SMART METER PLAN MAY NOT BE SO SMART

Doubts Started to Arise When the Estimated Costs for Refitting The
Power Grid Jumped From $500 Million to More Than $900 Million

This time last year it was full throttle for BC Hydro's scheme to
install 1.8 million smart meters across the province.

Now it's stalled on thorny questions about cost and benefit that
rightly make the provincial government twitchy about blowback over
soaring consumer costs.

BC Hydro says it must refashion itself and in the process raise rates
by up to 50 per cent over five years.

But the utilities commission wants more information before it approves
rate hikes. So does the provincial government. So should the rest of
us.

Are contracts with private power producers too rich?

Are smart meters a dumb idea?

We need a big dose of sober second thought and a whole lot more
transparency on these plans that impose additional financial burdens
on already struggling citizens.

One strategic rationale for smart meters is graduated pricing that
will nudge consumption to off-peak hours.

But offering folks in Osoyoos a break on electricity bills for running
air conditioners in winter instead of summer seems a non-starter. Are
we to disable all those instant-on TV sets by unplugging them? And
single parents should make supper for the kids at 2 a.m. instead of at
peak time when they get home from work?

Let's not mince words. Electricity is not a discretionary item; stick
people with bills for a necessity that rise faster than their incomes
and you are degrading their standard of living.

This smart meter idea appears to be one of those back-of-the-envelope
initiatives that former premier Gordon Campbell was fond of pulling
out of his hat.

It's laudable in intent -- the utility gets a precise reading on
electricity use, consumers can manage more efficiently, authorities
crack down on the illegal marijuana growing operations they estimate
are stealing about $100 million worth of energy. But my doubts arose
when the estimated costs for refitting B.C.'s power grid with smart
meters erupted from about $500 million to more than $900 million --
additional costs which must be recovered from domestic consumers.

It's tough selling me on the argument that it's cost effective to
spend close to a billion dollars to recover less than 10 per cent of
that amount from grow-op thieves while struggling householders who
don't steal their electricity must eat the difference. By that logic,
it's of greater benefit to the consumer to leave the grow ops stealing
the power and not raise rates.

To be fair, smart meters are only one component in a more elaborate
plan to invest -- and recover from me and thee -- $6 billion in
upgrading and modernizing infrastructure. After all, smart meters have
been installed by Ontario Hydro and by utilities in California and
elsewhere, so why not jump on the green energy bandwagon by promoting
conservation and efficiency here?

Yet smart meters have become a hot issue everywhere they've been
installed: Are wireless transmitters that automatically send meter
readings to the utility accurate? Can they be hacked? Do they pose a
health hazard? Do they result in higher costs for most consumers?

In California, the state utilities board has ordered Pacific Gas and
Electric to let customers refuse smart meters after a public outcry
over big spikes in electricity bills.

In Ontario, electricity bills in one community suddenly went up an
average of $9.38 a month in 57 per cent of the households where smart
meters were installed. It's now an urgent topic in the
legislature.

If I was a new and as-yet unelected premier with families at the top
of my agenda, I'd be nervous about proposals that could contribute to
homeowners' electricity bills escalating by as much as 50 per cent
over the next five years. After all, does anybody out there see wages
increasing at that rate?

Smart meters may indeed be the way to go. So convince us with a full
public accounting.