SMART METERS: A DUMB IDEA

What are “smart meters” and how do they work?
Smart meters allow utility companies to track and control how much electricity is used in an individual household, and when it is used.  They are a cornerstone of the “smart grid” that is included in the Obama stimulus plan.

How much electricity will be saved due to use of the meters?
None.  Smart meters merely track electric usage, just like their older, dumber predecessors.

Aren’t there already low-cost, effective ways of reducing demand?
Existing air conditioning cycling programs, energy efficiency measures and consumer education programs are the most direct way to reduce demand for electricity, especially during peak times.  Consumers who take advantage of existing programs can already lower their bills and carbon footprint substantially.

What additional expenditures will be required on the consumer end?
In order to get the purported benefits of  smart meters, consumers will also need to buy communications devices, computers, high speed internet access, special thermostats, special chips in all the appliances and other automated equipment.   The cost of retrofitting or replacing existing appliances is likely to be astronomical.

Without the expenditures, consumers will not see any difference from the new meters except higher electric bills.

What are the other purported benefits to the consumer?
The smart meters promise greater reliability because electric companies will be able to find the exact location of power outages and be able to respond to problems more quickly.  Laudable goals, but they can be achieved at a fraction of the price.   Digitized computer technology has already greatly advanced old-fashioned equipment on the electrical distribution grid. Utilities across the country, including PG&E and Southern California Edison, have been installing this new equipment without fanfare for years.

What about renewables - won’t they be more accessible through the smart grid?
It is no secret that the biggest obstacles to renewables are cost and transmission.  Transmissions improvements are already being planned, and an expensive grid won’t help make renewables affordable.

How much will ratepayers pay for installation of the meters?
PG&E and SDG&E estimate it will cost over $2.5 billion to equip all residential customers with advanced meters and telecommunications infrastructure, and those estimates may turn out to be unrealistically low.  The telecommunications infrastructure could become obsolete and stranded if the utilities later decide to deploy a different technology

PG&E and SDG&E asked the CPUC in March of 2005 for permission to spend over $90 million in 2005 just for “pre-deployment” activities to make meter installations possible in 2006, before any determination has been made that the meters will be cost-effective.

Have “smart meters” been tried in California before?
In 2001 taxpayers paid $35 million so that corporations whose electric use dwarfs that of individual households and who have employees dedicated to managing their electric use could get free advanced meters. The ostensible goal of this gift to some of California’s largest companies was to enable them to reduce peak use during hot summer days. The amount of peak load reduction this investment has netted thus far is almost zero.