Smart meters to nip illegal practice in the bud

[grace]

I cant be fucked being paranoid today

 

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All governments think the public are idiots and treat us accordingly.

The electricity co's don't give a shit how much power we use just so long as we pay for it.

How could they say you are growing if you use more power in off peak? You could be a shift worker. bah humbug!!!

 

Hey Brick, I think power companies are primarily targeting power theft. As this article shows some energy companies are working with the police in power theft cases.

 

Drug growers' illegal use of electricity rife

SCOTT HAZELWOOD

17 May, 2010 12:00 PM

 

GRIFFITH drug growers are using elaborate techniques to bypass meter boxes and steal electricity in a bid to avoid crop detection, police say.

 

Fuelled by the growing popularity of indoor hydroponic marijuana, a number of growers have fronted Griffith court in recent weeks charged with stealing electricity after officers have raided their properties and discovered cords running out the doorway or the power otherwise diverted.

 

Hydroponic marijuana is grown under intense ultra-violet light which must run continuously, meaning large indoor crops can chew through thousands of dollars in electricity a month and arouse suspicion from authorities.

 

Country Energy figures show the crime is widespread, with about 400 cases throughout its network in the past year.

 

Griffith Police crime manager Paul Smith said the crime was particularly prevalent in older homes, where meter boxes were more susceptible to tampering.

 

"People need to know that this is a serious criminal offence and no different to stealing something from a shop," Detective Inspector Smith said.

 

"While it can run into a lot of money having people take power off the grid, our biggest concern is that people are messing with wires who may not be qualified to do so.

 

"It could result in a house fire, serious injury or even death."

 

Country Energy's community relations manager Emma Ginnavin said the company had sophisticated systems in place to track electricity "anomalies".

 

"Electricity theft affects a tiny amount of our business but we take it seriously because it's a dangerous practice," Ms Ginnavin said.

 

"Any interference with the power network is dangerous and people risk serious injury, if not their lives, when they meddle with poles and wires, zone substations, transformers, their own meter boxes, or enter field service centres.

 

"We work closely with police in power theft cases."

[Sylar420]

i think its all a scare campaign aimed at freaking growers out. As pointed out if you steal power on the inlet line into the meter then they cant detect shit. cops might go through your bin and look for old nute containers, stems and leaf but they would have to check your general rubbish ever bin day for that to work, i put my left overs in the grass and mow the lawn then it ends up in the compost, try and find it now copper! and nute containers get the labels remover and dumped in bins at work. As for detecting 12/12 well it could but as pointed out if your a/c is on in summer all day like mine is or have my big screen tv on all day its gona fuck that idea right up. how many of us dump our used rock wool in the backyard? i would like to think none so cops arnt gonna see shit. as for looking through windows well is your grow visible from a window? i think not. Carbon filters can mask smell so that wont work for them and as for thermal imaging well just run your light cycle in daylight hours 8am to 8pm and there 30k thermal camera is worthless! For all the power company or cops know i could be growing orchids or veggies not dope. Power company would love the dope grower how pays his bills why would they care what u do with the power as long as you pay for it!

 

I think that for this to work the meter would have to be at every power point measuring the amount used by every appliance and calculating usage or if the only thing in the house is a grow as pointed out already.

 

they dont think we are idiots, they think we are all retarded!

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Country Energy's community relations manager Emma Ginnavin said the company had sophisticated systems in place to track electricity "anomalies".

 

This is another load of complete bullshit.

I know for a fact there is shit loads of power being stolen by VERY BIG underground hydro setups. I have actually seen one.

This setup was using around 10,000 watts of power 12 hours a day. And whats more there are fucking heaps of them in that particular area it's a county area of course. The % of power being ripped in that district is quite substantial.

None of them get caught ripping off power.

I also know that power companies don't monitor usage because of line and transformer losses. They lose far more electricity in these losses than the amount being ripped. It's simply not economical for them to chase down any off it.

They like to tell you they can track it, but it's all bullshit, I personally know some Tech's that used to work for Energex.

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i think its all a scare campaign aimed at freaking growers out.

 

they dont think we are idiots, they think we are all retarded!

 

Just my thoughts ... but I think they are also using it as an excuse to increase electricity accounts $$$$ ... along with gas and water supply.

 

No pool or a/c at this place but my accounts have tripled over the past few years even though energy use has decreased.

 

I'm away most of the time too so overall am using less but paying more.

 

Also went through years of water restrictions ... then all these car wash business charging a fortune have ben set up when I can use wash my car using less water.

 

[Sylar420]

its a fucken joke, what they don't tell you about those car wash places that use "recycled" water only filter and recycle about 10-15% of waste water! how do i know this? a good mate is a plumber for the company that fits all the sediment traps, pumps and high pressure lines. Recycled my ass!, at least the water and detergent was helping my lawn stay green and the soil hold water, now i have dead grass and rock hard soil, what an improvement.

 

I had an idea just before, so these meters are meant to pick out 12/12 and 18/6 power usage, they would be looking for this specific time frame of 12 hrs or 18 hrs give or take 5 min so if i used a digital timer and set it to 8:05 am and 7:55pm i would only be running my system 11hrs 50min, still enough time for the plants to grow happily but not trip the programing in the meter. Im not sure if its a good idea but you could set a digital timer to shut off the lights at the 6hr mark for 15min to let the ballast cool down and then start it back up. not sure if 15 min darkness would be enough to stress the plants.

 

All i can see this doing is forcing ppl to go guerrilla in the state forests