Comrades, a heatwave hit the Colorado region Tuesday with temperatures exceeding 90 degrees.
Indoor temperatures began climbing, and when formerly free-range residents attempted to adjust their air conditioning, they discovered they were locked out from control in their own home as the power company took over.
(Denver ABC7) – […] when thousands of Xcel customers in Colorado tried adjusting their thermostats Tuesday, they learned they had no control over the temperatures in their own homes.
[…] “I mean, it was 90 out, and it was right during the peak period,” Talarico said. “It was hot.” That’s when he saw a message on the thermostat stating the temperature was locked due to an “energy emergency.”
[…] Xcel confirmed to Contact Denver7 that 22,000 customers who had signed up for the Colorado AC Rewards program were locked out of their smart thermostats for hours on Tuesday. (read more)
Comrade Citizens, it is important that we support the needs of the energy collective. All good thinking citizens put the needs of the state ahead of their selfish desires.
As the national energy emergency now begins to unfold, the officials in charge of energy resource equity remind everyone how critical it is to remain compliant with all ministerial energy objectives. Compliance is expected from all correct thinking citizens.
As long as you remain compliant, there is no reason for concern. Do not attempt to adjust your household allocation of energy. Energy advisors will be made available for enhanced personal education to explain the benefits of our Green New Deal. Your cooperation is appreciated Comrades. Please report any non-compliant energy consumers to your local energy enforcement agency.
Don’t vote for any candidate who supports the popular (elitist) delusion that anthropogenic CO2 causes Global Warming/Climate Change.
Ask them.
and listen carefully for any obfuscation; it’s ‘yes’ or ‘no’.
Agreed. And that includes about 80% of all Republicans. All those who “acknowledge” that Climate change is REAL … but just aren’t quite sure how MUCH mankind contributes. That confession opens the door to ALL measures to counteract any possible contribution by the machinery of capitalism and comfortable lifestyles.
Climate change is real. Period. Fact. Detroit was under a mile of ice only 30,000 years ago. Those dang cavemen, with their campfires, made anthropogenic climate change and melted the ice. Special thanks to the cavemen from all the walleye fishermen on Lake Erie.
Current climate control should be relabeled human control.
It does not matter who votes, but who counts the votes. Democrats and the deep state have complete control of counting in Colorado
Blatant theft of primary races just happened. Colorado was one of the first states that George Soros and the left were able to flip to purple and then blue through fraud and legalizing drugs.
Before he was getting radical DAs elected, he got radical Secretaries of State elected to corrupt the voting process across the country.
They proclaim anthropogenic Global Warming but don’t believe in it. They just don’t want to be crucified.
Exactly what choice do we have? BOTH parties are all in on the fascist Green New Deal.
You have to ask yourself which party is less inclined to implement this crap. The Republicans are less inclined. Vote for them. NEVER vote for Democrats.
They all do. That is who is financially supporting their candidacy.
INCLUDING RON DESANTIS – ELECTRIC BUS RON???
How much you want to bet “special people” are exempt from the thermostat police?!
Just BS this is happening in America.
The people being controlled volunteered for it, remember.
Yes they did and they are a pretty naive 22,000 group of people.
This apparantly happened along the Front Range where the population is almost 5 million people living in what is considered an urban corridor ranging from Boulder down to Pueblo.
22,000 people made a huge mistake in giving up their freedom in this issue and hopefully with all of this publicity the rest of the Front Range population will not make the same mistake but like Michael Rowland says these people volunteered for it and 22,000 out out of the millions and millions that live there is a drop in the Idiot Bucket for the commie masters to brag on and maybe not such a panic situation as it seems to be.
The millions who did not sign on to this might watch out for it and be careful though.
Just like the water restrictions in California. An article I posted yesterday said wealthy people will simply have water trucked in to their properties.
In my community we were forced to have Smart Meters.
And that was the fear for many of us.
It was nice that we didn’t have people traipsing through
our yards leaving the gate open so the dog escaped LOL
as they could read the meters electronically.
However, many of us worried about the control
this gave government.
As an example:
Recently I remodeled a bathroom during the end of the pandemic.
The guys finishing up had a zoom call with the city inspector.
