 Jack_in_VAPremium
join:2007-11-26
Mathews, VA
kudos:1 | reply to Bob
Re: PECO official: Meter replacement will be complete in 37 days said by Bob:Some people say the electric utilities in NJ would have been able to restore service faster if we had smart meters.
Care to elaborate on that? I saw a woman on tv whose house had been submerged with salt water including her panel. All would need replacement before the POCO could restore her power yet she was raising hell because the POCO would not restore her service and demanded the government take action.
No meter regular or smart can provide something that is not there.  |
|
BobAccount deleted
join:2012-07-22
New Jersey Reviews:
 ·Optimum Online
| More information on where the outages were. If you're on a rural road with 6 other houses on a tripped transformer, the utility would instantly know there was a problem.
In this case, outages were widespread, but even 4 days in, the utilities were saying they were still "assessing the situation". Having the complete snapshot of power status has got to help, especially when areas that are restored suffer a subsequent outage (that happened to quite a few people).
It would also allow street and address level reporting of status on web pages, so people would be able to find businesses that had power and were open. I spent a fair amount of time each day foraging for supplies because there was no way to find out who had power and who didn't. |
|
Jack_in_VAPremium
join:2007-11-26
Mathews, VA
kudos:1 | said by Bob:More information on where the outages were. If you're on a rural road with 6 other houses on a tripped transformer, the utility would instantly know there was a problem.
In this case, outages were widespread, but even 4 days in, the utilities were saying they were still "assessing the situation". Having the complete snapshot of power status has got to help, especially when areas that are restored suffer a subsequent outage (that happened to quite a few people).
It would also allow street and address level reporting of status on web pages, so people would be able to find businesses that had power and were open. I spent a fair amount of time each day foraging for supplies because there was no way to find out who had power and who didn't.
Don't think for a minute the 6 customers on the rural road had not already called it in to the POCO. We survived just fine and still do without these meters. Most of the "justifications" are just people trying to justify them.
Smart meters would not have helped you forage for supplies but a phone would have aided you a lot. |
|
 alkizmo
join:2007-06-25
Pierrefonds, QC
kudos:1 | said by Jack_in_VA:Don't think for a minute the 6 customers on the rural road had not already called it in to the POCO. We survived just fine and still do without these meters. I wonder, at this day and age, when we discussed on people's declining technical abilities due to technologie (on another thread), if the number of people calling in a power outage dropped significantly due to the fact that we believe the POCO knows without us calling in.
Imagine if those 6 people didn't call it in because they think someone else did, or the POCO knows by "technology". |
|
|
|
BobAccount deleted
join:2012-07-22
New Jersey Reviews:
·Optimum Online
| reply to Jack_in_VA
said by Jack_in_VA:Smart meters would not have helped you forage for supplies but a phone would have aided you a lot.
Many places, particularly gas stations, were not answering phones even if they were open. |
|
Jack_in_VAPremium
join:2007-11-26
Mathews, VA
kudos:1 | reply to alkizmo
said by alkizmo:[
Imagine if those 6 people didn't call it in because they think someone else did, or the POCO knows by "technology".
No I can't imagine as that's the first thing I do if the power goes out. If you "think" someone else did then that's their problem. Maybe the more helpless ones wait for someone to do it for them and that's the reason to install a smart meter?
Self reliance must be something that's out of favor now.  |
|
Jack_in_VAPremium
join:2007-11-26
Mathews, VA
kudos:1 | reply to Bob
said by Bob:said by Jack_in_VA:Smart meters would not have helped you forage for supplies but a phone would have aided you a lot.
Many places, particularly gas stations, were not answering phones even if they were open. How would a smart meter have helped you find an open gas station? |
|
| said by Jack_in_VA:said by Bob:said by Jack_in_VA:Smart meters would not have helped you forage for supplies but a phone would have aided you a lot.
