City explores digital metering alternatives

By Simone Blais - Penticton Western News Published: March 08, 2012 10:00 AM 
Staff at the City of Penticton will investigate  how much it will cost to allow residents alternatives to digital metering of electricity and water, in drafting a potential opt-out program.  Penticton council will consider whether or not to allow residents to choose not to have digital meters in an automated meter reading (AMR) system, that uses slightly different technology than the Fortis smart meter units. The city is considering the opt-out program after approximately 100 people came to an information meeting two weeks ago to express concerns about the potential health effects of electromagnetic radio frequency (RF) waves.  Operations director Mitch Moroziuk explained that the city has installed AMR electric meters since 2003, and the conversion is 85 per cent complete. They were expecting to reach 98 per cent completion in 2012. Since 2004, 89 per cent of water meters have been converted. Switching back would also likely result in additional costs to the city, Moroziuk said. For each electrical meter, the average cost could be $105 and water meters could be in the range of $190 —  both dependent on the class of meter. To change out all electric meters would cost the city $1.57 million, and $421,800 for the water meters. The move to AMR meters was expected to reduce operational costs in the form of meter reading time, which required 22 days per month previously but would be decreased to four days. The meter reading costs would be reduced to $24,279 from $110,360 per year. A single manual read is estimated to cost $25 for an isolated spot, and $6 for a manual read as part of a route. The exact costs of an opt-out program could not be determined until staff drafted potential programs, Moroziuk added. Presenting four options to council, staff were recommending that the city move forward with installations, but draft an opt-out program that gives customers an option if they were concerned about the effects of RF emissions. (more)