There’s An App For That
We have another joyful gift courtesy of electric deregulation in Texas, that crappy idea sold to us by those “run government like a business” crowd.
The Texas electrical grid operator introduced an app for smartphones that will alert users to conserve energy during emergencies.
Do you know what constitutes “an emergency” in Texas? Weather. Normal weather. Hot days.
Yep – that’s their solution to weather in Texas – sweat in the dark.
Okay, it’s 9:20 in the morning and already I hate Republicans today. Fix the damn power grid, you fools. We did not get a reduction in rates through deregulation, but we did get screwed.
Sorry, I’ll cut back on my morning caffeine.
As a former Ca resident that got “Enroned” I feel for you all
Here is the answer
A Lease back/buy back program that we are looking into in NYS
and my kids in Wa and Ca–Texas gets a lot more sun than we do..
Getting off the grid or having it make you money is the only thing to do
http://www.solarcity.com/#
1We got ‘screwed’ and did not get ‘kissed’ – (I’ve gotten kissed with out getting screwed but I’ve never been screwed with out getting kissed!) And btw – why do we have to buy their “new” technology (smart meters)?? Don’t get me started – I’m going to have ANOTHER cup of coffee.
2I was living in Houston (actually unincorporated Harris County) when deregulation began. I not only got a lower cost on my electricity, I also got $100 in cash. I participated in a 5 month test of a service which would allow my electric supplier to alter my thermostat setting by up to 4 degrees (F) by using my internet connection and some fancy hardware they had installed on my breaker box and up in the attic where the HVAC was located. Every month during the test an envelope would arrive in the mail and inside it would be a $20 bill. At the end of the test, they sent the electrician out to uninstall the equipment which they let me keep. The only thing useful was a 4-port router. My electric supplier was The New Power Company which was started by Lou Pai after he left Enron. The New Power Company also went belly up.
3Unfortunately, it is a provision of my HOA that no solar panels may be used. The provision was written in the 1960s or 1970s. I’m hoping I can talk them into solar roof shingles next time we need to reroof, but am afraid they might make us cut our trees if we do. There is no perfect.
4Our local electric company wants to install “smart meters” on all of the homes in their area. Mind you there is nothing wrong with the mechanical meters they are just going to dump. All of the electric meters readers will be out of a job. You know, a job outside, where they pay you to exercise, and one can have a decent paying job. Plus, I understand those digitized meters have been linked to physical ailments. All so, supposedly, customers can be “smart” about their electrical usage. Not only is it a bad idea to replace perfectly good meters with new ones, but I can just imagine the costs with “updating” the software & hardware needed to make them run. Which, in turn, we the customers will pay for in higher electric costs.
5@Iris, um, I would be a lot more scared of my microwave oven than a smart meter. Don’t like for one second the downsizing of real jobs, period.
The big problem with deregulation of any market is that consumers assume supply will be reasonably correlated with demand in some way. Privatizing utilities was a very bad plan, as it gives the utility owners complete control over the supply of the commodity. They have a vested interest in promoting scarcity, it raises the price of their product on the market. This is why the Koch brothers want to get their greedy mitts (candidate joke struggling around in there somewhere) on the public utilities in Wisconsin.
Another thing I would like to know is how privatizing ANYTHING makes it cheaper? it adds another cost layer….
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