Friday, April 16, 2010

"Smart" Power meters - watch your electric bill

Almost a year ago, I warned of the disaster that is "Smart" power meters:
And the Obama administration - no doubt at the behest of the Greens - is paving the way. Billions of dollars in the "stimulus" plan is for purchase and deployment of "smart" power meters, centrally controlled network devices that can let power be remotely turned on or off. The power companies like them because it makes it easy to implement "rolling blackouts" - think California in 1999. The Obama administration and the Greens like them because they now can make you use less power.

The bad guys like them because they can now use automated malware technology to take over the entire power grid at once ...
There's no security in the Smart Meters - by this I mean no security: no encryption, no authentication, no password, nuthin'. Seems some of the companies that make the meters were starting to add security, until the Obama Administration touched off the market-share landgrab. Billions of dollars of meters entirely lacking in security are being deployed.A recent demonstration showed how easy it was to take control of the power meter:
The attacks could be pulled off by stealing meters - which can be situated outside of a home - and reprogramming them. Or an attacker could sit near a home or business and wirelessly hack the meter from a laptop, according to Joshua Wright, a senior security analyst with InGuardians Inc. The firm was hired by three utilities to study their smart meters' resistance to attack.
Any bets that the power meter network is isolated from the Internet? Heck, we can't even keep classified Defense Department networks from being compromised via the Internet.

The power companies say don't worry, be happy:

California's largest utility, Pacific Gas and Electric Co., has installed more than 5 million SmartMeters throughout its territory. Company spokesman Jeff Smith said the utility, based in San Francisco, has taken steps to protect the meters from hacking. For security reasons, he declined to describe those steps.

"We've done extensive preparation to ensure the security of the SmartMeter network," Smith said.

Any bets that he's a clueless PR flack, and that their "extensive preparation" is to set the password to "T0pS3kr3T"?

It gets more interesting. Power companies love this program because it makes it easier for them to cut off your power - think of the rolling blackouts in California in the late 1990s - and the Fed.Gov is picking up the tab (OK, we're picking up the tab, but work with me). Anything else?

The Smart Meters raise the monthly bills:

But as Green Inc. has reported, ratepayers from Texas to California have reported disappointing results and even higher electricity bills after converting to smart meters.

In Toronto, the local utility estimated that 92 percent of its customers would see an average 7 percent rate increase because of time-of-use metering, according to The Toronto Star.

...

PG&E is facing consumer lawsuits over inflated energy bills following smart meter installation.

Ah, but there's an explanation, say the Utility Companies:
“Educating users on how to manage their electricity use is under-emphasized, especially with smart grid grants,” Mr. Fromer said, adding that smart meters alone are “insufficient” to change behavior.
Stupid users.

So, we have a poorly conceived government program throwing Billions of dollars into an incompletely designed technological "solution" that screws the public with higher monthly bills on top of higher taxes to pay for the program. Regulatory Capture, anyone?

Can lefties in general and Democrats in particular please just shut up about how they're looking out for the Little Guy?

7 comments:

Alan said...

"For security reasons, he declined to describe those steps."

What a load of BS.

Security through obscurity never works.

NotClauswitz said...

PG&E here is using different software on the meters - Oracle is the base (*so they probably use an IE browser-driven interface!) and Silver Spring Networks provides the communications software. It's all eminently hackable.

PG&E has launched a California initiative (Prop 16) in the June election that will further solidify their monopoly control - disingenuously calling it a "right to vote" act that lowers the threshold so low they can use divide-and-conquer tactics to prevent any local municipality from competing with them. They hate the fact that some cities - Palo Alto famously did this years ago - buy energy in bulk at discounted rates and re-sell it to residents without a markup.

bluesun said...

"...and here to prove that if it might be worth doing, it's worth doing now, without thinking... THE GOVERNMENT!!!"

DaddyBear said...

I love it when everyone chases the new hotness in technology without thinking about security. My prediction is that no-one will do anything about it until a script kiddy takes down a large residential power grid by tapping into the command network for these things and browns out a neighborhood or three.

NotClauswitz said...

Yeh, some scrip-kiddie in China...

ZZMike said...

"... ratepayers from Texas to California have reported disappointing results and even higher electricity bills after converting to smart meters."

Is anybody really surprised?

Alan: What if they just told everybody what their security measures are?

DirtCrashr: I'm in So Cal, and I've heard the pro-16 ads. They sound like a real good idea - keep city governments (which, like all governments, couldn't run a cookie concession at a Boy Scout camp and turn a profit) from getting into the power business.

Now I've got to go out and dig up the details about Prop 16. Thanks for the heads-up.

Greybeard said...

A neighbor and good friend was just yesterday telling me of the benefits of Smart power meters. Your article, confirms the uneasy feeling I had while he was describing the technology!
Thanks for the arguing points!