My office is near the hallway and I overheard the inspector
having them use a device to monitor the max temperature
of the water. With that, I bolted out of my office into the hallway
where I, waiving my arms and acting like a total lunatic, yelled
“oh no, no one is telling me what my water temperature should be!”
One of the guys came out and said, “don’t worry Missy, we put
it back when we are done”. And they did.
I have a client who is currently facing years of jail time because a child burned her fingers on water that was too hot. Her hands were under the stream from the faucet for under 5 seconds. The parents were tenants who did not have access to the thermostat — the landlord sets it in the basement, where they did not have access. Nonetheless both parents face career and life destroying criminal charges and lost custody of their child. In their state having water too hot is criminal child abuse.
Interesting that in many jurisdictions, too high a setting on the water heater can be prosecuted as “child abuse” whereas in those same places, puberty blocking hormones and surgical mutilation are not.
That’s not unreasonable though. A shower valve should have a limiter on it to prevent the temperature from exceeding a certain value, so people aren’t accidentally scalded. The inspector was having the plumber ensure that the limiter is functioning properly. That’s entirely different than an installed “smart” device that allows a third party to continuously monitor your water temperature.
The city tried to force a “smart water meter” on us about 10 years ago. We kept refusing to allow them access to the house to install it. After about a month, a city water truck showed up. I watched on cctv how they shut off water to the house through an underground valve. I waited until dark, went out & opened the valve back up. Never heard another word about it. Our city water bill from that point on until we sold the house and moved was just the minimum amount they charge empty buildings with no usage.
WOW! The Green’s Promissed Land! Imagine that… can’t control the temperature in your own home! That, in the United States of America!
Colorado should be grateful their “heat wave” wasn’t a good ole Texas sized one that we here endured for weeks…triple digits. They don’t know what hot is.
Perhaps the Save the Earth Green Cult will have 22,000 fewer adherents from that liberal enclave.
And good thing Texas doesn’t get “cold-snaps” too often like Colorado does.
The one we had with a failing grid and blackouts was bad enough. I dread to think what’s coming this winter, with the added bonus of exorbitant prices for natural gas. Go long thermal underwear and blankets.
I am, Robin, truly afraid for people who experience those life threatening cold winters. Rest assured, those in government…and I include every single Dem AND Republican…who will be all toasty warm wherever they are, with no fear of the unaffordable bills which drop.
Heat or eat?? Not for them. I despise them all.
Colorado doesn’t have “cold snaps”. They have Winter.
Here in Florida we have a heat wave for over half the year and never have any issues with power constraints.
Abbott is all in windmills and solar panels. Bills just dropped. People are screaming about them, and the amounts owed are eye watering. ERCOT is not fit for purpose,and neither is Abbott. But Beto? He’s making inroads, and Abbott is mute.
So here we are, in Texas, full of natural gas, full of oil,and we are struggling to keep things functioning in what should be a nonissue.
Does this just turn off the air or all electrics? What if you have COPD and they turn off the oxygen tank? Or are most of them battery-powered? My husband’s machine runs on an electric cord.
Now, wait til it’s freezing out.
Land of the Free and Home of The Brave … needs to be rewritten. Land of The Enslaved and Home of The Sweltering
WiFi connected “Smart” thermostats are a scam. My power company has been pushing them for years, iffering “discounts”. Nope! There are plenty of programmable thermostats that are better choices.
I have a Nest thermostat that I love. My power company will NEVER know I have it.
If it’s a Nest. Yes they will. Nest is part of Google, and if you don’t think they already have or will share your info, I’m sorry.
Retired Magistrate here: We have an old school thermostat; probably 50 years old and it works just fine. No smart phone, just a land line. Of course we have a computer, but I need that to see what is happening on the Treehouse!
US TOO – WE HAVE NO PROBLEM WALKING A FEW STEPS TO ADJUST UP OR DOWN
I have one myself, as well, but don’t delude yourself. The power company already has the list and it is updated frequently. I also have an old-school one that can be wired in quickly should the need arise.
We had no choice. Power company was threatening to apply exorbitant charges to send an employee to the house to read the meters.
