Smart meters 'may not cut energy use'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11199771

Installing smart meters may not result in households saving energy, a study has suggested.
Smart meters had been considered as one component in an infrastructure to help use energy more effectively, and cut bills and emissions.

Research by a University of Oxford scientist found that the devices alone were unlikely to lead to an overall reduction in the demand for energy.

The findings appear in the journal Building Research and Information.

"A lot of us are using gas and electricity without realising we are using it," explained author Sarah Darby from the university's Environmental Change Institute (ECI).

"If you had a wood fire and went away for the weekend, then the fire would go out. However, if you leave the central heating or electrical appliances on when you go away, you may be none the wiser."

It is why, Dr Darby added, the "feedback effect" (which tells people how much energy was used over a period of time, or how much energy a particular activity/appliance consumed) in energy demand reduction was so important.

"Helping people who wanted to save energy use the information they could get from their metering and bills was an important part of that feedback," she told BBC News.

"Using the old-style meter means that you have got to be fairly diligent to do that - even if you do check it every day or month, it does not give you a breakdown of how you are using the gas or electricity."

Definition dilemma

However, she observed, there was still a lot of confusion of what a smart meter was, despite the devices being hailed as key in the effort to curb energy use in the UK.

Old-style metering made it very difficult to understand where people were wasting energy
"It is possible to have a smart meter that does not have a display on it at all, in fact most smart meters don't," she explained.

Citing Italy and Sweden as exampled, she said: "They are not being rolled out with the aim of giving customers better feedback, except that the households will get an accurate bill whereas in the past they might have got an estimate.

"But in [the UK], it is part of government policy that smart meters will be rolled out with real-time electricity displays."

The UK government policy involves installing smart meters in more than 27 million homes and two million smaller non-domestic sites over the next decade.

In a consultation document published in August, the Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc) and energy regulator Ofgem said better information would allow household to cut their energy use.

Dr Darby agreed that smart meters were an important development: "What I am saying in this paper is smart meters can be used to help use their energy consumption because they will get [accurate] bills, and because it is possible for them to have a breakdown about their energy use."

However, she added, "There is no inevitability about this. Smart metering can be introduced in such a way where people do not get the feedback effect, in which case you lose that benefit of the technology."

But she quickly added that the meters had the potential to offer more that just "feedback to customers".

"Essentially, a smart meter is a meter with communications technology. You can use that technology in different ways: it could turn your water heating on and off, according to the needs of the utilities, to fit in with load balancing.

"For example, at a time of peak demand, the utility company could switch off your water heater and they would offer you a special tariff to be allowed to do that. Instead it would switch on your immersion heater at a time of low demand."

Dr Darby said that this could be vital progress towards developing a more effective electricity distribution system in the future.

"It may not reduce the overall use of electricity, but it would allow the suppliers to manage loads on the system more effectively - especially as the balance between supply and demand gets tighter and, particularly, as we get more renewables on the system; if the wind is blowing then you want to make the most of it."

Savings questioned

In the effort to curb climate change, the consultation document says that initial government estimates suggest that smart meters could save around 34m tonnes of CO2 emissions over a 20-year period as people become more aware of the energy they were using.

Currently, according to government figures, households account for 26% of the UK's energy use and CO2 emissions. It has also calculated that in excess of £900m of electricity is wasted each year as a result of appliances being left on standby.

However, another paper in the Building Research and Information journal warned that the benefits of smart meters could become less effective over longer periods of time.

Dutch researchers questioned the findings of studies around the world because they were often only conducted for a relatively short-period of time - four months or less.

When the team from Delft University of Technology carried out a study that lasted for 15 months, they found that early energy savings were lost unless the features provided by smart meters became incorporated into consumer habits and routines.

The Decc/Ofgem consultation lasts until the end of September, and the government is planning to give the green light to the roll-out programme in mid-2012.

Ont. Liberals accused of hiding electricity report

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2010/09/29/liberals-electricity.html


Last Updated: Wednesday, September 29, 2010 4:35 PM ET

The Canadian Press

The Opposition is accusing the Ontario Liberals of hiding a report on future electricity costs. (CBC)

The Opposition is demanding that Premier Dalton McGuinty come clean and release a report on future electricity costs amid fears that soaring hydro bills are heading even higher.

The Ontario Energy Board acknowledged in a Sept. 17 letter that it conducted a "preliminary analysis and forecast" of electricity costs, but doesn't plan on making it public.

The Conservatives, who uncovered the letter, asked McGuinty 10 times in the legislature whether he would make the report public.

