Jennifer Smith - Vernon Morning Star Published: April 25, 2012 1:00 AM
If you stood right next to a smart meter for 20 years the radio
frequency exposure would be less than a 30-minute cell phone call, says
B.C. Hydro. The power utility is trying to ease safety
concerns around smart meters, which are on track to be installed in the
Greater Vernon area sometime this July. “Radio frequency is a part of everyday life, even
the spark plugs in your car transmit radio frequency,” said Cindy
Verschoor, B.C. Hydro’s communications manager. Following a recent anti-smart meter presentation
from the Citizens for Safe Technology Society, B.C. Hydro cleared up
some “misinformation” for Coldstream council Monday. CST claims the
meters are unsafe, unhealthy and raise security issues. While the smart meters will help Hydro detect
where power is being stolen, as well as outages, they do not monitor
what devices are being powered and have no visibility into the home.
They only send hourly consumption data to B.C. Hydro, which will also
provide more accurate readings. “We have absolutely no intention of using this as
a monitoring device on our customers,” said Gary Murphy, chief project
officer. “This is something that we treat very, very seriously, not only our customer’s privacy but protection of our own system.” But as nearly two million smart meters get installed by the end of 2012, another issue is that residents have no
choice in the matter. “For those people who have expressed concern, they don’t have an option,” said Coldstream Coun. Doug Dirk. Since residential users make up 33.3 per cent of
Hydro’s customers (industrial and commercial share the remainder), it
was also suggested that the utility hold off on forcing residents into
the program. “It hasn’t really been confirmed yet as safe,
reliable and accurate and there are concerns that maybe we are jumping
into something that doesn’t need to be adopted so quickly,” said Coun.
Richard Enns, who would like to see Hydro focus only on installing smart
meters on industrial and commercial clients for now. While there is no opt-out program, work orders can be put on hold so concerns can be discussed. Coldstream did investigate a ban of smart meters and
discovered municipalities do not have the authority to legally restrict
the use of smart meters.
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Don Quixote Note: OPT OUT OPTION: http://vernonblog.blogspot.ca/2012/03/hydro-quebec-customers-can-opt-out-of.html The Gazette March 16, 2012
Hydro-Québec has modified its proposal for the planned rollout of smart meters to allow for an opt-out clause. Customers
who decide to not use a smart meter for health or other concerns would
pay an extra $200 a year under a proposal filed Thursday with the Régie
de l'énergie. Consumers choosing to opt out would pay an initial
fee of $98 and then $17 a month to cover the cost of manually reading
the meters. The cost would be $302 the first year and $204 each year
thereafter.
Choice to opt out of smart meters unclear (excerpt below)
California's public utilities commission recently ruled that
residential customers who are concerned about the safety of smart meters
should be allowed to opt out of its program, but at their own expense.
Customers would be subject to a $90 initial fee and then a monthly charge of $10 for having the analog meter read manually.
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B.C. Hydro also offers the option of having the meter placed (buried?) on some other part of your property. No cost estimates were given but it is apparently part of the BC Hydro Tariffs approved by the B.C. Utilities Commission. BC Hydro told Vernon Council that no one has ever used this method of relocating the meter in the 1,072,000 smart meters installed to date.
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