[Boatanchors] "Smart" Electric Meters

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

On Fri, May 9, 2008 at 10:39 AM,  <RKofler at aol.com> wrote:
> I read yesterday in a newspaper article that my  local electric utility
> company, Portland General Electric Co., is raising the  rates to pay for installing
> so called "smart electric meters". The article did  not go into any technical
> detail, but it said these meters would be able to be  read remotely and
> eventually they would have a situation where they could  remotely regulate some
> aspects of customers power usage during peak hours. My  concern is that these
> meters will be a source of RF interference similar to BPL.  Anybody have
> experience with these "smart meters"?

Roger, I had a chat recently with my meter-reader about this topic,
thinking they would be changing over to the type that they can read
from the street by simply passing by (my water meter is already
updated to emit a signal to the reader). He said that they will
instead be going to meters that will send signals over the power
lines, ala BPL. But from what I gathered, they've been doing similar
things for years without issue.

BPL seems to be more of a 'more users/more often' situation.

~ Todd,  KA1KAQ