Posts filed under ‘Smart Meters’
How smart meters simplify the language of energy
British Gas has a “plain English” campaign to help business customers understand their energy contracts and bills. The website, Making Business Energy Simple, covers the basics of energy and energy costs as well as savings tips.
Prior to launching this site, British Gas commissioned a research study involving over 1000 small and medium businesses, to identify energy jargon that these customers commonly find confusing…
Full post by Alicia Carrasco: Smart meters simplify the language of energy
In Spain, smart meters would avoid meter reading hassles, inaccurate bills
In most of Europe it’s just once per year that utilities send staff out to read customer electric meters. However, most customers receive monthly or quarterly bills, based on consumption as estimated by the utility. To get bills based on actual consumption, customers must read their own meters and post that usage data on the utility’s website, or write it down and send it to the utility.
I took this photo in the elevator of my Barcelona apartment building on the afternoon of Sunday, July 8 — when residents had just a few hours left to write down on this posted notice their past month’s electricity consumption as displayed on their meter…
Full post by Alicia Carrasco: Spain: Smart meters would avoid meter reading hassles, inaccurate bills
Smart grid case studies show ROI, other benefits
What kind of return are utilities getting on their smart grid investments? A recent National Electrical Manufacturers Association report on the return on investment for the smart grid discussed a variety of consumer and utility company benefits, and highlighted some major projects….
Ireland to deploy smart meters by 2019
On July 4 Ireland’s Commission for Energy Regulation announced its final decision to approve the rollout of smart meters between 2014 and 2019. Here are some details of this plan…
Full post: Ireland to roll out smart meters by 2019
How smart meters help fight power outages
Our hearts go out to the millions of residents in the eastern U.S. who are suffering power outages in the worst heat ever. In June alone, there were 3,215 record high temperatures around the U.S. — and nature added insult to injury with powerful thunderstorms that knocked out power lines from the Midwest to the Mid-Atlantic. How can smart meters help in this situation?…
Full post: Of heat waves and thunderstorms: How smart meters help fight power outages
EU: New energy efficiency, smart meter requirements coming
By September the European Union may have a new energy efficiency strategy in place. On June 14 negotiators struck a provisional deal on the proposed new EU energy efficiency directive (the “Third Energy Efficiency Directive”). Final approval is likely.
Full post: EU gets closer to new energy efficiency, smart meter requirements
Why do so few customers have time-of-user electricity prices?
According to a new report from the Edison Institute for Energy Efficiency, nearly one third of U.S. homes and businesses has a smart meter — 36 million so far.
Yet according to my esteemed colleague, economist Dr. Ahmad Faruqui, only about 1% of U.S. customers are charged for electricity according to dynamic or time-of-use (TOU) prices.
Why so few — especially since price signals are a key way to empower consumers to fully realize smart grid benefits?
Full post: Time-of-use electricity prices: Why do so few customers have them?
Baby monitors emit more radiation than smart meters
SmartGridWatch continues to monitor developments regarding concerns over radio frequency “radiation” emissions from smart meters. A new white paper from the Utilities Telecom Council addresses this issue directly.
Smart meter opt out bill: Pennsylvania legislature skeptical
In Pennsylvania this week a legislative committee heard testimony on whether utility customers should be allowed to opt out of getting smart meters installed on their homes and businesses.
According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, both Democrats and Republicans on the Pa. House Consumer Affairs Committee expressed skepticism about the proposal to modify a 2008 state law which gave utilities 15 years to deploy smart meters…
Full post: Smart meter opt out bill hits headwinds in Pennsylvania legislature
The human element: Important smart meter security risk to address
This week, several news outlets (such as Network World) have described a new FBI finding that “smart meter hackers” are enabling the theft of millions of dollars’ worth of electricity from a utility in Puerto Rico. In its report, the FBI noted: “This is the first report that criminals have compromised smart grid meters.” The agency added: “This type of fraud is likely to spread.”
So what is this type of fraud?…
Full post: Smart meter security: the human element
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