'Smart' power meters herald future of our electricity use

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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• x646d63 - May 04, 2008
  • Rank: 3 / 5 (8)
  Since most people use energy during "peak" hours, this is only an attempt to extract more money out of ignorant consumers. Very few will choose to, or be able to, curb their energy use during "peak" hours so they'll simply end up paying more.
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• NeilFarbstein - May 04, 2008
  • Rank: 1.3 / 5 (7)
  you're right
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• meuon - May 05, 2008
  • Rank: 5 / 5 (3)
  The real issue is that we are not making more baseline power like coal and nuclear because it's "dirty". So we burn natural gas at peak usage time to generate power for load peaks. It's clean, it's relatively on demand, it's expensive. So peak load power is more expensive than off-peak to create. We have three choices: #1 Use less.#2 Pay more on average. #3 Pay variable rates based on time of use. I like #1 and #3, because I have some control over it.
  
  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.
  
  
  
  
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• Doug_Huffman - May 05, 2008
  • Rank: 2.7 / 5 (3)
  'Echelon' is an unfortunate name. Send it back to marketing.
  
  Nuclear power is secure power.
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• drivin98 - May 05, 2008
  • Rank: 1.3 / 5 (3)
  "Echelon"? Holy CRAP! It's all making sense now.
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• Glis - May 05, 2008
  • Rank: 2 / 5 (2)
  Like we don't have enough to keep track of? I really want to have to watch my electricity like stocks. And how do you call it 'conservation' if you just do it at another time? That's like saying 'I recycle' because I burn my trash instead of throwing it out.
  
  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.
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• meuon - May 05, 2008
  • Rank: 3.3 / 5 (3)
  "Backwards" only works well because the utilities CURRENTLY have to pay you more than they charge you. That will change as more people start doing it. Doing it well enough (in-phase) to be useful isn't cheap, but makes interesting arguments about battery packs or other storage mediums. Example: If you are producing solar power during peak times (daytime) when your usage is low (if you shut everything off and go to work) you can then afford to buy power from the grid during the evenings, effectively using the grid as a giant battery. You'll still need some battery power, but this strategy lessens the size you would need compared to what you would need if you were trying to be completely off-grid. Echelon http://echelon.com symbol: ELON is a real company making serious changes to the way utilities do business. There are many others, iTron, Elster, etc.. but I like Echelon. The name has unfortunate connotations only if you are a total paranoid that keeps your computer inside the fridge to limit RF/Tempest snooping by the black helicopters.
  
  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.
  
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• Glis - May 07, 2008
  • Rank: 3 / 5 (1)
  ^^ So a battery backup system and power management would reeaallly make this worthwhile, that way you could 'charge up' during low cost and dip into that reserve during peak?
  
  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.
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• kburke - May 21, 2008
  • Rank: 2 / 5 (1)
  Meuon, I am curious about your thoughts on the Echelon meters and their place in the current smart grid movement. Are they gaining traction with utilities? I have followed that company for awhile and am impressed with their technology. It seems that the work they are doing with Duke Energy here in the US is going to be groundbreaking. Just wondering what your thoughts and experiences have been.
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