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Charlie Riedel / AP file
While the Obama administration and utility companies push forward technology that will make the grid more reliable, efficient, and greener, most consumers are unaware of it. Many that are aware are paranoid about their privacy.
The Obama administration unveiled a string of new initiatives last week that will pump political muscle and federal dollars into the development of the smart grid. Did you miss the news? You're not alone. Most of us don't really know what the smart grid is or care that much about it.
This lack of knowledge about and interest in the smart grid is the biggest impediment to its implementation, the energy consulting firm Black and Veatch found in its annual survey on the electric utility industry.
"That's been a constant problem," Mark Gabriel, a senior vice president with the firm, told me on Monday.
He defines the smart grid as the overlay of computing and communications on infrastructure, a process that has been ongoing for the past 50 years.
These developments have made the grid more reliable, more efficient, greener and supply us with information than can reduce our electricity bills. The utilities have done such a good job, Gabriel argues, that we take a reliable, efficient grid for granted.
"So now when we talk about a smart grid, by implication that means we used to have a dumb grid," he said. "We really don't."
But increases in computing power and customer expectations of what's feasible with that technology have evolved rapidly in recent years. This leaves customers playing catch-up on what the smart grid means for them and, as they learn, a bit paranoid.
Smart meters
For most consumers who have awareness of this technologically advanced electricity infrastructure, the term "smart grid" is interchangeable with smart meter — a device that tracks how much electricity is flowing into a home at regular intervals and reporting that data back to a utility company.
The utilities can then use this information to provide consumers with more detailed billing as they gain a deeper understanding on the power demands in neighborhoods so that they can better manage the flow of electricity, saving themselves and, ideally, the customers, some money.
Just 35 percent of Americans are aware of the phrase smart grid, Ecoalign, a Washington-based energy and environmental marketing agency, found in a recent survey.
This is partly because in many of the regions of the country, the meters haven't been deployed and where they have been utilities have done a poor job communicating the benefits of the technology, Jamie Wimberly, the CEO of Ecoalign, told me on Monday.
But the survey also found that consumers want more engagement with their electricity providers, including information on the benefit of smart meters.
"Many households are already stressed as far as their own finances and they are looking for ways to manage any upward pressure on their pocketbooks," Wimberly noted, adding that electricity rates are bound to rise in the coming months and years.
Smart meter technology holds the promise of helping consumers save on their electricity bills by, for example, allowing consumers to opt-in to pricing schedules that have cheaper rates in off peak hours, such as late at night. Switching tasks such as running the dishwasher then could save a bit of money.
One problem with sharing that level of detail with the utility company is that it can feel like a breach of privacy. You may get a cheaper rate for doing your dishes at two in the morning, but now the utility knows you're doing dishes at two in the morning.
The privacy issue
Anthony Rowe is an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at Carnegie Mellon University who is studying the issue of smart meters and privacy.
On the macro level, he said, smart meters are not much of a problem when they help out utilities with billing and power management. Rather, it becomes an issue when smart meters are hooked up to pieces of equipment inside the house so that devices can talk to each other, so, for example, an energy meter and a smart thermostat that talk to each other
This could be good if you leave on vacation but forget to turn down the thermostat. A smart meter might figure out the house is empty based on low overall consumption and turn down the heat automatically. You could also log on from the beach, drink in hand, and do it remotely.
"The real issue there, though, is how is that information going to be managed?" said Rowe. "Now you have a bunch of other companies which are not necessarily just concerned with billing you with energy data that are going to be getting access to this information."
For example, the highest-tech smart meters available today are sensitive enough for someone who cares to infer not only when you are turning on and off different kinds of appliances — dishwasher, dryer, TV — but potentially even brand of appliances.
While utilities are not all that interested in this information, it could be quite handy for appliance manufacturers, consumer electronics manufacturers, insurance companies, even law enforcement.
Say, for example, the meter picks up on the fact that your refrigerator is on the fritz and the utility company has inferred what brand of appliances you prefer. So, for a fee, the utility sends that information off to the appliance manufacturer, saying it would behoove them to send you a flyer for a new fridge.
