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Wednesday, Sept. 1, 2010 | 1:04 p.m.
Beyond the Sun
NV Energy plans to swap out all of its mechanical meters throughout the state with electronic meters as part of the company’s initiative to become more environmentally friendly, a spokesman announced at Tuesday’s Paradise town board meeting.
Edgar Patino, manager for local government affairs at NV Energy, said the Advanced Delivery Project would provide more control over energy consumption for consumers and decrease waste. It would save NV Energy $35 million per year, he said, savings that will be passed on to customers, he said.
Starting this month, NV Energy will begin replacing all of its 1.3 million meters in the state, an effort that will be finished by about March 2012 in Southern Nevada, Patino said.
More than 40 percent of the $301 million project will be paid for by a grant from the Department of Energy. The company will cover the rest.
Patino acknowledged those costs will come from slightly increased rates for customers until the project is completed.
The “vision,” as Patino described it, would eventually allow NV Energy to offer pricing options for consumers to control their energy costs. In theory, a person could set their electricity to shut off during peak hours and regularly check a website to monitor home energy use throughout the month.
Electronic meters would reduce manual meter reads; Patino said NV Energy conducts about 17 million annually. Outages would also be reported to the company more quickly, and the location would be more precise, which would improve customer service, he said.
The new meters would also ease the integration of renewable energy sources and developing technologies, such as electric vehicles, into homes, Patino said.
NV Energy employs about 70 meter readers in the area, and he said that those positions would be eliminated once the transition was done.
However, Patino said those jobs tend to have a high turnover rate, and he said the company hoped to incorporate those remaining employees into other aspects of NV Energy’s operations.
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this is how i see the savings passed off to the customers.
rates will increase, but the customers will get a rebate for the supposed savings as a bill credit, in effect washing out the increase. 2 months later, the kwh rate will go back down, basically hiding the savings, and causing them to keep all the money they saved instead of giving it back to us.
for having a 350 dollar electric bill, i dont want to save these tools money. these lazy punks can waste their time and money and get their rear ends to my house and read the damn meter manually. when i have to pay that much for electricity, they can afford to send out some flunky to write down a few numbers every month.
Causing more unemployment and higher power bills "Until the project is completed" What about all the money they are saving from eliminating 70 positions?
Thanks NV Energy just what we needed.
What's the next price increase excuse???
The meter I have works just fine, and there is no way I'm going to shut-down my power during the day, I work from home.
This sounds like a crock to me. Somebody follow the money trail and see who is getting the profits from these new meters.
Are the meter readers the ones installing the new ones?
NV Energy you know that those 70 people have 70 places that won't be able to afford the power after you lay them off.
You say the power will be affordable for everyone after that so should we all be looking forward to $25 dollar power bills?
This is an effort by NV Energy to be able to charge a higher electricity rate during "peak usage times" Essentially NV Energy will charge a higher rate during the day when everyone is running air conditioners, than at night time. It is being done in California currently. It is definitely a rate increase. Manual meters are not able to track the times which the energy was consumed, they are only able to tally up total energy used. Electronic meters can track when energy was used, and how much, enabling NV Energy to charge higher rates at certain times. I believe they are just looking out for the environment and our best interest. YEAH RIGHT!!!
I like to older ones. If it is electronic, you know someone out there will be selling some counter-measure to reduce the number of watts being consumed. Then we will have to pay for upgrades to stay ahead of the bad guys.
Are you suggesting that people using peak power, which is generally more expensive to generate or acquire, should not pay for such use?
I think this should have read:
"Patino slightly acknowledged that those costs will come from increased rates that will remain even after the project is completed."
during peak power times isnt there more renewable energy available, so shouldnt that balance out the demand?
To Sig20: "these lazy punks can waste their time and money and get their rear ends to my house and read the damn meter manually."
It's called technological advancement. Look it up...
Everyone commenting makes a legitament claim. How is a electronic meter going to provide more control of energy consumption for the consumer. Why wasn't the mechanical one doing the same. Energy saving is control by the consumer not using certain appliances through the day, not by a meter. I for one will be watching this like a hawk, I just don't trust agencies that monopolize an industry that consumer must use.
The "vision," as Patino described it, would eventually allow NV Energy to offer pricing options for consumers to control their energy costs. In theory, a person could set their electricity to shut off during peak hours and regularly check a website to monitor home energy use throughout the month.
Let me interpret gub'ment controlled utility speak for you: The "plan" is to change out these meters so we can control the residents' use and systematically charge you more for electricity thereby extracting more money from you efficiently to pay our bloated wages and pensions. But we're throwing you a very small bone by allowing you to have remote access to your power before we shut it off because you can't pay your bill any longer.
They have that same control now. It's called "demand" and whenever the overall demand goes up the rates increase concurrently. NV Energy just wants to be able to do it more efficiently.
"...In theory, a person could set their electricity to shut off during peak hours..."
NO, IN THEORY IT WOULD ALLOW NV ENERGY TO SHUT OFF YOUR POWER DURING PEAK HOURS.
Don't be an imbecile and fall for this tripe.
NV Energy wants to be able to shut YOU down, remotely, when they 'feel' like it or when it's in their 'best interest' to shut you down....(in July or August)
Get a little behind on your bill....click.
Call up and have a disagreement with their customer service....click.
Go to a public service meeting and testify against them....click.
Ooops, they shut down your electricity, and your refrigerator is now off when you're on vacation, or, oops, your air-conditioning is now off when you're not home (have pets?)
Oh yeah, baby, keep handing over control of your domicile.
What's that you say? Competition?
HEY YOU....ELECTICAL POWER COMPETITION IS *ILLEGAL* IN NEVADA, JUST LIKE THE GOVERNOR SAID WHEN HE WAS ON THAT RADIO TALK SHOW A WHILE BACK.
Ooops, the Legislature has to change the Law.
Ooops...click....you lose.......again........
***Who is going to be he first to "hack" into these to reprogram them to report lower energy consumption??
And what will happen to seniors on fixed income who have no choice but to be at home during peak hours, non-peak hours, ALL hours?
We have all these programs in place, such as energy assistance, housing assistance, etc. However these programs are in place, because the government allows company's like NV Energy to rape the people, and there is no limit on the amount a home owner can charge for rent, this would be caused by deregulation's and allowing companies to monopolize again, then the government wonders why they spend so much money on welfare and these programs? As unemployment rates go up, with Nevada 2nd in the nation, wages going down, but the cost of living just keeps rising, pretty soon, we will be like Mexico where all the citizens are dirt poor and the only people with money are the ones that run the country, the sad thing is we have a constitution in place, that allows it's citizens to rise against it's government and over throw it, when it's not working for the people like it's suppose too, but do you think anyone ever would? Most people are even afraid to talk about it, because it would be treason... this is why we have a constitution! And people should learn it and read it and read it again, until they get it. The pursuit of happiness? It's a freaking joke, when all your money goes to paying your power company, and you barely have enough money left at the end of the month to feed your kids, let alone pay any other bills.