You can request for the smart meter RF to be turned off.

You will recall that part of  BC Hydro’s and FortisBC’s costs pertain to the complexity involved with disabling the transmitter. That is part of the reason for the high fees. Pg. 40 of the Tariff, $77.60 to turn the transmitter off and $55 to turn it back on!!

https://www.bchydro.com/content/dam/BCHydro/customer-portal/documents/corporate/tariff-filings/electric-tariff/00-bchydro-electric-tariff.pdf

 

Look at page 90 to see how complex it is:

http://www.stopsmartmetersbc.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/OpenWay-Tools-User-Guide.pdf  

https://emrabc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/OpenWay-Tools-User-Guide.pdf

the meter reader needs to hit key “F1”.

I wonder how much time BC Hydro and FortisBC told the BCUC it would take to hit this button.

 

disable

 

 

A member sent this, regarding Fortis, in response to the “work” required to disable the transmitter.  How can other utilities do this for so much less or nothing? How much double charging is going on, how many exaggerations told, all with the intent of forcing someone to take a device which they believe to be dangerous to themselves and their families?

Fortis’s rationale for their outrageous charges for turning off the radio (which consists of hitting F1) are in this document on pages 14-17:

http://www.bcuc.com/Documents/Arguments/2013/DOC_37312_11-06-2013_FBC_Final-Submissions.pdf

They claim one hour of administrative work at the contact centre ($51.41) and one hour labour for a metering analyst ($57.14), plus some minor incremental fees. That the BCUC accepted these blatantly inflated charges even on the face of it (without knowing how simple a process it is) is unbelievable and makes their objectivity highly questionable.

Note on page 16 that if the actual costs differ from the estimated costs by more than $5 per meter, Fortis promises to refund the difference.