Insurance companies could use the electricity data to infer the habits of person applying for life insurance. If it appears that all they do is sit around the house drinking beer and watching TV, they might considered that person a high risk and deny coverage.
"You can imagine there are applications in law enforcement too," Rowe noted. For example, detailed electric consumption rates might tell whether a house is harboring a fugitive. A lot of electricity consumption all day long? That could be a sign of growing something illegal under the lights.
So, as smart meters are rolled out across the country, Rowe said policy makers need to be clear on who has access to the data and give consumers ultimate control over how much information they want released.
"Right now, there is a little bit of a problem with some people being a little paranoid about it, which mostly comes from a lack of understanding," Rowe said.
Gabriel, the Black and Veatch consultant, noted that the paranoia is unjustified. "It is just not the granularity level of big brother watching you through the TV set," he said. "It just doesn't exist."
More on the smart grid:
- Can traffic lights help save energy?
- Smart power tracks electricity use
- 'Smart' meters have security holes
- 'Smart grid' buzz of the power industry
- How smart can the grid get?
John Roach is a contributing writer for msnbc.com. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by hitting the "like" button on the Cosmic Log Facebook page or following msnbc.com's science editor, Alan Boyle, on Twitter (@b0yle).
Leave a Comment:
"Smart Meters" will allow the Electric Company to CUT YOU OFF remotely - whenever they want - they call it LOAD SHEDDING !!! It's part of their strategy for ROLLING BLACKOUTS - famous from the Enron Energy Scandal of a few years ago when some "Smart Fellers" tried to cash in on ARTIFICIAL SCARCITY OF ELECTRICITY !!! Just watch them JACK UP RATES WITH THE "SCARCITY" !!! So it's just another element of CORPORATE FASCISM !!! Beware !!!
Where in the world to you get this information about smart meters allowing companies to cut you off remotely? Do you know how power lines work? Smart meters are just that....METERS. They simply monitor what is going passed them (like the meter on your house does now) except the only difference is that they also have this magical device called a CLOCK to keep track of what time you are using it, so you might say, GET CREDIT for using it at cheaper times. They aren't smart switches, just smart meters. A worker has to come to your house, or neighborhood and physically connect or disconnect a meter or circuit to do this micro blackout scenario you're proposing. If they want to do rolling blackouts of entire sections of a city, they can do that now without any special meters.
Smart meters are not used to load shed. Other devices do this. So one your statements are not correct. Smart meters however, can cut off your energy immediately but the use case for utilities is if you have not paid your bill or if you move out of your house or apartment.
If you think electricity scarcity is artificial then you really have not done your research and commenting on this article to scare consumers is wrong.
Truth Patrol,
This is from:
http://www.smartmeters.com/faqs/1251-what-is-the-importance-of-smart-technologies.html
So yes, JimD is right. They can turn your power on and off remotely. Just wait until the hackers get into the smart grid.
No the smart meters send them signals to know what the consumption is. Other devices or controls turn on and off the appliances. These aren't always controlled by the utility. You have misread the article:
consumers can see the electric usage "information"....this can be a useful feature for "supporting" energy saving decisins such as switching off unneeded appliances. It doesn't say that the utility does it. Informed consumers do the switching off.
So I am sorry economy killer but you are incorrect, the meter is a device that reads consumption and can cut off and on power for the whole home, only to disconnect a customer for billing or move out reasons.
Exactly, Ian. Economykiller didn't read it carefully, or is so predisposed to form an opinion about something he/she is afraid of that he/she jumped to a conclusion that wasn't actually discussed, and isn't even possible.
In the BEST case scenario these smart meters could potentially turn off large consumption items like an air conditioner or something else.....as long as that specially designed device was installed in your house and linked, BY YOU, to your smart meter. The user would have to put this into place for the specific purpose of allowing the utility to do this.
