, they all are read from the street by driving by the house. It's nothing new sheepfarmer, don't sweat it.

 

[85Hokie]

Sheep,

I share your pain, seems that those things that worked so well for so long, seem to be the wrong way now days.....

the more we advance technologically, the lazier we get! AND to glorify lazy, we charge more for a service that has no options, and seemed to work perfectly BEFORE technology!

 

[D2Cat]

We have a property in a small town of 2000. Last year the water bill went from 8 to 11 K to over 60K in one month.

I tried to explain there was no wet spots anywhere, the meter was never turning with reckless abandonment. Nothing to indicate the water went through the meter. I even took a 5 gal. bucket and measure the amount of water running full blast to let the City Council understand...we have a problem.

I asked them to replace the meter. They said they would only replace the meter if it was bad, and I had to pay the fee to have it checked out. If the meter proved bad, then I didn't have to pay! $300 to test a meter I didn't own seemed out of line, so I hesitated. I was focusing on getting the $730 water bill paid without spending more money on a meter I didn't own.

A couple of months later the meter did another skip/jump. The city just gave me the same song, verse two.

After watching the meter nearly every day, and the city employee reading the meter 3 times a day, they finally discovered the meter was reading wrong.

Finally, one day the city read the meter and discover the meter skipped a digit in the thousand column. They pulled the meter to confirm it's a problem. They discovered the meter was manufactured in 1960. An antique piece of junk.

The entire city is now in the process of getting a new water system with the electronic meters.

I'm actually looking forward to it. I will somehow find a way, perhaps an app for a smart phone, or computer program the can give me a daily usage report so I know way before the city sends me a bill, I have a problem.

I had to go read the meter one time because it was WAY off. Turns out the city hired a new meter reader. Guess what? He was dyslexic! Another time they reported a high meter reading, and when I went to investigate discovered they were reading the wrong meter!

Nope, I'll be glad when it's automated!!!

 

[skeets]

We are the Borg, resistance is futile, you will be assimilated...

Sheepfarmer I do feel your contempt, more than you know. I have seen read and watched numerous videos on these units,, And while there are some ways to defeat them, Im not so sure its worth the cost of getting caught Several years ago the state of Pa came in wanting to put a meter on my well. When confronted after the had the well cap off, I was told in no uncertain terms, they had the right to be there and if I interfered they would be back with the PaSP. And my Irish got the better and told them to leave or I would turn the dogs loose on them and when they come back to bring the cops and a warrant with them. Turns out the state wanted to tax well users for the amount of water we used for some clean water/air bill the left was trying to push through, they didnt. Tin foil hat, gal Im right there with you

 

[Daren Todd]

I've always had an issue with forced compliance when a company wants to update equipment or penalize you for not doing the upgrade. That tends to chap the fanny But that being said, I have had some experience with the new meters and not had any issues so far.

The house I lived in 11 years ago had an updated electric meter where the meter reader could drive by and get the readings with out getting out of the truck. Never had an issue with the new tech, but you could still read the meter manually. So I would walk out and check the meter and write down the numbers to compare what was showed on the bill. They had a scheduled day they would read the meters in our area, so the numbers were fairly close. If there was a big difference, then you knew something wasn't right.

I've had more issues in the past few years with the local water company reading the meter the old fashioned way. Meter reader would get lazy and just write down a random number. I compare lasts months bill with this month's current reading on the water meter. About once a year, the current reading at the water meter will be less then last month's reading, and the bill will be for almost double At that point they get a phone call to send there supervisor out to get an accurate reading, and then send me an accurate bill

 

[sdk1968]

i was an electric company hater for years....

they wouldnt even let me go off the grid....

You think you can.. then you find out that the local utilities actually control whether you have any home owners insurance if you do.

more or less controlling whether you can or not.

so in the end i found out it was gonna cost me about $22,000 to get off teh grid & still have homeowners insurance.... which in essence means it would take me over 10 years to just break EVEN ...

YUP they get you coming & going.

good news is that while the place we just moved into is still on the grid .. it IS on 100% generator back up & all ive got to do now is ad the batterys & solar/wind generation.

sooooo be sure to check all your local "hang ups" before you cut that cord!

