'Smart' power meters herald future of our electricity use
May 4th, 2008 By MARC LEVY, Associated Press Writer
A new Smart Meter is seen at the home of Darrell Brubaker in Elizabethtown, Pa., Thursday, March 20, 2008. Brubaker saved money almost every month, up to about 6 percent off his regular electric bill, after volunteering for a PPL Corp. pilot program made possible by a "smart" meter. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
(AP) -- Determined to cut his electricity bill, Darrell Brubaker took the usual steps of raising his air conditioner's thermostat and cooking more on the grill. But the key to maximum savings - as much as 6 percent a month last summer - was his grasp of the state of the electrical grid and his family's willingness to adjust their power usage accordingly.
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I work in the industry, writing software for Echelon smart meters as well as others for UtiliFlex, http://www.utiliflex.com
and got into this business because I believe smart meters and specifically prepaid electricity is an enabling technology.
Note: We already run our dishwasher after hours, and we often run late night laundry. Our dryer turns off based on moisture, not time. It makes sense.
Nuclear power is secure power.
Can you use this system backwards though, IE consumers running solar/generated power back into the grid during peak? You could make some nice cash doing that, esp if you set up a monitoring system to only put power back in during peaks.
Don't think of it as watching it like stocks, although that's close to the truth. Think of it more like buying gas.. and being careful when and where you buy it. In many places, you can choose the originating vendor and price and the local utility charges you for distribution.
And yes, true smart meters properly measure forward/reverse current flow, in and out of phase (active or reactive) enabling the 'selling back' of power.
I liked your analogy of using the grid as a battery if you have your own electricity source. This system seems it would make consumer electricity production more attractive, as you could 'choose' when to pull power from the grid and when to put it back in. Good stuff.