Why do a number of people still have their Christmas lights lit up at night? Save yourself a bit o' cash off your Hydro bill and unplug them.

Smart Meters
Recent reports are that the new meters soon to be installed by Hydro are harmful to our health and pose a variety of risks due to transmission of data via various means. I think the public needs to get the full scoop on what these devices will really be doing. Is this device really necessary? Google smart meter. Lots of info.

Many major electric appliances have chips installed in them which signal to the smart meter when they are in use. The user will be able to use power when it is charged at a lower rate. Dryers, washers, electric water heaters, ranges and so forth.

The utility can also apply a different rate depending on the appliance. With the coming of electric cars the meter will know when an electric car is plugged in for recharging the battery. They will make sure that you will be charged an amount of money which is the energy equivalent of a tank of gasoline! They don't want you to be able to drive down the road in your new electric Honda or Toyota for a dollar per 100km when it would cost five bucks to go the same distance on gasoline or diesel!

Smart, eh?

Why do you supposed BC got rid of the homesteader act? Was it to make it harder for people to live away from urban centers, thus keeping most of the cattle in one pen? Was it to ensure there would be no conflict between a private citizen and a big resources company over the same piece of ground? Give me your thoughts on this one. As a person who has looked into purchasing crownland, I came out of the office 2 colors shy of throttling the bureaucrats who were in there. After waiting 5 mins for 3 people to get over thier coffee cup talk and actually notice I was there, the response I got when asking about the possiblility of purchasing crownland next to mine, was a smarmy grin and the word "none". There was no "give me some details and let me look into it for you" or "give me some more detail and we will see how we can help". So, instead of possibly ending up on the wrong end of an assault charge, I decided to leave without further pushing the issue, as it was clear this taxpayer paid bureaucrat certainly wasn't in the mood to help out his employer.

Hey Egypt just did it...why cant we???

"Hey Egypt just did it...why cant we???"

Because we don't have a dictator to overthrow?

Hey PrinceGeorge, You write great science fiction. Chips in toasters is a little far fetched don't you think? Unless maybe you're thinking tortilla chips? Where you get your ideas from, an aluminum foil hat?

A Smart Meter measures electrical energy consumed (kWH) over a specific period of time. Unlike current meters that simply accumulate total kWH consumed Smart Meters are able to report how much is used between specific times of the day. The intervals of time could be hourly or blocks of hours to correspond to when electrical prices are most likely to be high or low. This is called Time of Use metering and billing. Smart meters allow the Power company to read the meter without physically visiting it, thus doing a way with someones job. They are in fact another way for power companies and gov't's to get more of the money out of your pockets

Smart meters are nothing more, nothing less

"Because we don't have a dictator to overthrow?"

Thats a matter of opinion.

Dictatorships and democracies all have their own problems. The revolution in Egypt is a product of the people having had enough BS.

We see more and more in many democracies around the world where the people are starting to understand and see exactly what the elite in their countries are doing and are surely going to stand up one day and show they too have had enough BS.

Empires have fallen throughout time.

An expert speaking on an Australian TV news show reveals fluoride for what it is -- a poison.

People are increasingly starting to realize this truth due to successful grassroots campaigns. In yet another victory against this pervasive toxin, on February 8, 2011, the Calgary (Alberta, Canada) city council voted to stop 20 years of water fluoridation by a 10-3 vote. According to Calgarian James Beck, MD, PhD and co-author of The Case Against Fluoride,

"This is important for the health of 1.1 million people right here. But also it will help us stop fluoridation throughout the Province of Alberta. With the generally no-fluoridation situations in British Columbia and Quebec and the ongoing developments in Ontario we are approaching a fluoride-free Canada. And with the ongoing progress in the United States we are approaching a fluoride-free world."

Prince George - the city which refuses to let people decide for themselves. Here we get it in our tap water without being able to choose. That is indeed in my opinion quite a dictatorial situation!

"Because we don't have a dictator to overthrow?"

Nope .... the answer is much more obvious than that .... because we do not have an army tpo hand power to .... ;-)

Dragonmaster, open you eyes when you are reading! Who mentioned toasters! Do you know what MAJOR appliances are! Maybe YOUR tinfoil hat dropped down over your eyes?

Do just a bit of internet searching and you will find that I am 100% correct.

Your abrasive sarcastic attitude shows how very ignorant you are about smart meters and their capabilities.

Soon, when you have one it will reveal to you that it can indeed identify which MAJOR appliance is using electricity!

