Regarding "Smart Meters"...and the Good Old Boys at PG&E by Niki2

REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS

Regarding "Smart Meters"...and the Good Old Boys at PG&E

POSTED BY: NIKI2
UPDATED: Tuesday, September 27, 2011 05:36
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Friday, September 23, 2011 11:37 AM

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...

We have them out here, along with a number of other states. I think something happened to me which might have been caused by them--or by PG&E's incompetence/fraud (the latter of which wouldn't surprise me).

We're on a "balanced payment plan". It means they average our utility usage over time, and every four months review it and either lower it or raise it. Supposedly this takes into account weather, so we don't get higher bills in Winter, or real hot weather when we might use the room air conditioner (which we virtually never do).

Well, four months ago it went up quite a big, but I figured they were just balancing it out--we had a problem with our autopay last year and missed a bill. I didn't think much about it; it hurt, but when I inquired, I was told since they review every four months, it would no doubt go down then. Well, it's been four months and last week I got a shock; our bill was nearly $400!!! I spent hours yesterday on line, comparing our utility usage, bills, etc. over the past two years. It just didn't make sense; our gas and electric usage has been pretty regular, in fact it's gone DOWN in the past four months.

So I e-mailed PG&E inquiring what happened and why. This morning I got an e-mail from PG&E telling me "Your monthly BPP amount is estimated at $235 which will be reflected on
your next billing statement." Almost HALF of what they charged me this month! And no explanation whatsoever.

I seemed to recall something about smart meters and litigation, so did a search and yup, there are lawsuits all over the country from people saying their bills went up a LOT when they got smart meters. I'm wondering if anyone else has experienced anything like this or knows anything else about it.

I'm going to stay after them; I want to KNOW why our supposedly "balanced payment plan" went up from $267 this month in 2009, to $220 this month in 2010, to $398 this month! That's downright insane and I want to know why. I spent a few hours yesterday on their website investigating, and discovered that although our payment for this past month is LISTED as $334, they DEDUCTED $398 from our autopay! Something is fishy somewhere.

Gawd, I hate that we have no option for utilities but PG&E. I know what ripoff artists they are, and I don't trust them...plus I know us "little people" have virtually no power when it comes to holding them accountable.

I may have to go back to paper bills and off their damned "balanced payment plan". I hate that; I know approximately what the bills are and have everything set up for autopay so I never have to bother with it, just make sure there's enough in the account. This was a major blow.

Hippie Operative Nikovich Nikita Nicovna Talibani,
Contracted Agent of Veritas Oilspillus, code name “Nike”,
signing off

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Friday, September 23, 2011 4:18 PM

FREMDFIRMA

Niki, the meters themselves consume a ridiculous amount of power in order to function, you see - and guess who that gets billed to ?
All to save THEM money, for THEIR convenience, at YOUR expense, by way of government sponsored monopoly....

Not to mention potential health and safety problems from a downright fullisade of EM emissions, which have never been properly investigated.

As far as good ole boys, I've been making it pretty clear ever since the Detroit Fires that DTE is really hated around here because their own abuses and neglect have endangered and even killed people - folks have taken to pelting their trucks with rocks, something which me, Malek and Gus are trying to put the brakes on, since the poor bastards in those trucks are not responsible, and if anything are the guys trying to unfuck the situation, but people are very, very angry...
And I think they kind of got a right to be, since almost every power company in the country is every bit as guilty as Enron, only more discreet about it.

You should definately make contact with local orgs who are working against them damn smart meters, certainly there's enough of em, and they have some pretty valid reasons for their ire.

-Frem

I do not serve the Blind God.

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Friday, September 23, 2011 4:54 PM

FREMDFIRMA

Reference links, Nix.

There's THOUSANDS of "isolated incidents", and despite PG&E denials, it's pretty obvious something is effed up..

http://turn.org/article.php?id=683
http://www.nctimes.com/business/article_e013206e-e6c0-5059-b71b-64cc3e
6b3a95.html
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/7_on_your_side&id=724071
3
http://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/show_story.php?id=22378

Not just CA either, everywhere they've been installed, it's the same story.

http://www.wfaa.com/news/consumer/meters-84921522.html

Not so smart, after all.

-F

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Saturday, September 24, 2011 1:15 AM

PIRATENEWS

John Lee, conspiracy therapist at Hollywood award-winner History Channel-mocked SNL-spoofed PirateNew.org wooHOO!!!!!!

My radar detector goes off every time I drive past my smart meter.

Our first bill was $75, without any electric devices turned on, just the power consumption by the meter itself.

It's purpose is to spy on your power consumption and report back to HQ 24/7. Not just total consumption, but it can tell what devices are turned on in your house by the frequency of the motor/heater/etc of each device (washingmachine, dryer, dishwasher, TV, etc).

