Naperville Smart Meter Awareness

January 17, 2013:  At the most recent City Council Meeting, the majority of Council authorized additional funds for extra security systems and the final phase of West Monroe Partners services to finalize the Smart Grid project.  This puts the spending about $1.7M over the original $22M budget.  (See Daily Herald article here)

A separate agenda item in the meeting was to approve meter reading contract increase of $371,000.  The purpose of this extra meter reading is expressly for the NSGI.  Why does this extra expense not get added to the $23.7M NSGI tab?

In the meeting, it was stated that an additional project for Conservation Voltage Reduction (CVR) software is not included in this project.  The original sales pitch to the Council included CVR, projecting hopeful savings of $19.3M over 15 years.  What will this software do to prove these savings are occurring?

Video of the City Council meeting agenda item K1 can be seen here from about minute marker 01:40 to 01:57.

The video shows an Arizona woman who’s had inconsistent billing information from Salt River Project, her utility.  They have installed ELSTER meters, the same that the City of Naperville has chosen.

It is surprising to see that SRP installed a COMMERCIAL/INDUSTRIAL (A3) meter on this woman’s home.  Its not even a residential (REX2) meter.   The C&I meters run and transmit at a much stronger power and are thus more likely to cause health problems.

January 9, 2013:  “One option would be to allow customers to keep their traditional, analog meters for an increased price.

“Anne Arundel County residents have complained about potential health consequences that they believe will occur from the smart meters’ radio frequency (RF) emissions. BGE began installing smart meters in April.

“The commission found no “convincing evidence” to support that claim, but acknowledged a “good-faith belief” to the contrary from customers.”

“The companies have until July to provide pricing information for both options. Until the commission decides on which option customers will get, a moratorium on smart meter installation for those wishing to opt-out will continue. ”

Full Story:  http://annapolis.patch.com/articles/ruling-requires-bge-to-provide-smart-meter-options

December 27, 2012:  “The National Security Agency is conducting secret tests on the computer systems of U.S. private sector entities, including public utilities…”

“EPIC, CNET now reports, hopes the new FOIA documents “may help disprove” the  NSA’s argument that Perfect Citizen doesn’t involve monitoring private networks.”

“The level of disclosed spending on offensive and defensive spending by the  Pentagon on cyberweapons and cybersecurity technology for 2012 was $3.4 billion, according to the Post.”

Full Story:  http://dailycaller.com/2012/12/27/report-91-million-spent-on-secret-nsa-tests-probing-domestic-computer-systems/