Meisner requires to keep comments clean and free of insults - you don't seem to think that this applies to you.

Pity.

Smart meters, one billion dollars, how smart is that. Lets see, the mighty Hydro or fiberal pawn, says they can use to detect grow ops. Well don't grow ops bypass meters so when hydro puts out a story like that the rest of their reasoning is suspect. Another goody is mentioning cheaper power rates after nine. Now how many young busy families and elderly are going to be up all night doing laundry. It is just a scam to get more money out of you under the pretext of making you think you are saving money.

How about the two tiered power bills we get now, don't ya think that penalizes us up north.

We are not short of power it just about redirecting money into things like the Olympic money pit and new roof on that now god awful ugly stadium in Vancouver.

Faxman says we don't have a dictator to overthrow, ya right. How about being forced to use mercury laded lights. Oh those LEDS that everyone is getting on the bandwagon about, well they have issues also, lead, arenic and another dozen potentially hazardous substances.

My toaster has a chip in it but I doubt it is detectable but that could happen with newer ones.

It is the FRIDAY FREE FOR ALL.

As always, remember to obey the rules:

•Keep it Clean
•Keep it Legal
•No Bullying of other Posters.

Has anyone ever taken a close a close look at the scenarios that the MoF has been producing for the projected downturn in the annual allowable cuts for this region?

Looking at them, one would think that some people would be looking at what we can do and should be doing to prepare for the day when the AAC will be reduced to less than half of waht it used to be and even more from what it has been in the last few years. We might have to import trees from Eastern Russia in order to keep mills going.

All those pellet plants being built are going to be decommissioned by 2020.

Anyone in the know of what the plan by the province is? Where is OBAC these days? They seem to have crawled under a rock.

Look at page 11 of the report from last year.
http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/hts/tsa/tsa24/tsr4/24ts10pdp.pdf

As far as I know, smart meters measure use in time bins, typically in one hour increments.

That means that if your high usage is around supper time for your cooking appliances, you can decide to shift breakfast to 10am, lunch to 2pm and supper to 9pm ...... thus saving yourself enough money to buy a Venti sized Latte for you and your significant other once a year.

For smart gas meters, you could heat a basement room filled with rocks at off peak times, say between noon and 4pm, and then allow the air to circulate over the rocks to pick up the stored heat and push it through the house during the peak hours. ..... ;-)

Better still ..... you could move to Belize, cook over an open fire and go to bed early every night ..... :-)

The so called Smart Meters are all about grinding out more money from Consumers. This kind of BS has to stop

1. We build the Hydro Dam and the Power Lines

2. We pay for the Employees to run to Operations.

3. We pay to use the power.

4. We pay increases to use the power, based on Voodoo Price economics, and Black Magic studies.

5. We export the majority of what we use to the Americans, and the money generated is skimmed from Hydro for the Provincial Government, whom we also pay for. They in turn spend this money on major projects, that are built by their friends, who help to finiance their election campaigns.

6. BC Hydro charges all Government facilities for the use of the power ie; Schools, Hospitals, Government Buildings, etc;. and we get a tax increase so that these Governments entities can pay Hydro. so they are double dipping, considering that we already paid for the power once.

This is the kind of BS that is breaking this Country up. The average citizen is nothing more than a money generating machine for the Government and its 23 entities.

We need to stop this. We need a new political party, or a group of independents, that are not tied to the old system. Then we could make some changes.

For people to sit on their asses and wax philosphically about the Liberals or NDP, and who will lead them, and who will win the election, is basically planning a strategy to continue with the status quo, which is corrupt. We need to do more.

Put your bloody brains to work, and try to come to the conclusion that you are being ripped off on a huge scale, on a regular basis, by people who know exactly what they are doing, and who beleive that you are to stupid to do anything about it.

So far you have proven them right.

Acopolympics.

Seems to me that they were able to get the land for the new Casino from the Provincial Government. Collin Kinsley, and Council went to bat, for the owners to make it happen. Check out how they did it. Maybe it could work for you.

In addition check out the Government website on purchasing Government Land. All the procedures etc; should be clearly stated on their website.

Next you can write a letter to the Minister Responsible, and of course you can drop down to your local MLA's office and discuss the situation with him/her.

These are all valid ways of getting the ball rolling. Talking to local Civil Servants who have little or no power is going to be very frustrating.

