Laundry after Lunch While the Kids Nap? Don’t Even Think About It….
If you are a stay-at-home parent doing chores, or if you have a house-cleaner during the week, or if you work as a home health aide, or if you are a seasonal caretaker responsible for multiple properties, did you know that the utility company is going to surcharge electricity use during peak hours? In 2007, the New England states designated that peak rates will take effect from 7 am until 11 pm weekdays.
The not-so-smart meter program, which is a component of the not-so-smart grid, will enable the utility company to charge tiered pricing for time of use.
Where were you at the end of May this year?
If you were among the millions on U.S. college students and seasonal tenants, you were probably moving. Hopefully, you washed clothes, and ran the vacuum cleaner, although there was a heat wave in the Northeast. You probably didn’t’ cook a roast in the oven all day; you consumed electricity because you wanted to leave the space clean.
If you had been participating in the smart grid program with a utility company, you may have been charged 13.6 times the base rate for electricity. That is what residents who ran their AC on 5 critical days in the Fitchburg Smart Meter Pilot Program were charged.
Or, you may not have been able to turn on your dryer, because the utility company will eventually remotely override appliances. As a vacating tenant, if you only had one load of laundry to run, and not in the middle of moving, it wouldn’t be a big problem. But if you had 3 loads of laundry and linens to wash on your final day, and the air to too damp to dry your clothes outside, you would be in trouble.
The Smart Meter program is being sold to consumers as a green and sustainable initiative, but it is proving to be exactly the opposite. What is green about the Smart Grid is the money going to for-profit corporations conducting experiments about how customers respond to pricing incentives and tariffs.
Wireless technologies are energy hogs. Canadian protesters recognize that the utility company wants to restrict its supply locally and sell the generated electricity at a profit in another market during peak periods. No energy is actually conserved in this game of mirrors; instead, it is consumed at a different time. The smart grid is a high stakes poker game and anyway you slice it, citizens are financing the gamble. In Maine, rather than saving $25M, the Smart Meter program will cost $99M over 20 years, and an 8% rate increase has been requested. The program discriminates against anyone living in their home during the day, including shift workers, stay at home parents, and the elderly. Massachusetts residents who do not want to continue paying the price for the Smart Grid with their health, time, environment or money deserve an opt-out. Support Bill H2926.
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