Here at NoGridUSA.org, we are against the Grid in general, however, talk of this Smart Grid was a catalyst for action. The Smart Grid is a nice euphemism.  The NoGridUSA opinion is the Smart Grid is a sheep in wolves clothing.  The Smart Grid is a dose of ‘free market’ thinking thrust upon us by monopolies. Our experimentation with deregulation of utility companies was at best a disaster here in California. Most Electric Utility companies operate as monopoly. In other words, your utility company and only your utility company can sell you electricity. Your Utility Company and only your Utility Company sets prices for you to pay for electricity, even if this must be approved by government regulators. Regulators are hesitant about blocking electric rate increases because they fear the worst: blackouts either real or contrived. Your regulators though, expect some justification of an electric bill hike.  Enter The Smart Grid.

The Smart Grid  promises a lot of things. The first is that your utility can now digitally read your meter and save money on meter reading. This may or may not be true, but there is still a meter reading charge on my bill. The second is that if we as consumers want less expensive power, then we need to purchase power when it is at its cheapest. This is a fundamental free market idea, that on the surface sounds good, but in reality is really not free market at all. A Smart Meter will be able to bill you based on the time of day when you use power. Our utilities tell us that during the afternoon and early evening, everybody wants to use electricity to run air conditioners, stoves, lights, etc. During this time, power costs more than at other times, especially at late night. The Smart Meter will bill you based on what power costs at different times during the day. Peak times, say 3:00PM to  8:00PM could cost 500-1000% more than an early morning or late evening rate.  But as a Customer, in free market speak, I should be able to get what I want when I want it, at the most reasonable price because competition will see that a niche is served. Monopoly: No competition, No reasonable price. Even though you are a consumer of power, you are not looked on as a customer.

Why does power cost more during the times of peak use than other times? There are a couple reasons. 1) The grid becomes overloaded, i.e. the wires can not haul any more electricity and 2) Production capacity to supply electricity to the grid is provided by other electric plants that produce power only when needed at peak times. These ‘peaker plants’ charge much higher rates for electricity since 1) there is demand and 2) the physical plants must be paid for with 6 to 8 hours a day of production verses 24 hour a day production for normal power plants. These peak time problems are solved if we just do not use electricity when we need it, hence, the Smart Grid. The Smart Grid billing of electricity at high rates teaches electrical users to not use electricity during peak times or suffer with high bills. This type of system is the antithesis of what a customer oriented company would work towards. But then again, a monopoly does not have to be customer focused.

Answer to this problem: Get off the grid and produce your own power when you need it, not when a utility decides to offer it to you. Receive your power less expensively than the utility can provide at any time. As electric cars become a greater part of our lives, these pricing variables will become even more important to our lives. It is imperative that we move quickly to do away with the Grid.

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_grid

http://nialljmcshane.wordpress.com/2010/07/04/engaging-the-consumer-in-smart-grid/

http://www.intelligentutility.com/article/10/07/who-believes-smart-grid

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128360080

http://knowledgeproblem.com/2009/10/23/smart-meter-benefits-mostly-going-to-utilities-so-far/

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