On 8/8/2012 9:17 AM, wrote:
On Wed, 8 Aug 2012 05:41:55 -0500, "HeyBub"
wrote:

An overview story. But buried in the story is this:

"But progress is being made. CenterPoint Energy, a regional utility company
based in Texas, is in the final stages of constructing a network of smart
meters across the city and suburbs of Houston. By 2013, 2 million smart
meters will track energy use in Texans' homes, and allow CenterPoint to turn
off air conditioning units during times of high demand for instance,
although CenterPoint admits it will need customer consent for this."

http://www.newscientist.com/article/...lights-on.html

Wonder: How can Centerpoint distinguish between an a/c and a 240v welding
machine? Or would they just cut both of them off?


They have to add a switching device to the circuit going to your A/C.
(water heater or whatever)


And our utility started doing power line signalling like that a long
time ago when they were promoting onsite thermal storage. You got a
really cheap rate for power and you wired a similar module to what you
get now into the control circuit. They could take the heating elements
offline anytime they needed.