Same here. Power company has a significant surcharge for people that do not use smart meters. And that is legal since the state, Florida passed into law very liberal rights to FP&L.
Tovarishch you will install the device you are commanded to install and not question your betters.
… Meanwhile, those of us who are tech savvy will risk execution as capitalist counterrevolutionaries by creating hacks, bypasses, and alternate thermostats (for a small fee, of course)
I understand the sentiment, but this is a peak shaving program. These are usually completely voluntary IE. you get something for free or reduced price if you give the power company the authority to reduce or temporarily disable a major energy consumer in your home during periods of high demand. In Ohio my power company used to give you a free water heater if you let them shut it off during times of peak demand. People usually think free equipment and or reduced pricing is great. However people rarely consider what will occur if the power company eventually makes use of their end of the agreement.
Begins voluntary completes mandatory.
I’m in SW Ohio and was offered ac control discount and I refused. Eventually they’ll just come and do it.
I laughed at this for 10 minutes. The stupid sheep were given $2 a month to entice them to cede control over their home’s air conditioner. Now they are surprised when Big Brother actually takes control of it away from them. HA, AHAHAHAHAHA.
As my pappy used to say, “There’s a new level of stupid born every minute.” Which translated means, even after seeing what they will do to you, there will still be people signing up for this AC Rewards program after this incident, just to get their $2 a month “rebate”.
Can’t free standing a/c units get around this? I am in Seattle now and many places don’t have central a/c. My daughter had several free standing units that worked quite well.
My tv, thermostat, refrigerator, vacuum cleaner, computer will not be spying on me. My phone is the only gadget that has that possibility, and that’s one too many. I wonder how much flip phones are🧐🧐
They are making flip phones frustrating so people won’t want them. My mom has one they forced her to upgrade for 4g. She hates it now. Takes 30 seconds to engage .
Cheaper than smart phones.
Your computer, you say?
I just found a ZTE Cymbal U flip for my 86yr old FIL. Works on 4G, runs apparently on Linux. Basic as it gets. 150 talk/75 texts per mth for $8 on US Mobile
Tello ‘build your own plan’ is cheaper.
Well, I happen to know that there is a sale going on through Dollar General and you can pick up a flip phone for about 9 bucks in the south. Might want to check and see what it is at in your area.
“22,000 customers who had signed up”
I assume these people got a discount of some sort or some kind of freebie, else they were simply willing global warming patsies. Enjoy!
I’ve read of putting a Faraday type cage around your smart meter to block the snoops, maybe one for one’s thermostat also.
My electric company pings my smart meter through out the day to make sure it’s still working. Of course every time the meter is pinged it uses electricity. I was told this by a lineman that checked my meter because my usage suddenly went down. I explained I had been gone for several months taking care of my sister.
If and I say If you could block the signal they would notice the lack of data and come and put a stop to your efforts.
There’s probably a hacker out there there’s figured out how to put out fake data for the meter. The info is probably out there on the dark web.
Oh, and almost forgot…it’s only a matter of time before they deactivate vehicles. My old vehicles are maintenanced regularly and can’t be deactivated.
Unfortunately, they have a get-around for that. No fuel=movement laws.
NO ONE will be telling me when and where I can go. If we get to the point where they provide no fuel….game on. While they’re in the process of trying to control fly-over States, people may wake up by then.
For anyone who lives in a deregulated state, PLEASE look at your contracts with your “cheaper” energy provider.
1. These 22k agreed to have their air conditioning cut during peak times, in exchange for a (one time) gift card, (annual) rebate, or lower rate.
Why cut your power? The utility company saves money on the wholesale energy markets by avoiding a purchase, at a spot price that goes exponential during heat waves.
2. Anyone who switched energy providers, PLEASE look at your terms. When does your introductory rate expire? Will you be exposed to “time of use” or “variable” rates? The utility WILL pass on those spot market costs to YOU this winter; protect yourself now by locking in fixed rates.
All indications are wholesale electric rates will be bad Jan/Feb 2023. Do not cry that your electric bills quadrupled because of your choice to be on a variable rate.
Hey! Colorado is going renewable!