Last but not least you can work to kick this bloody Government out of office, and work to get in a Government that is more interested in People, and less interested in Corporations, and spending tax dollars.

Some more tinfoil technical information on Smart Meters:

" Another type of smart meter uses nonintrusive load monitoring to automatically determine the number and type of appliances in a residence, how much energy each uses and when. This meter is used by electric utilities to do surveys of energy use. It eliminates the need to put timers on all of the appliances in a house to determine how much energy each uses."


Repeat: The number and type of appliances in a residence and how much energy each uses and when!!!

The appliances are equipped with a "tortilla" micro chip which the Smart Meter communicates with.

For some time new major appliances have an inexpensive microchip installed on their main control board.

BCHydro would not spend one billion dollars on Smart Meters if they were actually not a lot smarter than the Dumb Meters that are being phased out.

That would be a real dumb idea!

BCHydro will eliminate the need for meter reading, it will total up continuously the actual real time readings in a certain grid area and if the total readings don't add up to what is being supplied to the grid they will know that somebody is stealing power.

And BCHydro it is getting ready for the upcoming demand for recharging electric vehicles.

There are other benefits, too many to list here.

Hey, the city seemed to be all over this last snow fall. When was it, four days ago? Looks like they have done a faster job this time. Nice going P.G. Thanks.

Palopu: are you starting a new political party or system? Just wondering.

Lock up your children, board up the windows! Smart Meters are taking over the wooooooooorrrrlllllldddddd!

Acopolympics,
Maybe try a mineral claim or snag a trapline and have all of the conveniences of land ownership with none of the inconveniences.

Acopolympics,
Maybe try a mineral claim or snag a trapline and have all of the conveniences of land ownership with none of the inconveniences.

I am seriously thinking of the mineral claim route since I have my freeminers license. Just trying to decipher what is and what isnt allowed on a placer claim, as far as improvments or buildings.

Either Quebec or BC has the lowest hydro rates in the country, but that doesnt keep people from whining! Lower rates, less taxes, more services, less gravity! The only thing missing is Bill Murray because its the same thing over and over again.

Clearly what we need to do is elect leaders that are professional magicians so they can magically create resources and take care of us so we dont have to take care of ourselves!

Oh but wait all these new leaders will do is build enourmous free stages so their fomer magician colleagues can make millions on shows! Life would be soooo much easier if everyone wasnt out to screw me over! I am just a simple taxpayer waiting for the government to fix all my problems! POOR ME!

All these runing dogs live off the avails of the taxpayers. They are in a postion to pass legislation etc; that allows them to screw you. They have little or no concern about the average Joe/Jane.

There are many lower income/seniors/middle income/ people who can no longer afford this kind of BS. And even if they could the Government DOES NOT have to right to continue to tax you to the hilt, just because they can.

People who are living high off the HOG tend not to be too concerned about how others are doing. Thats one of the reasons we have Governments. They should ensure that all the Citizens are being treated fairly.

Instead we get a bunch of hosers, who think that Government means Gambling Casinos, Selling off Government property, Setting up entities and appointing their friends to run them, shafting us on user fee's, ie; Ferrys, Transit, Airlines; Roads, Fishing, Hunting, Hydro, Gas, etc; etc;

Its like feeding a bunch of bloody aligators. Every day you have to throw in a huge amount of red meat to keep them going. With the Government its money, money, money.

The original intent of Government was to work for the people, while the people worked. It has now morphed into the people working to support a Government that doesnt work. Get my drift???

Why was the conversation about private contractors using city sanding materials removed from this forum?


I don't recall anything "unclean or illegal" in any of the content.


or did I miss some posts after the fact that were not acceptable?

acopolympics..... get a special use permit for an organic potato farm .... :-)

then build a shed for your tools ....

a room to eat lunch in ....

a sleeping room ......

one step at a time ..... :-)

Or .... if you get it bordering a lake .... bring in a house boat ....

sand is dirty .....

This is getting bad, a Smart Meter tracks your KWH at a Time of Day and also is able to send this Info back to the Billing Office, nothing more nothing less, it does not care if you plug in a 10KWH Range or tour Clock Radio, a Kwh is a Kwh is this clear now. This is a great Money Maker for our Lord Hydro, no more Meter Readers and selling the same KWH at different Rates, we got Screwed by Lord Hydro. Telus or the old BCT uses the same , different Rate for Time of Day, it took Hydro many Years to implement this, what a Waste of good working Meters and so much Bull to sell this to the Public !