The meter is just that... a meter. It provides feedback to the user so they can understand their usage, and in response to that information, possibly adjust their usage. A smart meter is different than the caveman method we have now, where we just use power, with no idea of how much or to what device or at what time, and then every 2 months some guy walks around the neighborhood to see how much you've used since the last time he/she checked it. Imagine if your cell phone bill was like that! But it's not. The phone company gets to know when you use it, and how much....and they actually have way more info...like who you call, who calls you, even where you are and when. Very important info when looking at your bill. Where's the outrage there?
Paranoia can be unhealthy.
"Smart meters also reduce the amount of money utilities spend on providing services such as readings, connections, disconnections"
What part of that statement doesn't Truth or Ian understand? It clearly states that a smart meter ALSO has the ability to do readings, connections and disconnections, which translates into savings for the utility because they don't have to send out a person to do it. AKA doing it remotely.
I never said that they wouldn't be saving money by not sending people out there. One of the business cases for smart meters are a reduction in operational costs, i.e. rolling a truck out there with a person who has an hourly wage just to read a number on a device that is too dumb to transmit it electronically. I realize there is a people factor here. But what I have seen is some utilities are training those same meter readers to do other jobs within the utility or offering early retirement. At the same time, new jobs are being created in technology field by companies that are producing these types of solutions for utilities. So who is to say that one job is better than the other?
I specifically state that the utility will do connections and disconnections in one of my replies. But the other people who have commented on this article seem to think that meters will shut off their dishwasher or air-conditioner and that is not the case. THere are devices that could use the same communications protocol to do this but the utility needs the consumers permission to do so first. Those types of programs have NOTHING to do with smart meter rollouts to date.
Deregulation and a smart grid equals price gouging!
What truly is the lack of understanding? The Smart Grid has to do with more government spending that will result in more revenue for the electric companies paid for by tax-payers. In the end, 2 to 10 years from now the average home-owner will see that solar has reached Grid-Parity with electric rates. Do you think for a minute that the electric companies will spend their revenue to help home-owners go solar?
It is truly a con-game politicians and utilities and lobbyists are playing on the American public.
Let the big businesses and their supporters fund the Smart Grid if it needs to be funded at all. If the electric company wants to buy electricity from me, they can fund whatever Smart Grid connection they want to fund. Just do not charge me as a tax-payer.
It's a win win people who want to save money will use it, a utility meter is not a breach of privacy, it's a meter plain and simple.
With the average lousy job that big business does on data security, I can foresee a time in the future when thieves can hack into your smart appliances and see if your are home. Think about it, if a thief turns up the thermostat in the hot summer and keeps checking to see if you turn it back down he has info on whether you are home or not! Scary!!!!
The average home theif is no where near intelligent enough to hack into your thermostat.....people that smart are usually EMPLOYED. Theifs usually use much simpler means to dermine if your are home; they see if lights are on or other signs of activity....and better yet, just look for open doors or windows.
And, even in your crazy scenario, you could just as easily turn it down remotely (using the interface you have access to) as easily as the "theif" turned it up remotely....it tells them nothing. It's easier for them to pull up in front of your house and ......LOOK.
"Smart Grid" has nothing to do with the meter at the end of the line! What is this author talking about. The "Smart Grid" is talking about the electric grid as a whole. You can't just change the words from "Smart Grid" to "Smart Meter"! That's NOT the same! To make the "GRID" smart is to let it be able to handle "MAJOR" power outages so that the next electric plant down the line doesn't get overwhelmed when the power goes out in a neighboring area. We are talking big power spikes, nothing a single home could generate! This has nothing to do with the meter at the home. It doesn't even matter if the meter is digital, or the old fashioned analog meters, let along "SMART". The smart meter is a whole other area, which is correctly talked about here, but not what the smart grid is about.
So the electric company controlling your appliances and the police monitoring your electric usage isn't Big Brother?
I also love how the electric company saves money by being able to fire all the meter readers but they get to add a surcharge to make us pay for the smart meters. Why isn't the electric company footing the bill for the meters?