But the premier refused to acknowledge the existence of the OEB report and instead kept bringing up the former Tory government's record on hydro rates.

"The fact of the matter is that they quietly presided over the gradual decay of the electricity system in the province of Ontario," McGuinty told the legislature.

"They refused to make essential investments in new generation and in new transmission. They refused to work with Ontarians so that we might together conserve electricity and reduce demand."

But the premier's refusal to make the report public suggests he's concealing evidence that hydro rates are going up, said Opposition Leader Tim Hudak.

"There's got to be a reason why Dalton McGuinty is burying that report," he said outside the chamber.

"Clearly, rates have already gone through the roof and he's going to put them up higher. I just wish the premier would be honest, would tell families exactly how much hydro bills are going to go up, and make that report public."

Duguid unaware of report

Energy Minister Brad Duguid said he wasn't even aware of the OEB report.

"There are a series of reports we receive, whether it be from the Ontario Energy Board or others in the sector, that make projections as to where costs are going," he said.

Consumers should have "greater clarity" about future hydro costs once the government releases its 20-year energy plan at the end of December, Duguid said.

Given the heat the Liberals are taking over rising electric bills, NDP energy critic Peter Tabuns said he doubts they'll release anything that predicts higher rates before next year's election.

"They want to make sure that between now and voting day they can say whatever they want to whatever crowd they're in front of," he said.

Report 'preliminary and incomplete'

A spokesman for the OEB, which regulates Ontario's electricity and natural gas sectors, confirmed it isn't planning to release the report.

"It was work undertaken by staff as part of its ongoing industry monitoring, and wasn't prepared for any proceeding, consultation or other public forum," said spokesman Alan Findlay.

"Given its preliminary and incomplete nature, the analysis is not in a thorough or reliable form that would responsibly add to the public's or the sector's insights into costs."

The Liberals have been dogged for weeks over rising home electricity bills, with opposition parties blaming McGuinty's green energy policies, as well as July's addition of the HST, for soaring costs.

They say they're swamped with complaints from homeowners, who've already been hit with an extra eight per cent for electricity because of the HST, plus the costs of installing smart meters and moving to expensive time-of-use pricing.

Environmentalists are also warning that consumers may be hit with another rate hike this spring.

Ontario Power Generation has already asked to raise its rates next March to start paying for the re-build of the Darlington nuclear units, said Jack Gibbons of the Ontario Clean Air Alliance.
OPG is seeking a 6.2 per cent rate increase for "everything they want to do, including the re-build," Gibbons said. For the average residential customer, it would raise their bills by 1.7 per cent, he added.

"It's unacceptable to consumers to raise your rates for the highest cost and the highest risk option to meet our electricity needs," Gibbons said.

"Consumers want the government of Ontario to give them new supply that's clean and green, but at a reasonable cost. And nuclear power doesn't meet that test. The cost is way too high."
The province announced in 2006 that it wanted to build two new nuclear reactors to supply electricity, but has yet to sign a contract to proceed with the multi-billion project.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2010/09/29/liberals-electricity.html#ixzz111IjBvdL

Energy board forced changes despite problems

http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2010/09/28/15500881.html

By ANTONELLA ARTUSO, Queen's Park Bureau Chief
Last Updated: September 28, 2010 9:52am


The Ontario Energy Board forged ahead with smart meters and time-of-use pricing even though electricity distributors said it was a stupid idea to rush.

The OEB put the concerns to the Independent Electricity System Operator, and then ordered the distributors to proceed with the mandatory plan.

The order is included in an Aug. 4 memo from the OEB to electricity distributors, released by the Ontario Conservative Party Tuesday morning.

"Representatives of a number of distributors expressed the view that the setting of mandatory TOU dates is premature and inappropriate at this time because of issues associated with the performance and stability of the SME's meter data management and repository," the memo says. "After reviewing the IESO's response, the board is satisfied that deferral of the mandatory TOU dates as set out in the June Proposed Determination is not warranted by reason of MDM/R readiness or performance issues."

TOU pricing, where ratepayers are charged different rates depending on the time that they use the power, has resulted in price hikes to the majority of homeowners, although some people have seen a drop in their bills, according to Toronto Hydro.

It was previously revealed that Ontario Hydro was one of the distributors that raised a red flag about the program.

Premier Dalton McGuinty announced Tuesday that he was expanding the seniors tax credit to 50,000 more Ontarians to help with rising energy costs and property taxes.

