Keeping NZ in the 'Dark Ages'

Smart Meters 

Here are a couple of links that provide useful information of what smart meters can do and how they work.

http://www.leonardo-energy.org/webfm_send/435

http://earth2tech.com/2009/02/09/google-jumps-into-organizing-smart-meter-energy-data/


Cheers
Mike

Re: Smart Meters 

After being involved in a project in Australia with smart metering I am very wary of any power company pushing these onto consumers.

The goal in Australia was profit. Pure and simple!

With smart meters it enables power companies to charge consumers base on time of day and thus price gouge at peak demand times.

Now some would say this is a good thing as consumers will then modify their consumption to avoid these times... yeah sure. like when it is -4 outside and you have the heat pumped turned up full? Is that the time you will say "oh electricity is expensive right now, i'd better turn it off!"

Dont get me started on data privacy! Potentially these meters open up a huge opportunity for retailers to "profile" their customers... I would be interested to see if any existing people out there with a so called "smart meter" already installed signed a contract to give away their personal usage data??

Never a better time to be off grid!! :)

Brendan
http://offgridecostay.com/

Re: Smart Meters 

An interesting Article I found

New Zealand designed Power Saver makes it big

The New Zealand designed Centameter Electricity Monitor has now made it big internationally. Originally designed and developed by Christchurch Company 4D Electronics’ for an Australian investor, the Centameter is now being offered to Brisbane Queensland residents for free. Following the success of the Centameter in the UK where major power companies have been offering the Centameter (under the Owl and Electrisave Brands) for free or at heavily subsidized prices to their customers for years (The Daily Mail and British Gas gave away 100,000 of them in 2008), the Queensland Government have added the Centameter to their Climate Smart Home Service.

The Climate Smart Home Service is part of the Queensland Government’s Climate Smart Living initiative. It’s specifically designed to help Queenslanders contribute to addressing climate change by reducing their carbon footprint by doing their bit to save energy. The service costs just $50 (rebated by the Brisbane City Council, so it’s free) and includes a Home Energy Audit, up to 15 Energy Efficient Light Bulbs, an Energy Efficient Shower Head, and a Centameter Electricity Monitor, plus a customized Energy Efficiency Plan for each house. It is estimated this initiative will help save households up to $250 a year on water and energy bills.

The Centameter was chosen to be part of this service because it monitors a home's electricity supply and provides easy-to-understand, real-time information about the household's electricity usage. The simple-to-read LCD monitor reveals how much electricity is being used, how much the home's current usage is costing per hour and how much CO2 emissions the home is producing. This is a powerful tool that helps householders to make more informed decisions about using electricity around the home. It is envisaged that up to 250,000 Centameters will be supplied to Queensland homes as part of this project.
Extensive research has shown that giving consumer’s real time information on energy use, rather than a bill after the fact, promotes savings of up to 20%.

Further South in NSW, the City of Sydney Council is trialling 100 Centameters to help curb the carbon footprint of local residents. City of Sydney Mayor Clover Moore said the Centameter Monitors would allow households to watch their carbon footprint and contribute to reaching the Sustainable Sydney 2030 carbon reduction goals. “The energy monitor (Centameter) allows residents to set household reduction targets and better manage their bills – a win for residents’ pockets and the environment,” she said.
“Energy efficiency is vital if we are to tackle climate change and the energy monitor (Centameter) will assist residents identify their consumption patterns and make more informed energy choices.”
Energy Australia will analyse energy use data from households before and during the 12 month trial to develop a case study of the City of Sydney’s energy monitor pilot.
Possibly as a result of the Centameters (Electrisave and Owl) success in the UK, the Government there has launched a plan to install smart meters (with a Centameter style display) into all homes in Britain by 2020. UK Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband said, ‘This is another part of our Great British refurb. The meters most of us have in our homes were designed for a different age, before climate change. Now we need to get smarter with our energy. Smart meters (with a monitor) will empower all consumers to monitor their own energy use and make reductions in energy consumption and carbon emissions as a result.
The Centameter has been available in New Zealand for some time now with over 6000 having been sold here. To date it has had only limited support from Power Companies and Government Departments in New Zealand compared to overseas.
Power Save Marketing Ltd, the New Zealand distributor of the Centameter has good stocks availa

Re: Smart Meters 

Yes I have one and they are great for initially finding what power, appliances draw, then after awhile they become an expensive thermometer and humidity meter, also their batteries don't last very long and always going flat.
When smart metering is introduced with variable timed tariff rates they will be no good for telling me the actual power rate at various times of the day as they only allow input of a single tariff value.

Re: Smart Meters 

“You can understand why power companies are resisting this. They don’t want consumers having control. Really, consumers should own the meters outright."

I agree, an analogy to this is buying petrol or diesel. The prices are there upfront, when we choose to purchase. If we don't like the price we drive on down to the next garage, or we put in what we can afford and drive more carefully.

What if we had no idea of our vehicles fuel consumption on various journeys and we also had no idea of how much fuel we were buying each fillup. Would we be happy to buy our automotive fuel from a garage we've contracted to, which then bills us at the end of the month?

I don't think so.

Pete

Re: Smart Meters 

We now sell Efergy e2 smart power monitors in New Zealand. These are very popular throughout the globe, and the efergy brand has been subsidized by local authorities as a more user firendly power saving device. visit.. www.smartconcepts.co.nz

So now you can really see how much power your using with the wireless receiver, and how much it costs instantly, or by week, month etc and compare to make savings..

Re: Smart Meters 

Efergy2 is similar to the centimeter in operation, but like the centimeter, allows only a single tariff rate, thus will be of little use in a situation where the rates vary between peak and off peak throughout the day.

Re: Efergy Elite Smart Meters , 

YOU ARE SOO WRONG ANONYMOUS!!

As a reply to Anonymous. Thanks for your interest, although you ought to do your research more thoroughly.

The Efergy E2 has full split tariff capability . eg, you can program in the tariffs and then you can view a graphical analysis on your PC of the two separate tariffs . Peak and off-peak.

Are you sure your not undercover, working for a power company Anonymous?

Ill gladly post email addy to prove if anybody is interested..