Electric company controlling your appliances? Police monitoring your electric usage? What article did YOU read?
Where does it say anything about that?
Who say's they're aren't?
All I know is that after the power company installed a "smart" meter, my electric bill went up. I'll take the old, "dumb" grid any day.
everyone's bill went up. It wasn't you meter's fault. Your bill would have gone up anyway...
I completely disagree with this statement in the article:
For most consumers who have awareness of this technologically advanced electricity infrastructure, the term "smart grid" is interchangeable with smart meter — a device that tracks how much electricity is flowing into a home at regular intervals and reporting that data back to a utility company.
The author of this article seems to be an uninformed, average consumer themselves. The smart grid is so much more than just smart meters and stating that the terms are interchangable is misleading. Yes, smart meters are the first "accepted" rollout of one part of the smart grid. However, other applications and solutions can be built on smart meter networks or leveraged individually, such as substation automation, distribution management or outage management, demand managment, renewables integration and EV charging integration. As someone with knowledge of the industry I can say that it is easy for me to understand what the smart grid is. But I can also completely understand that the average consumer does not fully understand how the smart grid works and what the benefits are. I agree with this article that the utility needs to do a better job of informing the consumer. When people understand, then there is less resistance. The old saying, knowledge is power. The utility industry is a dinosaur and moves like molasses to adopt emerging technology so it is no secret why the consumer is not fully informed. This movement will take time but I don't see this as fad that will fade out any time soon.
Thank you for pointing this out. The author's conflation of the terms smart grid and smart meter had me questioning my sanity.
We'll all just be Users on The Grid. Gotta love it...
I recall this type of service being sop in the 70's to a few larger corps, in fact there was a specific job description very similar to the smart grid and one small company that offered a similar service that I almost went to work for.
that was 40 some years ago.......
A smart electrical grid....sounds like something that would optimize the distribution of electrical power in the most efficient way.
No. It is a smart meter. I wonder if these are like those in France. Theirs are the key to rationing of power. Their meters continually report to distribution centers how much power is being used by each customer. If one exceeds their plan...they are cut off...until their next allocation period begins. They do this because electricity is in short supply. You don't buy as much as you want. You buy as much as you are allocated.
I expect as we continue to shut down coal fueled generating plants, we will have rationing. It is kind of the master plan...get us off carbon base fuels.
Obama is keeping his promise.
When was the last time you lost power, you called the electric utility and told them. Then they sent someone out to fix it.
With a smart grid, the utility would know there was a power lose, and how big an area was affected. The utility could also tell if transformer on the distribution lines were on the verge of failing and replace them preventing a black out.
MISREPRESENTATIONS OF WIRELESS SMART METERS.
The utility information generated by Wireless smart meters is NOT real-time and it is NOT formatted for customer use so it does NOT assist customers to use less energy or lower their utility bills. The information only assists the Utility Company to bill customers and shut off customer power remotely.
In countries where Wireless smart meters are being installed, energy use is NOT decreasing, customer UTILITY BILLS ARE INCREASING, there are problems with SECURITY, HACKING, ELECTRICAL FIRES & ELECTRICAL INTERFERENCE.
The Utility companies are salivating over eliminating the jobs of the full-time-with-benefit meter reader employees and replacing them with phone operators in India and the Philippines who read scripts to customers over the phone for $4 per day with-NO-Benefits.
Wireless smart meters are NOT mandated by the US Federal Energy Program, as California's PG$E pretends.
42 Cities & Counties in California have taken positions AGAINST Wireless smart meters and 13 have passed Ordinances prohibiting Wireless meter installation.
ALSO: every appliance has or will have its own electronic signature, so yes, Wireless smart meters will give your exact activity information to the utility company and the government will have access to every move you make in your home. Existing analog meters only provide total usage and therefore protect your privacy.
High-tech home robbers (and HIGH-TECH CHILD MOLESTERS) will also hack this information and know exactly your habits and when you are not home (and WHEN YOUR CHILDREN ARE HOME).