Smart meters cracking into U.S. homes

The number of smart electricity meters with two-way communications is poised to mushroom in the next two years, according to a study.

Research company Park Associates this week released figures for smart-meter installations in the U.S., saying that there are 8 million units installed, or about 6 percent of all meters.

(Credit: Martin LaMonica/CNET)

As utilities upgrade equipment as part of smart-grid trials, the number of smart meters is forecast to grow to 13.6 million installed next year and to over 33 million in 2011.

Having a method to broker regular communications between a utility and a customer will set the foundation for a widening array of home-energy management tools, said Bill Ablondi, Park Associates' director of home systems.

Home energy management systems can be relatively simple displays or Web-based programs that show how much electricity a home is using. More high-end systems can be built around home-area networks where consumers can program smart appliances and lighting to cut power consumption.

The enabling technology for the more sophisticated home-energy management systems includes various wireless communications options for within the home and for smart meters. But even though many of the technology components are now available, there are a number of barriers to widespread adoption of the smart grid, even with billions of stimulus dollars targeted for smart-grid programs.

Upgrading the electricity distribution system is expensive and variable pricing structures that reflect the cost of peak-time electricity could take a long time to be implemented, Ablondi said in a recent presentation. Also, consumer interest in managing energy, which is high right now, could wane, he added.

Previous smart-grid coverage

• FAQ: What the smart grid means to you
  There are many definitions and technologies under the smart grid banner. What's the goal and why all the attention?
• Images: The many faces of the smart grid - CNET News
  There are many technologies that go into making the smart grid, a grid that is more efficient and reliable as a whole.
• Are consumers ready for the smart grid?
  Smart meters and in-home energy displays are trickling out into people's homes. But there's still some question whether the technology is consumer-friendly enough.
• GE: Smart grid yields net-zero energy home
  At its research labs, GE says it has the smart-grid technology, including solar panels and efficient appliances, to build a home that has a net-zero energy consumption.
• Photos: GE's smart-grid kitchen of the future
  At its research labs, GE shows off demand-response appliances that can take advantage of cheaper electricity rates automatically.
• Control4 adds energy monitoring to home network
  Best known for its home entertainment controllers, Control4 gets funds to expand into smart-grid products to monitor and control home energy use.
• GE appliances to connect to smart grid via Tendril
  Smart-grid start-up Tendril Networks and GE will test a system in which home appliances share data with utilities to cut electricity consumption.

[RTFM]

Sign me up if they install it for free and I can have access to it so as to be able to adjust my devices power usage. Wonder what the discounts, if any, there will be.

[ittesi259]

None considering the generation of appliances that are needed to communicate with this meter....um don't exist yet.

[martin_c_e]

You will pay for it. They cost over $500 to install. You will be billed over a 9 to 11 year period to recover the cost. If you have air conditioning, you will get the highest possible rates. The smart grid is just another corporate/government scam to separate you and your money.

[TheForestFloor]

If you're in the Baltimore/Eastern Maryland area, the local utility (BGE, I think) offers several credits and rebates as part of their smart metered 'PeakRewards' program. The rebates and credits are not huge, but they help offset the cost of heating/cooling throughout the year. I'm not sure how 'smart' their grid is, but if it helps with the summer brown-outs in Baltimore over the summer, I'm all for it!

[ittesi259]

California is installing these everywhere, customers have no choice about it and their meters will be replaced over the next 2-3 years.

[coyote_ptm]

PG&E just installed smart meters for my electricity and gas. I did some quick analysis and I like the idea of seeing how much energy I'm using - the report on pg&e.com allows for gas/electric by hour. Great idea of how much my pool actually costs and I'd like to know why my home is burning over .5 Kwh overnight, while I sleep every day of my life.

[EnergyGuy85]

I guess smart meters are a step in the right direction, but they don't seem to be that helpful in terms of helping the consumers learn anything about how to save and be more efficient. Utilities should just scrap the smart meter idea, take all the money they were going to use, and instead hook up real-time electricity monitors like The Energy Detective to actually give consumers helpful information on how to save. No smart meter's going to give you that sort of data. For instance, check out TED's software demo at http://demo.theenergydetective.com . That's providing the sort of info that helps people save.

[libertyforall1776]

For ComEd real-time pricing & meters, goto: http://thewattspot.com

[Seaspray0]

I don't like the idea that the power company can instantaneously jack the price you pay on an houly basis.

[poindexteriii]

This is just asinine, the idea is to be more efficient or use fewer resources to achieve a goal. So consider the development and continuing cost to develop these devices, maintain network for monitoring, build scanner devices to read, manpower to monitor, and overhead to manage policies, staff to answer questions for !!OMG!! the billing lingo, and the headaches of trying to figure out a electric bill with trumped up charges and fees like our phone bill.. FCC penalty charge... Intergalactic toll assessment.. interplanetary access fee... no thanks, count me the %&$# OUT!!!! Big brother has enough ways to steal from and control us as it is... "They" got Obama into office didn't "they" ?!!

[mmntech]

I wouldn't call it big brother but it's certainly a scam. When they were put in here in Ontario, a lot of businesses saw their electricity rates double because of the smart meters. It doesn't encourage saving energy as who in their right mind is going to do their laundry at 10 at night? It's just another way to get more of your money. To put salt in the wound I think the meters cost $50 to have them installed, which of course was mandatory. Conservation is not going to solve energy woes anyway. We have a highly electronic society and you can't just ask people to turn away. It's not an option for many, businesses in particular. We had one small, local grocery store here in town actually close because they couldn't afford the rate increases for commercial buildings. Here in particular, we're under conditions of artificial shortages. We just don't have enough generating capacity because the government has been trying to close down coal plants. We need more high output generators. Nuclear power plants, not prissy wind mills.