All those Guatemalans and Haitians walking across our borders will sweep the snow and scrape the ice off the collectors … hundreds and hundreds of em … doing the work that Coloradans just won’t do. For $7.50/hr. Wait! $15.00 min. wage. Wait! If Fast Food Workers UNIONIZE and demand $22.00/hr … then so will these highly trained solar collector snow sweepers
Some home solar panel guy on YouTube recently presented a meter measured analysis of his $10,000 home solar system. He mentioned that in San Diego he pays 56 cent per kilowatt hour!!! The national average is around 11, so he’s paying 5 times more than normal.
At that rate, he measured that his the solar system took 8 years to pay for itself. Any place paying the normal rate would take approximately 5 times that or 40 years for payback. That is WAY past the lifespan of solar panels.
We had that kind of snow and freezing in South Texas last year and the windmills didn’t work either! When there is a must need for energy wind and solar are a complete failure! Only fossil fuels can handle large spikes in energy needs which of course we’re doing away with!!! Little to no energy and little to no food and we told we’ll be much happier!!!
I work in big data and often times my clients are government entities. If you understand data like I do, you would disconnect EVERYTHING!!!
I will not allow WiFi or Bluetooth devices into my home. I have no social media, use VPN and with the exception of work devices use aliases on all of my online accounts.
People think I’m nuts… I think the word is totally naive.
Stay analog… Your life may depend on it.
How do you keep your healthcare off-line?
Learn to care for yourself
This is all unfortunate, but I’ll demur from references to The Collective – people need to read the fine print.
I’ve gotten these rewards offers from my power company and the knee-jerk inclination is to jump on them and say “Hey, I can save a little money!” and just go for it. But I’ve never signed up because I read the fine print. And I knew, because it was spelled out in the details, that what is being reported here is exactly what would result and I decided that I had no interest in some power company bureaucrat who doesn’t live in my home deciding for me my cooling needs during extreme weather.
So no, I’m not going to attack the power company or make reference to The Hive or any other like amusing allusions. People need to get into the details, see what they’re agreeing to. Companies and governments don’t offer deals out of the goodness of their hearts – there’s usually fine print and you need to know what’s in it before you sign up.
It’s only reading the headlines and not digging into the weeds that has so many people electing and re-electing the corruptocrat politicians every election cycle or jumping on some faux, media-inspired narrative bandwagon. Americans have to become more savvy than this. Wisdom is a lost commodity these days but we won’t survive without it.
I hope it was sure to hit all the elite lefties of the party of Davos. I keep thinking they have a way to eliminate being included on this lockout. Maybe, in my giddy feeling of loving that these idiots who pray to the altar of globull warming/climate change/globull cooling they will have a couple of uncomfortable days. I can’t wait for them to not be able to charge their iphones and EVs.
I would like to buy into your wishful thinking but I cannot.
These lefties live in huge wasteful houses with redundant mechanical ,HVAC, and geo thermal conditioning systems ,that’s right, conditioning systems that work all year round.
All high end stuff subsidized buy our tax dollars. Every one of them requiring cost prohibitive entry costs that exclude commoners.
Do you know what a 20,000 square foot home has for a garage. I do , they are baby versions of commercial parking garages These wealthy people hire staff to maintenance all the cars.
Just try to imagine how many EV are in there .
How many cell phones do you think they have?
Trust me they will never loose access to fully charged EV ‘s or cell
phones.
Dont be surprised if the so called administration, starts doing flyovers of rural red counties and reporting smoke from woodburning stoves and fireplaces. Then we, (we heat with wood in winter), get a knock at the door or a letter in the mail saying, “please provide us with your stove or fireplace epa certification. If you do not certificate, cease and desist from using said heating device”.
We heat with an epa certified wood stove. I just removed the catalytic burner for “cleaning” and never put it back in. The stove functions much better
I did the same. It doesn’t get cold enough in western Piedmont SC to get our stove up to temp for the catalytic to work or for smoke to burn.
Saw a article about using planes and drones in France looking for illegal swimming pools
90 degrees? Rocky Mountain high? They couldn’t live here. The highest it got here was 101 with a heat index of 114 on our worst day.
