IS IT TRUE June 6, 2013
IS IT TRUE that pondering the whole Johnson Controls mess that former Mayor Weinzapfel selfishly committed the City of Evansville to during his final hours this may be evolving through an exercise of diligence by both Mayor Winnecke and the Evansville City Council into something that fixes broken infrastructure and does not raise the water rates?…this contract by definition can’t cause a rate increase but the unpublicized reality is that people will pay more due to better and more accurate readings?…this is fair game for those whose meters are so bad that for example every 10 gallons used is only measured as 9 gallons?…there are indeed already some new and perfectly accurate meters in Evansville and the people who have them are subsidizing people who have old under reporting meters?…accuracy breeds fairness when it comes to charging for bulk commodities?…in that sense replacing needed water meters may be a positive step forward?
IS IT TRUE the beauty of such deals is that they pay for themselves sort of like putting in PV Solar does in certain locations where electric rates are high and the sun shines often?…the fundamental problem with the contract in its present form is that Johnson Controls is responsible for both the implementation and the measurement?…this is like putting the fox in charge of the chicken house?…there needs to be some third party verification of the financial performance of this contract over the entire duration of the bonds sold?…that would make this much better?
IS IT TRUE there are those who are targeting the FOG (fats, oils, and grease) provision that turns FOG into electricity for some of the savings?…the assertion is that local government has no business making electricity for its own use?…that may be true in some cases but a broad brush statement like that is not true in every case?…we should ask the people of Henderson, KY if they would trade their 5 cent per kilowatt*hour electric bills for the 16 cent per kilowatt*hour rates that the people of SW Indiana are paying Vectren?…Henderson Power and Light seems to work well and efficiently for the people of Henderson proving that local government can do power if it tries hard enough?…if FOG to power generates electricity for less money than Vectren charges the City of Evansville the FOG may indeed be a good idea and certainly would pay its own way?…having said that, if FOG is not cheaper than Vectren it needs to be taken out of the contract just like the other $11 Million of unnecessary fluff was?
IS IT TRUE in a personal issue of this writer’s own home it is my best interest to become my own electricity provider?…SoCal Edison the local provider has a tiered rate structure that ranges from 13 cents to 36 cents per kW*hr depending on use?…most residents average paying Edison about 16 cents per kWhr over an average year?…with the pricing structure that is in place for rooftop solar along with the temporary incentives offered by the federal government the amortized cost per kWhr for installing a PV solar on this home works out to 5.9 cents per kWhr?…for roughly $18,000 I shall never have another electric bill?…at today’s electrical rates over the 25 year life of the system my electric bills would amount to roughly $100,000?…that assumes rates never rise?…spending $18,000 to avoid spending well over $100,000 is as they say “a no-brainerâ€â€¦the same logic applies to local government?…my solar would be worth it even without the tax break?…the sun does not shine as much in Evansville but who knows the numbers may work out there too?
IS IT TRUE the federal government of the United States has been exposed for yet another action that could only come from the mind of a paranoid control freak?…it was reported yesterday that under a court order granted by the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court on April 25 and that is good until July 19 Verizon Wireless with 121 Million customers is requiring to provide the National Security Agency (NSA) records of all phone calls domestic and international on an ongoing, daily basis? …the report stated that a copy of the court order of which it had obtained, shows for the first time that under the Obama administration the communication records of millions of U.S. citizens were being collected indiscriminately and in bulk for government scrutiny?…this was going on, regardless of whether they were suspected of any wrongdoing?…this is comparable to the Iranian government under the Ayatollah Khomeini going through trash bins and reconstructing shredded documents from unwilling foreign embassies during the hostage crisis?…come to think of it the indiscriminate gathering and inspection of phone records is worse than what the Ayatollah presided over?…this sort of thing makes “robo cops†handing out tickets and parking armored surveillance trucks in bad neighborhoods look like simple eavesdropping?…when we were children there were still “party lines†in rural areas for phone service?…now with the help of big data and sound recognition it seems as though the world is one big party line?
IS IT TRUE in another example of judgment that is pretty difficult to understand, the Obama Administration has appointed Susan Rice, the lady who was the willing mouthpiece of lies about Benghazi on the Sunday morning talk shows to be the next National Security Advisor?…that unlike the nonsense with Verizon that can’t yet be traced to an order from President Barack Obama, the appointment of Ms. Rice came straight from the top?…this is of course the same top that appointed the people who have created scandals at the IRS and the Department of Justice?
Whose to say the meters aren’t over reporting usage in any case? I’m not an expert on water meters but I’m just wondering if the defect is always that it’s under recording.
Good point. Statistically speaking if there is not a built in way to prevent upward drift, with 50,000 meters the upward drift and downward drift should equalize. Do not be surprised if there is something that prevents upward drift though as leaving that off would constitute willful theft. The technique is called biasing.
Most material based things do drift down with time as the materials react and become less perfect. A doorbell degrades over time until it eventually won’t work at all. I have never heard of one that gets louder and stronger over time. Amplification equipment degrades similarly. Even lasers degrade over time. Devices that drift upwards naturally are unstable and usually just cease to function acting as their own fuse.
People on the other hand tend to get better as they age. I am just beginning to realize that.
Can you trust anything said by government.
15 or 20 years ago, the water department was planning to change the meter reading system from one in which the reader had to lift the meter cover and manually read the meter.
It was proposed that a system was to be installed with which the reader could tap a spot on the meter cover to get a reading with his wand. It was determined that this proposed system was too expensive.
Within two or three years, the “too expensive” system was installed city wide. So much for government believability.
Now they want to replace this “too expensive” system with Johnson Controls, which is even more expensive.
What a waste of money just to give Weinzapfel his final payoff!!!!!!!
Meters either work or they do not. While there is a slight degrade over time. Usually less then.05. Every meter will vary 1% to 2% either way. Evan brand new ones. I seriously do not believe this company can sell us a better meter. It appears like everything else in this towns meters have been let go and not been replaced as they fail. If the company is coming in an replacing meters that should have been replaced in routine maintenance that seems a bit deceptive.
The touch read system put in the 1990s eliminated twelve jobs. It cost more then the twelve jobs to install. It is easier to get new toys in the budget then employees.
Think about every piece of old technology that’s gone electronic or digital over the past 50 years… Lets take some examples – a wristwatch, a barometer, a scale, a thermometer and a hygrometer…
Is there any denying a Rolex watch is superior at keeping time to its battery powered, quartz-referencing counterparts? You certainly wouldn’t argue the Rolex needs more routine maintenance.
How about the other precision measurement devices listed above. Is there a single instance any among us would say the electronic versions are preferable or less burdensome over time than a well-made mechanical example? I own two thermometers and two hygrometers. Guess what…properly calibrated, the mechanical example reads exactly the same as the digital version, yet the older technology requires no batteries, and unless it falls off a shelf can be expected to perform accurately for an indefinite period of time. No so with electronics whose resistors and capacitors will drift over time, corrode, and eventually fail. Integrated circuits likewise do not last forever. Exposé them to damp environs like at the end of a water pipe or on the exterior of your house and the degrading process is intensified.
The phrase “they don’t make ’em like the used to” applies here. There is often a reason for that – no money to be made in service fees and replacement costs when your product doesn’t break. Reading meters is a small price to pay for such long term reliability.
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