[opendtv] Re: News: Plugging Into the Net, Through the Humble Wall Outlet

At 9:00 AM -0700 10/28/04, Kon Wilms wrote:
>Time of day pricing? That just blew it right there. Now my broadband
>comes for less but my power costs more. Supposedly. I suspect they will
>make up the lost charges in unfathomable line-items. No doubt we will
>still be charged for 'meter reading'.

Not so fast Kon. I have been involved in projects in this area for 
more than a decade. We have a law here in Florida that requires 
electric utilities to use information technology to manage the system 
load so that generators can be brought on line in an efficient 
manner. One of the goals of this program is to provide the utilities 
with the ability to manage peak loads in an intelligent manners so 
that we DON'T wind up  in the same situation as California, with 
rolling blackouts.

Time of day pricing is already commonplace with big power users. It 
is not a case of raising power rates, but rather, providing 
incentives for big users to schedule their activities during off peak 
hours when there is plenty of excess capacity. The same can apply to 
consumers.

One aspect of this is voluntarily giving the power company the 
ability to temporarily turn off big power consuming appliances (AC 
and electric water heaters) when needed to manage peak usage. Another 
aspect is providing consumers with the tools needed to take advantage 
of off-peak rates. For example, running washing machines and dish 
washers overnight, rather than during peak consumption periods.

Meter reading is a MAJOR expense for electric utilities. As with most 
technology changes, we will reach a point where it will be less 
expensive for the utility to install automated meters,  than to 
continue paying people to physically read your meter. Actually, I 
think we may have passed that point sometime during the last decade, 
but you need the rest of the infrastructure (like the part that the 
FCC just approved) to justify the total system cost.

In the end, the numbers actually work out very well. The big payoff 
is that we can get off of the treadmill of building expensive new 
generation capacity to deal with the limited number of peak demand 
periods that bring us to the brink of blackouts.

We have a public utility that is already up to their ears in IT 
initiatives. They just put fiber on their polls to serve big 
customers.  There are public utilities all over the country just 
waiting for the opportunity to compete in the broadband market. This 
is a good thing, which will hopefully bring broadband rates down to 
levels that are better matched to the actual cost of providing the 
service.

Regards
Craig
 
 
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