NV Energy smart meters; opt out, get charged

NV Energy smart meters, opt out, get charged

Older US residential electric meter location, retrofitted with a 1-phase digital smart meter. The meter communicates to its collection point using 900 MHz mesh network topology. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

There’s been quite a bit of controversy about the new NV Energy smart meters.  Many customers have no issues, however, there are people that simply do not want them.

There have been over 1 million of the NV smart meters installed already and it is estimated that approximately 10,000 residents do not want them installed or want them removed.

NV Energy is looking for a way to work with consumer who wish to opt out. They recently received approval from the Public Utilities Commission to charge customers who wish to opt out. If you do opt out of the NV Smart Meters, it cost the consumer approximately $100 as a one-time fee and $8-10 per month.

Those opposed to the NV Energy Smart meters, and smart meters in general, feel that smart meters overcharge consumers for energy use, private and personal information is broadcast over the network and detailed personal information and energy usage habits is given out to others.

Still others have concerns about smart meters because of potential DNA damage and harm to wildlife.

One big concern about the NV Energy smart meters is that consumers believe that NV has the ability to use their remote “kill switch” to cut off your power.

Do they?

They say that the don’t, sort of.

What they address in the NV Energy smart meter Q & A is the “perceived” ability to kill power to certain appliances. They say that they do not have that capability.

The fact is that smart meters do wirelessly transmit you data over a network and enable 2 way communication and that really can open a whole can of worms.

It certainly provides the companies using the smart meters the very real opportunity to monitor your usage and to make changes, with or without permission, and allows for government intervention.

Some feel that this will lead to increased prices, and they may be right.

When the NV Energy smart meters were installed in my area, I was certainly curious since I embrace technology and wanted to see if the NV Smart Meters could really help me and my family manage our usage.

Here’s what I found.

I can log in and check my current usage and get an approximation of my usage. That is good, however there are no real tools to analyze it.  I have no clue as to what appliance is using how much energy and at what time.

Many times, the system is unable to show my total estimated monthly cost and if you look at the detailed usage, there seems to be 2 or 3 days per month, on average, where there is no reported usage, perhaps the result of a communication glitch?

There has not been a noticeable increase in bills that I have analyzed with the limited tools.

If you want to read about some of the detailed concerns about smart meters in general, including the NV Energy smart meters,  Stop Smart Meters is a great resource.