The 'Peabody Plan'

http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=129849&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1471068&highlight=

Peabody Energy Chairman and CEO Greg Boyce Outlines 'Peabody Plan' to Eliminate Energy

Poverty and Inequality

MONTREAL, Sept 14, 2010 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ --

Peabody Energy Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Gregory H. Boyce today outlined a multi-step plan to eliminate energy poverty and inequality by unlocking the power of coal to advance energy security, generate economic stimulus and create environmental solutions. The 'Peabody Plan' was unveiled during a keynote address before the 21st World Energy Congress in Montreal. The Congress is a gathering of global energy leaders from nearly 100 member nations convened every three years.

Boyce called for greater use of coal to expand electrification, propel job creation and global economies, and deploy green coal technologies to achieve environmental goals.
"The greatest crisis we confront in the 21st Century is not a future environmental crisis predicted by computer models, but a human crisis today that is fully within our power to solve. For too long, too many have been focused on the wrong end game," said Boyce.

"For everyone who has voiced a 2050 greenhouse gas goal, we need 10 people and policy bodies working toward the goal of broad energy access. Only once we have a growing, vibrant, global economy providing energy access and an improved human condition for billions of the energy impoverished can we accelerate progress on environmental issues such as a reduction in greenhouse gases."

Boyce noted that there are 3.6 billion people in the world - more than half the global population - who lack adequate energy access. And another 2 billion will require power as the world population grows in the next two decades. This means the world is on a path to have 5 to 6 billion people without adequate access to electricity in as little as 20 years.

"Study after study - and pure common sense - tell us that access to electricity helps people live longer and better. Yet each year, we lose more than 1.5 million people to the effects of energy poverty," said Boyce. "We can no longer turn our heads from these brutal statistics. We must put people first. This is the first value."

Boyce called for recalibrating priorities to:

• Eliminate energy poverty as priority one;
• Create energy access for all by 2050;
• Advance all energy forms for long-term access, recognizing coal is the only fuel that can meet the world's rising energy demand; and
• Deploy advanced coal technologies on a path to near-zero emissions.

The world has approximately 1,000 gigawatts of traditional coal-fueled plants. Boyce observed that replacing these with supercritical plants would drive major global reindustrialization and enormous reductions in carbon dioxide without using carbon capture and storage.

Replacing older plants would create $4.3 trillion in economic benefits and 21 million new construction jobs during a four-year construction cycle, according to a study by Management Information Services in Washington, D.C. Avoided carbon dioxide emissions would equate to removing more than the entire passenger car fleet in the United States. The Peabody Plan calls for:

1. Working to eliminate energy poverty and propelling global economies by ensuring that at least half of new generation is fueled by coal, the dominant global baseload source of power;
2. Replacing the 1,000 gigawatts of traditional coal plants with supercritical and ultrasupercritical plants, which are more efficient and carbon capture ready;
3. Developing at least 100 major projects around the world that capture, store or use carbon dioxide from coal-based plants within 20 years;
4. Deploying significant coal-to-gas, coal-to-chemicals and coal-to-liquids projects around the world over the next 10 years. Such plants are in heavy development in China, and doing so elsewhere would reduce risky reliance on scarce oil and volatile natural gas; and
5. Commercializing and deploying next generation clean coal technologies to achieve continued environmental improvement and ultimately near-zero emissions.

Coal is the world's fastest-growing fuel, and coal use expanded nearly 50 percent this past decade. "Every tenfold increase in electricity is linked to a stunning 10-year increase in lifespans," said Boyce. "Coal is the only sustainable fuel with the scale to meet the primary energy needs of the world's rising populations and economies."

Peabody's plan would go far to eliminate energy poverty and energy inequality, and ensure full global access to electricity by 2050. Social and economic progress in the developing world is also the task of leaders in developed nations, Boyce said. "Poverty and economic stagnation sting equally, regardless of the color of one's flag."

The World Energy Council was established in 1923 and is a multi-energy organization with member committees in nearly 100 nations. The 2010 Congress has brought together more than 5,000 world leaders in the field of energy from industry, governments, academia, international organizations and industry associations.

Peabody Energy (NYSE: BTU) is the world's largest private-sector coal company and a global leader in clean coal solutions. With 2009 sales of 244 million tons and $6 billion in revenues, Peabody fuels 10 percent of U.S. power and 2 percent of worldwide electricity.

Editor's Note: The full presentation may be downloaded at www.PeabodyEnergy.com.

Ontario to give seniors a break on hydro bills

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/ontario/ontario-to-give-seniors-a-break-on-hydro-bills/article1729312/

The Ontario government, under siege over rapidly rising electricity prices, plans to roll out new tax-relief measures for senior citizens to give them a break on their hydro bills, sources say.

