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Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012 | 3:37 p.m.
CARSON CITY — The state Bureau of Consumer Protection is asking the Public Utilities Commission to drop a one-time fee for people who want analog power meters instead of smart meters.
The bureau filed a motion Tuesday asking the PUC to amend a previous order allowing NV Energy to collect the fee, which is estimated at $98.75 for customers in Southern Nevada and $107.66 for those in Northern Nevada. There is also a monthly meter-reading fee of $8.14 in Southern Nevada and $8.04 in Northern Nevada.
The PUC estimated 4,500 customers in Clark County and 3,000 in Northern Nevada would prefer an alternate to the smart meters, which have raised health and privacy concerns with some people. The smart meters can electronically send power-use data back to NV Energy.
Las Vegas-based NV Energy, which serves about 90 percent of Nevada’s population, plans to replace all 1.35 million of its analog meters with digital ones. It will cost about $301 million to replace the analog meters, with almost $140 million of that covered by a U.S. Department of Energy grant.
Yes, I personally want our meter changed back to the original. I feel along with so many others that NV Energy is ripping us of with the smart meters which apparently read peak loads and therefore we get charged at the peak rate. To explain this as an example when your AC starts up it takes more power to get it up and running where it peaks at start then the load is reduced. They measure the peak, along with all the other spying this meter does. No way am I going to allow NV Energy or anyone else monitor my life style and tell me what to do.
This not the only area who is complaining about this smart meter..it is being complained in other countries as well..like Canada
I called NV Energy a few weeks a go and questioned them on my bill being high where my AC is off and no Heat etc, but still have a high bill. Oh, he said, we will, (NV Energy) will come out and remove the meter and test it to make sure it's not faulty..did they do this ...No..No...NO
They know the consumer is getting RIPPED off and they care not to attend to it. Our Public Utility Commission really does not help the consumer either..nor does anyone else..We got to do it on our own...
NV Energy illegally trespassed onto my property and installed smart meters WITHOUT my permission. They had to illegally climb over the locked gate in order to do this installation.
Clearly, they are going to make a lot more money from these "smart" meters to motivate this illegal behavior.
They did the same illegal trespass to my friend house down the street and climbed over a locked gate.
Leave the fee's for those that want the old meter in place.
They want special treatment and want the rest of us to pay for it. No, it is their choice. No one has proved there is anything wrong with the smart meters. It is all Internet hype and no facts.
I don't care if they want another meter but they should not expect ME to pay for it. Simple as that.
This consumer finds no legitimate reason to replace the reliable analog meters directly connected to the power grid let alone levying additional charges upon those rejecting the installation of digital meters.
This consumer supports the Bureau of Consumer Protection request in dropping fees upon those declining digital meter installations.
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when Catherine Cortez Masto's office was notified a few year ago,that the AFL-CIO fire union was using special software to quadruple salaries and pensions for it's members. Masto's did not care that hundreds of millions of dollars would be stolen from tax payers through this racketeering process.
you should expect the monopolized energy company meter fee will be passed down to "you" the tax payers aswell.
Bureau of Consumer Protection
is the name of Masto's agency.
but who is she actually protecting ?
When school started, kids went to school, temps came down and A/C went off, wife went back to work and no one home all day, pool and jacuzzi went off. And my bill went from 250 to only 210. Something fishy!
Our rates are going to go up just because of the mandatory purchase of solar and wind power which costs more than power produced by coal or natural gas. The new meters have been tested by independent testing (such as UNLV) and have been found to be accurate. As to the wireless connection, guess what, your neighbor has wireless, your cell phone is wireless so you have wireless RF devices all around you.
NV Energy can't tell what is drawing power (they can guess that the peak load is your AC coming on) so they can't tell if you are using a TV or using a blender. People may have seen an increase in power usage as the old meters get dirty and slow down the mechanism, showing that less power is being used compared with a digital meter.
Those that want to keep the old meter and have a special reading every month should pay for the special service they want. Don't expect me to pay for your desire for special handling.
Worrying about paying for those who want analog rather than digital is a waste. We all pay for the loss of NV Energy profits for conservation efforts, and those who use solar power, etc. NV Energy wrote the bill for the Legislature to pass that little gem at the last minute.
If those with Smart Meters are paying at peak loads, then everyone with a Smart Meter is being outsmarted and is paying a higher amount than they should be allow.
From what another poster reported in the past. The digital meters won't allow for the switch over to solar power, which the analogue meters do.
NV Energy wants these meters so eventually they can put time-of-day billing in place. That is going to be pure hell for families who have someone home all day and the elderly, not to mention those like me who work from home. Keeping the AC off in the daytime is not an option.
We need to have an elected P.U.C. so we have half a chance of having someone on our side.
Bob635, they illegally trespassed onto your property? That's horrible.
Of course that also means that you and your neighbor must not be NV Energy customers, since the service agreement for NV Energy customers includes "Customer agrees that NV Energy and its agents shall at all times have a right to access Customer's property to the extent required to inspect, test and maintain the Equipment."
So if you're an NV Energy customer, it wasn't illegal trespass since you gave them permission as a condition of obtaining service from them. And if you're not an NV Energy customer it would seem very odd that they would be replacing a meter that isn't in use.
I do agree however, that NV Energy should adopt a simple, common sense solution for those who don't want smart meters. My suggestion would be the following:
1. Customer refuses smart meter.
2. NV Energy comes out and removes meter completely.
3. Customer no longer has access to NV Energy provided electricity and can to come up with their own solution for electricity.
Digital meters, smart meters, so what? Any change seems to spark conspiracy theory controversy. FWIW I've heard plenty of stories of usage readings going down with Smart Meters. As for time-of-day billing, this is a 24-hour town, making such theoretical billing even less appropriate here.
"Customer agrees that NV Energy and its agents shall at all times have a right to access Customer's property to the extent required to inspect, test and maintain the Equipment."
So Wendor if this is in the agreement, which I never remember signing one of these, where does it say that they can change out working equipment?
This is all a scam. NVEnergy just wanted to take these older analog meters away because it knows that it cannot do what it wants to do in the future with analog meters still hanging around. They took your analog meter, and swapped it out with a new not-s-smart meter. I say its not so smart because for being a digital meter, it cannot go backwards when a customer has grid tied solar and is actually producing more than it consumes, therefore net metering is not taking place with a new not-so-smart meter. Then, a customer wants to opt out of one of these wireless radio transmitting smart meter devices, and they are going to be penalized an initial one time fee including a monthly fee, when NVEnergy publically announced that they are already saving tens of millions of dollars by switching to these new smart meter. Then the final death blow to the consumer is for those that chose to opt out of a smart meter, will have their meter replaced not for their old analog meter, but again, for a new digital meter, but one that does not transmit data. What this ultimately does is it sets up all of the Las Vegas valley for time of day billing which they will rob us dry. They could not determine how much energy you are using at what time of day with the older analog meters, but they sure as hell will be able to with newer digital ones.
Soon after NV Energy installed their Smart Meter on my property, my electronic thermostat went nuts, showing crazy messages, and finally, did not work. That device controls my air conditioning and heating in my home (built in the last half of 2008).
When I contacted NV Energy, they did not accept responsibility, and this left me with not only a huge bill to replace this electronic device, but a huge distrust towards NV Energy and the PUC. Now I am waiting for the other electronic devices in my home to do the same. Good luck folks, it is a losing battle for the little guy American Citizen anymore.
Blessings and Peace,
Star