When I put changed our ‘stat to one degree higher, I was told, “We pay for it, keep it where it was!” Honor and obey.
Here in SE Washington State, our local city went one step further and replaced ALL electric and water meters with “remote ability reading” meters because you know…safety and such. There really wasn’t the option to opt out…it WAS going to happen. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out exactly what the ultimate goal is: Can’t pay your bill? No water/power for you! Too much consumption going on? No power for you! Thanks Komrade Jay, what would we do without you? /sarc
See my post above. Same deal in Eastern Washington a few yrs ago. Never did let them install a “smart meter”. We’ve since moved further north and are on our own water well.
Do people now understand what “smart” meter’s were intended for ??????
Hold on tight everyone
It’s a coming
I had almost the exact opposite problem happen to me, thank God. In Ohio we are given a chance to join an energy cooperative, but the problem is that they will automatically enroll you into it unless you call and opt out. I know, totally ridiculous, but I was unaware that I had to call to not be enrolled. This affects electricity and natural gas. Interestingly enough, NOPEC, which is the cooperative, nearly doubled my electric bill from last year, and when we tried to opt out the number we called didn’t work. It just so happened that NOPEC, which was probably getting reams of angry phone calls, decided to opt all their customers out of their program for the electricity because they knew that the actual big electric companies had much lower prices to give their customers. They sent out a form letter to each affected city, and it was even put on the local news so everyone would know. NOPEC, however, has not taken us off the gas portion of their contract because they said their prices are lower than the gas companies. That remains to be seen. My gas bill is ten dollars higher than it was for the summer months last year, but that could merely be just a reflection of all prices going up. I’m not on a budget, so I will have to see how my fall and winter bills look. So it was nice that NOPEC felt it necessary to just opt everyone out of the electric part without anyone having to call.
This alarmed me first but it’s not as bad as it appears. These customers had the option to join the program and I assume the fine print said such lockouts were possible as the trade off for a lower rate.
If the lockout possibility was not mentioned in the terms that would be a big problem. If people were forced into this program that would be a HUGE problem. Neither was the case AFAIK. I wouldn’t get a meter someone else could control, but if others want to, well…
I had a different energy problem. Last winter when there was the gas availability issue in TX, our rural community, who contracted with a pipeline supplier for its gas, got hit with a price spike that was going to cost each household thousands of dollars until it got negotiated somehow to *only* about $1000 for February.
In the end we are all over a barrel because we have to pay whatever they have to. or want to, charge is in the end.
My dad has advanced heart failure and he HAS to have AC & he cannot stand the cold. We would never sign up for a program like this where we could not control the temperature. Eventually, I doubt people will have a choice, as fossil fuels are cut off from use by the elite powers-that-be. Our neighbor, no fan of the power company & she says the smart meters are “frying” her internally, got off the grid with solar panels. After the first couple of cloudy days, she was at our house to use our phone – she had used up her battery power, no sun to recharge, and couldn’t even recharge her phone. Lots of “hard” times ahead ….. someone said we’re going back to pre-WWII days. In Europe, it’s going to be Dark Ages 2.0. …. as Macron says, the time of ‘abundance’ is gone. We have family in Germany – between the shots (they’ve all gotten them) & the coming ‘dark winter’, I hope & pray they’ll be ok.
Wonder how many of those Einsteins have EVs? Hope a bunch do.
This has been an objective of the Left for years now. They started in California (of course) but had a setback due to a piece in American Thinker covered in the New York Times.
https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/11/us/11control.html
The legislature in Sacramento passed a law to make thermostat control voluntary (opt-out) but Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed it.
I can’t believe this happened to the fine liberal people of Colorado. My heart goes out to them. To think their leadership lied to them, how disappointing is that?
I wonder how long it takes to OPT OUT of the program? Minutes or months? Do you think you can OPT OUT and switch on the AC in another few minutes? Fat chance.
Perhaps this is what will return Colorado to the red state column. Unnecessary freezing and starvation have a curious way of focusing the mind on how to fix things.
Coloradans….vote these California transplants out in November and get your state back
I am from Colorado. Every year xcel has asked me if I wanted a smart meter, which I never said yes to. Last month xcel came and changed all the meters on my street without asking the home owners. Thanks Jarod Polis and his commie government.
