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[HA Dave]

Smart meter warning:  https://newstarget.com/2017-03-29-smart-meters-could-be-over-billing-you-by-a-whopping-582.html?fbclid=IwAR2ufCUeuAUpppGblGDWLIP8UhQpepjsRgKi2Vb3Wtj2GMIqgoGyKJztJ40


I've had one of the new "smart" meters. It helps the government spy on (or is it monitor) me better. My bill seems somewhat low.

[dhouston]

My bill seems somewhat low.

That's because your tinfoil hat is interfering with your smart meter. 

[HA Dave]

…. That's because your tinfoil hat is interfering with your smart meter. 

Your confused. I am the one who KNOWS full-well we're all being monitored....(and have been for years). I just don't fear it. There's 5-6 billion of us out here. Reducing our activity to data... has no effect on those observed. I have no need for the popular tin-foil protection. I like the internet and the cloud.

[dhouston]

No confusion here. See Wikipedia re tinfoil hat...

A tin foil hat is a hat made from one or more sheets of aluminium foil, or a piece of conventional headgear lined with foil, worn in the belief or hope that it shields the brain from threats such as electromagnetic fields...

Smart meters use electromagnetic fields.

[HA Dave]

…... See Wikipedia re tinfoil hat...

A tin foil hat is a hat made from one or more sheets of aluminium foil, or a piece of conventional headgear lined with foil, worn in the belief or hope that it shields the brain from threats such as electromagnetic fields...

Smart meters use electromagnetic fields.

You seem to know all about those hats! If I ever run across anyone that thinks they need one.... I'll fire you out a PM.

[Noam]

...  My bill seems somewhat low.

Check your bill cycle dates. In some cases, utilities will change the bill cycle dates when they change the meter - starting a new cycle with the new meter.
A shorter billing cycle could explain a lower bill.

[bkenobi]

There were some issues recently where people were billed several times higher than normal bills out of nowhere.  It was a false flag though since apparently the metering system under billed them for months and the higher bill was to catch up.  The story died pretty quickly after it turned out the bills were legit.  That said, the company should have worked with the people since they couldn't really be expected to pay ~$10k when the normal bill is a couple hundred IMO.

It sounds like this story is a little different in that somehow the smart meter was either recording incorrect usage or transmitting the wrong numbers.  If it's the latter, this is the same issue I heard about and will likely result in a short story run.

[HA Dave]

I got one of the early "new" meters myself... there was another X10 member near Cincinnati that got his about the same time... this was years ago. The concern (here) at the time was line noise/interference might disrupt the X10 PLC. It didn't appear to do that. It was interesting however... that meter distribution did not appear to be neighborhood wide.

I am just following up. But I don't expect any real issues.

I believe the concept of a national "grid" (tightly regulated and controlled by the federal government)… has somewhat been set-aside for now. And I believe regulations that prohibited power plant modernization has been lifted. I don't think we'll be switching to an "alternate days of available power system" in the USA... anytime soon now.