Genius
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Humorous on face value, but that's not what utility companies do. In every utility district I ever lived (and it's a lot), if the meter readers were "unable" to read your meter, the consumption was estimated.
I had many conflicts about this because I traveled a lot for work and knew that there was no possible way I could have consumed as much electricity as they estimated. It turned it that meter readers could just claim the meter was inaccessible, and their job was considered completed.
Now they're doing readings from their trucks remotely via wireless technology.
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Recently we also got more and more smart meters here in Germany, as there are a few power companies that calculate your price by the hour. But that's not based on your maximum consumption but on the time of the consumption. If you use the solar and wind power on a windy summer day it's basically free, whereas the price goes up when it's expensive power from gas plants on a windless winter night. So you can lower your price by washing or charging your car at the right time.
That probably would not work that way in Norway as you have a lot of hydroelectric power which is available much more continuously, as far as I understand.
wrote on last edited by [email protected]We have that pricing as well but we also pay a dynamic cost to be connected to the grid. When the power is cheap the grid cost is the biggest part of the bill.
With regards to our Hydro power: since the europeans took over we tap all of our water reserves and sell it cheap to the continent ever since the large acer cables came. When the winter comes our reserves are low and we buy expensive power back. It's been like that for a few years now. The government are looking into making a subsidy or tax break or something to compensate but EU is blocking it as market manipulation or something like that. It sucks ass.
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You guys are missing the point- reading the meter isn't the problem. To disconnect you, they open the cover the nest is built on, and pull the clear plastic meter out.
Though the one in the picture has a clamp ring instead, you'd still disturb them.
wrote on last edited by [email protected]Jokes on them. My electric company reads the meter from thier office and can shut power down remotely.
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Now they're doing readings from their trucks remotely via wireless technology.
They can shut your power remotely.
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It’s ridiculous how obsolete US utility companies are, especially water companies that often require you to show up to their office in person to activate service or set up automatic payments (You want a voided paper check? I don’t even have checks for my account. What’s wrong with a debit card?).
And they go crazy with their estimated bills. I worked an IT job where I’d fly to some city in the US for a week of work, fly home on Friday, do laundry and submit expense reports, and do it all again the next week. Was pretty much never home. Got a water bill for $300+, and they wanted to try and argue with me that the bill was correct. They suggested maybe I had a leak somewhere, as if a leak that resulted in a $300+ bill wouldn’t have been causing some blatantly obvious issues that I would have seen.
Oh, it's unreal. You probably know this, but for anyone else reading the thread: water meters have a leak indicator. On analog meters, it's a small spinning indicator; it could be a dial, needle, or just a spinning icon.
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Jokes on them. My electric company reads the meter from thier office and can shut power down remotely.
Fill their office with wasps, problem solved
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They can shut your power remotely.
Exactly.
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Jokes on them. My electric company reads the meter from thier office and can shut power down remotely.
wrote on last edited by [email protected]Same here and a hell of a security risk if you think about it
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Same here and a hell of a security risk if you think about it
Congratulations! We've been misreporting your electricity use and have remediated the charges. You now owe $4200 in past due charges, due immediately, or your service will be terminated.
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Same here and a hell of a security risk if you think about it
Hopefully they set a password unlike that water supply facility
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Oh, it's unreal. You probably know this, but for anyone else reading the thread: water meters have a leak indicator. On analog meters, it's a small spinning indicator; it could be a dial, needle, or just a spinning icon.
I’m confused, how does this leak indicator work?
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I’m confused, how does this leak indicator work?
Whenever even a slight amount of water flows, it spins. Shut off all the faucets and spigots, and it should not move. If it moves, you have a leak.
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Every month is wild. Do the electricity prices change based on the season or why can't they just calculate the average over a year?
Wait fuck I switched up gas and electricity. Electricity used to zo be done that way but then they installed the automated meters.
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That's some top tier capitalism right there. And i always thought Norway was one of the more forward thinking countries in Europe.
it is a capitalist solution to solar and wind being unpredictable, and from what I understand it works fairly well at incentivizing batteries and solar power usage.
