{"id":4109,"date":"2012-06-06T09:16:17","date_gmt":"2012-06-06T16:16:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/?p=4109"},"modified":"2014-08-13T14:39:37","modified_gmt":"2014-08-13T21:39:37","slug":"residents-refuse-meters-in-london-ontario","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/?p=4109","title":{"rendered":"Residents refuse Meters in London Ontario"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Get Smart for summer<\/h3>\n

by Debora Van Brenk – The London Free Press – June 05, 2012<\/p>\n

About 20 London households remain hydro-meter holdouts\u00a0\u2014 adamantly refusing to allow London Hydro installers to switch their homes to smart meters.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re really trying hard to work with each of those customers,\u201d says London Hydro spokesperson Nancy Hutton.<\/p>\n

Despite letters and phone calls and other entreaties, 132 refusals remained on the books by the end of March. That number has been whittled down to fewer than two dozen, Hutton says.<\/p>\n

A report that asks the Ontario Energy Board for approval to recoup smart meter costs from all Londoners notes there\u2019s been some push-back and includes this ominous warning:\u00a0\u201cLondon Hydro will have to revert to more aggressive means (e.g. service disconnections, etc.) in the forthcoming months to complete the smart meter installations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nearly 135,000 London homes have smart meters, at a total cost of about $24 million.\u00a0The meters transmit signals that track how much electricity a home is using, and when. Those who use more hydro during peak hours pay higher rates; off-peak hours afford lower rates.<\/p>\n

But a few customers have dug in their heels.<\/p>\n

Some argue they should be able to choose whether they get new meters; others say time-of-use monitoring is a Big Brother invasion of their privacy.<\/p>\n

But Hutton says the province and London Hydro are adamant that everyone convert to time-of-use meters.<\/p>\n

Those on the old, non-digital meters are now charged for their hydro use on a price structure based on their total electricity consumption instead of time of use. The province is pondering a move that they instead be charged at premium rates.<\/p>\n

Or, warns a London Hydro letter that gives the residents two days to make things right, the utility could sever their lines at a disconnect\/reconnect charge of $185 to $600.<\/p>\n

Hutton admits those two days have come and gone without consequence and no old-meter user has been disconnected. Yet.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow that we\u2019re at this number, we anticipate that we\u2019ll get a little more serious about it. We don\u2019t really have a choice. They\u2019ve had two years (to change).\u201d<\/p>\n

Energy Minister Chris Bentley said Tuesday that time-of-use metering \u201cis a big tool that will be very, very helpful\u201d as Ontarians track and conserve their energy use. He noted\u00a0Ontario is the first large North American jurisdiction to convert all meters to time-of-use.<\/p>\n

deb.vanbrenk@sunmedia.ca<\/a><\/p>\n

Go figure:\u00a0New summer rates muddle comparisons<\/p>\n

London Hydro\u2019s smart meters went live in March and April. But new and higher summer rates started May 1, making it difficult for most Londoners to deduce the score and compare it to last year.<\/p>\n

If you used more electricity in May 2012 than a year earlier \u2014 but more at off-peak times \u2014 your hydro bill might have dropped slightly.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve used less juice, but more of it at peak daytime hours, your bill might even be higher than it was.<\/p>\n

Better numbers should be available for comparison in a few weeks, as more of May\u2019s bills are calculated, says London Hydro spokesperson Nancy Hutton.<\/p>\n

Then again, maybe you want to wait a bit longer to figure it all out: it\u2019s apt to change in a month or two, anyhow.<\/p>\n

London Hydro is awaiting word on whether, and when, the Ontario Energy Board will allow it to add about $1.52 each month to the average London resident\u2019s electricity bill.<\/p>\n

That fee would be used\u00a0to pay off the $24 million\u00a0\u2014 or about $180 per residence \u2014 the utility spent buying operating, maintaining and administering London\u2019s 135,000 smart meter network.<\/p>\n

That fee might also be retroactive to April.<\/p>\n

And\u00a0the Independent Electricity System Operator has applied to the board to add 80 cents to customers\u2019 monthly bills\u00a0to offset the cost of setting up and running a province-wide hub that verifies and stores everyone\u2019s meter data in a central location.<\/p>\n

TIME-OF-USE HYDRO RATES<\/p>\n

Summer pricing<\/p>\n

n Overnight and on weekends\/holidays (off-peak) \u2014 6.5\u00a2 per kilowatt-hour<\/p>\n

n Weekdays, 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. (mid-peak) \u2014 10 cents\/kWh<\/p>\n

n Weekdays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. (peak) \u2014 11.7\u00a2\/kWh<\/p>\n

TRACKING USE<\/p>\n

London customers can track their use and calculate their tabs daily by checking into \u201cMy Account\u201d atlondonhydro.com<\/a><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.lfpress.com\/news\/london\/2012\/06\/05\/19841261.html<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Get Smart for summer by Debora Van Brenk – The London Free Press – June 05, 2012 About 20 London households remain hydro-meter holdouts\u00a0\u2014 adamantly refusing to allow London Hydro installers to switch their homes to smart meters. \u201cWe\u2019re really trying hard to work with each of those customers,\u201d says London Hydro spokesperson Nancy Hutton. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[196,19,142,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-londonhydro","category-ontario","category-opt-out-options","category-smart-meter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4109"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4109\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4110,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4109\/revisions\/4110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}