Homestead mailing list

[Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>]

On Nov 3, 2008, at 8:20 AM, Clansgian AT wmconnect.com wrote:
> > > Out here in the hinterlands, they can't even read the meters
> > automatically. They have to get out of their truck, walk to the  
> > meter,
> > and write down the readings.
> They installed the wireless meters for our electricity some time ago.
> Suppose to read up to 3000'.  As the crow flies (as the FM signal  
> flies, actually),
> it is line-of-sight about 1600' to the road.  They can't read it,  
> have to
> drive up here to get within 25' of the thing before it works.

Interesting. We used to read our own meters each month. About a year  
ago we got meters that read themselves. It is my understanding they  
send the reading over the electric lines. I might be wrong on that.  
But our hills and hollers would surely make impossible any line-of- 
sight transmission.

Our electricity is supplied by a coop to which all users belong. All  
have voting rights to choose directors. All pay equally. All receive  
the same treatment. Being non-profit, we have historically had low  
rates. I used the same rate card for twenty years.

Most of our electricity is generated by burning Wyoming coal. The  
consortium of electric cooperatives in Missouri puts out a tabloid.  
The electric rates message has increasingly been that we should expect  
higher rates due to clean-air requirements. Seems fair to me: cleaner  
air is worth paying for. A recent tabloid issue had an article about  
the first wind farm that is now online.