{"id":6283,"date":"2015-04-23T15:39:31","date_gmt":"2015-04-23T22:39:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/?p=6283"},"modified":"2015-04-23T15:39:31","modified_gmt":"2015-04-23T22:39:31","slug":"smart-meter-opt-out-fees-rescinded-in-arizona-commissioners-fearing-liability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/?p=6283","title":{"rendered":"Smart meter opt-out fees rescinded in Arizona, commissioners fearing liability"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><abbr>18 April 2015 at 9:43am\u00a0<\/abbr><\/p>\n<div>\n<aside>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\u00a0<em>by Warren Woodward<\/em><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Extortive \u201copt-out\u201d fees have been rescinded in Arizona.<i>\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n<p>At a meeting last Monday, and after spending an hour in \u201cexecutive session\u201d privately discussing the issue with their lawyers, the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) rescinded the decision they made last December to allow APS to charge an extortion fee to people who refuse a \u201csmart\u201d meter.<\/p>\n<p>Last December the ACC had approved a $50 up front fee for those not \u201cgrandfathered in\u201d with an existing analog meter, and $5 per month to avoid the harm inherent in \u201csmart\u201d meters. That misguided, illegal and ill-considered ACC decision was appealed both by Pat Ferre of Payson, Arizona and I in separate appeals.<\/p>\n<p>In rescinding their previous decision, the slow-learners at the ACC decided to still allow APS to continue trespassing via their bio-toxic surveillance devices, AKA \u201csmart\u201d meters.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, people may continue to refuse \u201csmart\u201d meters at no cost. Be warned however that calling APS to refuse a \u201csmart\u201d may result in customer abuse. While some calls to APS go smoothly, I still get reports of people being told by APS that they have no more analog meters. That APS claim is nonsense; don\u2019t settle for it.<\/p>\n<p>There is also a recent ACC docket submission by someone complaining that APS replaced their analog meter with a \u201csmart\u201d meter when they had not asked for that. So be vigilant. A rogue utility is at large. It has captured its regulators and should be considered dangerous.<\/p>\n<p>The ACC\u2019s latest decision also allows for APS to reapply for an extortion fee in their next rate case which I believe is not until July, 2016. So the issue is not over..<\/p>\n<p>You can listen to the ACC arrive at their latest decision at the 1:03:37 mark here:<a href=\"http:\/\/azcc.granicus.com\/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=3&amp;clip_id=1909\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/azcc.granicus.com\/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=3&amp;clip_id=1909<\/a>. They talk for 14 minutes.<\/p>\n<p>Note that even though they had just discussed the issue for an hour privately, when the mikes are on and the public is back in the room, the commissioners have a hard time talking.\u00a0<strong>It\u2019s like they are scared or something. Nobody wants to touch the tar baby.<\/strong>\u00a0When they finally do begin discussion, they start by repeating the obvious like \u2018well, Legal has given us 3 options, #1 is \u2026.\u2019 Note also that actually granting the relief that Pat and I had requested in our appeals \u2014 the removal of all \u201csmart\u201d meters as not compliant with various Arizona Revised Statutes \u2014 was never mentioned as an option. So the lawlessness continues at the ACC.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>A couple telling details, from the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.azcentral.com\/story\/money\/business\/2015\/04\/17\/smart-meter-fees-rescinded\/25917927\/\" target=\"_blank\">AZCentral story<\/a>:<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cOther commissioners said they were unhappy to rescind a decision, although they gave few details as to why they needed to take such action.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201c\u2018This would not have been my preferred mechanism, but maybe the most prudent one,\u2019 Chairwoman Susan Bitter Smith said.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cCommissioner Bob Stump agreed.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>PS \u2013 Some people thought $5 per month was good deal. 1) Any amount of money to avoid harm is extortion. 2) There are people for whom $5 is unfordable. 3) \u201cOpt out\u201d is faux choice for people still getting injured by their neighbors\u2019 meters. 4) APS is the party that \u201copted\u201d everyone \u201cin.\u201d As such, any costs involved in \u201copting out\u201d belong to APS. 5) $5 can become more very easily. The APS solar fee is a case in point. They asked for $50 and got $5 but are now back asking for $21.<\/p>\n<h4>See also:<\/h4>\n<p>Smart Grid Awareness: Smart Meter Refusal Fee Rescinded in Arizona (with audio clip)<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/smartgridawareness.org\/2015\/04\/15\/smart-meter-refusal-fee-rescinded-in-arizona\/\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/smartgridawareness.org\/2015\/04\/15\/smart-meter-refusal-fee-rescinded-in-arizona\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p>AZ Central: APS smart-meter fees rescinded<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.azcentral.com\/story\/money\/business\/2015\/04\/17\/smart-meter-fees-rescinded\/25917927\/\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/www.azcentral.com\/story\/money\/business\/2015\/04\/17\/smart-meter-fees-rescinded\/25917927\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.takebackyourpower.net\/news\/2015\/04\/18\/smart-meter-opt-out-fees-rescinded-in-arizona\/\">http:\/\/www.takebackyourpower.net\/news\/2015\/04\/18\/smart-meter-opt-out-fees-rescinded-in-arizona\/<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>18 April 2015 at 9:43am\u00a0 \u00a0by Warren Woodward Extortive \u201copt-out\u201d fees have been rescinded in Arizona.\u00a0 At a meeting last Monday, and after spending an hour in \u201cexecutive session\u201d privately discussing the issue with their lawyers, the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) rescinded the decision they made last December to allow APS to charge an extortion [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[142],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opt-out-options"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6283","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=6283"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6283\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6284,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6283\/revisions\/6284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}