California is already using Smartmeters to heat up your AC in summer and turn off your heat in winter. Basically a virtual rolling blackout that doubles your power bill, so Al Gore can play sexpoodle in his private jet while eating endangered species from his Brazilian oil plantations enroute to his inventory of mansions with $500,000/year electric bills paid for with your carbon dioxide fart tax.

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Saturday, September 24, 2011 6:07 AM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...

Yeah Mike, I googled it and found stuff going on all OVER the country. Spent hours yesterday investigating our power usage and "balanced payment plan" charges, and hey ho, what a surprise, the first (BIG) jump was in March...when they put the smart meters in! Talked to Jim about it, and he says we should contact the PUC to start with, which I will. I also wrote PG&E asking for an explanation, and got an e-mail back with a phone number; "To ensure we can directly address all of your questions and concerns, we would like to speak with you by phone. Please contact our 24-hour Customer Service line 1-800-743-5000 at a time most convenient for you." Boy, are THEY going to get an earful!

Not giving up on this, we can't afford it (that's close to HALF our monthly bills!) and it's got me mightily pissed off by now.

Hippie Operative Nikovich Nikita Nicovna Talibani,
Contracted Agent of Veritas Oilspillus, code name “Nike”,
signing off

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Saturday, September 24, 2011 12:12 PM

FREMDFIRMA

Hmm, the deeper one digs, the more interesting this gets...

So far, every time an independent or individual has tested one of these meters one for one with other equipment, the so-called smart meters have consistently read more power than used, up to 2.5 times as much.
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/7_on_your_side&id=742453
3
Now, in every case, the power company has some flimsy excuse, operating temperature too high, billing wrong unit, incorrect installation, most of which fall flat upon any reasonable scrutiny.

But where it really gets disturbing...
The whole smart meter concept in Australia is kind of about to blow out at the seams, cause of one guy with sufficient professional credentials bringing into question the accuracy of the technology itself.
http://au.news.yahoo.com/today-tonight/money/article/-/10241945/power-
scandal-exposed/#video

Which, if the evidence presented is accurate, and there's very little doubt about that - then PG&E, DTE and all the rest have also been complicit in perpetuating a grandiose fraud upon their captive customers.
But of course, as usual, ain't the crime, it's the coverup - trick is gonna be to roll it back on em before they dispose of the evidence, and as such I have enlisted the OCP/GeekFarm to do their own testing, provided they can aquire a few smart meters from sources such as abandoned/burned/demolished buildings, cause for damn sure you can bet DTE wouldn't volunteer one, and frankly if they did we wouldn't trust it.

Sure, they might bitch a little and claim the meters as their property, or proprietary tech, but their failure to recover them from trashed out properties is indicative of abandonment, and legally the same as removing something from a dumpster or trashcan, and since they do not actually manufacture them they as such have no proprietary claim.

So... we will see, I guess - wrangling college geeks is a damn lot like cat-herding, it is.
Thankfully I've no concern for any near future smart meter chicanery here, since Site Three is a podunk little backwater mostly beneath the notice or care of anyone else - I liken it to The Shire for those very reasons, meh.
Anyhows, this issue has piqued my interest and ire, and the notion of sticking it to and humiliating DTE has captured the whim of geeks, who will do what they do best...
(with bait like that, this was a slam dunk)
If they confirm the same general results as Mr Jayasooriah, then we shall proceed to flog the power companies with the results like a drunken sailor.

-Frem

I do not serve the Blind God.

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Sunday, September 25, 2011 5:21 AM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...

Thanx, Frem, and much good luck in your endeavor! I'm actually scared about talking to PG&E directly, as I'm sure I'm not the first, I'm pretty sure they have all kinds of arguments and "explanations" and I have no power over them. I'd love to sue them, see what shows up in court, but I'm no Erin Brokovich!

Wish me luck...I AM going to "screw my courage to the sticking point" and call, but I have little expectations of a positive outcome, and we'll sure be hurting financially!

One thing that jumped out at me was, when I went in to look at our energy usage, they had us as using more electricity than others, which is downright INSANE! Even the house directly behind us leaves their indoor lights on 24/7! We put up no Xmas lights (and there are some pretty hefty decorations in this area); people around here have huge outdoor lighting, the bright kind that uses tons of energy, which they leave on all night; we lump our laundry and do maybe two loads a week each; Choey dries her stuff outside, Jim does the same with some of his stuff and I hang my sarongs to dry outside; we all have those electric "bars" you plug into and turn the power off on THOSE when we're through with the TV, computer, etc. The bar on PG&E's website had us as the HIGHEST POINT for electrical usage, and that's just insane.

This is all just very disheartening.

Hippie Operative Nikovich Nikita Nicovna Talibani,
Contracted Agent of Veritas Oilspillus, code name “Nike”,
signing off

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Sunday, September 25, 2011 8:38 AM

FREMDFIRMA

Well, I wouldn't expect quick results, since they wanna have all their ducks in a row and unassailable evidence before taking on something like a power company given the bias their financial and political might can bring, especially in a place as corrupt as friggin Detroit.

