BED Russian hacker story fake news. Why?

When Bloomberg and VT Digger print the same story within minutes of each other, it's a pretty good guess that they received it from a common source. The Russian hacker story turns out to be fake news. The question is, WHY?

https://www.sott.net/article/338238-Hard-to-believe-Russian-hackers-penetrate-US-power-grid-with-outdated-Ukrainian-malware

Hey, this is a storyline from Madam Secretary. Russians blamed for a hack that turns out to have been perpetrated by Ukraine because the enemy of your enemy is your friend. Seriously, this would be laughable if it wasn't such risky reality.  http://ew.com/recap/madam-secretary-season-2-episode-9/

The hurried deployment of smart-grid technology could leave critical infrastructure and private homes vulnerable to hackers.

UPDATE Dec. 30, 2016: Chickens come home to roost. 

RUSSIANS PENETRATED BURLINGTON ELECTRIC DEPARTMENT COMPUTER

DEC. 30, 2016, 11:09 PM BY ERIN MANSFIELD  

Russian hackers penetrated a computer at the Burlington Electric Department that is not connected to the electrical grid, officials say. https://vtdigger.org/2016/12/30/russians-penetrated-computer-burlington-electric-dept/

Straight from Bloomberg: https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-12-31/russian-hacking-code-found-in-vermont-power-utility-computer

Blame it on the Russians? What? VT Digger, you fell for it. Here's how it happened, exactly as predicted:

Hacking the Smart Grid

The hurried deployment of smart-grid technology could leave critical infrastructure and private homes vulnerable to hackers...

To receive the stimulus money, utilities had to install new devices across their entire customer base quickly. Security experts said that this could lead to problems down the road–as-yet-unknown vulnerabilities in hardware and software could open up new ways for attackers to manipulate equipment and take control of the energy supply. Utilities were encouraged to install this smart-grid technology–network-connected devices to help intelligently monitor and manage power usage–through funding from the U.S. government’s 2009 stimulus package. The smart systems could save energy and automatically adjust usage within homes and businesses. Customers might, for example, agree to let a utility remotely turn off their air conditioners at times of peak use in exchange for a discount.

Smart-grid deployments involve installing smart meters in homes and businesses across a utility’s coverage area...

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/420061/hacking-the-smart-grid/

http://smartmetersburlington.blogspot.com/2011/06/lockheed-involvement-in-beds-smart-grid.html

Open Letter to City Councilors, PLEASE VOTE NO TO SMART METER TUESDAY

By M. J. Farmer

Please join me and vote NO to smart meter on Tuesday. I have spent the last month researching smart meter and feel this could be another BT fiasco. The installation costs are much higher than projected in both Denver and San Francisco. The cost for borrowing will be at least 5% due to our reduced credit rating. We can wait on this project until after we put Burlington's fiscal house in order.

http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_16721011

http://www.triplepundit.com/2009/12/customers-revolt-as-smart-meters-accused-of-overbilling/

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/more-news/power-bills-to-jump-another-100/story-fn7x8me2-1226034970520

The meters will NOT save residential customers money and are a smokescreen for ever increasing BT rates. In 2004, my initial block was 200kwh at 5cents, 9cents for 650kwh, and energy efficiency for .002, not to mention customer charge and city franchise fee. My usage the was 849kwh for an $85 May 2004 bill. This month, May 2011, my initial customer charger is 100kwh at 10cents,435kwh at 15cents and energy efficiency at .007, not to mention customer charge and city franchise fee. My 535kwh usage (almost 40% reduction) made my May 2011 bill $89, approximately the same but for 40% less usage.

http://www.gifst.ca/2011/06/not-so-smart-meters/

http://www.integrityfinancialservices.co.uk/Smart-Meters-'Could-End-Up-Costing-Bill-Payers-More'/B92.htm

I am greatly concerned about the EMF/RF from the wireless smart meters. At the open house, BE officials acknowledged that smart meters could be hard wired to the fiber optic system presently installed by BT, but they decided to pursue wireless installation in which banks of meters will be broadcasting using EMF/RF to 26 pole mounted receivers. I'm concerned for our UVM students who may be sleeping within 20 feet from these banks of meters( headaches, infertility, cancer), our mail carriers who walk by these banks of meters and our senior citizens who may be more prone to the health effects such as dizziness, high blood pressure, migraine headaches, ringing in the ears, to name a few . Entire streets and neighborhoods will be covered in the smart meter network affecting every living organism with 40 times the rf radiation as wireless routers. Whether or not a true health concern exists will not be known until more studies are conducted, but there are cases of individuals with electromagnetic hypersensitivity reporting problems with smart meters.