Heres the reason why: it pissed off city worker, it was clean and legal! no names no plates of the involed parties. it just shows you that corruption in our city can silence even op250!

FYI City was notified (package was droped off to 18th ave yard in december)with photo's and days and times of incident but nothing ever happend.

I have removed your comments posted on under from this morning's 'Friday Free For All', due to the threat of legal action...

The editor, Ben Meisner, is away and you are more than welcome to question my decision with him, when he returns in one week's time. Right now, I am taking this action to safeguard Opinion250 and you.

Seperate from this, I was asked to contact you on behalf of the City's Manager of Streets Operations, Mick Jones. He says the city takes such allegations very seriously and he would be more than happy to receive any information you wish to pass on.

What? You mean Smart Meters aren't going to make my life easier? That was my last hope...:)

Seems to me that someone is reading more into this story than it deserves.

The only 'allegation' that should have been derived from my post is that people steal from the City of Prince George...no different than people shoplifting from a store. The city has hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of dollars of inventory and people steal from them all the time.

No where in my post was there a mention of corruption or even a suggestion that a civic employee was involved.

If I was to personally witness a theft and was confident that my assessment of the situation was correct I would be the first one to notify the proper officials.

For smart gas meters, you could heat a basement room filled with rocks at off peak times, say between noon and 4pm, and then allow the air to circulate over the rocks to pick up the stored heat and push it through the house during the peak hours. ..... ;-)

Why would I use rocks I have a basement full of bricks and on the main floor of my home. I could build a fire in these piles of brick and really save a bundle but I guess the City would put me in jail for polluting the atmosphere. And you tell us I could use electricity. How could I do that and would the bricks have a chip in them to record when they are being heated..

Another observation I have made and that is that Pal is really serious and out campaigning and for what party would that be for ?
Cheers

This is in the defense of the contractor with the white truck and red sander. This story is untrue! It doesnt seem fair that you will post the story of this so called alligation, (which is getting out of hand),yet you wont post the truth!

There has not been a strong case made for spending one billion on smart meters. This is a whole lot of money for what?

It didn't take long for PG to get our potential gazillion dollar new cop shop underway. Any time line for a new fire department building next to or near the Coliseum to have a reno? Methinks the local fire dept. doesn't have the "whatever it takes" to get the powers that be to get them a first rate standard firehall built. If all else fails the city can buy those tents they sell at Costco and maybe a used portable classroom to house our fire dept. Some good landscaping to offset the appearance. Raising taxes in this 'burg is an annual ritual. I hope I haven't given hizzoner Danno and the crew any new taxation ideas.

To 'lifes too short'.

What is the truth?

What I read is that an observation was made and an explanation was requested. What I have derived is that no explanation has been given - hence the story.

If you know the truth then share it. That should end the story.

I also kwow that there is more than one white truck with a red sander in town....kind of complicates things a bit.

It is sad that when evidence is lacking we assume someone is guilty.

The truth shall set you free! (I read that someplace!)

One has to really admire the civic courage of the Egyptian people today. Class act of a revolution IMO. A model for the rest of the middle east.

I think this event was largely driven by the Egyptian governments steadfast support of the regime for the siege on Gaza and the starving of the Palestinians. The Mubarak regime is widely seen as a Israeli pawn. A democratic Egypt won't stand for that, and the Gaza boarders will be opened... its only a matter of time before Israel will have to recognize that its collective punishment will never produce security.

I hope in the future Canada in regards to Gaza is on the right side of history supporting Canadian values like the rule of law, democracy (even though ours isn't perfect), and equality of individuals before the law. Canada has never supported collective punishment until Harper came along, and one can only hope that Harper begins to reevaluate his policy in that part of the world.

Harpers support of the regime through this punishing 80 million Egyptians in the name of security for Israeli policy was wrong. Through his policy on Tunisia he showed there was no out for Mubarak other than to cling to power as an Israeli proxy, and then proceeded to support the status quo in Egypt to the very end. It showed how the Prime Minister of Canada can have a ideological agenda for a foreign state that can trump Canadian values when it comes to middle east politics.

Egypt gives hope to the whole region IMO for a peaceful resolution of the Israel-friendly dictator problem. Between Egypt and Turkey now aligning to change the middle east we would be wise to give fair evaluation of the changing circumstances there.

I suggest we start basing our foreign policy on Canadian values and not on power politics of dictators the repress their people, making billions in the process... for ideological agenda's of places like Israel.

