Are Smart Meters a Smart Idea? I Think So

First, what is this smart meter I’m talking about? Pacific Gas and Electric offer it:

"The SmartMeter™ system collects electric and natural gas usage data from your home or business. SmartMeter™ electric meters record residential electric usage hourly and commercial electric usage in 15 minute increments. SmartMeter™ natural gas modules attached to gas meters record gas usage daily. This data is periodically transmitted to us via a secure wireless communication network."

Bottom line: You can see how much energy you’re using in your house throughout the day with this smart meter.

How is this helpful? Well prices of energy actually fluctuate throughout the day according to demand. Public utilities are required to provide enough supply, so demand is what drives prices up or down. This meter will not only tell you how much energy you’re using, but it will tell you the price you’re paying while using it.

This opens up a big possibility to save money on your electric bill. How? When the price of your electricity goes up, you adjust your electricity use. Your lifestyle doesn’t have to change, but small tasks such as laundry would actually be cheaper to do at night. This is because the night hours are off-peak hours, meaning the demand is low and the price is cheaper for utilities to provide.

So is this just me pitching smart meters? No. It’s just my introduction to the item people are campaigning and protesting against in places like Northern California.

A NYT article speaks of “Stop Smart Meter” signs and bumper stickers. And guess who is behind this? One won’t surprise you - - Tea Party conservatives. Another is a little shocking, to me at least - - people with “electromagnetic hypersensitivity,” or E.H.S., in which people claim that radiation from cellphones, WiFi systems or smart meters causes them to suffer dizziness, fatigue, headaches, sleeplessness or heart palpitations.

So we have a group claiming their privacy and liberty are at stake, and another claiming their health is. Are these claims really valid?

According to the NYT article, David K. Owens, the executive vice president for business operations at the Edison Electric Institute, the national association of utilities, has tried to allay such concerns. “We’ve always gotten information about customers’ usage and always kept it confidential,” he said, adding, “We’re going to honor their privacy.”

The article also points to two recent government studies that showed no link between health problems and common levels of electromagnetic radiation. An interesting finding as well: “The majority of studies indicated that people who described themselves as suffering from such sensitivity could not detect whether they were being exposed to an electromagnetic field in experiments any more accurately than non-E.H.S. individuals,” said the Maine review, issued in November.

Already an ingenious idea has been introduced as legislation by a state assemblyman (who has a smart meter). To do what? Let people opt-out. Amazing! Don’t buy it then. And when you hear your neighbors electricity bills are dropping, don’t say we didn’t ask you to join in. And if they’re not, I’ll buy you a cookie.

Bottom line: Public utilities in the U.S. are going to have to be reshaped to profit from LOWER energy bills from their customers. States like California are pursuing these strategies and the smart meter is part of that effort. This is some of the backlash we’re going to see, but don’t be surprised to see a strong correlation between falling opposition and falling electric bills.