cathryn de gery says:

June 2, 2011 at 3:19 am

I live in a 472 SAN FRANCISCO small studio, there are 7 smart meters outside the wall of my bed. PG&E installed about a year ago, I recently am dying from the terrible headaches, woke up many times at night , with also very loud ring deep in my ear, consistently ring in my ear !!! I want to throw up all the time, very very tired, do not want to do anything, bad memory, I cannot believe I start to feel my heart is beating so heavy painful and just struggled to make it going. I went to see the doctor, I was told to move out of this room far away from smart meter as soon as possible.

Sioux says

November 4, 2010 at 11:49 pm

" I just moved to Fairfield, CA from Oklahoma and have never heard of this smart meter. Ever since I moved here I noticed weird things happening in my chest. The tightness and palpitations that other people are talking about are exactly what I am experiencing too. It isn’t real painful or anything but just worried me since I thought I may be having heart problems…at 25 years old! "

A.R. says:
June 3, 2011 at 11:33 am

This issue has “Class Action Lawsuit” written all over it. Any activist attorneys out there who would care to take this on?

Toril Jelter, a board certified pediatrician specializing in medical and environmental aspects of autism related illness says: "I have concerns regarding the unbridled roll out of wireless technologies without adequate health studies first."

http://gsalca.com/2011/03/22/smart-meter-rollout-4/

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/31/science/earth/31meters.html

http://www.stopsmartmetersnow.com/?p=93

http://emfsafetynetwork.org/?page_id=2292

http://www.magdahavas.com/2010/12/02/smart-meter-kills-plant/

http://www.holistichelp.net/blog/smart-meters-are-hazardous-to-your-health-and-violate-your-rights/

Grid To Nowhere

“The Grid to Nowhere”

The City of Burlington Special Elections June 28th

By Franco Salese

In just a few weeks we, the residents of Burlington, will be asked to vote on a 20 million dollar federally subsidized project aimed at upgrading the Burlington Electric Department to a “Smart Grid” system.  Specifically, the "Smart Grid" is a supplemental accessory which allows for full monitoring of consumer electric usage of which is optimized for alternative energy contribution to the electric grid.  Essentially, it replaces the mechanical electric meters with digital ones that use energy to broadcast information via radio waves.

This project is an inefficient and impractical use of the City’s fiscal resources.  The supporters of the program are profit-driven industry proponents, they are the owners of expensive electric solar/wind farms who desire to sell back their excess for credits, or fear mongers with interest in “National Security”.

The project would create temporary job growth while eliminating permanent meter maid jobs.  The most compelling argument in opposition to this expenditure is that the majority of Burlington citizens do not generate their own electricity. This is attributable to a number of factors, including the fact that the sun/wind patterns of Vermont are not ideal for either forms of alternative energy.  Bank servers, businesses, and security systems never have wireless networks.  This is because of the security risks involved.  Thus this system would actually make our infrastructure less secure.  As such, the implementation of the “Smart Grid” would be an inefficient use of fiscal resources.

The BED already provides us with a clean and renewable source of electricity and this project would do nothing to repair or upgrade the current grid infrastructure; it is simply a new feature that is focused on the gathering of information and decentralizing power from the City.

On top of this being impractical, the $13 million dollar project comes in the shape of an interest bearing bond(s) with BED earnings serving as collateral; which means one thing for a city already facing budget issues: more debt.

The economy may be doing better, but shouldn’t we focus on completing current projects before beginning others; among them being the completion of our fiber optic network for Burlington Telecom, the repairing of streets, the refurbishing the Moran Plant on the waterfront, and repairing the growing destruction caused by our coastal flooding.

Concentrating on completing solutions for the old problems lurking prioritizes creating new ones, but if we really wanted to jump into the future and spend money in a purposeful and efficient way, then Burlington should consider investment in the research and development of a Generation IV MSR City Reactor as is being done in Japan.

