OG&E smart meter

[venture]

The UPS for my main system that I use went out a few months back and haven't had the chance to get a new one. Especially when I need to get a 1500VA one, they tend to get a bit pricey. Norman's power grid isn't the best and during high winds we can get power flickers that restart all the electronics. Never had an issue with damage or lost data. If data is really that important, most computers can be handled by a 550-650VA UPS, if not lower. Looking at $30-70 to spend to get one. I guess it depends how much your data is worth you.

[Jim Kyle]

Check with "Batteries Plus" to see if a replacement battery for it will do the trick. Most UPS batteries last only 3 to 4 years before they quit holding a usable charge. I have at least five of the smaller UPS units scattered around the house protecting computers, a fancy sewing machine, and other electronic gear, and a couple of years ago I took almost the whole bunch to Batteries Plus which at the time was near NW 57 and May in OKC, just around the corner from Best Buy (they've since moved to NW 63 and May, and there's another location on the south side that's probably more convenient to you). They opened them up, checked the batteries, and replaced all of them at a total cost less than it would have cost me to replace two of the five. It's about time to take the ones that are still in service back for another visit...

I prefer using a number of different units, one per major device, to having a single huge unit. This avoids having a single point of possible failure; if the most important one dies, I can move in a temporary replacement while getting the failed unit fixed, and thus move the risk to a less important device...

[LarryQ]

The computers were repaired, and as suggested the OS's became corrupt when power was lost.
The server and workstation are both on battery backups, so the amount of time between the time they pulled the meter and turned on the new meter exceeded the battery capacity. (And due to the database work being done auto shutdown software doesn't shut down gracefully enough to prevent corruption...I finally gave up using it.)

I had to spend @ 6 hours repairing the OS installs.
(BTW I am an I.T Professional)

As for the lock, it did not impede the reading of the old meter in any way.

As I stated, RF is not my concern, It is the complete lack of transparency from OG&E.

My questions stand about the data.

If OG&E's sole concern is to make (Or save) $$$$, what is their motivation in helping people use LESS of their product?

Is it just me, or doesn't this sound counter intuitive.


Where do we finally draw the line on our Privacy?

If OG&E's motivation is only $$...will they sell this data?
More importantly, what is to prevent them from doing so?

I don't think it's time for tin foil hats. (Yet )

In my profession, I deal with highly sensitive information all the time.
I routinely have to sign non-disclosure agreements.
I face huge fines and personal liability should I ever violate these non-disclosure agreements.

Why isn't OG&E held to the same or even higher standards?

Plainly the answer is that until we demand it, it will not happen!

Larry

[SoonerDave]

Their motivation for the smartgrid is twofold: One, the government, backed by the ecohysterics crowd, is pushing it, but just as important, OGE doesn't care if you use less of their product provided they can manufacture a false reason to charge you double or triple the rate for the same electrons merely because you use them at 5pm rather than 5am, and try to convince you that its all your fault for not making an "informed decision." I liken it to making an "informed choice" between being robbed at gunpoint or knifepoint.

[SoonerDave]

LarryQ, if you're interested, you can google quite a bit of info about SmartMeters and privacy issues via the terms PGE and smartmeter. I read a few of the pages, and frankly it gets a bit hysterical to me (especially when I get to the part about the computer screens causing dermatitis), but in the midst of it there is some pretty extensive discussion about what California residents have faced with SmartMeters, mandatory installation, smartgrids, and such.

Mind you, its heavily anti-utility/anti PGE, so its not at all a "neutral" site, and some of the rants border on the absurd IMHO, so it makes me very cautious of the rest of their material, but you still might find it interesting.

[Jim Kyle]

I'm also quite deeply involved with confidential databases, including medical practice management and financial information. If absolutely uninterruptible power is necessary, then you cannot depend on a commercial utility to provide it. The only solution is to install your own power generators and depend on them. At Cape Canaveral, for example, they did depend on the commercial utility as their primary supplier, but they also had huge motor-generators that normally spun gigantic concrete flywheels. If the commercial power vanished for any reason, the flywheels' inertia kept the generator going and immediately started the attached diesel engines. The changeover happened within a single cycle of the AC feed and caused no problems at all to sensitive equipment.

That's a bit of overkill for any civilian project, but it illustrates what's necessary when you want to get to true 100.000% reliability.

Perhaps your battery backups were underpowered for the load. Most of them are rated for more than 20 minutes continued operation when not overloaded, but even slight overload can reduce this to less than five minutes. Another factor might be old batteries. When data is of such great importance, a good -- and tested -- disaster recovery plan is an absolute necessity. For two workstations plus a server, I'd want a minimum of 1500 VA rating and actually would put a 500 VA unit on each separate workstation as well. note, too, that the batteries must be replaced every 36 months or so at the outside.

EDIT: I agree with you on the privacy issues, but I've never achieved anything but frustration by attempting to deal with any utility head-on. When I had similar problems with a telephone line, and the normal SBC routes got nowhere at all, I found that a single call to the right person at the Corporation Commission got immediate results -- and no more hassle from the utility! There's an old Navy saying about waste products getting messier as they roll downhill... Regulatory agencies can be our best defense against corporate arrogance, if employed carefully.

[stick47]

Now that OG&E has our Smartmeter on the "myogepower" network I've been following my electrical use online and was happy to see that my bill for Dec would be lower than I expected. Then the bill arrived today. It was $70 higher than what was reported on the company's "myogepower" website. Truthfully, the total was in line with my expectations but their estimate being off by 65% is ridiculous. Are the numbers on that website always that far off the actual bill? I can see where a low income person might get into a financial bind if they took the website bill estimate to heart and spent money elsewhere thinking they had their OGE bill covered.

[stick47]

Wonder why this post didn't cycle to the top?

Edit: OK it did get there this time.