We CAN SAY NO to Smart Meters **SPREAD THE WORD**

[cwatkins]

Originally Posted by rayjay

The only complaint I have with them is the added cost of the electricity.
If I move all use to the night period, except for fridge/freezer etc... I will be paying more than I am now.
However, I don't want to eat only at night or watch TV or listen to the radio while I'm sleeping.

Fortunately they're not talking about time of day billing for us here in BC. Now that's not to say after the next election, the next government (or same government) could change their minds.

But I think because BC isn't a very big importer of electricity, then we don't have to worry too much about peak demands as we can handle the provincial load pretty well. Especially with new generation capacity coming online over the next little while (Mica and Revelstoke upgrades, IPP's, northern wind farm, etc). And in the next 5 to 10 years, we can potentially see Site C coming online.

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

When I lived in Powell River (1997-2001), BC Hydro was already doing time-of-use billing.

Don't fool yourself. If they think they can generate more $$ with t-o-u billing, they will. These types of promises mean NOTHING!!!! Remember, NO HST? They just have to convince the government that it will generate more $$ that can then be added to the provincial budget and viola, Time-of-Use billing for everyone!

We're already getting screwed by the lower rate/higher rate system because unless you're a single person without reef tanks, there is almost no way to avoid being mostly billed at the higher rate. It's even worse for us since we share the Hydro bill with the people upstairs and so that lower limit is reached very fast with two households using it up, and then everything else is billed at the higher rate.

Personally, I'm not too worked about the wi-fi signal. It's the open door to T-O-U billing that scares me. I KNOW its just something they don't want people to think about but its in the works. Guaranteed. If they already find it worthwhile to do it in a tiny community like Powell River for well over a decade, how the BC Hydro execs must be drooling at imposing the same billing policy on the rest of us poor saps. And then you'll really be seeing a lot of reef tanks going on sale as people can no longer afford their electric bills.

A 20-30% jump will be a tipping point for a lot of reefers (if not the reefers themselves, then their non-reefing spouses).

OK, enough of an essay. Didn't want to join the debate till I saw what everyone is worried about over smart meters.

Anthony

[Reef Pilot]

We have A/C for our house, and the biggest draw on that is in the evening in the summer. The back (kitchen and family room, and master bedroom upstairs) faces the northwest, so worst possible scenario if they bring this in. However, if we can see our electricity draw over a day, or better yet in real time, on our computers, then we still have a chance to manage it, and minimize those costs. Our house is fairly large, so retains its heat (and coolness) for quite some time. Maybe we can cool it a few degrees extra, just before the higher cost time kicks in.

We also have a hot tub that runs all winter, and we could set a timer to shut that off at peak times (unless we are using it).

In the end we all have to pay for whatever BC Hydro costs are (since they aren't allow to make a profit). So if this allows them to lower their costs, and reduce the amounts of electricity they have to buy at peak times from Alberta (yes, BC is a net importer of electricity), then I am all for it.

[mike31154]

Careful not to confuse time of day billing with tiered use billing. Not sure how long ago it was implemented here, but BC Hydro has been billing us on a two tier system for a while now. Rounding numbers up to the nearest cent, they charge me 7 cents per kW.h for the first 1376 kW.h. If I use more than that during the billing period, step 2 kicks in at 10 cents kW.h. So far I haven't reached step 2 during any billing period to date. This type of billing provides users some incentive to not waste energy, since it's to your advantage to try & stay within the step 1 bracket.

The City of Vernon has started the same billing method for water use, with Tiers A, B & C. Needless to say, once you hit Tier C with water use, things get a little pricey per M3. There won't be quite as many lush green lawns in the Vernon area in the years to come. Not necessarily a bad thing, since the Okanagan is an arid place in the summer & water is a precious resource in these parts.

As far as power rates go, we're fortunate in BC to have some of the lowest rates anywhere. We're spoiled & it's easy to get up in arms about potential rate hikes. I think what I'm trying to point out here is that regardless of smart meters, there are plenty of ways for the government & utilities to squeeze the $$$ out of the taxpayer & user, smart meters themselves are not going to change that fact. Best thing to do is take advantage of the functions the smart meter makes available to you the user in order to monitor usage & in the end, cost of what you use.

[no_bs]

The city of New Wesminster said no thanks to smart meters. HHHMMMM.

[msjboy]

Folks,

Forget about health issues of the RF.... it's all about money.

As you may know, BC Hydro wanted to raise rates 7% /yr over the next few years. However, this may not be necessary as the new meters is a cash cow in itself:

I think BC Hydro is now making a killing just from the exact rates as opposed to an approximate rate from the old meters. I know this as my monthly statements are way up from last years just as the previous post from the other reefer!!

If you just want to save money, forget about health, just say "no" to the new meters when they come knocking on your down... you actually can! My inlaws said no install and they did not put it in (.. they will eventually have to put it in but when, I can't say ). Probably, BC Hyrdo wants to be the good guy and say, no 7% rate hikes.

msjboy

[reefermadness]

TOU billing is coming.....to everyone, in every province. The only question is when.

[Lampshade]

Haha, my meter was installed today while I was at work and typing about this. As for Hydro making oodles of money, it's s crown corporation, they can not make a profit, if they do, they have to give it back to the province in one form or another.

[philg3]

Originally Posted by rayjay

The only complaint I have with them is the added cost of the electricity.
If I move all use to the night period, except for fridge/freezer etc... I will be paying more than I am now.
However, I don't want to eat only at night or watch TV or listen to the radio while I'm sleeping.
February Rates
7pm until 7am $.062/kWh
11am until 5pm $.092/kWh
7am until 11am and 5pm until 7pm $.108/kWh
Old Rates
$.068 for first 600kWh and $.079 over 600kWh
Interim time of use bill (lower intro rate) for 2094kWh was $161.54 and would have cost $158.85 under the old billing, and with the February 1 full rate for TOU it would be up to $206.76 which ends up being a 30% increase.

This has already happened back east, its going to get expense to run our tanks during peak periods.

My plan is to reverse photo periods!

[vaporize]

Originally Posted by philg3

This has already happened back east, its going to get expense to run our tanks during peak periods.

My plan is to reverse photo periods!

It's already happening in Ontario, my tanks doesn't turn on until 7pm .. and run till 3:30am or so