So, according to the Ministry of Energy here in Ontario, you know, the guys that really own and run Ontario Power Generation, “Ontario has introduced smart meters — along with a “time-of-use” electricity price structure — to help you manage your electricity costs, while helping Ontario to build a more efficient, more environmentally sound electricity system. Smart meters have been installed in residences and small businesses across Ontario”  (Ref 1)

Now smart meters are smart. They have a built-in clock and connectivity to a central computerised location, which allows the meter to electronically tracks how much electricity a home or small business uses and when it is used.

Now the reason behind this, we are told is to ensure that we as consumers can take advantage of the differing electricity price structure that happens during the day.

How it works: The Electricity Generators know they can produce X amount of power at certain times of the day, and Y number of people are awake and need instant access to electricity at certain times of the day.

It is difficult to shut-down the generating capability of some types of power stations, like Coal, Bio-fuel and Nuclear fired generators, easier to shut-down ones powered by Natural and Bio-Gas, and really easy to shut-down Hydro & Wind powered ones.

That said, being able to get electricity from generating stations on a guaranteed basis is nearly the opposite, Nuclear, Coal, Bio-fuel stations, because they are slower to shut-down, are generally always available to provide power. Bio-Gas and Natural Gas powered ones can be as equally relied on to provide power, but are more expensive because of the start-up/shut-down cycles.

Water power is more difficult to rely upon, because treaties and rules are set to say how much water can be diverted from natural resources for power generation, and Wind generators only work when there’s a wind.

When you factor all this in, the supply very frequently doesn’t meet the demand, which is why the Power Generation companies (in Ontario through the Government) introduced the time tariffs.

So, no conspiracy so far. But why the need for the investment in the smart meter itself, surely we could have built a box that attached to the side of the old meters that worked out how much electricity was being used at certain times of the day?

Yes, this was possible, and in-fact, in the U.K. this is what was done some years ago, but here’s where the conspiracy theory comes in. What the new smart meters are capable of doing that the old meters were not, is to compute, and therefore measure the power factor of your electricity usage.

“Doesn’t my old meter do that? ” I can hear some of you ask. (Honestly I can hear you in my head)

The answer is No.  The older meters used a combination of iron magnets to brake an electric motor that wound the little meters forward.  The spinning disk you could see was actually assisted to move by electromagnets with the amount of power being used in the home allowing the disk to overcome the braking effects of the iron magnets on the motors.

So that cleared that up then eh?!

This was based upon the Wattage of your electricity.  So if you used 100 Watts, you got charged for 100 Watts.  In essence the more power you used, the faster your disk spun and the bigger your bill.

This was great when we were all using Electric lights, electric Kettles etc where the amount of power (Watts) used by the appliance was equal to the Volt/Amps being used.

( There’s that voice in my head again!)  “Do  what?” I hear you say, but “surely Watts are Volts x Amps aren’t they?”  (All these questions!)

Well in Thomas Edison’s day when everything was Direct Current (DC) it was.  But then along came this upstart called Nikola Tesla. Actually, not only was he an upstart, but he was, in my opinion, a bit of a smart cookie.  (O.K. he was a genius)

He realised the way to go was Alternating Current (AC).  Not only did he realise this, he proved it, and that’s why we all have the electricity system we have today.  But what people didn’t quite grasp is that there are distinct differences between power usage in a DC circuit and in an AC circuit.

The problem is, that as electrical systems have become more intelligent and efficient in their use of this AC electricity there has been a widening gap between the Real Power used (Watts) and the Apparent power (Volt-Amp or VA) used by appliances.  In fact that gap is general seen on modern appliances to by around 40%.

For example, (in VERY simplified terms) while your computer might only be drawing  60 watts of electricity, it is actually using 100 Volt-Amps.  This is because capacitors, certain types of motors and some electrical circuits can “give back” electricity making it look as though they are using less power.  Technically there’s an argument to say they are, but that argument doesn’t sit well with the Financial gurus in large generating companies.  (I’m not going into this in detail here, because I can see, in my mind’s eye that a lot of you have glazed over already and started to yawn)

WAKE UP!

So here’s the conclusion  If our modern electronics and electrical appliances are actually using around 40% more VA than they are Watts, wouldn’t it be good if someone came up with a way of measuring VA instead of Watts, fooling the Public that because Watts = Volts x Amps, VA is the same, and then charging us for the VA we are using.

Tada!  40% increase in the electricity bill for the consumers and a 40% increase in electricity revenue for generating and distribution companies, and all they had to do was fit smart meters!

BONUS!

Then the Government/Electricity Generators tell us, “Oh, by the way, if you generate your own electricity and feed it through the meter it will calculate what you’ve generated and we’ll give you the money back”

So we all think, “what a good idea”, we invest our money and effort and our premises to become a distributed power generation system for the Government, and they gives us back less than they just clawed out of us for the change in charging between Watts and Volt-Amps.

Yep, it might be a conspiracy theory, but when you look into it, it’s a pretty solid one.

(Disclaimer:  This theory is explained using very simplified, but essential accurate terms, I could have explained in much greater detail, citing papers on electrical calculations and mechanical capabilities or equipment but I wanted to write a thought provoking piece, not a thesis on how we are about to get ripped of by the Electricity Generators/Government)

Catch basin from the Niagara River

So, here I am again, pouring rain along with a host of other Heritage folks looking at properties that have huge architectural, economic and cultural impact on the future from things that have been done in the past. I thought I’d share some of the joy I get out of this voluntary position.

Up until a few years back, this Power Generating station was open to the public, but alas no more. So here are some of the snaps I took of it today.

So let me walk you through the Generating station in he way the water get’s in, and the electricity gets out.

Fore-bay where the water is skimmed for debris

The water comes off the Niagara river, after being diverted by a wing-pier into the outside catch-basin of the station.  You can see this from the Niagara Parkway as you go over the bridge alongside the Power Station.

The water then flows into the fore-bay of the power station.

The colour today was quite spectacular, and I can only imagine what it would look like in the summer.  Last time I saw water this colour was in Greece.  When you consider where the water has come from (the rapids before the Falls, it was quite peaceful.  For the water, this peace would last long.

Intake gates

The water was then pushed through screens in the fore-bay (under the railing you can see in photo 2) and then through intake gates into steel pipes called pen-stocks.

The gates were closed and have been since the station was decommissioned but they haven’t closed fully so you can still hear quite an amount of water gushing through.

Now that's a drop!

The pen-stocks drop straight down over 150 feet to the bottom of a trench that runs the length of the Power Station, you can get an idea of how deep the trench is when you first walk into the station by looking through the grills.

In the close-up through the grille, you can see the black steel pen-stock dropping away into the chasm below.

Now at the bottom of the pen-stock is the turbine.

When you see the rest of the mechanism, the actual turbine blade is surprisingly small.  The blades are about 2 1/2 feet high and around 8 feet in diameter.

Turbine blades

This doesn’t look too deep, but we are already 1 floor level down, and each one of those railings on the left wall is another one.

The first was another mechanical, component, the turbine shaft bearing housing.

This in turn allows the balls to swing back in releasing the brake, which allows the turbine to speed up.

I recently went to the William Birche Rankine Hydro-Electric Power Generating station in Niagara Falls as part of my responsibilities of serving on the Niagara Falls Heritage committee and was asked about something that looked like a clock but with two hands, but with no numbers.

I explained that this was a phase-frequency synchronisation clock otherwise known as a synchcroscope.

In order to describe better what this clock does and why, I built a small flash presentation.

My commentary is in the grey box at the top middle of the panel.