Otherwise Burlington's electric grid is holding up nicely as evidenced by the fact that I am typing this during the worst electric storm I've experienced since living here.  I know this idea stems from grids working in Canada and Europe, but maybe we should work on something a little more conservative/radical like our railroads.

I think we all would be better off doing business with Hydro Quebec just as long as it doesn't tie us up with added debt and expenditures; I mean no one likes more taxes or increased prices for which they bring. The “Smart Grid” might sound good with all the technological possibilities but we have a full plate at the moment and should finish before getting up for seconds.\

VOTE NO MORE BT's

BY John Foss


Vote NO on the BED  $13.6 million Revenue Bond Question #1 on June 28, 2011

FACT CHECK:   Smart Meters project includes major elements that BED previously asserted are not justified and/or are not wanted by BED customers. 

1.  Feb 8, 2007: BED formally declines to participate in the Vermont Public Service Time Based Rates Standard program because:   “…only 48 out of 20,000 (BED) customers chose to be served under a time based rate…”  (Page 3, BED footnote #5) http://psb.vermont.gov/sites/psb/files/projects/epact2005/SmartMeteringMemoReEPAct2005_Determination.pdf

2. Dec 13, 2010: “…BED’s conclusion upon completion of the business case analysis … was to not move forward with an AMI (Advanced Meter Infrastructure) deployment…”    (Pdf page 15)  http://applleslegacy.org/images/PSB_Docket_7307_BED_Smart_Meter_Smart_Grid_Investigation_12-13-2010.pdf

3. Dec 13, 2010” “… system wide deployment to all (rate) classes was not justified…”  but   ”…commercial only deployment …(was justified and) …would cost an NVP of (only) $ 1.7 million…” (Pdf page 15) http://applleslegacy.org/images/PSB_Docket_7307_BED_Smart_Meter_Smart_Grid_Investigation_12-13-2010.pdf

4.  Jun 14, 2011: Disturbingly, the previously rejected and unwanted project elements are now  cornerstones of a new BED project benefits statements. (BFP Page 4a) http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20110614/OPINION05/106140312/BED-ballot-items-offer-reliability-affordability 

THE POINT:  Net Electric Rates for BED Customers will go UP, not down, to pay off the Smart Meter project debt.  Furthermore, system reliability is uncertain because the major elements of the project are admitted by BED to be EXPERIMENTAL.

·         BED wisely does not attempt to justify the economics of the Smart Meter project on its’ own merits or on the basis of productivity improvements.   It’s an experiment (ie: it can fail on some or all of the critical project elements.   Voters remember BT’s well intentioned experiments – cost  to date: $ 50+ million in losses.

·          Because Smart Meters do not reduce costs or increase productivity, BED must raise electric service rates to create new revenues needed for BED to pay off principle and interest on the new $ 13.6 million Revenue Bonds (debt). 

·         Payback of the principle and interest for the BED loans, used  to pay equity “investment” to Velco, will also require BED to raise electric rates. 

·         And, Velco’s payment to BED of the claimed 12.5% annual return from that “investment,” requires Velco to raise its infrastructure cost basis charged (ultimately) to BED.  BED will be forced to raise electric rates to pay the higher cost.  Only then can Velco  “receive”  the additional “revenue” Velco needs to pay the 12.5% dividend to BED.  (ie: the BED customers’ left pocket pays the BED customers’ right pocket)

Voters should reject BED’s bond request (increased debt) because there are serious defects in the project plan.

LOCKHEED MARTIN INVOLVEMENT IN BED'S SMART GRID / SMART METER PROJECT

Several points for you to consider RE your concern about  Lockheed.   Lockheed's''  involvement in BED's project - direct and/or indirect - seems assured.  ( for at least one of two very different Roles)

ROLE # 1:  The Vermont State Smart Grid / Smart Meter Program, partially funded by the ARRA - AMI grant,  has  key strategic and tactical roles,  described in the Grant documents and recent UVM publicity releases, as a partnering relationship for Sandia National Laboratories which operates as a  GOCO - Government Owned Contractor Operated entity.   Sandia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin, is the  Contractor that Manages Sandia National Laboratories.  (Note, that both entities are often referred to as simply: "Sandia".) BED's local project is obligated to be coordinated with the roles that the UVM Sandia partnering relationship provides under the ARRA AMI Grant to Vermont and separate DOE funding, including the sharing of data, analysis, standards, etc. BED is a beneficiary, is a participant, and has obligations under that program.  Believing that BED is  a wholly autonomous project participant - isolated from the State run program, and especially the data gathering, data analysis, and standards development, would be an error.  Paul Hines, Prof of UVM Engineering with emphasis on Smart Meters, Co-Chair of the BED Commission, and participant in the UVM/Sandia part of the program, has a foot in many parts of the program that touch BED.   BED's application for participation in the Vermont ARRA AMI project included  roles for Paul that clearly draws heavily on his relationship to BED.

