Energy savings can be achieved without PG&E's disastrous SmartMeter devices
| Monday, Sep 21 2009 07:29 PM
Last Updated Monday, Sep 21 2009 07:31 PM
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President Obama made it a cornerstone of his economic stimulus package. Thomas Friedman wrote about it in his bestselling book "Hot Flat and Crowded." And now even Google is getting in on the act. They believe a "smart" electricity grid is key to stopping global warming and reducing our energy dependency. Consumer advocates are not convinced.
The high-tech and energy industries are leading the charge for the smart grid as if cost were no object. They propose to add billions of dollars to your electricity bills to invest in a "21st century" electric grid. By allowing your utility company to monitor and control electricity remotely, they claim we can reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gases, integrate individual rooftop solar installations and accommodate intermittent wind resources. And create jobs doing it.
The smart grid promises greater reliability because electric companies will know the exact location of power disturbances and be better able to respond to problems. Laudable goals, but they can be achieved at a fraction of the price.
Digitized computer technology has already greatly advanced old-fashioned equipment on the electrical distribution grid. Utilities across the country, including PG&E and Southern California Edison, have been installing this new equipment without fanfare for years.
It also promises better delivery of renewable energy, but the truth is that full deployment of renewable energy will require transmission upgrades regardless of any technological ones.
The shiny centerpiece of the smart grid is a "smart meter" that would be installed in every single home in the U.S. Automatic reductions in energy usage will supposedly follow because every home would also have a computer program that allows every electrical device in that home to respond to wholesale electric prices transmitted through the "smart meter." In California, utility customers are already being charged over $4.5 billion for the "smart" meters and other fancy equipment that are only the first steps for this vision to become reality.
The first steps have been disastrous in Bakersfield, where customers are complaining of inexplicably higher bills since the installation of their expensive new meters. TURN originally opposed funding for PG&E's SmartMeters because there was no evidence they were a good investment for consumers. Even if they work properly, SmartMeters aren't all that smart by themselves.
For the meters to provide detailed information on energy usage, individual purchases of more expensive equipment are necessary. In order to use the meter to access electricity pricing information 24/7, every home will also need to buy communications devices, computers, high-speed Internet access, special thermostats, special chips for their appliances and other automated equipment. The cost of retrofitting or replacing existing appliances could be astronomical, and obviously out of reach for many people.
SmartMeters represent a high-cost, high-tech approach where a less expensive and more expansive one will do. The best way to address global warming -- and higher electric bills -- is already available, and it is called conservation. It's as simple as:
* Turning your thermostat up a few more degrees on hot summer days.
* Putting all the energy vampires, electrical devices that suck up energy while on standby, on power strips.
* Installing more efficient light bulbs and appliances where feasible and affordable.
* Special discounted electric rates for consumers who agree to have their A/C cut back automatically on a few days a year, which are already reducing problematic peak load in California and across the country.
We can make energy savings available to all at a fraction of the cost by modernizing the grid we have, better educating consumers about tried and true conservation measures, and promoting innovative programs and technologies that are cost-effective. An updated grid where the "smarts" will come from consumers rather than from an expensive device controlled by your utility company.
Marcel Hawiger is an energy attorney with TURN, The Utility Reform Network, a nonprofit utility consumer advocacy organization.
