GET 'SMART METERS': POLBy SALLY GOLDENBERG, NY Post
All homes should be equipped with devices that provide digital, real-time data to utility customers, City Councilman Eric Gioia said yesterday.
The Queens Democrat wants the "smart meters" in place throughout the five boroughs by 2011.
He said they'd cut bills by 10 percent by providing usage information, minimize site inspections, and let Con Ed track outages better.
Just remember, you were warned about this right here.
11 comments:
Please contact this ill-informed councilman, and ask him to go back in the archives to the fiasco of 1996, when a similar program was legislated out of existence because of its detrimental impact on homeowners, houses of worship, and schools. This is simply an attempt to boost rates, and boost them through the roof. Rates in the 90s went from 14 cents a kwh to almost 50 cents a kwh during peak hours. Once this program goes into effect, you are going to be helpless to do anything about it. The price of gas for your car will begin to look like a bargain.
As if rates weren't just boosted enough! Great job fighting the corruption of this utility!
Gioia wife is a lobbyist who raiser money from devlopers to give to elected officials.
LISA HERNANDEZ GIOIA
President, The Esler Group works closly with Parkside in the Crowley race and to elected Gifford Miller in 2oo5 as mayor.
That all we need another double talking pol who wife makes her living from developers
I know he looks like a doorman - but was he really working as a doorman before he went into politics?
Let's check with Team Gioia:
About Eric
Gioia worked his way through NYU and Georgetown Law School working nights as a janitor, doorman, elevator operator, and member of SEIU Local 32BJ.
It's funny how the more we try to conserve, the higher our rates go up. You can never actually cut what you pay Con Ed. It is very discouraging, to say the least.
Do we actually know if 'Smart Meters' would raise rates? Don't they just allow for more real time updates of energy usage...how does that effect the actual rate charged?
Thanks for the info, Truman.
If I ever run into him, instead of shaking his hand, I think I'll give him a $1.00 tip and leave a bag by his feet.
Kunal said "Do we actually know if 'Smart Meters' would raise rates? Don't they just allow for more real time updates of energy usage...how does that effect the actual rate charged?" Kunal, the Smart Meters are only the first step. Con Edison will deny they are Time of Use meters, and give you all the positive reasons you have read in the Media - that they will not have to have meter readers, that you can watch your own meter and learn to conserve -but realize that these meters are already measuring when and how much energy you are using , every minute and every hour of the day. They will tell you they are not using Time of Use Rates. BUT...right now there are bills in the Assembly and Senate which Con Ed and the other Utilities have pushed for which will give the Public Service Commission the right to "mandate" Time of Use Rates. The minute these bills get passed, it will not take long for Con Ed to claim that "It's not our fault, the PSC is making us do it". However, it is being done at the urging of Con Ed and the other Utilities so they can bleed the Public. Read the article in today's NYT (Tuesday) about Time of Use Metering.
In the early 90s, they managed to mandate TIme of Use Rates, and the peak hours ( from 10 A.M. to 10 P.M.) were charged out at 38.40 cents a kwh, BEFORE taxes. Came to about 50 cents a kwh. It was legislated out of existence in 1996, after the Public reacted to the disaster it was.
Now, a little over ten years later, they are paving the way with Smart Meters. They will not have to try to get into your house to install Time of Use Meters as they did in the 90s - these meters are already Time of Use Meters. All they have to do is charge higher rates, and they will already know when you are using which sources of energy.
Gioia is nuts, or perhaps on someone's pocket. It was Senator Padavan and Assembly Weprin from Queens who wrote the Legislation eliminating the right of the PSC to mandate these rates.
The problem is that the Public will be lulled into a false sense of security, and believe that everything being said about these meters is to their benefit, Makes sense right? No one is taking about Time of Use rates, no one even knows these bills are waiting to be voted on, and heaven forbid, passed, but once they are and the ---- hits the fan, people will wake up - and way too late.
You have to contact your Legislators and make sure they vote against these bills. Trust me - been there, done that. Even the Times article today states that most people will pay three times the amount they are currently paying for electric under a Time of Use program.
The meters being installed in Westchester aren't the "smart meters." They are "remote read" meters.
They can be read during a "drive by."
Wouldn't be the first time Gioia issued a press release that was off-base.
The Smart Meters have not been installed yet, but there are plans to install them everywhere. The meters being installed right now have nothing to do with the plans for the Smart Meters. He is not off-base, but he is very misguided. As a matter of fact, when I contacted him about this issue, he never bothered responding to me.
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