City of Naperville is $2.8 million over budget on the Smart Meter project, according to a City Manager’s Memorandum published April 19, 2013.
See the last line of the screen print below.
“Why are federal government stimulus programs underwriting billions of dollars of “dumb” smart meters for utility companies – with taxpayer dollars – meters that will soon be obsolete and not integrate with, or enable the “smart” grid of the future on which U.S. energy sustainability depends?”
February 13, 2013: “EDF Energy has teamed up with Imperial College London to trial the new idea known as “day ahead electricity alerts”. ”
“The year-long trial aims to find out whether people are prepared to do their washing, tumble drying, and other electricity intensive tasks on windy days or at off peak times when green power is cheap and plentiful.
“The 1,000 customers taking part, who already have smart meters, will be told by text message or an alert on their smart meter display when they can expect electricity prices to be cheaper.
“The results will be published next year, and if the trials are successful, they could pave the way for utilities to introduce new tariffs that encourage customers to make use of electricity at times when energy is at its cheapest or demand is at lowest.
“The research will show if energy companies can help customers save money on their bills.”
“The UK has to generate a third of electricity from renewables by 2020 to meet EU targets,”
“John Constable, Direct of think tank Renewable Energy Foundation, said building wind turbines has already added money to people’s bills.
“He said putting your washing in on a windy day will not make up for that cost.
“He said it was too late to balance the grid, meaning electricity is frequently wasted because there is too much generated by wind at times of low demand.
“‘This sort of research should have started years ago, before the wind policies got under way, and, though interesting, the announcement is a clear case of too little too late. National Grid is already constraining Scottish wind farms off the system at significant cost to the consumer, and the market data shows that Grid is bracing itself to constrain large offshore wind farms in English waters, such as the London Array, Greater Gabbard, and Thanet, to protect the system in the near future. This will be expensive.’”