Our New CenterPoint Smart Meter: Will it Really Save us Money?
Posted on | February 8, 2010 | 6 Comments
Please note: We live in Houston, TX, so this article is geared towards that area. However, smart meters are being installed in other areas of the country as well.
A few months ago I came home from work to a great surprise: CenterPoint Energy had put a hanger on our front door letting us know that a smart meter would be installed in the next few weeks. Sure enough, four days later we were new smart meter owners!
You may have noticed that since February of 2009, there has been a $3.24 charge on your CenterPoint Energy bill. This is a charge that will remain for 24 months, and then will decrease to $3.05 a month afterwards (with no actual end in sight as of the writing of this article, though I have read that the total cost will be over 12 years and will come to approximately $443 per household) in order to pay for the installation of over 2 million of these new smart meters throughout the Houston, TX area by mid 2012. Check out this link to see approximately when yours will be installed.
The second door hanger that announced our new meter had been installed touted some of the benefits of this new product: remote meter reading, smoother transactions, automatic outage notification, energy efficiency and savings. I was so excited knowing that somehow this new equipment was going to save us on electricity charges, and decided to call my retail electricity provider (REP) in order to find out how it was going to save us money. I envisioned a plan where electricity use at off-peak hours, like doing the laundry at 8:00 a.m. on Friday mornings (I work a compressed schedule, and am off on Fridays) would cost us less than the normal per kilowatt rate we are paying. But the answer I received—at least in the area of saving money on my electricity bill—was less than thrilling.
CenterPoint merely installs this equipment, but your individual REP is responsible for taking advantage of this new technology. So I called up both Mega Energy as well as Reliant Energy in order to get some answers. Aside from the new efficiencies, such as meter readings every 15 minutes which will significantly increase the accuracy of billing and will allow customers to see their bill as the month progresses, as well as the improvements cited above, this new technology is not going to immediately save consumers money.
Right now you can think of your new smart meter as a large kill-a-watt that can give you real time information about how many watts you are using so that you can adjust your behaviors, thus saving you money. In other words, your electricity savings come in the form of you checking your electricity usage as it is occurring, then turning off electronics. We all ready do this in our household because we on a kill-a-watt.
A new plan from Reliant Energy based off of this technology could actually end up costing consumers more money. Reliant rolled out the first time-of-use plans available to consumers with smart meters that charges different rates based on energy demand throughout the day. Under this new plan, for November through March you will be charged 13.6 cents per kilowatt from 6:00 – 9:00 a.m. and 6:00 – 9:00 p.m. and 11.8 cents per kilowatt between midnight – 6:00 a.m., 9:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m., and 9:00 p.m. – midnight. The 11.8 cents per kilowatt charge on off-peak hours is a welcome change in Reliant plans. However, during the summer month peak hours of 4:00 – 6:00 p.m., the price will be 15.8 cents per kilowatt. While in theory this is a great concept because it will force consumers to use energy at other times of the day, my overall rate plan with Mega Energy is 11.0 cents per kilowatt right now, and I can use the electricity anytime I want to. Why would I switch to this time-of-use plan? There is no incentive to do so. In fact, Reliant’s new plan foreshadows higher electricity usage costs for consumers with their per kilowatt as a base to begin pricing, instead of the per kilowatt rate as a maximum and then a lower per kilowatt rate during off-demand usage.
It is nice to see that we are progressing into more precise technology when it comes to electricity meters, but I must admit that I am disappointed with the lack of new pricing plans from REPs. Hopefully they will come up with programs to entice consumers to curb their energy usage during peak hours and get rewarded for using electricity at other times of day, like turning their dishwasher on before going to sleep at night instead of during peak times. For now, I’ll be sticking with my 11.0 cents per kilowatt plan and enjoying my evening summertime energy use. I just wonder for how much longer?
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6 Responses to “Our New CenterPoint Smart Meter: Will it Really Save us Money?”
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February 8th, 2010 @ 4:32 pm
I was pleased to read about this today. I have no doubt that my practices are wasteful though it’s not from any wanton disregard about my energy usage. It’s simply out of ignorance of how much energy am I using and when? Seeing the total of kilowatts at the end of the month doesn’t really tell me anything. I don’t have mine yet and haven’t gotten the door knocker saying it’s coming either
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June 21st, 2010 @ 8:06 am
[...] Our New CenterPoint Smart Meter: Will it Really Save Us Money? [...]
November 25th, 2010 @ 12:45 pm
You can expect to save around $40 a year, which is still $40 a year right? But the health implications are horrendous. Cell phone type radiation being beamed around your house and neighborhood 24/7 , not to mention the infringement of privacy issues. No thank you.
Lloyd Burrell recently posted..Smart Meters- Electromagnetic Radiation- Money and Your Health
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December 20th, 2010 @ 6:03 am
[...] similar success with renewing a contract? I’d love to hear about it!Other Articles You May Enjoy:Our New Center Point Smart Meter: Will it Really Save us Money? Smart Meters: Time of Use (TOU) Metering Turns Out Duct Tape Cannot Fix Everything: Things I [...]
December 21st, 2010 @ 11:49 am
I work for a REP and the bad news is that we the consumers are paying for a meter that will SAVE Centerpoint money and cost you more in the long run. I would say less than 10% of the population actually effectively monitors its home energy usage, so that function of the meter is irrelevant to the general populace. The analog meters were run by moving gears that wear down over time, so they turn slower as they get older… thus, if you have an old meter or an older house you have probably been paying less that what you were actually using. The SMART meters have been tested by numerous, out of state, third-parties for accuracy and they are dead-on. That means a good amount of people will be paying more because a truly accurate reading will be available.
The time of use plans are a joke… my company does have them and will not have them… The best thing to do is lock in a fixed price for a longer term. It will cost you a little more at first, but you will have peace of mind knowing that no matter when you use the energy or how much you use or how many hurricanes or wars that occur… your price will remain the same for the entire term. Shorter term agreements cost less because YOU TAKE THE RISK of having to renew every year at whatever the market dictates. Prices have not been this low in over 5 years, so now is the time to ask your provider if they will lock in a price for longer than 3 years. Very few do… Think of it this way: why are people refinancing their homes right now?? The rates are lower than they ever have been. So why not refi for one year and try your luck each year after that?? Would you do that?? Doubtful… so why do it with your second highest cost of owning a home, your electric bill?
Providers that only offer 1 and 2 year deals are not financially able to offer longer terms. Keep in mind that Reliant was FORCED to sell its company in March 2009 and now all the offer are 12 month plans. Little companies like MEGA, YEP and the like are not in it for the long haul and can only offer a short term deal… that is why 5 of those smaller companies went under in 2009. Amigo and TARA were bought out in 2010 before having to “restructure” their companies.
To sum it up: take the coming of this new technology with a grain of salt and due some real research into how you can lock in and manage your costs effectively and over the long term. Then when you have a little extra time, ask yourself this…. why are WE having to PAY for something that will make CENTERPOINT’s life easier and reduce their expenses (they are reducing their meter-reading force because of the new meters have no need for them)?
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FruGal Reply:
December 21st, 2010 at 1:25 pm
Hello West Orton!
Great comment and information. I was kind of suspect of these new smart meters, and definitely do not see the benefits for us yet.
A 3 year plan would be great–our neighbors used to have one (we moved away from them), and it was for a great rate at the time; we were paying like an outrageous 16 cents per kilowatt, and they were paying 9 cents for three years!
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