Smart Meters are worse than you think (UPDATED)

I learned the hard way what's happening with smart meters in Europe. The same type of smart meter they're using here in France has already been deployed in many EU countries.

Mostly, we hear only about the negative health effects of wireless smart meters, but the ones here only send data back over the power lines.

In short, with a smart meter, you may end up with less juice to power stuff, and more frequent main breaker trips as people exceed their (now reduced) capacity.

Credits: A BIG thank you to Wes Marquenie for making me smarter!

[lomgshorts]

"Broadband Over Power Lines" we call it here in the States. The power Company can remotely shut off your power at will for ANY reason. Your fault, their mistake - it doesn't matter, suddenly you are literally in the dark. It is a problem that is completely unfair and should be illegal.

[harleyleitch]

I am in New Zealand and our power company tried to bully me into getting smart meter after I refused it . 2 days later a power dude was in my back yard with his tool box ready to install it .I just reminded him if he touches my meter box he will get assaulted .he packed his stuff and left . Stay viligant people don't let them bully you

[db]

As soon as I had my power company removed our smart meter and replaced it with an older style meter, our bill dropped significantly to where it had averaged the past 30 years. That was really great after it went up 300% after it was installed.

[critterfestsanctuary]

The power company installed a smart meter on my house. When I had them remove it, all at once my crazy screaming Roosters stopped crowing and calmed down.

[johnwilkins]

There is no such thing as a free smart meter, the cost of it is included in your bills, that's why your bills increase

[lordmoldybutt]

As apprentice electrician I'd say these are more in the favor of the distributor than the consumer.

[RWBHere]

No mention of the RF interference that these things are causing. This makes it virtually impossible for many people to use sensitive amateur radio receivers and short wave receivers. They're on a much higher frequency than Short Wave, but the interference goes right through the radio spectrum from LF upwards. Have you noticed how much poorer the quality of sound is on your AM radio over the past few years? We’re in the U.K., and used to listen to BBC Radio 4 on 198kHz very regularly. It's now almost impossible to hear the audio at times, because of the really high levels of noise, which is mostly from smart meters. DAB broadcasting covers some of the lost service, but not all of it. And DAB radios use more power than analogue receivers.

[brucevolk]

I have operated a metal fab shop doing a lot of welding. We did a experiment with our spot welder. With a spot welder there is a almost instantaneous high current draw. With the old wheel meter the wheel just moved quickly but with the new one the kw usage stays on for around 2 seconds after the load stops charging me 2 extra seconds for that draw. Now I know 2 seconds don’t sound like a big deal but the welder draws around 2kw. It is not uncommon to cycle this machine over 1000 times a hour. Now do the math! Long story short my bill has risen around 15%. I have expressed my concern to the utility company and was told it is impossible for the new meter to bill be the extra 2 seconds and that I could not get back my old style meter. There is absolutely no doubt this is happening when I compared old bills. Once again the big institution wins! Just raise my prices I guess but this is complete BS! Makes you wonder how much more these organized criminals are stealing from the general public across the country.

[Damienwyatt]

I own a small detail shop, power company came by and installed smart meters and told me I had no say so about it and that all businesses were getting smart meters before they do home owners. Within a month all of my large air compressors were dead. I called a repairman who before he even looked at the compressor, checked the voltage coming to the building. Most large equipment needs 240-250v, which is what I had prior, now it was topping out at 230v. That made my compressors overheat and fried the motors. I called the power company and basically they told me tough luck. I was advised to hire an electrician to evaluate my power needs and he would have to tell them to up my voltage which they would then charge me a heck of a lot more for. So yeah, dude is spot on about how bad they are.

[The_Mimewar]

Amazing how I started using more power after they installed a smart meter

[troyb]

Once your health is else matters. It is the #1 consern

[RetroTech]

Another Issue - watched a tear down video and these smart meters and they can measure True, Apparent and Reactive power thanks to KVA billing.
Simply put, you can be billed more for using the same wattage.