Now the big brother will come when the government make those thermostats that allows the utilities to turn your AC off mandatory. That's coming next. It's not Obama's fault per say but the fact that radical environmentalists have hijacked the left. Al Gore was the one who started this nonsense over anthropogenic global warming, or at least brought it to public brain washing. When most of your electricity comes from non-CO2 emitting sources, as it does here in Ontario (nuclear, hydroelectric) I fail to understand how cutting energy usage is saving the planet. We still get told that. Search David Suzuki in Youtube (another pro-AGW looney) and watch the commercials where he breaks into people's houses and changes their lightbulbs to the twisty ones. (yeah, they're real, PSAs made by the Ontario government) Another thing is the ridiculous opposition to nuclear power made on the baseless claim that each plant is a ticking Chernobyl time bomb. Just throw out the facts that Chernobyl lacked even the most basic safety systems such as concrete reactor shields. I guess that's a debate for another day though.

[Lerianis3]

mmntech hits the nail on the head, except for the thermostats that allow the utilities to turn off your AC.... there is NOTHING like that out there that I have been able to find, to be blunt.
poindexteriii gets it a little wrong. The government DOES put those things on phone bills, however once you GET EDUCATED, it is easy to find out with little to no research online what those fees are for on your phone bill.

[Havoc70]

While i agree with this mostly, i know i for one dont want the utility companies having access to my power, turn on and off whatever they would like whenever they feel like it...Uh No stay the Hell outta my house!

I dont agree with the nuclear plants, as far as i am concerned they should all be shutdown, they are worse than the cars on the road, more pollution from toxic waste, no thanks

The wind farms make sense, they are clean, and in large numbers can generate enough clean power to ease the burden on the current electrical grid.

[dennisl59]

Let me know when there's a WiFi Washer and Dryer.

[Mergatroid Mania]

I have had one of these meters installed on my house in Manitoba for about a year now. I have seen no difference in my hydro bill whatsoever. As far as I know they are using them to read your meter without having to come into the home. I was told out house was one of those selected because we weren't home a lot and they could never get a meter reading.
They have been calibrating the system and I have been asked less and less for meter readings over the year.
Considering Manitoba Hydro is a Crown corporation here I don't think they could get away with doubling anyone's electric bills.

[Kasar99]

Canada's not like the US, we have several oligarchs in charge that dictate both legislation and regulations. Just wait and see what this cap and trade thing does to US utility rates...

Nobody in DC seems to understand how markets work. The energy corporations can either spend enormous time and money to minimize their new government taxes.. or they'll just pass the new costs on to consumers.

Which would you expect to see? I hope your unemployment checks have a cost of living adjustment..

[globalist_agenda]

Never have a cheap, simple solution when you can have a complex, expensive, centrally managed solution. We could cut energy usage dramatically by stopping immigration, stabilizing our population, and automating the hell out of manual labor processes. Nobody asked me if I wanted 350,000,000 fellow Americans. Ted Kennedy thought it was a good idea but I didn't. Ted Kennedy's limitless immigration has strained American resources. Every Band-aid solution he has come up with has created two new problems. America needs to shrink its population not increase it. Metering doesn't address the root cause of energy consumption.

[mattie121]

What a bunch of hooey in these comments. in order to change, you need information. Smart meters are one way to get it. Seems to me that most of these "Big brother is going to screw you" types are probably also those that feel the market will solve stuff. Time of use metering enabled by smart meters allow the market to charge more for electricity when it's in high demand. Sure do your laundry at peak power demand. Or do it for a quarter the cost at night. Your choice, and pay accordingly.

My folks had a dime of use meter at their house when they had an EV-1. Guess what, they charged it at night, ran a the dishwasher at night, and paid a lot LESS than running it in the daytime.

Those that understand how this stuff will work will use it to advantage, those that just ***** about the change won't use the information, and will wonder why their costs go up.

[leedix8420]

The concept of a smart electricity grid is a great idea but the implementation could help open the door even wider for cybercriminals, hackers and fraudsters. For example, we already know of how our electricity grid recently was penetrated by foreign hackers with possible spyware left behind. The new technology will undoubtedly be risky from both a security and privacy point of view. Cybercriminals could pinpoint certain areas of the smart grid and coincide that with a terrorist attack (similar to Russia's ground and cyber-offensive against Georgia). Just picture trying to manage all the network connections between individual houses and power companies... It only requires one weak link in the chain to cause a problem that could potentially bring the whole system down...

[MD_Willington]

You know, all the smart meters and consumer appliances in the world ain't all they are cracked up to be as long as the transmission and distribution systems are still protected by "dumb" turn of the century electromechanical protection equipment with no "smarts" at all...

Everyone needs to stop for a minute, stand back, and look at the "big picture" of the entire electrical system.

There is more to it than the meter on the side of your home.

[bazanee]

guys i found a company that has a device that helped me save a huge amount of money on my electric bill. check it out at .http://www.ecotrustenergy.com/greenaire. Would like to have your feedback.

[sneezy1972]

I can tell you from experience, the meters aren't worth 15 cents. Our power bill has doubled and we aren't using any more electricity than we did this time last year. I have printed out my bills from two years and since they have installed the "smart meter" on our home three months ago, the bills keep getting higher and higher.

[MD_Willington]

Wait until the power utility companies start billing you for reactive power (HINT - fluorescent bulbs are a reactive not resistive load) and put you on a "Time of use schedule" (TOU)... That is the true intent of these meters... To squeeze every last penny out of the consumer.