On 4/16/2012 8:11 AM, Peter wrote:
On 4/15/2012 11:33 AM, Way Back Jack wrote:
in terms of energy savings, privacy, fire risk, and, most importantly,
health ramifications. Thank You.

No matter how hard the utilities try to convince the consumer that it is
for their advantage, the bottom line is that the power companies
wouldn't be doing it if it did not result in higher profits for them.

Reasons that come to mind:
- uses the existing capacity more fully - less likely to need new power
plants.
- state regulatory agencies and legislatures are likely to be VERY
interested in the above.

It is not like this is a new concern. For instance many companies have
had a "demand" reading (peak use over maybe 15 minutes) on their
electric meter for a long time. High "demand" results in a large utility
bill 'penalty'. It is worth a lot of money for companies to avoid peaks
by short time load shedding or even running backup generators for short
periods. Or for residential, a second meter that has a lower rate for
loads that can be turned off by the utility during the day.

Utilities have also been pushed real hard here to reduce energy
consumption by promoting more efficient energy use by customers - like
for instance CFLs. This is not in the short term interest of the utility.