And, you notice, the people deciding for you never include themselves as someone who should be impacted by the decision to limit you.
A ton of both laundry and kitchen appliances now say “smart” on them. Smart light bulbs, etc. This is all headed the same direction.
California is ran by complete idiots.
They have a plan to control everyone and everything, and so far it seems to be working for the most part. They’re not idiotic, they’re evil.
Sure sounds like a Twilight Zone episode, in real life.
We’ve been getting the same offer from our power company, PASS. We have a 22K Generac back up generator and once the transfer switch kicks in they have no control. (We don’t have it connected to WiFi either). Not to mention we have an analog thermostat. Are we so lazy that we can’t turn the temp up when it’s too cold or down when it’s too hot?
Smart phones smart homes dumb user give away freedom the only way to lose it.
While Im not on any program, our neighborhood in S. Texas has smart meters & our 2 yo Tstats are app controlled. Yesterday evening the house was hot. Lowered the setting to 68 & it came on & worked fine.
Suspicious Cat….
So by opting for a “reward” – perhaps a lower utility bill or who knows! – you hand over control by using a “smart” device. Now you can control your thermostat from afar – while out to dinner, on a plane, or even in a foreign country! Problem is – you’re “sharing” control and are now beholding to the utility’s rewards! Yikes – all the “smart” devices are surrendering autonomy to a higher/malevolent power.
Always and I mean Always read the fine print!
And this my Dears, is the reason I left an excellent paying international “power management” company (read IoT provider).
I saw the future (foretold with all breathlessness in Town Hall meetings) and made a conscience decision not to contribute to it. I serve at a very small non-profit now, making half. I’m following those former bosses as they “progress in their careers” i.e. get placed into ever more powerful positions, laying groundwork at even more companies worldwide.
The IoT cancer spreads and all the libs are crying because they can neither think critically, nor conceive of a world where they do not control their own future, the day or their surroundings. The matrix surrounds them; they’ve learned nothing from Orwell or Rand or the bible. The god of this world has a short time left, Amen Lord Jesus come.
Think ‘Trojan horse’.
Rationing electricity in summer is not a good omen going into winter months.
Going to be a dark winter in Europe and America too
Refrigerators work harder in the summer when you don’t cool your home. Fans running constantly run off … electricity.
Compare carbon data from 2020, the period of the least productivity/electricity use, to today. No difference. Climate change, or whatever it’s called this moment, is bunk.
Especially when you consider that China and India and other countries are dumping massive amounts of pollutants into the atmosphere, and the air doesn’t stay over on their side of the globe.
Just another reason to eliminate “smart” items in your house (life). Anything that can be controlled from the outside is outside of your control.
The “Great Reset” is encroaching exponentially.
It’s hard to feel much sympathy for these people: they signed up for it. I went to the link at Xcel and it’s very clear that in exchange for $25 per year, you lose control.
I just got forced into a smart meter this year – we were not allowed to opt out.
Also, all new thermostats they try to install with any new or replacement HVAC system try to access the Internet.
fill er up
I have little sympathy for the dummies who signed up for a program that allows anyone else to control their thermostats.
They asked for it, they got it.
exactly.
I get the implications here, and its gong to be forced on us, assuming we continue to passively consent to it all…
but can we marvel for a moment… these programs have been around for years, and they’re relatively (and surprisingly) straightforward about what they do – and you don’t get any discount or economic benefit from it at all, which is the funniest part.
So if you were one of the 22K households, I have to wonder… WTF did you think was going to happen?
No discount or economic benefit at all? Not true.
The account holder or homeowner had to enroll, and made a calculation that the financial benefits were to his or her advantage.
https://co.my.xcelenergy.com/s/residential/heating-cooling/ac-rewards
There is a discount in Virginia.
They send someone by occasionally to make sure you don’t bypass the circuit.
If you have a smart meter which most do it’s only a matter of time.
The thermostat can be dealt with until they actually control your smart meter then you have no choice
Well, of course, you were helping stave off GLOBAL WARMING! And being able to change the thermostat while lying in bed, was a big plus. CONVENIENCE!