Michigan Court Orders Justification of Smart Meter Refusal Fees

Posted on May 4, 2015 by SkyVision Solutions

Court GavelLast week a Michigan Court of Appeals ruled that key issues remain regarding Consumers Energy Company being able to charge customers a fee for refusing to allow installation of smart meters on their homes.  The Court ordered that the Michigan Public Service Commission (PSC) “conduct a contested case hearing on this significant issue.”

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Smart Cities: Called “Smart” and Condemning Others as Stupid

Posted on May 1, 2015 by SkyVision Solutions
Rio Smart City Control Centerby K.T. Weaver, SkyVision Solutions 

A few days ago, I wrote an article that painted a scenario where the continued pursuit of so-called “smart cities,” due to irresolvable cyber security threats, would likely lead to civilization threatening events.  To be clear, I do view a city where “everything is wirelessly connected to everything else” as a recipe for disaster.

Since posting that article, I became aware of a presentation by professor and architect Rem Koolhaas in September 2014 where he outlined his thoughts on “smart cities.”  Of note is that in 2008, Rem Koolhaas was named by Time as one of the most 100 influential people on the planet Earth.

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Customer Calls, Not Smart Meters, Still Primary Source of Power Outage Notification for Utilities

Posted on April 30, 2015 by SkyVision Solutions

The BRIDGE Energy Group has announced the results of its 2015 utility industry survey on outage and restoration management.  Despite the fact that 81% of surveyed utilities claim to have Smart Meters deployed, only 16% of these utilities use their smart meters as the primary source of power failure alerts on blue sky days and 12% during storms.

Outage Reports by Source

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Smart Cities: Wide Open to Cyber Attacks, Civilization Threatening Events and other Unintended Consequences

Posted on April 27, 2015 by SkyVision Solutions
by K.T. Weaver, SkyVision Solutions

Key Point (Quotation):

Smart Cities Book Cover“The more technology a city uses, the more vulnerable to cyber attacks it is, so the smartest cities have the highest risks.” [1]

Key Point (Quotation):

“If the history of city building in the last century tells us anything, it is that the unintended consequences of new technologies often dwarf their intended design.” [2]

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Consumer Organizations’ Grave Concerns on Smart Meters Ignored

Posted on April 19, 2015 by SkyVision Solutions
by K.T. Weaver, SkyVision Solutions 

Introduction

In June 2011, a resolution regarding smart meters was issued by the Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD).  The Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD) is a forum of US and EU consumer organizations which develops and agrees on joint consumer policy recommendations to the US government and European Union to promote the consumer interest in EU and US policy making.

Due to “grave concerns” with smart meters, here is the formal guidance that was provided to the US government and utility operators as part of the TACD resolution:  “Forbid utilities from installing smart meters without consumers’ informed consent.”

Why was this crucial guidance ignored?  Was it a matter of willful ignorance (or blindness) or willful negligence?

TACD Logo with Added SM

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Smart Meter Refusal Fee Rescinded in Arizona

Posted on April 15, 2015 by SkyVision Solutions

Arizona with SMLast December the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) set a $5/mo “opt-out fee” for analog meters as well as a $50 initial fee for those customers who wisely do not want invasive smart meter technology attached to their homes.

The ACC decision was disputed by interveners and following “legal advice,” on Monday April 13, 2015, the ACC, in an unprecedented fashion, completely “abrogated and rescinded” the December 2014 decision.

Bottom line, Arizona Public Service (APS) customers may not be assessed any fee for refusing a smart meter until the issue is completely revisited “afresh.”  If the APS wants to charge customers a fee for refusing smart meters, it will have to apply for such relief in a new rate case.

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Why Installing Smart Meters May Not Be So Smart

Posted on April 11, 2015 by SkyVision Solutions
Source:  Grassroots Environmental Education

Analog Meter Working Just FineIn driveways and backyards across the country, utility workers are busy replacing mechanical analog meters with new wireless meters that communicate directly with utility companies, informing them of your use of gas, electricity or water.  Various reasons are given for the installation of the new so-called “smart” meters: the development of a nationwide “smart grid,” the ability for the utilities to quickly identify outages and other service problems, and even the opportunity for them to implement time-based pricing structures.

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Smart Grid Vision Haunted by Challenges

Posted on April 10, 2015 by SkyVision Solutions
by K.T. Weaver, SkyVision Solutions 

Lightning Strike of Grid.with SMKey Article Points

“Complete deployment of the current smart grid vision might transform the twilight into complete dark.”

“The smart grid vision has some realizable potentials, but the price of these benefits seems more than the value of the eventual good.”

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Concerns in Arizona over Smart Meter Hacking

Posted on April 8, 2015 by SkyVision Solutions
Source:  CBS 5,  KPHO Broadcasting Corporation, Phoenix, AZ

Smart Meter HackingIn the cyberworld we live in, we are constantly vulnerable.  Our bank accounts and computers can easily be hacked into, but what about our electricity meters?

Many utility companies are replacing aging meters with new digital ones, saying it helps customers see how much energy they’re consuming day to day.  But one Phoenix resident said he wants his old analog meter back from APS because he’s worried a bored hacker or even terrorist group could cut off his power.

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Fort Collins, Colorado Provides Consumer Choice on Smart Meter Privacy Invasions

Posted on April 8, 2015 by SkyVision Solutions
by K.T. Weaver, SkyVision Solutions 

Invasion of Privacy with SMUtility smart meters invade consumer privacy.  The degree of privacy invasion is directly proportional to the granularity and nature of the data collected by the meters.

Most utilities in the United States and Canada appear to be oblivious to these privacy invasions or intentionally deceive the consumers by telling them just the opposite, i.e., that smart meters do not affect personal privacy.  However, during the development of its smart meter program, one major municipal utility did recognize the possible privacy implications of collecting granular energy usage data.

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