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To: sweetrock who wrote (4855)	4/12/1999 5:16:00 PM
From: David Holloway	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10309

I have data point. The city of Alameda CA, which owns it's own electric company, is currently laying fiber optic cable for the purposes of replacing meter readers as well as competing with @home/TCI.

To: sweetrock who wrote (4855)	4/12/1999 6:29:00 PM
From: Ronald Paul	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10309

Got this from the March 22 issue of the Electronic Engineering Times front page - There is a company based in San Carlos, Ca called "CellNet Data Systems" that will launch the world's first online electric-utility company called "utility.com" The technology will perform hour-by-hour readings over CellNet's wireless network and support the ability to reduce a customer's load during peak hours (among other wizbang features.) This technology enables another facet of the concept of the "Smart House." Loads from a home's big power consumers,like refrigerators and airconditioners, eventually can be shifted in a way that give the consumer the power s/he requires while allowing the power source broker, utility.com in this case, to purchase the power in a more cost effective way. They expect 15% drops in utility bills on the first go-around. Part of what enables this brave new world will be hardware in the form of a two-way 900+ Mhz radio integrated with a household's electric meter. These modules link into cell stations (like cellphones) that are part of CellNet's WAN. This alone enables CellNet to cover huge geographical areas with relatively small fixed costs. There are currently 2000+ homes wired up which is expected to double by y2k. Depending on how well the idea catches on will affect the rate at which door-to-door meter-readers get edged out, but the job will inevitably and eventually become obsolete. Cheers, Ronald BTW, it would be nice if such a system required the likes of a VxWorks... ;-)