Acopolympics, I've dealt with Dave as well. Very ignorant personality with way to much power and authority. He said no to me the minute I opened the door, and I hadn't even set foot in the place yet... I said you don't even know what I'm here to ask... he said it didn't matte... 'nope'. Then I proceeded to ask a question and he told me I didn't have a pot to piss in so don't waste my breath... I guess he has special powers or something? Told me land resource is based on government revenue and they only work with large corporations because they are the only ones that respect the rules and pay the bills.

I assure you if I ever enter politics and had the power, then guys like that would be fired as soon as I could. Replaced with a system that respects the rights of citizens, and the equalization of opportunities for citizens to create value out of our land base as well.

Strange thing is Pat Bell originally ran for politics talking about using clear cuts for future farm land opportunities... then became Land Resource Minister... then helped user in regulations blocking citizens from accessing crown land such as clear cuts. I always figured that was a huge betrayal.

lifes too short, please do tell the truth of the matter, if you are in defence for the contractor you must know of the situation because there are a few white trucks and only one has a connection with cpg. for legal purposes the company cannot be named at this time. All we want is the truth pictures prove the alligations. so tell us why and we can end this. So far all we can see its thieft and should be delt with. sand salt isn't cheap and why should the tax payers pay for your product.

I had a good laugh when I saw the driver of a Telus van talking on his cell phone while driving up 15th Ave. Obviously this new law doesn't pertain to the company that provides so many of us with cellular service.

Finally someone is looking into my concerns but it shouldn't have taken pubic notice for it to be looked at!

I had a good laugh when I saw the driver of a Telus van talking on his cell phone while driving up 15th Ave. Obviously this new law doesn't pertain to the company that provides so many of us with cellular service.

What is a political scientist? I am confused by the word political and scientist being used together. Maybe it has something to do with climate research being politicized by corrupt scientists scamming for money . Just wondering.

Oops.. So nice I posted it twice!

Eagleone posted: "One has to really admire the civic courage of the Egyptian people today. Class act of a revolution IMO. A model for the rest of the middle east."

It ain't over yet ........ the military is hand picked as always .... people in poltical power hate to lose it .... the likelyhood of moving from one dictatorship to another is pretty high.

I agree gus. To be honest, I think the difficult part now starts for the Egyptian people. They need to keep the pressure on because you just know there are some equally corrupt and/or dangerous groups out there just waiting to seize control and have their way with things. I do admire the courage those people have shown though and I really hope that their efforts do result in some genuine positive change.

Some other random thoughts:

- Perhaps the user fees of today wouldn't be so high if income taxes hadn't been reduced every year for the last little while. All one has to do is look at their returns from a number of years back and they'll see the proof. Hey, be careful what you wish for.
- No gus, I don't think anyone is paying attention to what will happen when the AAC is reduced. The reason, IMHO, is that it will bring a dose of reality to the "forestry is great and so are our exports to China" stories. Forestry is going to be hurting BIG TIME within a handful of years and it will stay that way for even longer. Any young person working in that industry right now should step back (and not listen to the politicians or guys running the mills) and take a common sense look at what is going to occur. If there are no trees, it's going to be hard to have an industry that relies on them.

in response to verballabel, a couple weeks ago driving south on highway 97, first light after the bridge a small white car turned on to the highway in front of me, it couldn't decide which lane so it took both traveling about 40 km/h. As I drove past I saw the driver holding up his cellphone at arms length, he was texting!!The logo on the door BC SAFETY AUTHORITY.

Hey PrinceGeorge!!!

Take a pill and go buy yourself a sense of humour.

First of all, where are these so called pictures? Dont you think if there in fact were really pictures that this would not have already been dealt with? Second of all whoever started this ridiculous rumor should get their facts straight, this contractor uses big rock from rolling mix not sand that the city uses. The city yard also has surveillance, so dont you think they would have seen this and caught on by now? In the end its just an unhappy person starting trouble. Jeaulosy will get you nowhere!

Hey Dragonmaster, stop posting the kind of nonsense which reveals that you should check the stuff you are smoking!

Boycott "farmed salmon"

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaa,Mr Miesner PrinceGeorge is bullying me! Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!

Like I posted above you goof!

I`v had a smart meter since the day I was born...I just stand out my front door,and if I can piss further that you...I`m smarter...

Kelowna, new hospital being built, 750 million!!!!!. Oh right lots of old politicians in that area.