Oncor is giving me a "smart meter". Is this a good thing?

[7wo7rees]

www.smartmetertexas.com

I need DU to weigh in on the pros and cons of them getting better at billing me. I got gouged over the Superbowl month.

[onestepforward]

1. It was a good thing for me.

I've had mine over 3 months and my electric bill has gone down about $25-35/month :)

You're billing should be very accurate after they install your meter. They will be able to get real-time readings instantly.

[plumbob]

2. One caution: read your own meter every day. Apparently there is a

chance that the RF signal can give you someone else's reading. There's a case where two side of a duplex got mixed up, and the tenants of one side owed hundreds of dollars for the profligate habits of their neighbors, and before they figured it out, had gone on for several months. The correction was made only for the current month, so be sure they got that right.

Eventually, they'll use it to charge more for certain times of the day.