Sacramento’s power company and law enforcement agencies have been running an illegal mass surveillance scheme for years, using our power meters as home-mounted spies. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is seeking to end Sacramento’s dragnet surveillance of energy customers and have asked for a court order to stop this practice for good.
  • DominusOfMegadeus@sh.itjust.works
    202·
    9 days ago

    The Sacramento government (or just the power company? 🤷‍♂️) is apparently racist against Asians. I’m sure there’s more context here, but that was my biggest takeaway from the article.

    • SwampYankee@feddit.onlineEnglish
      51·
      9 days ago

      Chinese organized crime is huge in illegal grow operations, but obviously that doesn’t make it right to point to people’s race as a determining factor in the decision to investigate “unusual” electricity usage.

    • atticus88th@lemmy.world
      10·
      9 days ago

      When I got solar my installer pointed out how I can draw power from my power banks without the power company knowing. If your installer doesnt provide those details then youve been DPd by your installer and electric company.

      • foggy@lemmy.world
        4·
        9 days ago

        Shit, in many areas you can feed power back to the grid and be compensated for it.

        Some areas however only offer credit for this, which something tells me isn’t exactly legal.

        • IphtashuFitz@lemmy.worldEnglish
          3·
          9 days ago

          My solar panels & battery are part of a Virtual power plant that our electric utility can pull from during peak power events, which is basically summer afternoons with high temperatures. They pay a premium for power supplied during VPP events. Last year we received over $5000 for participating.

          During normal non-peak hours when our panels are generating excess power it goes back to the grid as well, and this is paid in the form of credit on our bill. Between winter & summer months that equals out so our bills average close to $0.

        • XeroxCool@lemmy.world
          2·
          9 days ago

          My area only offers credit and only approves grid hookup if annual production is equivalent to annual consumption. Don’t worry, they’re still taking the government incentives regarding green energy credits.

      • XeroxCool@lemmy.world
        1·
        9 days ago

        I don’t see how this is a surprise or secret knowledge and certainly don’t see how you’d get charged for using the batteries if you didn’t know. If the panels and the batteries are on the same side of the meter, then using power from them will slow (and even reverse) the meter. Are you talking about emergency batteries requiring a total switch over between sources? Or are they integrated night time buffers for solar?

  • Proprietary_Blend@lemmy.world
    8·
    9 days ago

    This has been a thing since the first indoor growers fired up their multiple 1,000W MH bulbs. It’s probably safe to assume that utility usage has been a data point since the 1800s. Law enforcement loves data points.