Smart Meters, appliances, technology and the Internet of Things

Victorian Government to fight electricity price rises over smart meter cost overruns (Victoria Australia)

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Updated 11 Oct 2014

ABC News

A plan by the state’s electricity suppliers to make households pay for a blowout in the budget for the installation of smart meter across the state has been rejected by the Victorian Government. The state’s Energy Minister was responding to a report by News Limited that suppliers had asked the Australian Energy Regulator to approve household price increases to cover hundreds of millions of dollars worth of cost overruns by the companies. That could add hundreds of dollars to yearly power bills.
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The Internet of Things is ’70 percent hackable’

The Internet of Things is promising a heady future of connected homes and connected businesses but hackers are currently threatening the outcome, according to a new study from multinational tech firm Hewlett-Packard. The study looked at 10 kinds of Internet of Things gadgets, such as smart TVs, webcams and thermostats, and found 70% of all Internet of Things devices are hackable. It found there was average of 25 different vulnerable points in each device, meaning 250 vulnerabilities across just 10 devices. That’s a lot of legroom for hackers to move, and may point to a potential future in which people’s entire homes can be hacked.
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Ralph Nader’s Viewpoint on Smart Meters: A “Step Toward Technological Despotism”

From Patricia Burke:

A wonderful radio interview on Ralph Nader Radio prompted by a call from someone named Ken Herrmann from San Luis Obispo, California.
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Ralph Nader: “[Smart meters are] one of many examples of how the constitutional right to privacy, which often is associated also with health, safety, security manifestations, is being eroded, step by step, coercively. It’s like they’re driving us into the credit economy instead of using a cash economy by actually penalizing people who use cash instead of a credit card or a debit card. And when you add all this up, you’re basically stripping individual citizens of what remains as consumers of control over their own lives. … and putting it in the hands of Big Corporations backed by Big Government; what the conservatives call crony capitalism…The propaganda is overwhelming on one side. Oh, here are the great benefits; they never mention the hazards…It’s just one more step toward technological despotism that corporations and government collude under various false arguments.”
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Smart Dust Is Getting Smarter New technologies allow for extremely tiny–and ubiquitous–military sensors

From David Axe:

In the 1972 science fiction story The Unknown by Christopher Anvil, three space pilots find themselves plagued by “ultra-miniature spy-circuits.” Tiny computers used for espionage and no bigger than a speck of dust. “They drift in like dust motes,” one space pilot says. “But you have no control over where they drift. An air current, or a static charge, can completely foul up your arrangements.”

In 1972, dust-sized electronic spies were far-out stuff. But in 2014, it’s not so far out at all.
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U.S. sailors’ new smart uniforms wirelessly track them all over the hip

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The problem with current naval uniforms is that they aren’t designed for the highly automated vessels that are all the rage. The Littoral Combat Ship, for example, has video game-like controls so that 75 or so sailors can do the work of 250. So the Navy is looking for uniforms that will continuously link sailors to their ships. These uniforms should “wirelessly communicate the sailor’s position and track movement, as well as to monitor and relay the human state of health important for situations such as damage control events,” according to the sailing branch….SNIP…. On the other hand, life on a ship where the computers–and your skipper–know your every move might be a bit oppressive. Pity the poor sailor sneaking off for a smoke.
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CBC: Smart meter overbilling complaints investigated by Hydro-Québec

From Take Back Your Power

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Hydro-Québec is looking into complaints that its new smart meters are overbilling homeowners, following a CBC investigation.

The provincially owned power utility is in the process of installing close to 4 million next-generation meters across Quebec – a switch the utility had claimed would save it, and by proxy its customers, millions of dollars.

Marc Magendie lives in a two-storey home in Laval. He says he’s extremely careful with his electricity consumption, so he was shocked when his hydro bills doubled after a new smart meter was installed. Magendie got his first surprise in January – when he received a bill for more than $1,000. He normally pays between $450 and $500 for that same time period.
smart-meter-customer-overbilling-hydro-quebec Marc Magendie says he doesn’t know how he’ll afford his increasing hydro bills. “I’m running a very tight budget and that increase is breaking me.” (CBC) Marc Magendie says he doesn’t know how he’ll afford his increasing hydro bills. “I’m running a very tight budget and that increase is breaking me.” (CBC) Magendie responded by reducing his electricity consumption even further. “I’ve got a programmable thermostat … I don’t use my dishwasher, I only do laundry once a week when they’re full, I use a drying line.” But he says it hasn’t made a difference. Magendie’s bills have already cost him nearly $3,000 for this year. Normally, he says he pays an average of about $2,000 per year for electricity.
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SkyVision Solutions introduces a New “Smart” Meter Wireless Radiation Comparison Chart …

From Skyvision Solutions

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Radiofrequency (RF) Radiation Power Density Levels for Smart Meters, Various Biological Effects, and Exposure Guidelines
Introducing a New “Smart” Meter Wireless Radiation Comparison Chart …

There are growing concerns that radiofrequency (RF) emissions from wireless utility “smart” meters cause serious adverse health impacts. Unfortunately, no human health impact studies were conducted prior to the deployment of RF emitting smart grid technologies, which include the smart meters themselves as well as the associated gatekeepers and routers that are part of the overall mesh communications network for each utility’s smart grid system.

In the absence of health impact studies conducted prior to smart meter deployment by utility companies, equipment manufacturers, or health agencies, there have been myriads of anecdotal reports of adverse effects caused by smart meter emissions. In addition, there have been at least limited studies (as listed below) subsequent to smart meter deployments indicating ill-effects:

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Smart Meters Increase the Risk of Fires

From SkyVision Solutions

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Fire after Fire after Fire … The Saskatchewan Smart Meter Fiasco

The recent events in Saskatchewan, Canada have refocused attention on one of the many risks associated with “smart” utility meters, i.e., the increased risk of fires.

As reported this past Thursday, July 31, the Saskatchewan government has ordered SaskPower to remove all 105,000 smart meters that have been installed across the province following several fires linked to the devices.
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