 

[Grouse Feathers]

Sheepfarmer
Consumers Energy may well have mishandled your meter installation. However, the requirement to change out the meters and any charges to change out or not change out the meters are set by the Public Service Commission. There are few things that Consumers Energy can do that are not highly regulated. If you think big brother is watching you, it's nothing compared to how he watches a public regulated utility. If the PSC isn't watching close enough or isn't strict enough in regulating the utility, historically the Attorney General in Michigan is ready and willing to step in as an additional watch dog.

 

[sheepfarmer]

Grouse Feathers you are surely correct, it sounded like they were expecting the consumer to complain about having to pay extra to do it the old way: the website said for each charge that it had been approved by the Michigan Utilities Commission. I suppose that I will give up on my high horse attitude, and hope this is at least no less reliable than the college kids that drove in the driveway to read the meter. They must have liked my house, meter could be read without getting out of the car. Funny no one is complaining about all the jobs that are being lost.

Skeets I will REALLY go off the deep end if they want to meter my well water. It was bad enough when the county drain commission forced me to sell them the rights to some of my land adjacent to the "creek".

Thanks guys!

 

[Daren Todd]

We get notices from the electric company periodically about them wanting to install a a remote disconnect switch to our heat pump. Electric company wants to be able to remotely shut down the compressor during peak usage during the summer.

One of those devices was hooked to our heat pump by the previous home owner. It was hooked up wrong and caused the unit to short cycle burning up the variable speed fan, as well as some relays and valves. Cost us $1,200 to get the system fixed and to disconnect the remote shut down. Not to mention the fact we were with out AC for a week where the average day time temps were 125 degrees, and 85 degrees at night

 

[Grouse Feathers]

Funny no one is complaining about all the jobs that are being lost.

That was after I left and a different department anyway (I was in generation), but I know there were issues with the union over the loss of jobs. I have no idea what company / unioun compromises were necessary for the new meters.

Darren
Since I left Consumers, I moved to an area serviced by a CO-OP. The CO-OP is a lot easier to deal with and a lot more responsive, but they are still regulated by the PSC. When I moved I was able to get a 30% reduction in electric rates for heating by installing a separate meter. That option has now been taken away by the PSC except for geo thermal and approved heat pumps. Luckily I am grandfathered in, but when I sell the the 30% reduction will only apply to the heat pumps and not the electric heat. One of my heat pumps shuts off at 0F and the second one shuts off at -20F, so I need electric heat when it gets cold. The 30% discount includes an option for interruptions of up to 8 hours, but it has never happened.

 

[WoodyBlue]

Here is the real kicker. All the money they are saving is because they were able to fire the poor SOB that used to read thew meters. Now they don't have to pay for his car/truck, fuel, and health insurance. So the company is making big cash on this "Technology."

 

[boz1989]

I talked to the consumers employee that installed the new meter, he said that all the meter readers moved within the company and now are linesmen. He said that was a good thing because the young kids don't want to do that kind of work anymore.

Sent from my LGMS330 using Tapatalk

 

[Grouse Feathers]

Here is the real kicker. All the money they are saving is because they were able to fire the poor SOB that used to read thew meters. Now they don't have to pay for his car/truck, fuel, and health insurance. So the company is making big cash on this "Technology."

The real kicker is that Consumers is a regulated utility and reductions in operating expenses are returned to the rate payers by the PSC. Consumers only makes money on the returns from capital investments. So Consumers will get the approved rate of return on the meter investment but will reduce rates for the operating savings.

 

[skeets]

And that poor SOB is still out on the street, trying to figure out how he is going to support his family. And the company putts merrily along and the CEOs still go to the country club

 

[D2Cat]

Remember 25 year ago, all the talk about how computers were going to save so much time? Less paper! Everything is going to be better.

Well, we got it. They save so much time half the work force either does not have any work to do, or has to be retrained to do something else. If you choose to not be retrained you end up in a bad position. Progress they call it.

 

[skeets]

I guess it's progress , if your the one with the money to start with

 

[CaveCreekRay]

Stick this in your tin foil hats. Oh, and don't forget to smile...

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-03-30/facial-recognition-tech-could-ensnare-millions-innocent-americans-crimes-they-didn%E2%80%99t

(Is it time we all drive around with Star Wars Trooper masks on???? LOL!!!)

 

[skeets]

I was thinking more along the lines of Guy Fox myself