Smart Meters Will Play A Role In Earth Hour
Prince George, BC – As British Columbians get set to take part in Earth Hour 2013 this evening, those with smart meters will be able to track the impact of their efforts to conserve energy, thanks to the controversial new units.
As part of the annual Earth Hour event hosted by the World Wildlife Fund, the BC Government and BC Hydro are encouraging residents to turn off unnecessary lights and electronics between 8:30pm and 9:30pm tonight. More than 7,000 cities in 152 countries took part in Earth Hour 2012. According to the Ministry of Environment, British Columbians saved 121 megawatt hours of electricity during last year’s event – the equivalent of turning off about 9-million 12.5-watt LED light bulbs.
For the first time, BC Hydro Manager of Media Relations, Simi Heer, says residents with smart meters installed on their homes – approximately 1.1-million in the province – will be able to determine just how much energy they saved by comparing their electricity use today, both before and during Earth Hour. (Customers can login to their online account at www.bchydro.com/myhydro to see their usage data)
Heer says this is the first year such data has been available for individual customers, and it will be available to all, in future years, once the installations are complete.
In addition, Heer says Earth Hour results have never been available for Prince George because the city’s energy consumption can’t be separated out from data for the region’s substation. She says that, too, will change once the smart grid is functioning fully.
Privacy and safety concerns prompted thousands across the province to refuse smart meter installations, prompting the provincial government to grant Hydro a one-year extension on installation to the end of 2013.
Comments
Ummm last I heard the software that is needed to monitor realtime power consumption won’t be ready until April. The system isn’t working right now so they better hurry up and get it going for tonight.
The 2 Baseboard Heaters in our Living Room have a Total of 4000 Watt and this is just one Room. Turning them off would be like turning 40 100 Watt Lights of. I wont be cold and follow you like a Lemming , if you Hydro want the Power then provide us all with Natural Gas and I may switch , I heard it’s cheaper too. On the other Hand you must have a Surplus of Hydro Power if you can supply New Mines with it. I am glad to own a Wood Stove and live in the Country (not to offend any one with Smoke) and can ignore this make feel Good thing !
Don’t forget to book your Trip to Mexico ,needs no Energy to get there!
What a crock…to be followed by “Festival of Lights” at Christmas time. Who’s kidding who?
These smart meters are so great I notice that my power bill has increased by 25% since it has been instlle on our house.
Cheers
I will try to use as much power as possible to help in global warming it is to cold anyway
The meters are not fully functional in all areas of the province.
Just think with the smart meters hydro, the province and big NGO’s will now be able to see who is naughty or nice.
WWF Billion dollar multinational with 5000 employees world wide. Income over 200 million a year with its top ceo’s making around 1/2 mill a year and they want us common people to live like north Korea.
They also restrict the production of cheap energy for developing countries.
The BS about earth hour
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/03/23/tonights-earth-hour-is-not-only-futile-but-sends-the-wrong-message/#more-82629
I will be watching hockey so stick earth hour and smart meters.
In North Korea, I understand it is “earth hour” 24/7 all year round. I will let those folks compensate for me. You’re welcome.
If I understand correctly, the power can’t actually be “saved” for later use. If it has been generated, it must be used, or wasted. So what does turning off my lights actually do? Nothing.
When we go away, and there is very little electricity being used in our home, our hydro bill doesn’t really change. Hydro is so cheap here that these types of “events” don’t change anything for us.
The hydro still gets generated, and the bill doesn’t reflect the loss of lights. Why bother?
What I sould like to see is Hydro give us a digital readout in the house so we could see what we are using at any time and if it is in a peak time or low consumption time. Now that would be helpful.
An exercise in sheep control!
Had a 5hr zero electricity consumption period a couple of weeks back, so I figure I’m good for a few years.
I told them to get off my property and lock the gate when we go out, so I don’t have a smart meter. I will fill the wood stove so it is nice and warm. I have shut the breakers off to the baseboards so nothing gets by.
If you truly cared about the planet, you wouldn’t use electricity.
Retired 02: “These smart meters are so great I notice that my power bill has increased by 25% since it has been instlle on our house.”
Count the blessings you enjoyed all this time with your old mechanical meter, which must have been reading 25% too low!
Ok I’ll count my blessings PG. I just love to bend for Hydro. The government needs the money.
Cheers
SN wrote: “Had a 5hr zero electricity consumption period a couple of weeks back, so I figure I’m good for a few years.”
Bang on!!!!
I agree, SN and Gus, won’t be seeing any savings on our bill for that one.
Yes it can be saved for later use News2me but first you have to understand how power is generated here in BC. Power is only generated by demand. No demand no power generated. Save the water for a high demand day or sell more to the US.
I just took the opportunity to create a profile and link my account to it.
Very interesting. The power outage shows up clearly. Also hourly usage when furnace goes on in the mornings. Then there is a comparable to houses in the area. Our house is using almost half as much in most time slots as other houses. Changing light bulbs, having dimmer switches, and using task lights since time immemorial sure helps.
Guess I’ll just have to stoke up the stove, and light a candle in honor of earth hour.
This silliness is for all the yuppies in the Lower Mainland so I’ll just say “How Interesting”.
Great idea Grizzly1, pollute the air in honor of the earth! Bravo!!!!
Yes lets turn off that evil energy.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2298246/UKs-coldest-spring-1963-claims-5-000-lives-Pensioners-worst-affected–experts-say-final-toll-horrendous.html
Retired 02: “These smart meters are so great I notice that my power bill has increased by 25% since it has been instlle on our house.”
PG: “Count the blessings you enjoyed all this time with your old mechanical meter, which must have been reading 25% too low!”
My bill went down about 10% per month since I got my smart meter.
gus: “I just took the opportunity to create a profile and link my account to it.
Very interesting. The power outage shows up clearly. Also hourly usage when furnace goes on in the mornings.”
I did the same some time ago and noticed similar findings. It’s a neat system… too bad most refuse to give it a chance.
I don’t compare dollar figures on my bills (compared to the same month of a year when the old meter was still there) because electricity rates are higher now. I compare consumption figures. According to those there is no difference at all since the smart meter was installed.
Comments for this article are closed.