Obama wants smartmeters put inside your apartment or house

Considering we're heading towards a massive energy crisis that could leave the country without energy, I fully support this idea. The main idea behind these meters is to gauge how much energy, on average, is being used in various areas. This will help determine which areas need priority for implementing energy saving means and (hopefully) alternative energy. This is not snooping. There will be no recordings of what people are using, why they're using it, etc etc. The basic information collected by these meters is already available. It's already technically on file and accessible through the gas and electric companies. This is just going to make it easier to track and break down, as well as creating more jobs. The current administration has not been at all quiet in supporting the green initiative, or turning to the green initiative to create jobs and pull the US out of the energy crisis that's looming.

Hi Fortunata,Not a joke and it's a good thing! Since President Obama cares very deeply about our environment, it is his business. I for one will be very happy to have a smartmeter this way I know that I am paying what I'm supposed to pay not a so-called estimated bill! (I get those a lot:-(

The Fourth Amendment of the Constitution provides "The right of the people to be secure in their persons,houses,papers, and effects, against unreasonable search and seizure, shall not be violated..." A meter in your house without a Court order, or a warrant, is an illegal search, regardless of whether it is measuring your energy usage or how many boxes of Cheerios you consume. It's not anyone's business what goes on in the privacy of your home, unless you are committing criminal acts, and even then, a warrant has to be issued in order to enter your home. The rights of the people to be secure in their homes is that important. Important enough that it takes a court-issued warrant to violate it. One could argue that your bills are covered as well, as they are your "papers" and so your electric bill is private. I am sure people can come up with some very convincing reasons as to why the government needs this or that data, but the bottom line is that once you allow your rights to be eroded in any area, all of your rights become endangered. If Obama wants my electric bill, he had better get a search warrant.

Our electric company installed one a couple of years back. Now they can remote read our meter and our meter reader was out of a job. So first off, if we all get one, we don't create but lose more jobs. The energy saving is in the lack of fuel burned for that person to get to your house. Second, it's not really snooping unless they eventually use the device to shut you off for overusage, selective blackouts so to speak. That, too, could in theory be done with an advanced gadget. It's my guess that's where we are heading. Now, I can't believe how many people believe the smoke and mirror screen yet again. The official notion of this program is to monitor where high usage is in order to effectively streamline efforts to start alternative energy installation programs in those areas as a priority. Funny though ... the utility companies have all that information already and can provide it to the government. After all, they want to stay in business, they should be interested in participating in the alternative energy stuff. A lot of utility companies have installed smartmeters and could easily measure exactly the information the government wants. Everything can be bought for a fee (probably cheaper than putting a smartmeter into every household anyway).. Now that really begs the question: Why go through the great extend and expense to have a smartmeter installed in every household???? Just doesn't make much sense... unless of course you figure in the notion that the government will take over the utility companies or at the very least their function of providing energy, and eventually also water and other utility services... Then you will be punished for overusage at certain peak times either through increased tax, fees, or selective blackouts. You know just like the phone company charges you more for long-distance calls during peak times, while nights are cheaper or even free. Point is, there is no need for a smartmeter. Most electric companies are moving towards that because it saves the cost of a meter reader going from house to house. It's also more reliable and there are no estimates. So they are already taking steps to phase them in. There is no need for a second government run one unless there is an alterior motive beyond the proclaimed detection of high usage area one. Period.

Can you say invasion of privacy? It is my house and I pay the bills. So therefore it is none of their business how much I use. Did you also hear that htey are planning to us hte On Star in cars to track how many miles you drive in a year and then tax you on it? New cars have this feature so in about 10 yers just about all the cars on the roads will have it. Even if you do not pay for the subscription they government can still use it to track how many miles you drive and then send you a bill. Just an FYI....The white house and congress are seriously considering this as a long term option.

Hi Fortunata...I too heard this on the radio this afternoon. I do not agree that this will be a good thing. I think it's an overreach of the government to see exactly how much energy we are using. I don't want the government to have the ability to regulate if I can have heat or air conditioning in my own home. It is my home and I work very hard to be able to sit and enjoy the heat or the air without worrying that someone is watching me...

I hadn't heard about this smartmeter thing. I don't think it is anyone else business if I run my air or heat and when. I pay for it. This is just another step for the government to control out lives.i don't care what the reason or what name they put on it. As far as us heading for a massive energy crisis I put that up there with the global warming. It all bunk. these earth is continually changeling. We have only been keeping records for the last one hundred and fifty years or so. We have had warmer temp and cooler temperatures all along.

Sorry but I believe this is one more way for him to control our lives, when they start monitoring how much we are using the next thing they will be putting on switches that cut your power at certain times of the day like they did in Fla one time, we had a switch on the pool pump and it turned it off and the A/C unit for 4 hours a day, suppose to help conserve energy. And you got this big deduction in your bill. They determined each day what time the pump and A/C was switched off, I pay the bill here in my home, and if I want to let the TV run all night while I am asleep, then it is my choice. It appears to me that he is sticking his nose way to far up our behinds and if I choose to run the A/C on 65 all day I can it is my choice how cool I need it to be in the summer time. If we continue to let him invade our homes and now tell us jsut how much power we can use and when to use it then we just might as well give the rest of our lives to him too. How about we tell him 10pm is lights out in the whitehouse and no more parties all every night. Or lets shut off some of the lights that burn around the whitehouse all day and night. Maybe he should be the first one to conserve energy or the other rich ones that they have in Washington,notice how nothing pertains to them just us regular people.

