Smart Grid == Electricity Rationing

[Pat McCotter]

Smart Grid == Electricity Rationing

The pitches are flowery, you sign up and the power company puts this thingy on your electrical wire and it can control your house or specific appliances, cycling them on and off at times the power company deems best for the power company. You get money back, a few dollars that a timer would probably beat in money saved. Surely you have heard the ads, they are everywhere.

Come to think of it, doesn't this resemble the cycling of the grid that is done in third world countries, they have hours in a day when they get to use electricity, and then times when it is cut off. LIke what California is now doing with their 'rolling blackouts' because they refuse to build enough power plants to satisfy demand. The only difference is power is cut in zones for fixed times, not by appliance.  The problem in third world countries is they don't have enough generation capability, so 'they have to share'. We saw this in Iraq, where they now have power in Baghdad for near 24/7 ... And life improves.

If you get to decide, then you are free to buy what you can afford. If they get to decide, then it's rationing no matter what the 'smart grid' name. Understandable in an emergency, sat a hurricane or fire damaged the power plant locally, but not what free people want.

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