Also, lesson learned, and worthy of note - it's almost downright impossible to get the smell out of your jacket after sifting through the remains of a house fire, the finely ground ash and various household components and chems get in there damn good, thanks be that I have spares, cause this one's getting bagged and pitched, eaugh!

Oh, one thing we did learn right up front, is that these things are laughably insecure, the encryption is "essentially sixteen bit", and can be brute-forced in mere minutes or less, plus given that the transponder is a well known cheap piece of shit (FasTrak MSP430) mostly used for toll collection, which seems to have been originally built (long before smartmeters) with other nefarious purposes in mind since it has certain "hidden" capabilities (update modes) which would allow tagging, surveillence and whatnot - and has no encryption of it's own, the board seems almost a hack job, and worse, the lock bit isn't set so anyone who has half a damn clue and access to the unit can play merry havoc with your firmware.

And yes, all this ALSO means any script-kiddie with even a tenth of a brain could shut your power off by remote, or possibly do other things, since the full capabilities of those hidden modes(1) are still unknown, and the firmware itself is some kind of clobber job which'll take some time to figure out whether it's incompetence, chicanery or some combination of the two.

(1) - I knew about these previously, given my hate-on for RFID and suspicion that "read only" units were not quite what they were telling us, since why would a READER have a transmitter, but apparently any plans to exploit that particular tech were never actually realized, it seems - does piss me off having deliberate weaknesses backdoored into every goddamn thing these days for the convenience of jackboots, given just how effectively they've been exploited recently (See Also: Playstation Network).

Thing is, I am not sure if any of the hidden update mode stuff would even work if someone *did* manage to activate it, the way this thing is wired... whoever built this shit must have been using trained chimps or something, it's really bad, only I am at the very limit of my competence here even trying to describe what they're bitching about so....

-Frem

I do not serve the Blind God.

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Sunday, September 25, 2011 8:37 PM

RIONAEIRE

Beir bua agus beannacht

I hope you have the stammina to keep on them Niki and make them fix the problem with your bills. But I also think you should switch back to paper bills, then it might be less likely to be miscalculated?

"A completely coherant River means writers don't deliver" KatTaya

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Monday, September 26, 2011 8:26 AM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...

Thanx, Riona, but it makes no difference. They charge what they charge, and actually I can call up tons more detail on their website than the simple bill, paper or electronic.

I may go off this stupid "balanced payment plan" so that I can pay only what is detailed and not have to argue about their averaging, tho' I doubt THAT will do much good either. We'll see. I'm still "screwing my courage to the sticking point", as good old Bill would put it, to call them. Eventually I'll do it.

Frem: In short: yeah.

Hippie Operative Nikovich Nikita Nicovna Talibani,
Contracted Agent of Veritas Oilspillus, code name “Nike”,
signing off

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Monday, September 26, 2011 11:04 PM

FREMDFIRMA

*facepalm*

Oh yeah, there so very competent, are they ?

San Bruno Explosion Report Released, Pacific Gas & Electric Fully Blamed
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/26/san-bruno-explosion-report-nt
sb-pacific-gas-electric_n_982098.html

Quote:
As a result of the accident, the board has issued 39 safety recommendations to PG&E, gas pipeline operators, and federal and state regulators. But a safety advocate who has followed the case said it's not clear whether Congress and federal regulators will embrace some of the more significant recommendations.

For example, NTSB has recommended installation of automatic shut-off valves on existing pipelines, but legislation under consideration in Congress only addresses valves for newly-constructed lines – a far less expensive proposition, said Carl Weimer, executive director of the Pipeline Safety Trust.

"Everyone knows doing that – going back and putting in these valves in or doing these pressure tests that should have been done 40 years ago – is a costly thing," Weimer said. "It would cost hundreds of millions of dollars. I think Congress is hesitant to require regulations that would cost that much money without a clear sense of how many lives would be saved."

WTF?! shit man, ONE is enough.... assholes.
And "accident" is too mild a word for what amounts to criminal fucking negligence.

I wouldn't trust these shitheads to tie their own shoelaces, and we're supposed to trust them with a new and untested technology cobbled together out of outdated tollboth parts ?

These folks are beggin for a boot up the ass, and I feel it would be an abdication of our civic duty not to deliver one.

-Frem

I do not serve the Blind God.

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Tuesday, September 27, 2011 5:36 AM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...

Oh, lord, don't get me STARTED on San Bruno!!! That one's been a part of our lives since it happened; naturally the final determination surprised EVERYONE (NOT!). Were I to get started...now, I'd best not...

Hippie Operative Nikovich Nikita Nicovna Talibani,
Contracted Agent of Veritas Oilspillus, code name “Nike”,
signing off

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