Basic principle is that you can watch you power consumption by the 1/2 hour, allowing you to watch your power consumption and reduce excessive usage.
Normally houses in NZ get charged 25c per kWh
We also get charged 20c per kWh for our hot water rate. (normally our hot water cylinders are on a separate meter and the power company can turn heating off via ripple control, we get by law cheaper power for our hot water so that power company's can control peak power usage)
A local start up company has come up with the idea that, because your usage can be monitored every 1/2 hour, (along with wholesale rates) you can be charged along with wholesale rates! the sales point being: Most of the time cheaper power.
So far So Good!
One customer actually told FLICK (the start up company) their power usage history based from their power usage on their existing smart meter and were told that their annual bill would go up by $800.
So, if you cannot shift your power consumption to off peck times, then this is not the power company for you. But you can't fault a company for it's honesty! And most customers so far have apparently got lower power bills.
I remember Mike Wolksys (sp) in GA posting about three BMW mini's running on wholesale power prices at a profit a couple of years back. theory was that cars would discharge unused power a times at high prices and charge at times at low prices. I can not find the link anymore.
In Australia and NZ there are power pricing "sell back" plans for people who have solar panels on their house's, buying back, at a lower rate, unused power from their solar panels back to the grid.
Tesla Model S. I'm about to upgrade my my old car but the Tesla is WAY of my price range. Dam cool car though.
The Tesla company also sells a gizmo that you can screw to your wall to offset peck power times.
The technology to buy power at low rates, and sell it back at high rates is here, and within reach of the general home owner, almost, at a cost effective rate, even using your car as storage.
I think that power pricing and electric car's are about to enter an interesting phase of development.\
I also think that Elon Musk is one interesting character. I'm sure he has some sort of undiagnosed disorder that allows him to think outside the box like aspergers or something, much like most of the posters here. (including me). But that's another topic.
Jeroen