Premier Dalton McGuinty will make the announcement on Tuesday at Kensington Gardens, a long-term care home in Toronto, according to government sources. Finance Minister Dwight Duncan will unveil legislation for the tax credit later in the day, the sources said.

The government is grappling with the soaring cost of hydro amid worries that it will become an issue in next year’s provincial election. Both opposition parties are using the daily Question Period to attack the governing Liberals’ stewardship of the province’s electricity system.
“We are providing enhanced relief for Ontario seniors for their property and energy costs,” a government source said Monday evening.

Sources in the energy sector said the government has looked at various options. They said it is much easier for the government to help seniors with their hydro bills by introducing legislation than by changing the rate structure for consumers.

The government plans to amend existing legislation known as the Ontario Energy and Property Tax Credit. The legislation was introduced in this year’s budget and currently provides energy and property tax relief to low- and middle-income residents of the province.

Energy Minister Brad Duguid declined to comment on Monday on whether the government has any plans in store for seniors. But he acknowledged that electricity costs are taking a toll on many families in the province.

“We understand that Ontario families have had to cope with a lot in recent months,” he told reporters. “Energy rates are going up.”

Opposition parties say the Green Energy Act, along with the harmonized sales tax that took effect on July 1, adding 8 per cent to hydro bills, and higher prices for electricity during peak periods have all combined to drive up costs for consumers.

The McGuinty government is spending billions of dollars replacing pollution-spewing coal-fired electricity plants with cleaner sources of power, including wind and solar technology, under the Green Energy Act. Mr. Duguid reiterated that the Liberals inherited a “weak, unreliable, dirty” system from the Progressive Conservatives when they came to power in 2003.

The government is also looking at giving consumers a break on hydro prices under a program that critics say is not living up to its promise to save electricity users money and promote energy conservation.

Ontario is the first province in Canada to introduce time-of-use pricing designed to encourage consumers to run appliances during periods of lower demand. But under the current system, Mr. McGuinty has acknowledged that rates might not be low enough in off-peak hours to allow consumers to reap savings.

During the Progressive Conservative caucus’s opposition day on Tuesday – a designated day on which the Tories are allowed to debate a subject of their choice – they plan to criticize the time-of-use program.

New Democratic Leader Andrea Horwath attacked the government on a different front on Monday. She called on Mr. McGuinty during Question Period to scrap the provincial portion of the HST on consumers’ hydro bills, a move that she said would cost the government about $500-million a year in lost revenue.

“The government has a very easy opportunity here to provide some relief and take the HST off hydro bills,” she told reporters. “The HST is just more salt in the wound for people whose hydro bills are going up.”

Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak praised the New Democrats for joining his party’s push for lower taxes.

“Families need a break,” Mr. Hudak told reporters. “They’re getting nickel and dimed every time they turn around by Dalton McGuinty.”

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[RW: Dalton, just fix the pricing system and give EVERYONE a break from these oppressive electical prices! No instead he adds another layer of government, which he will have to hire people to administer, to complicate things even more. More government control over people, that's what the Liberals want. This is how they implement that control.]

EXAMPLE OF HOW SCREWED THE SYSTEM IS

Every year the IESO publishes a report called "Ontario Reliability Outlook" which summarizes what is going on in the system. This is the 2009 report http://www.ieso.ca/imoweb/pubs/marketReports/ORO_Report-Dec2009.pdf

It's worth the read. But something caught my eye. Page 15, the caption beside the plugged in car:

Owners of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles can take advantage of lower
electricity prices by charging at night to use in the morning, or selling the
electricity back into the grid to take advantage of higher daytime peak prices.

Whoa, just a minute, stop right there, hold the horses. Does anyone see a problem with this? Someone can get a huge bank of batteries, charge them at night at the low rate, and then sell it back to the grid during the peak price time. And the IESO doesn't see a problem with that?!

Two things. First, the person doing this makes money for doing nothing, which you pay for. Second, those who do this are wasting energy. The power they store won't be the power they return. In fact, the loss could be so high that selling back at the peak price won't cover the costs of storage at the low price. Either way, the fact remains, it's a net power consumer!!

Is stupidity the criteria for getting a job at the IESO?

NEW WEBSITE ANALYSIS WIND PERFORMANCE

I've gone far enough to present this to the public:

http://ontariowindperformance.wordpress.com/

More coming, but enough to get people started on how pathetic wind is, and you are paying for it.