Why I hate smart meters
I heard a Coast to Coast AM broadcast the other morning that was critical of smart electric meters that broadcast data wirelessly. The two primary objections were valid: 1. You don’t want some public utility controlling the appliances in your house; 2. You don’t want stray radio frequencies coming through your walls, for lots of reasons. There are more serious objections however and the broadcast missed some major points.
One economic rationale for smart meters is "peak shaving". Utility companies have to size their equipment to handle maximum loads. If they can shift demand by controlling appliances so they run during off hours, upgrades to their infrastructure can be deferred. This is their theoretical motive, but customers can do this by hand or with a timer, without needing a smart meter- obviously. All they need is the load curve data in a nice pamphlet. The stray RF data objection is easily controlled with a piece of grounded aluminum flashing.
There are reasons and real reasons for smart meters. To start, Florida Power and Light is an example of how the politics and money work with public utilities, whether gas, water, electric, telecommunications or other regulated industries. Public Service Commissions vary widely in type, but all are political and have tremendous power over the types of services, including telecommunications and how much profit they make.
In April 2009, BusinessWeek magazine reported that FPL Group was one of 25 US companies that paid the least US taxes. FPL Group paid a 1.3 percent annual tax rate, far less than the standard 35 percent corporate rate, based on an analysis of the company’s financial figures for 2005-2008. On more than $7 billion in company earnings during this four-year period, FPL Group paid $88 million in taxes. This low rate was possible given tax breaks for having invested in alternative energy. A company spokesperson said the company is merely taking advantage of incentives to develop renewable resources. To ensure these tax breaks continue, in 2008 alone, FPL Group paid more than $500,000 to five major lobbying firms that lobby Congress. (Wikipedia)
I worked at a private Florida R&D facility that got a contract to test what I regarded as a hare brained alternate energy scheme. I asked the boss why Florida Power wanted to test it if it was almost certain not to work. He smiled and said “They don’t care … The expense is just put into the rate base.” This is an example of the system: The PSC gets political “green” creds for helping the consumer by mandating energy saving R&D; The utility company gets to hire more people … Some of the money gets passed around to various inside contractors. Everybody is happy but the consumer who pays for crap that doesn’t work!
Q: Ever wonder why utility trucks are always new and shiny? A: It’s in the rate base!
The smart meter is a computer hooked to your wiring system. This is my strongest personal objection. It has the capability of monitoring your computer and logging everthing you send and receive, whether your computer is plugged into the wall, or a disconnected lap top (your house wiring is an antenna). This is the perfect system for a man in the middle attack. The smart meter can also be set up to send data to your household wireless network and anywhere in the world from there!
The smart meter can function as a wireless network bridge, where your data is hopped from house to house.... meaning there is a potential for your computer data to go through a chain of your neighbors smart meters. Worse, utility companies are notoriously lax with computer security! Count on the fact that hackers are looking at ways to hijack them ... where the reward is manipulating the consumption info to lower their bills or worse ... to hack into the system and steal their neighbor's data.
Data can also be sent and received over power distribution lines and does not have to be sent wirelessly. In all cases the consumer pays for the electricity and the equipment, whether billed directly or indirectly as a cost increase in the rate base.
The probable next step for the Feds would be to mandate computer-controlled kill switches inside new appliances and pass around tax credits unless smart meters are stopped.
Count on the fact that there are some very sophisticated computer people working at billion dollar corporations who completely understand the capabilities of smart meters ... and will take full advantage unless they are stopped. They are at best unnecessary toys, and at worst, a privacy threat that is far beyond your GPS equipped cell phone or Google reading your email.
References:
What can you do with a small computer hooked to your wiring system? (Proof of the risk)
Energy saving with a timer:
Data over power lines:
posted by PO Saunders | 11:09 AM
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