[KnightRider]

They usually like to harm your health using your money.

[ishka]

I had crazy and constant headaches and was nervous all the time when I slept near one for almost a year and had no other electrics nearby in the room or out of the room in the corridor. The only thing constantly on was that smart meter. As soon as I requested it to be removed because of other issues with it I noticed my headaches were gone and I was a LOT calmer. Never will this be near my body again!

[boosteddiesel]

I’ve seen one of those smart meters opened up. They are very complex. They have a full board with a processor, memory, modem, SIM card and antenna in the uk. Also a big circuit breaker so theoretically they could remotely cut you off.

[ev-olution]

Strangely enough in Germany we are asked if we want smart meter or just a standard electronic meter. I think they mentioned that installing smart meter conflicts with their strict personal data protection laws.

[BronyumHexofloride]

i love the way people are lording this as a great thing... its putting meter readers out of work and extending the lines at the social security/ Job seekers office and reducing the Actual total capacity is just bad busness, we get ripped off enough for our energy without British gas treating critical resorces like mobile data

[yaddayadda]

This is an old post I notice but still non the less I am in the uk....my neighbour for 21 yrs was a tight ass never renewed or updated his deco or looked after his garden... I guess as was lucky as technology has never been anything Thts really interested me....I have wifi Thts about it...I don’t even have my microwave plugged in....my neighbour recently sold his house and a young individual moved in and had the two old metres removed and replaced with a smart metre....it’s been three weeks and from day one I have felt it...insomnia, waking up to buzzing, coughing in the middle of the night from nowhere randomly (only night time)...ringing in my ears, crackly bubbly ears, head ache... I’ve never had a headache in my life... feeling like am under water and hearing my own heart beating...I keep getting hot flashes through my body....I obv looked into all these symptoms and smart metres are bad for ppl with any metal in their body and I have a titanium hip!...I asked the neighbour politely if she would consider removing it, she said No as she had just had it fitted she knew my views on them before she even had it installed.... I asked the guy who fitted it about them and he said I needed to ask her to get a cover for it.... even the guy who fits them won’t have one in his own house!!...I spoke to my neighbour again who told me the metre takes two weeks to be switched on (which I did not believe as I was having all these symptoms) so I contacted her supplier who confirmed the metre is on immediately but it takes up to two weeks for them to gain a connection.... I live in a property that is 34ft long and 16ft wide I am between two other houses and her metre is back to back with my porch... when I sit down to watch tv am literally two metres away from it... when I sleep at night I am 3mtrs above it... I do not know what to do as my health is in somebody else’s hands... but I am looking into it... it’s not right.... When I wrote to her supplier I pretended I was interested in a smart metre and asked about a faraday cage and she advised me not to get one as it would interfere with the connection!!.... one main question that after several emails back and forth they keep failing to answer is the coverage of RF the metres give off... has anybody else had the same

[charleslong]

I don’t understand it. We have washed out our education system to where people who are functionally illiterate can graduate high school. They cannot find jobs, go on relief rolls, or sell drugs, do something illegal to get by. It doesn’t take even a high school graduate to read a meter. What’s wrong with employing these people? The cost of paying high-paid computer programmers and high-paid electrical engineers to make the smart meters could be diverted to low-paid meter readers.

[TXLoneStar_]

I live in a 1500 sq ft 2 story house with a 3.5 ton HVAC AC system. It's sprayed foamed to r 19 in the walls and R 60 in the attic.
The House is pretty much an igloo. Completely sealed. Extremely insulated. Light grey metal roof which is highly reflective. Last year our highest bill was 175.00..and that's in a Texas Summer..13 days of 100 degrees weather. Very Hot. Bill was never over 175.00 even using all electric appliances.
After the install of this Smart Meter..bill jumped up to 450.00. What the hell? I called CPS energy provider out to check the meter because something was wrong. They found no fault with the meter..I showed them past bills using the old mechanical meter..They had no explanation. I'm going back to the mechanical meter and pay the extra 20.00 per month..This is just stupid.