Role # 2:  Importantly:  I understand BED to claim  that they  have not (yet) contracted for delivery of Smart Meters; and, they will not contract for Smart Meters unless and until BED is assured of the Bond funding that BED is requesting. So, any claim that Itron, Lockheed, or any other supplier of meter related deliverables is not (yet) a supplier, for the BED smart meters part of the project, seems to be at least technically true, at this point in time.

I understand that the intended supplier of Smart Meters  to the BED program, is claimed by BED to be Itron - which equipment was demonstrated by what I understood to be Itron employees at last weeks' BED smart meter/ smart grid Open House. Itron does not supply all of  the products , services, and technologies needed to make Itron Smart Meters perform in the BED project as planned.  Itron needs either Lockheed products and services or an alternative supplier to provide the missing systems capabilities. The response to my questions about the needed complementary supplier technologies that make Itron smart meters fully functional in the intended roles for those meters, was  SEESuite / SEEload, which I understand to be  Lockheed products, services and technologies. Maybe that comment was intended by Itron to  be only an example.   You can check that on Itron's website Partner pages. www.itron.com   And, we can all learn the full complement of supplier products and technologies once the Funding is decided and the contracts are let.

JF, June25, 2011

No questions from public allowed at BED Press Conference today. The misinformation they corrected was their own!

Citizen Press Release: for immediate release, June 23, 2011

I think voters should vote NO on BED special election question #1 because we have before us an incomplete project plan, an incomplete budget/business plan, and therefore NO debt plan and no firm information about what the project costs will be.  BED apparently has no “interface partner” to stand in the shoes that Lockheed fills in relationship to Itron smart meters all over the world.  Are they in the shadows, or are they really not included in the project? There’s a critical hole in the team.  Is BED guessing at the costs?  I ask:

• How can BED budget and plan the engineering and management of this smart meter project without a complete project plan?
• How can the project risks be managed if partnering relationships usually filled by Lockheed’s role on the Itron team, for equipment, integration services, installation and support, are not in place, do not exist? (see attached Itron /Lockheed partnering statement, below, for importance of Lockheed on the Itron team).  I could not learn at the Open House who is filling that role.
• The BED open house  team members claimed:
• No knowledge of the complete package of products and services necessary to complete BED’s  project.
• No knowledge of Lockheed being part of the team.
• No knowledge that there is another vender to fill Lockheed’s role, i.e. for example provide the infrastructure to support time-based monitoring and date-gathering.  They are either hiding the interface partner that must fulfill this critical role, or they really don’t know.

Itron /Lockheed partnering statement

https://www.itron.com/newsAndEvents/Pages/Lockheed-Martin-and-Itron-Provide-Demand-Response-Ready-.aspx

“If there’s one thing that 30+ years of experience driving innovation for utilities has taught Itron, it’s that our complex industry is bigger than any one company. The importance of combining the complementary expertise of Itron and Lockheed Martin cannot be overstated.”

“SEEload is one of Lockheed Martin’s SEEsuite Smart Grid Command and Control™ applications, and enables utilities and independent system operators to precisely and easily manage demand response events across an entire distribution network, including substations and individual feeders. SEEload provides complete DR life- cycle management, including DR program definition and customer enrollment, real-time DR event management, and post-event DR analytics.’

Examples of importance of the Lockheed/Itron partnering relationship, according to Itron!

https://www.itron.com/pages/searchresults.aspx?s=Global&k=lockheed

https://www.itron.com/pages/searchresults.aspx?k=lockheed

QUESTIONS: 

Why is Itron reluctant to disclose the names of the project team members?” If not Lockheed, who? If they know, why wouldn’t they tell me?

How can BED ask for debt authority with such a big hole in the project, if project budget, debt repayment plan, etc is not known? If they do not know, why are they putting ratepayers and the city at risk?