So is the main deal with a smart electric meter that the provider can turn off power remotely?

Talk about a misinformation rabbit hole trying to look this up. 🤦‍♀️

@yogapaddlerun no, the main reason is so they can just drive by & get a meter reading without stopping at every house, walking to the meter & writing the reading in a notebook.
even with an old fashioned meter they can cut off your power remotely

@redenigma They can read mine remotely with the meter I have. But they do have to drive by.

@yogapaddlerun @redenigma Some can send the data back on the power line, and some can send via loRaWAN, saves the driving.

@b4cks4w @redenigma I’m imagining these devices can tell what kinds of devices are drawing power at any given interval. But not seeing documentation anywhere.

@yogapaddlerun @b4cks4w @redenigma

Nah. That's like thinking your water meter can tell when you're running the bath rather than the washing machine.

Electricity doesn't come in flavors.

@mcfate @b4cks4w @redenigma I remember seeing some device that could tell the device by draw and would give you a report. Back when I was looking to reduce my electricity usage.

@yogapaddlerun @b4cks4w @redenigma

That's an extra you need to install yourself, the meter won't do that FOR you. It just feed power to the breaker panel, the panel distributes it.

@mcfate @b4cks4w @redenigma I get that. But when the promo materials for this “smart” meter makes claims about saving me money with a usage breakdown I’m curious HOW they will generate that for me.

@mcfate I already get data like this, what’s the upgrade?

All they say is I’ll get a usage breakdown that will save me money. Seems like an expensive nothing. So where is their motivation?

@yogapaddlerun

You'd get it per-outlet.

@mcfate Maybe they can figure out where the connections are in some of my outlets 🤣

Someday I want to map all my outlets because the breaker list makes no sense.

@yogapaddlerun @mcfate
Carefully very carefully...I have old cloth wrapped wires. I am okay not turning a heater on and blowdryer at the sametime...but not sure what breaker the dishwasher is on or time schedule. Every 5 or six cycles it decides it doesn't want to work for a couple days? I feel it though I too could use a rest.