Could Storm Season Mean Clear Skies for BC Hydro?
by Rosa Jin ~ November 6th, 2012. Filed under: Sustainability, Uncategorized.
Since its debut by BC Hydro last year, Smart Meters have sparked quite the heated discussion amongst consumers all around British Columbia. Despite the fact that Smart Meters were first implemented as far back as 2000 in Italy (followed by numerous other countries all over the globe such as the USA, Sweden, Denmark, Australia, Spain, and more), Canada only hopped on board in 2007 – or maybe ‘hopped’ is too strong of a word…
“Nov. 3, 2005 [started] the process of getting “smart meters” [in…] by 2010. In the first phase, meters will be installed on 800,000 homes, mainly in urban areas, by 2007.”
This long implementation period (whether it was for the same reasons or not) is a fitting representation of BC’s response to Smart Meters (2011) as well; many of Hydro’s customers’ have responded negatively, feeling their privacy, security, and health are at risk due to these wireless (and therefore radio frequency-emitting) energy consumption recorders which impose multiple financial burdens on their users. Yet thanks to BC Hydro’s market power (as a monopoly), the company has been installing its Itron meters, in homes and small businesses that fall under a certain amount of kiloWatt usage, at a faster rate than Ontario; the company plans to complete installation of these all over BC by the end of 2012.
While BC Hydro has made the mistake of not providing the sufficient response demanded by its unhappy clients, its most recent response to the events of Hurrican Sandy and storm season is commendable, a step in the right direction. I hope that Hydro will continue to stay up-to-date with its communication and release of information, and this may – eventually – convince the consumers that Smart Meters are, in fact, beneficial on more than one level – financially (long-term), in terms of sustainability, and safety.
Sources Cited:
http://www.bchydro.com/news/conservation/2012/storm-season-smart-meters.html
http://www.bchydro.com/energy_in_bc/projects/smart_metering_infrastructure_program/faqs/radio_frequency.html?WT.mc_id=rd_metersafety
http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/energy/smartmeters.html
Photos:
http://www.2020vancouver.com/sites/2020vancouver.com/files/imagecache/660_wide/IMG_1536.jpg
https://mocana.com/blog/wp-content/themes/mocana-red/timthumb/timthumb.php?src=https://mocana.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/sandy-meter.jpg&h=277&w=670&zc=1