Fortunada, Can you say taxes? Or how about TAXES? Maybe even T-A-X-E-S!!! America is footing the bill for the largest fleecing of AMERICA ever comitted in the history of this country. WE are footing the bill for poor business practices and stupidity and here's the sad part--we have no voice in the matter! No matter how many people say no and no matter how hight the percentages get of the people who disagree with this "bailout" fiasco, our government just says "we know better" and "it's for your own good" I say, BULL-$HIT!!

haha, sounds like a scene from 1984, beware big brother is watching. Much prefer he changes the English language to the sms form. Save time save money to communicate using sms format than a formal business letter. I guess the textbooks will be a third of the current size and the cost of printing will reduce substantially. Next time kids will not need to learn spellings for long long words, just the sms style of spelling will do. Imagine the teacher says "class, please spell 'laugh out loud'" The student just write "lol", isn't that great? Instead of writing "water", just write H2O, saving of 2 letters.

To check on energy consumption per crib to me isn't something to beat urself over, besides this would help know how to curb the energy crises in a way..

To check on energy consumption per crib to me isn't something to beat urself over, besides this would help know how to curb the energy crises in a way..

hell no! obama doesnt need to be in every household in the US! its not his business what each and every household does or how much energy they use. plus cant they find out an estimate like the do everything on how much energy is used from power companies? seriously its like the same thing. so hell no if this is a joke its not a funny even smiling one AT ALL!!!

This really makes me MAD!!!!!!!!!!! Every day we are taking more steps towards Communism! Our country is supposed to be set up to be a free nation.... Not a monitored one! It is not the govenrments businesd how much energy we spend, as long as we pay for the ammount we use. I will be moving to Peru soon if this keeps up!

Smart meters have been around for a long time. They enable the electric comp. to read the meter from a remote site " their offices". In return, the customer usually gets a discounted rate. Many businesses with large facilities take advantage of this and save sometimes thousands of dollars per year. The only information gathered by a smart meter is engery usage. I don't understand the upraor. Nobody seemed to mind at all when the last administration looked at their emails, phone rec.and other private information without a warrent or even to the knowledge of those being spied on.

I would not want one of these things in my home and to be honest, it makes no sense to have one. If the purpose of them is to know how much energy your using, simply get the past bills from the utility companies and look at them...not that hard. But it does bring to mind something. Lets say they pass a law saying you have to have one of these things in your house...one for water, one for electric and one for heat. They decide what your heat is set at...say 65 degrees...you can't change it...they have to, if they so choose. Your allowed so much water, when it's gone, your done till they give you more. The same for your electric. It would be a way of controlling how much you get and what they (the government) thinks you should have. It also makes me wonder about the whole snooping thing. How does anyone know that these little smartmeters aren't equipped with bugs, camera's or any other recording devices? A way to spy on families in their most private place, their homes. It wouldn't be the first time the government spied on ppl. Put me down for a great big NO on this one. [b]**AT PEACE WITHIN** ~~STAND STRONG IN YOUR BELIEFS~~[/b]

Nope, no joke. It is already happening at the state level in california, smart thermostats, you turn it up, the state government doesn't like it so they turn it down. I'm all for usefull technology, but this has too many other implications I just can't reconcile my libertarin/constitutional beliefs with. We don't need a smart meter to sell power back to the grid, it can already be done with out it. We don;t need smart meters to tell us how much we use and spend, we can already do that. Yes, it's costly to have some poor guy schluck around and take meter readings, but at least that poor guy has a job. Another thing thatis not being talked about is that though these amitions are in his budget, the technology hasn't completely caught up yet and there is no plan on how this "smart grid" will be implimented. the meters are only a small part of it, there is so much they still have no idea on how they can impliment it effectivly and free of bugs and the costs are not truly known. Time to go off the grid I guess. I would say if you live in an area where it is possible, find a good alternative source and make your own power. If you have extra power you produce, then sell it to your neightbor at a low cast, you'll be making a few extra bucks, providing low cost power to your neighbor and won't be filling a power monoply's wallet or becomming more and more dependant on them.

I was afraid that O was turning America into a socialist county. Now I am terrified that he is trying to turn us into communist. I think he is giving all the banks and insurance companies all the money they want because he knows they will fail and give the government the excuse it needs to take over. Bit by bit he is taking over our lives and he is not in office 6 months. I pray I am wrong but ever day he is coming out with something to take over our lives.

Okay, this is bizarre. I bet you the people above me who are all for this idea are the same people who were crying big, fat, baby tears about their privacy when Bush used wire taps for the purposes of national security. So invasion of privacy is okay if we are monitoring energy use but not okay if we are protecting people's lives? That is just ridiculous on so many levels. I personally do not value my privacy as much as most people, to be frank. Privacy is not a right guaranteed by the Constitution (these smartmeters would not be unconstitutional, in other words), and it is not a right that I think is very important. I know some people feel different, and that is fine. That is perhaps something to be saved for another argument. However, I DO think that if you are going to whine about your privacy being trampled on, you need to do it in ALL cases. You cannot excuse the Patriot Act and then get mad about this idea. You cannot love this idea and then get mad about the Patriot Act. Think for yourselves. Don't let your parties think for you.

It is not a joke, and unless he is going to help me pay my bill out of his own pocket then it is none of his business. When I use to much energy I can't pay the bill and beings as how I always pay my bill then I have not used to much energy.