CMP’s $200 Million Smart Meter Network

An October Windstorm

Took Down

CMP’s

$200 Million

Smart

Meter Network

CMP’s customer communication systems were significantly degraded, with customers reporting inaccurate or spotty outage information and restoration estimates on the company’s website, through the smart-meter web portal and through email or text messages.

When power went out to some half a million Mainers after the October windstorm, another system went down too — Central Maine Power’s $200 million smart-grid communications network that, among other things, was supposed to improve outage communications and storm recovery.

About seven years ago, CMP started installing new smart meters on more than 600,000 Maine homes and businesses as part of its Advanced Metering Infrastructure program. With roughly half of the AMI to be funded through a federal grant and half by customers, state regulators approved the investment because it promised a host of money-saving and other benefits.

Those included automated meter-reading, saving money on human meter readers, on gas for their trucks and reducing the number of estimated meter readings. And it would help CMP remotely track outages, while sending automated texts or emails to customers about expected restoration times.

Through the early innings of the windstorm that swept the state late on Sunday, Oct. 29, CMP officials say, the meters did their duty, accurately charting the climb in outages, up to some 400,000 customers through that Monday morning.

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Comment by Frank Haggerty on December 9, 2017 at 11:24am

Another problem with smart meters is people have experienced hikes in their utility bill after a “smart” meter was installed. 

It's clear high electric bills are one of the things some customers suffer after installation.

Electric ratepayers need to document your historical usage ( past bills with usage) 

The big question is can a  “smart” meter internal program and calibration settings can be changed from a remote location at any time and in milliseconds? 

The incentive to raise calibrations for a few milliseconds is millions of dollars per month more for a very small change in the calibration settings of millions of meters.

The big question is can the meters be changed from a remote location and has anyone ever asked this question ? 

Comment by Dan McKay on December 8, 2017 at 5:52pm

A failure to an expensive system full of promises is perhaps, bad ( maybe good, if you think of what government might ask of it) but not nearly as bad as having politicians involved in making unneeded corrections. Leave the damn thing alone. As a matter of fact, leave all the grid electricity stuff alone. The T & D companies will respond to it's customers, the PUC will tell us the costs associated with excessive performance demands on T & D and the grid operator will keep the power flowing around the outage areas. 

 

Maine as Third World Country:

CMP Transmission Rate Skyrockets 19.6% Due to Wind Power

 

Click here to read how the Maine ratepayer has been sold down the river by the Angus King cabal.

Maine Center For Public Interest Reporting – Three Part Series: A CRITICAL LOOK AT MAINE’S WIND ACT

******** IF LINKS BELOW DON'T WORK, GOOGLE THEM*********

(excerpts) From Part 1 – On Maine’s Wind Law “Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine if the law’s goals were met." . – Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, August 2010 https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/From Part 2 – On Wind and Oil Yet using wind energy doesn’t lower dependence on imported foreign oil. That’s because the majority of imported oil in Maine is used for heating and transportation. And switching our dependence from foreign oil to Maine-produced electricity isn’t likely to happen very soon, says Bartlett. “Right now, people can’t switch to electric cars and heating – if they did, we’d be in trouble.” So was one of the fundamental premises of the task force false, or at least misleading?" https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-swept-task-force-set-the-rules/From Part 3 – On Wind-Required New Transmission Lines Finally, the building of enormous, high-voltage transmission lines that the regional electricity system operator says are required to move substantial amounts of wind power to markets south of Maine was never even discussed by the task force – an omission that Mills said will come to haunt the state.“If you try to put 2,500 or 3,000 megawatts in northern or eastern Maine – oh, my god, try to build the transmission!” said Mills. “It’s not just the towers, it’s the lines – that’s when I begin to think that the goal is a little farfetched.” https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/flaws-in-bill-like-skating-with-dull-skates/

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Hannah Pingree on the Maine expedited wind law

Hannah Pingree - Director of Maine's Office of Innovation and the Future

"Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine."

https://pinetreewatch.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/

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