Quote:
Originally Posted by janmcn
I had a smart meter in my house that was not connected. I got a letter from Duke Energy about two weeks ago, saying that they wanted to come by and either connect it or remove it. I told them to remove it, and they did.
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We moved to Florida in October 1996, bought a house in Treasure Island. In the next year's late spring as the temps began to get higher, we noticed our air conditioning compressor would shut down periodically in mid-afternoon, on its own. Learned it was the "special usage control device" the previous owners had installed to save a few percent on their monthly electric bill.
To each his own. We called Florida Power and told them to service our address as soon as possible and remove the damn thing, which they did.
Not a smart meter, but a harbinger of things to come.
I grant you what I was emailed today early -- and confirmed back when I questioned it -- could be a "he said, she said" with a utility rep wanting to have some fun (from his perspective) with a customer who I would not doubt could be "quirky" at times.
But, as a highly regulated industry in a country that is increasingly highly regulated (that's NOT a political statement) for reasons which, if I expressed them would get my comments removed by the moderator because those unstated comments would be political, I believe in order to continue receiving rate increase approvals, public utilities are going to be forced to impose policies contrary to what their customers have been used to enjoying (perhaps overstated), since those same legislative bodies have not had the courage to approve power and their fuel supplier companies' requests for approvals to increase capacity, over past decades.
No increase in capacity with growth in population and the economy over time equals forced reductions in supply; customers must get by with less... less air conditioning, less comfort, softer frozen food, warmer beer -- GAWD NO... WARMER BEER ! ! ! In commodity business-to-business commerce, that's the dreaded force majeure bigfoot, this time from "environmentalism" run amok.
SECO has made it clear they are determined to install smart meters, customers' desires disregarded, despite the company supposedly being a "cooperative." In the Foreward to their corporate by-laws, they state:
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"It is the intention of the Board of Trustees and the Management to provide the membership with the best possible electric service and to render fair and just treatment, without discrimination, to all concerned.
In return we ask the members to be loyal to their Cooperative and to abide by the rules and regulations which have been formulated in the interest of economy and good service."
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"Intention" does not equate to "unequivocal, undying deliverable commitment."
A request for a person to be "Loyal to a Corporation" is right out of Orwell's "1984."
(EOM)