{"id":4900,"date":"2013-02-06T22:05:09","date_gmt":"2013-02-07T05:05:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/?p=4900"},"modified":"2014-12-01T22:09:11","modified_gmt":"2014-12-02T05:09:11","slug":"a-bad-case-of-smart-meter-regret","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/?p=4900","title":{"rendered":"A bad case of smart meter regret"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li>by\u00a0\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.cloverdalereporter.com\/staff_profiles\/53887807.html\">Jennifer Lang &#8211; Cloverdale Reporter<\/a><\/li>\n<li>posted\u00a0Feb 6, 2013\u00a0at\u00a08:00 AM<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div id=\"storyBody\">\n<p>Cloverdale\u2019s Vern Keller had his doubts when BC Hydro contractors installed the new smart meter in his home 10 months ago, but he didn\u2019t raise a ruckus.<\/p>\n<p>He didn\u2019t put up a sign or build a cage around his old meter, like some smart meter resisters.<\/p>\n<p>Maybe he should have.<\/p>\n<p>The local retiree and Legion member opened his mail this week to find his power bill for the two months ending Jan. 20 was a staggering $684 \u2013\u00a0more than double the $329 he paid for roughly the same period a year ago, during a colder winter.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI might have used a little bit more, but not twice the amount, come on,\u201d Keller said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDouble the amount plus $20 for the same dates over last year? Gee whiz, I\u2019m telling you. I don\u2019t own the power company, I\u2019m just using some.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Now that it appears the controversial wireless smart meters won\u2019t be forced on the last holdouts until after the May provincial election, if ever, Keller wishes he, too, had said no when he had the chance.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI didn\u2019t want one, but I didn\u2019t put a sign up in front that I didn\u2019t want one,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Keller called Hydro asking for his old analog meter back.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey said that\u2019s not going to happen,\u201d he said. \u201cNo way. There\u2019s nothing I can do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Keller spoke out after Energy Minister Rich Coleman said last week smart meters won\u2019t be forced into homes over the next few months.<\/p>\n<p>He sought to calm confusion about the government policy, denying reports the province had reversed itself and will let objectors permanently opt out.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re going back to talk to our customers,\u201d Coleman said. \u201cWe\u2019ll not force any customer to take a meter.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He predicts most smart meter opponents will ultimately agree to take them after they talk to BC Hydro reps.<\/p>\n<p>But exactly what will happen to holdouts who resist to the end is unclear.<\/p>\n<p>Coleman said the next steps would be decided after \u201csome re-education\u201d and an effort to work with objectors in a \u201crespectful\u201d way.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c(We\u2019ll) see how many at the end of maybe two or three months we have left and then we\u2019ll have a conversation about where we go from here,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Asked whether the meters will ultimately be mandatory, Coleman said: \u201cI\u2019m not going to make that decision until I see the results of the next couple of months.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>BC Hydro officials also said they\u2019d take more time to work through customer concerns and won\u2019t install meters without permission in households who oppose them.<\/p>\n<p>But the controversy ramped up a level last week when South Surrey-White Rock Liberal\u00a0 MLA Gordon Hogg claimed Coleman had agreed smart meter objectors would get a permanent opt-out.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe actually contacted me and apologized,\u201d Coleman said, adding Hogg\u2019s office misinterpreted his position.<\/p>\n<p>Reached later, Hogg insisted his office checked with Coleman\u2019s first and that he does not believe he was wrong.<\/p>\n<p>NDP energy critic John Horgan accused the Liberals of making a muddled attempt to neutralize the contentious issue ahead of the provincial election.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey want to reduce the amount of frustration they find in communities right across B.C.,\u201d Horgan said.<\/p>\n<p>He said the attempt to punt the issue to after the May 14 vote has only confused the public, adding MLA offices have been \u201cswamped by concerned citizens who want answers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For months, wireless meter opponents have shared strategies online to thwart Hydro contractors from switching their old meters.<\/p>\n<p>But Hydro officials said those who didn\u2019t take such steps and now have a smart meter won\u2019t be allowed to switch back \u2013 no matter how the province ultimately handles the final holdouts.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe can\u2019t remove a smart meter once it has been installed because they are now standard operating equipment like utility poles and power lines,\u201d BC Hydro spokesman Greg Alexis said in an emailed statement. \u201cAlso, the old meters are being recycled and are no longer available.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hydro officials have so far refused to disclose what proportion of smart meters are required in a given area for the new smart grid to function effectively.<\/p>\n<p>More than 1.74 million smart meters have so far been installed province-wide, pointing to a penetration rate of at least 93 per cent, with a combination of holdouts and accepting customers still to go.<\/p>\n<p>Horgan said an NDP government would ask the B.C. Utilities Commission to advise on how best to deal with households who refuse the new meters.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat we need now is not government or a political party telling the public why this is a good or bad idea, but an independent third party.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s what the province should have done from the outset, Horgan said, but added B.C.\u2019s Clean Energy Act exempted the smart meter program from regulatory scrutiny.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019re reaping what they sowed,\u201d he said. \u201cThis $1-billion program was jammed through for reasons unknown to me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Horgan said he expects the BCUC would consider a range of options for holdout households.<\/p>\n<p>He said one might be to subsidize the cost of placing a wireless meter at the edge of the property and running a wire to it, potentially allowing the customer to pay their share over the long term through small monthly payments.<\/p>\n<p>Horgan said he has no personal concerns about smart meter safety but said the government\u2019s approach of dismissing opponents as \u201cjust irrational people doesn\u2019t diminish the anxiety they\u2019re feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Some objectors have also refused to accept smart meters because they believe BC Hydro will eventually implement time-of-use pricing that charges more at peak periods. Coleman previously ruled that out.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>\u2013 With files from Jeff Nagel, Black Press<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cloverdalereporter.com\/news\/189923521.html?fb_action_ids=10204451467880001&amp;fb_action_types=og.comments\">http:\/\/www.cloverdalereporter.com\/news\/189923521.html<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by\u00a0\u00a0Jennifer Lang &#8211; Cloverdale Reporter posted\u00a0Feb 6, 2013\u00a0at\u00a08:00 AM Cloverdale\u2019s Vern Keller had his doubts when BC Hydro contractors installed the new smart meter in his home 10 months ago, but he didn\u2019t raise a ruckus. He didn\u2019t put up a sign or build a cage around his old meter, like some smart meter resisters. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58,17,202,122,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bchydro","category-bc","category-cloverdale","category-cost-increase","category-smart-meter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4900","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=4900"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4900\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4901,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4900\/revisions\/4901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}