Smart meters do not matter to most people, or so it seems. I have been asking people who got a new meter to see if their electricity bills went up. Although they did go up, the rises are not significant—something in the neighborhood of 10%. People who are well informed about this type of news were not disappointed.
Electricity usage is the difference between the last reading on the meter and the current reading. Since PG&E does not work with Google PowerMeter or Microsoft Hohm, I log in to my account to see what’s going on. I guess in six weeks or so I should be able to see my electricity usage by the hour. It has been only three weeks since the meter was installed, and I can only see the information by the month. I guess it was like that before the smart meter.
I have covered the problem with smart meters in the past. Many consumers in central California complained about the meters’ accuracy when they received a bill two or three times as high as before the meter was installed. Some complained to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and others started a lawsuit against PG&E. CPUC took this problem seriously and hired an outside consulting firm to test the accuracy of the smart meters in question. PG&E also testified at the California Assembly and published the meter quality information.
Recently, CPUC took another step to satisfy consumers, according to the Central Valley Business Times.
The California Public Utilities Commission has ordered the state’s largest utility—Pacific Gas & Electric company, to make public all of its reports on implementation of so-called "smart meters."
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Making Large UPS Systems More Efficient |
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As a consumer, I am very much interested in this report. But as an analyst, I find it an invaluable source of information about how PG&E designed and architected the smart meter program. I can get hold of such a report since:
Under the new ruling, PG&E must provide a copy of its reports—or a link to a website where they are available—within two days to anyone making a request.
How soon does it happen? Actually, I found the link here.
About Zen Kishimoto
Dr. Zen Kishimoto is in charge of Green IT at Alta Terra. His broad technology background and diverse functional roles at individual-contributor and executive levels in large corporations and start-ups is a strong basis for conducting research in the greening of IT. Both strategic and tactical insights based on these experiences are necessary to make IT and its related technologies greener, since both a holistic and component-level view are necessary. This is specifically so in his first area of concentration—data centers—in which a large number of software, computer hardware, and networking components as well as facility elements are interrelated and configured in a complex manner.
For over 25 years, Zen was involved in various technology areas as a user and a vendor, including software development methodologies/process/tools, Open Source Software (OSS), Internet/Network security, embedded software/systems, networking, Web, VoIP and to name a few. Based on exposure to those multiple technology areas, he can take a view from the perspectives of a user and a vendor of each technology as necessary.
After working for Fortune 100 companies, Zen has been a successful entrepreneur and software business consultant specializing in product management, turning technologies to viable business and covering each phase of product management. This includes market research, technology assessment, project management, technical marketing, promotion, product launch, business development and sales. In addition, he produced numerous research papers for his clients in the areas of software and telecommunication as a consultant.
In addition, Zen, originally from Japan, has a web of business contacts and relationships in Japan and is keen on the green IT/Technology market outside of the US, bridging language, culture and business practice for his clients. As greening of IT and its related technologies require a global view, he can give appropriate advices and comments not confined to the US domestic view but global ones for his clients.
Finally, before joining Alta Terra, he has played CTO, COO and other executive roles in Silicon Valley startups, including Cardsoft. Earlier he served as functional general manager and Senior Director at NEC Technologies, where he started the Internet business unit. He has held technical positions at NEC, Hewlett Packard and GTE. He is also the principal of IP Devices, a software business and market research consultancy specializing in IT infrastructure.
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