Post by jeffolie on Apr 9, 2010 12:07:19 GMT -6
Government is wasting $1B for DUMB METERS just in SoCal alone. It takes no brains to fiquire out that using gas makes the gas meter spin.
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SoCalGas gets OK for $1-billion smart-meter project
The California Public Utilities Commission votes 3 to 2 to let the firm bill customers to install the radio-controlled devices on 6 million homes. Critics say it's a money loser.
"The proposal simply does not pencil out," said Commissioner John Bohn, who suggested that there's no urgency to move forward immediately with the new meters for a utility that sells only natural gas.
Because natural gas can be purchased by utilities ahead of the heating season and stored for months, its price is not as volatile as rates for electricity, said critics, including the PUC's own independent ratepayers' advocate division.
Consequently, gas consumers are unlikely to monitor their hour-by-hour usage to avoid using energy when it's more expensive. What's more, residential users don't need a smart meter to know that a long hot shower will raise their bills more than a short one.
Other opponents of the gas meter plan, including labor unions and consumer advocates, contended that the money that would be spent to upgrade gas meters would be better used to create jobs for people weatherizing homes instead of going to a project that would result in layoffs of full- and part-time meter readers.
"Instead of eliminating 1,000 jobs in hard-hit Southern California, the CPUC can create jobs and benefit customers," said Sam Weinstein, an official of the Utility Workers Union of America.
www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-gas-meters9-2010apr09,0,1035942.story
====================================================
SoCalGas gets OK for $1-billion smart-meter project
The California Public Utilities Commission votes 3 to 2 to let the firm bill customers to install the radio-controlled devices on 6 million homes. Critics say it's a money loser.
"The proposal simply does not pencil out," said Commissioner John Bohn, who suggested that there's no urgency to move forward immediately with the new meters for a utility that sells only natural gas.
Because natural gas can be purchased by utilities ahead of the heating season and stored for months, its price is not as volatile as rates for electricity, said critics, including the PUC's own independent ratepayers' advocate division.
Consequently, gas consumers are unlikely to monitor their hour-by-hour usage to avoid using energy when it's more expensive. What's more, residential users don't need a smart meter to know that a long hot shower will raise their bills more than a short one.
Other opponents of the gas meter plan, including labor unions and consumer advocates, contended that the money that would be spent to upgrade gas meters would be better used to create jobs for people weatherizing homes instead of going to a project that would result in layoffs of full- and part-time meter readers.
"Instead of eliminating 1,000 jobs in hard-hit Southern California, the CPUC can create jobs and benefit customers," said Sam Weinstein, an official of the Utility Workers Union of America.
www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-gas-meters9-2010apr09,0,1035942.story