Many places, particularly gas stations, were not answering phones even if they were open. How would a smart meter have helped you find an open gas station? smart meters like smart phones cant cure dumb people |
|
Jack_in_VAPremium
join:2007-11-26
Mathews, VA
kudos:1 | said by telco_mtl:smart meters like smart phones cant cure dumb people
+1 That's more evident with each passing day |
|
BobAccount deleted
join:2012-07-22
New Jersey Reviews:
·Optimum Online
| reply to Jack_in_VA
When your power is off for a week and a half, you give up calling.
Scenario: Power company restores power after a week-long outage. Tripped circuit breaker on a pole transformer prevents everyone from getting power back. Power company thinks everyone has been restored, but they haven't. People don't call because they don't realize the service should have been restored (how would they even know?).
With smart meters, the power company would have realized these people had not been restored and would have fixed the problem. |
|
BobAccount deleted
join:2012-07-22
New Jersey Reviews:
·Optimum Online
| reply to Jack_in_VA
said by Jack_in_VA:[ow would a smart meter have helped you find an open gas station?
It would have told me if there was power along Route 22 in Green Brook or on Routes 202 & 31 in Flemington. |
|
1 edit | reply to Jack_in_VA
said by Jack_in_VA:said by Bob:Some people say the electric utilities in NJ would have been able to restore service faster if we had smart meters.
Care to elaborate on that? I saw a woman on tv whose house had been submerged with salt water including her panel. All would need replacement before the POCO could restore her power yet she was raising hell because the POCO would not restore her service and demanded the government take action. No meter regular or smart can provide something that is not there. Smart meters helped us a lot. Our utility is 100% smart meter and they were able to quickly determine which part of the system was functioning and which was not.
Everyone was restored in a week and we got several updates per day via e-mail.
Very happy with the co-op and the smart meter system. We were restored well before JCP&L who also operates within our area. |
|
 dennismurphyPut me on hold? I'll put YOU on holdPremium
join:2002-11-19
Parsippany, NJ
 ·Verizon FiOS
·Optimum Online
| reply to Bob
said by Bob:More information on where the outages were. If you're on a rural road with 6 other houses on a tripped transformer, the utility would instantly know there was a problem.
In this case, outages were widespread, but even 4 days in, the utilities were saying they were still "assessing the situation". Having the complete snapshot of power status has got to help, especially when areas that are restored suffer a subsequent outage (that happened to quite a few people). While I agree with you - in that more information would be useful - I absolutely don't think JCP&L could make any use of it whatsoever. It would require being able to get that information where it belongs; did you know that most JCP&L linemen still have to use paper maps when in the field for repairs?
JCP&L: Third-world electric at first-world prices. |
|
Jack_in_VAPremium
join:2007-11-26
Mathews, VA
kudos:1 | reply to Bob
said by Bob:said by Jack_in_VA:[ow would a smart meter have helped you find an open gas station?
It would have told me if there was power along Route 22 in Green Brook or on Routes 202 & 31 in Flemington. You are able to read the smart meter data for specific areas? If so the security issue is worse than I thought. |
|
Jack_in_VAPremium
join:2007-11-26
Mathews, VA
kudos:1 | reply to Bob
said by Bob:When your power is off for a week and a half, you give up calling.
Scenario: Power company restores power after a week-long outage. Tripped circuit breaker on a pole transformer prevents everyone from getting power back. Power company thinks everyone has been restored, but they haven't. People don't call because they don't realize the service should have been restored (how would they even know?).
With smart meters, the power company would have realized these people had not been restored and would have fixed the problem.
I don't know about your POCO but Dominion Virginia Power always follows up by phone after a customer reports an outage. They would know the people you cite still had no power.
My god how have we made it this long? |
|
 UHFAll static, all day, ForeverPremium,MVM
join:2002-05-24
 ·Callcentric
 ·DIRECTV
 ·surpasshosting
| reply to Jack_in_VA
Re: PECO official: Meter replacement will be complete in 37 days said by Jack_in_VA:said by Bob:When your power is off for a week and a half, you give up calling.
