[RFI] So-Called Utility "Smart Meters"

[Jim Brown]

On Tue, 12 Aug 2008 18:41:32 -0700, rrath wrote:

>"your electric bill will go up 
>because these meters are setup to read a small LED 
>from your tv being off; but the old type is not that 
>sensitive." 

These guys should probably stick to bending pipe. While the bill 
may go up, it will likely be the result of how the meter responds 
to things like current waveform and power factor, and what the 
tariff allows them to do with time of day billing. 

The power drawn by a product that is "off" usually is the result of 
low power loads like monitoring, standby, clock, and display 
circuits, and perhaps the filament in a TV picture tube. 

73,

Jim K9YC