" wrote:

All other aspects of smart meters represents a false economy,

They may not warrant doing it, but utilities are doing
it and offering different rates at different times of the
day to residential customers.

I'm not saying anything to the contrary of what you just said.

Yes, it's not warranted, yes they are doing it (anyways) and yes - they
are charging different rates at different times of the day (if they
didn't, they wouldn't have any basis or reason for implimenting smart
meters now would they?).

That is nothing new.

Smart meters are new (in terms of the historical time-line of equipment
and schemes used to measure residential electricity use which goes back
decades).

Here in NJ the utility was doing that 50 years ago.
The offered a substantially lower rate at night for
water heaters.

I wasn't aware that NJ had time-of-use billing for residential customers
50 years ago.

Those meters must have had mechanical clocks back then (any time-of-use
metering system needs to know the current time-of-day, and even date if
week-end rates are in effect). How accurate were those clocks 50 years
ago?

Residential customers don't consume enough electricity on an
individual level such that any decision they make in changing
(or time-shifting) their electricity usage will only affect
their monthly bill by pennies or at most a few dollars.

And how would you know what rates all the utilities
in the country are charging?

I would venture a guess that the difference in rates is minimal - in
terms of the percentage of load that consumers can realistically be
expected to time-shift.

The biggest factor that is under EASY control of home owners is always
going to be their air conditioning temperature setting, and that is also
going to be the last usage they are willing to sacrifice because it
involves their own comfort level (how hot and sticky are you willing to
be in your own home - if it means you'll save a measely $1 or $2 today,
and again tommorrow, and again the next day, etc).

Every day, that $1 or $2 bargain they make with themselves is worth it.
The fact that it might (or will) end up being $30 at the end of the
month is irrelavent. That's if they even know that setting the temp. to
77f vs 74f is going to cost them an extra $1.24 today.

That level of expenditure is on par with other forms of
discretionary spending (daily coffee, snack, etc) and people
will not sacrifice their home comfort (using their air-conditioner
less) if the savings are on par with pocket-change-per-day.

Maybe they won't, but then those that are using electricity
at peak rates, will be paying for it.

Just like everyone is still paying $4 a gallon for gas. People are not
going to cheap-out on their thermostat setting and feel like **** in
their own house to save a measely buck a day.

Maybe they won't, but then those that are using electricity
at peak rates, will be paying for it.

And the crock of the whole situation is that the meters cost anywhere
from $500 to $1500 each, and over the lifespan of the meter it will
probably not result in home-owner cutback in electricity usage to
justify the cost of the meter in the first place.