Phil Boehmke
American Thinker
2/28/2010
Like it or not, smart meters may be the future of power distribution. In the area served by the San Diego Gas & Electric Company (SDG&E) there are already over 7,000 businesses “benefiting” from the new smart meters and there are plans to expand usage to residential customers as well.
By the end of 2011 SDG&E projects that 1.4 million standard electric meters will be replaced with smart meters and an estimated 900,000 natural gas meters will be upgraded during that same time frame. SDG&E tells us that.
Smart meters allow for two way communication between you and SDG&E. These meters record your energy use information daily. It’s then remotely sent to SDG&E’s computer data center for operations, billing and customer service. This means SDG&E will be able to better manage overall energy needs and quickly detect power outages as they happen.
Maybe it’s just me, but there is something unsettling about having a smart meter tracking my power consumption. Will there come a day when excessive power usage will be treated as a crime? Who will determine what is excessive?
The article continues at American Thinker.
