Texas Consumers Lose Control Of Their Thermostats, Get Another Crash Course In Value Of Competent Regulators
from the you-don't-own-the-things-you-buy dept
When last we checked in with Texas utility customers, they were literally freezing to death thanks to repeated underinvestment in the state's utility grid. The Texas utility grid is a unique mish-mash of competitors on its own grid resulting from a massive deregulation effort that didn't really deliver what was promised. The convoluted mess is overseen by state regulators -- detached from federal authority -- which have spent a decade ignoring reports calling for a hardening of the grid in the face of climate catastrophe.
Texas consumers have continued to pay higher and higher prices for power. At the same time, state regulators have continued to prioritize the revenues of utility companies over the welfare of the public, and generally (with the occasional exceptions) refused to take the necessary hardening of utility grids in the face of climate change seriously. The results have been what everybody should have expected: an unreliable power grid in the face of both winter and summer extremes created by a destabilizing climate.
During the recent heat wave, some Texans were shocked to wake up to find that their local energy company had turned up their thermostats in the night to save energy. Houston locals weren't exactly thrilled to wake up sweating in the night to the sound of dehydrated, crying infants. Customers had apparently signed up for a "sweepstakes" where the fine print in a massive, overlong end user agreement gave control of their own AC thermostats over to the local utility:
"The family’s smart thermostat was installed a few years ago as part of a new home security package. Many smart thermostats can be enrolled in a program called "Smart Savers Texas." It's operated by a company called EnergyHub.
The agreement states that in exchange for an entry into sweepstakes, electric customers allow them to control their thermostats during periods of high energy demand. EnergyHub’s list of its clients include TXU Energy, CenterPoint and ERCOT.
Groups like the EFF had already raised some concerns about privacy and the loss of consumer control when it comes to the use of "smart meters" (another subject most regulators have been useless on). But that concern largely focused on how the data collected from such devices (which gives a pretty detailed readout of your daily behavior) was being monetized and sold or shared with law enforcement without consumers' explicit consent. Losing complete control of a device you own (your thermostat) adds an entirely new wrinkle to the battle of maintaining some level of control over the technology you buy.
Of course you wouldn't need to trick users into giving up control of their thermostats using sweepstakes and mouseprint if the grid was capable of handling fluctuations. And the grid would be able to handle fluctuations if Texas utility regulators hadn't spent the better part of the last decade fecklessly collapsing in the face of energy sector lobbying pressure time after time:
"Lawmakers and regulators, including the PUC and the industry-friendly Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates the oil and gas industry, have repeatedly ignored, dismissed or watered down efforts to address weaknesses in the state’s sprawling electric grid, which is isolated from the rest of the country."
It's all propped up by a bizarre mythology of rugged independence that's really just obfuscating quite boring and ordinary greed. What the body count has to look like before genuine regulatory reform is implemented or utilities start taking the threat seriously remains to be seen.
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Filed Under: smart homes, smart thermostats, sweepstakes, texas, thermostats
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Hey, we're not going to spend money investing in hardening the grid to withstand the so-called effects of what many good people know is just a conspiracy theory.
/s (or something)
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This is all the fault of windturbines somehow!
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Proof by assertion meets reality. Film at 11.
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"Of course you wouldn't need to trick users into giving up control of their thermostats using sweepstakes and mouseprint if the grid was capable of handling fluctuations."
Allowing the utility to cycle your A/C to level peak demand is pretty common. I've had something like that on my A/C for a couple of decades. The utility has the option of shaving off peaks and the consumer (me) gets a free thermostat and a discounted rates. It's a win-win. Unfortunately some consumers aren't self-aware enough to understand what they signed up for.
Many large utility customers also participate demand management by reducing demand when the utility requests. I know of large campuses that maintain whole-campus standby generators just for that reason.
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Re:
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Something something once upon a time wasn't it popular in come areas for the utility to offer a discount gimmick thing where they could throttle back or suspend central air units to keep the grid alive?
They had very clear rules about how and when it could happen, how long it could last, and gave you a discount.
Then the computers magically were able to rob peter to cool paul, then rob paul to cool peter, everyone was only a bit warmer than they would have liked but... the entire grid didn't collapse leaving everyone hot & pissed off.
Pity whats his nuts is willing to spend a bunch of money to destroy more natural wonders to build that wall, than to invest in making sure his citizens don't freeze or burn up.
'Merica where for imaginary problems the sky is the limit, for actual problems well maybe we could find a dime.
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To the editor:
I would like to note that the Texas Tribune article "How Texas repeatedly failed to protect its power grid against extreme weather" was linked to twice in this post.
Did you miss a different article you intended to link?
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