[RFI] Smart meters

[EDWARDS, EDDIE J]

Jim,

Based on your message I'm sure you already know this.

Factors that affect electric system load (base or peak)--in no particular order:
1.  Building new power plants (or not building in some cases).
2.  New regulations affecting the types of power plants being built.
3.  Consumer usage.

I long for the good old days when utilities could build as many power plants as they thought they would NEED and only worry about the engineering (system load, etc), safety and costs aspects.  Those days are gone (along with my dept. budgets).

The major changes affecting power generation today are regulatory changes.  Utility companies have to balance system base load and peak load requirements against new environmental regulations.  They are walking on an economic tight rope, and consumers (and investors) will feel the pain if or when they slip.  Shifting peak load won't change the regulatory problems, but perhaps make it less painful unless consumers also consider altering their lifestyle just as painful.

My apologies for drifting off topic.  The smart meter thing will eventually work out the technical RFI problems over time.  But meeting power load versus new regulations will probably be far more troublesome due to the politics.

73, de ed -K0iL

-----Original Message-----
From: Jim Brown

On 1/15/2012 10:56 AM, Eddy Swynar wrote:
> It's all for the sake of "conservation" the authorities tell us, but it's more like a cash grab.

Hardly. This thinking ignores the issues of real world power loading.
Power generation and distribution must be built based on worst case peak
demands, and peak demands are during workday daylight hours, and
especially during the summer.  If some large discretionary loading
(running an air conditioner or a clothes dryer,  running a pump to water
crops or a garden, cooking a meal on an electric stove or in an electric
oven) can be shifted from those peak hours to off-peak hours, the power
system doesn't need to build as much capacity.

73, Jim K9YC


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