Scenario: Power company restores power after a week-long outage. Tripped circuit breaker on a pole transformer prevents everyone from getting power back. Power company thinks everyone has been restored, but they haven't. People don't call because they don't realize the service should have been restored (how would they even know?).
With smart meters, the power company would have realized these people had not been restored and would have fixed the problem.
I don't know about your POCO but Dominion Virginia Power always follows up by phone after a customer reports an outage. They would know the people you cite still had no power. My god how have we made it this long? back in '91 we had an ice storm that wiped out power to a large part of the city I lived in. Calling the power company gave a recording of "if this is not an emergency, please hang up, our operations department is aware of all areas without power, you do not need to report your outage."
That went on for five days before I stayed on the line. They told me my power was restored 4 days ago. They had no clue was 8 houses left in the dark for four days until I waited to report them after being told they already knew where power needed to be restored.
Would smart meters have helped? YES. Once I've reported an outage, I assume they know I'm out and will fix it. Where I live now they will verify it's fixed, but we have a local municipal utility and they actually give a shit. |
|
Jack_in_VAPremium
join:2007-11-26
Mathews, VA
kudos:1 | said by UHF:said by Jack_in_VA:said by Bob:When your power is off for a week and a half, you give up calling.
Scenario: Power company restores power after a week-long outage. Tripped circuit breaker on a pole transformer prevents everyone from getting power back. Power company thinks everyone has been restored, but they haven't. People don't call because they don't realize the service should have been restored (how would they even know?).
With smart meters, the power company would have realized these people had not been restored and would have fixed the problem.
I don't know about your POCO but Dominion Virginia Power always follows up by phone after a customer reports an outage. They would know the people you cite still had no power. My god how have we made it this long? back in '91 we had an ice storm that wiped out power to a large part of the city I lived in. Calling the power company gave a recording of "if this is not an emergency, please hang up, our operations department is aware of all areas without power, you do not need to report your outage." That went on for five days before I stayed on the line. They told me my power was restored 4 days ago. They had no clue was 8 houses left in the dark for four days until I waited to report them after being told they already knew where power needed to be restored. Would smart meters have helped? YES. Once I've reported an outage, I assume they know I'm out and will fix it. Where I live now they will verify it's fixed, but we have a local municipal utility and they actually give a shit. ON Dec 23, 1998 we were hit with an ice storm that knocked out power for most of eastern Virginia. Power was out for 8 days here in rural Va. We were able to report our outage with callback phone number.
On Dec 18, 2003 Hurricane Isabel caused a 18 day outage for us. At no time were we unable to report our outage with call back phone number.
Our POCO just needs our phone number when we call. It automatically matches it with our name, account number and physical address. All the information needed.
No smart meter just good old American competence. Once I reported my outage they knew I was out here where I live and had me on their list to fix and when it was fixed they called to verify it was in fact fixed. We have a publicly held state regulated POCO and they also give a shit.
Again I ask the question "My God how in the world have we survived this long" |
|
| reply to Jack_in_VA
said by Jack_in_VA:said by Bob:When your power is off for a week and a half, you give up calling.
Scenario: Power company restores power after a week-long outage. Tripped circuit breaker on a pole transformer prevents everyone from getting power back. Power company thinks everyone has been restored, but they haven't. People don't call because they don't realize the service should have been restored (how would they even know?).
With smart meters, the power company would have realized these people had not been restored and would have fixed the problem.
I don't know about your POCO but Dominion Virginia Power always follows up by phone after a customer reports an outage. They would know the people you cite still had no power. My god how have we made it this long? JCP&L also follows up by phone but you're dreaming if you think they can call up hundreds of thousands of customers. What they usually do is send out automated messages, often to people still without power, telling them that their power is back.
Meanwhile with our coop we can report an outage via text message and get a text message when it is restored. And they're usually accurate.
But I can understand your resistance to smart meters, which may enable time of day billing. You may even have to set your thermostat and start conserving energy for a change instead of wasting it. Oh, the horror! |
|
