British Columbians who don’t want a new wireless smart meter can opt out of the program and keep their old analog meters — for a fee.
The announcement by Energy Minister Bill Bennett marks a reversal of government policy after more than two years of insisting all B.C. residents were required to accept the meters.
“We’ve got a situation where some folks are absolutely opposed to having a smart meter,” Bennett said.
“We could say, ‘Thou shalt have a smart meter.’ And we’ve decided not to do that.”
B.C. Hydro customers who haven’t yet had their analog meters replaced have three options:
- Accept a new wireless smart meter at no cost.
- Accept a smart meter, but pay approximately $100 to turn the wireless radio off and $20 a month to have the meter read manually.
- Choose to keep an existing old analog meter, and pay a $20 monthly reader fee, as well as additional unspecified costs.
The actual costs will be reviewed by the independent B.C. Utilities Commission, Bennett said.
Hydro customers can keep an old analog meter only until it breaks down or its Measurement Canada seal expires, the government said. The seals from the federal consumer protection agency are good for a maximum of 10 years.
If a person moves, they can’t take their analog meter with them, Bennett said.
B.C. Hydro announced the $1-billion smart meter program several years ago, saying it was a mandatory upgrade to the provincial electricity system that would improve billing accuracy through wireless meter-reading transmissions.
More than 96 per cent of B.C. Hydro customers now have the devices.
But 60,000 people have refused, citing worries that the wireless radio transmissions could negatively affect their health.
Others have complained they were bullied into accepting smart meters by installers who ignored their wishes or waited until they weren’t home to force an installation.
“We’re not going to go back,” Bennett said of refusing to allow people with existing smart meters to retroactively opt-out.
“We’ll allow people to keep their analog meters until they wear out, if that’s what they want to do, but we’re moving forward with our overall goal.”
Smart meter opponents remained unsatisfied.
“This is more lipstick on the same pig,” said Jim Smith, founder of StopSmartMeters.ca.
“This is not about making a compromise. This is about making it look like they are making a compromise, but the end game is ultimately to force [smart meters] on to everybody, whether they want them or not.”
Smith said he will keep his old meter and refuse the new fees. “The minute I get charged anything, I’m going to court.”
The government expects many of the 60,000 holdouts to take digital meters with the radio turned off, Bennett said. Even though manual meter readers will be required, the new meters will manually feed data into the new provincial smart power grid, he said.
NDP energy critic John Horgan welcomed the move, saying it’s similar to what a New Democrat government would have done, had it won the election.
“We had a systematic campaign for 21⁄2 years saying every home must have a [smart] meter and now they are admitting the obvious — it’s just not true,” Horgan said. “There are people legitimately anxious about the technology, and we should have respected that from the start.”
