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| Keri Sculland, Alberni Valley Times |
John Horgan is the MLA for Juan de Fuca and the Official Opposition Energy Critic. His response to Smart Meter concerns is an example of how practical approaches can be taken to address complex problems.
John Horgan and the Opposition have called on the BC Utilities Commission to review Smart Meters. One piece of the puzzle will be to consider options to empower people to opt-out of smart meters altogether. In Quebec, residents can pay a modest amount to offset the cost of a hardwired meter - that seems like a practical idea. It would certainly be preferable than the current situation for many people.
In the Legislature this past Monday John Horgan presented a petition requesting a moratorium on the program until concerns can be independently assessed and until full public consultation takes place. Nearly 30,000 British Columbians signed this petition.
In the Legislature this past Monday John Horgan presented a petition requesting a moratorium on the program until concerns can be independently assessed and until full public consultation takes place. Nearly 30,000 British Columbians signed this petition.
Check out this Times Colonist article printed yesterday:
NDP pledges to seek alternatives for people who don’t want Smart Meters.
ROB SHAW / TIMES COLONIST
MARCH 12, 2013
B.C.’s Opposition New Democrats
accepted an anti-smart-meter petition with almost 30,000 signatures Monday and
promised to seek hard-wired meters for people concerned about the health
effects of wireless technology.
NDP critic John Horgan tabled
the petition in the legislature and said he’s heard for years the health and
privacy concerns related to smart electric meters.
An NDP government would “give a
direction to the utilities commission to give us best advice on what opt- out
provision would suit the B.C. context,” said Horgan. “Other jurisdictions are
doing that now.”
In Quebec, the government
offered to charge a modest fee to people who want to have a wired electric
meter, instead of new wireless technology, and an annual fee to have the meter
read manually. “I think that’s a reasonable approach,” said Horgan.
The B.C. Liberal government has
been hammered by critics who claim tens of thousands of unwilling British
Columbians are being forced to accept smart meters, despite concerns over
health and privacy.
The $1-billion B.C. Hydro
program replaces old power meters with new devices that communicate information
on electricity usage wirelessly to Hydro computers. Critics claim the wireless
technology has negative health effects.
The Citizens for Safe
Technology Society presented Horgan with 29,057 signatures from people opposed
to the smart meters.
“It calls for a moratorium on
the smart grid,” said Una St. Clair, society spokeswoman. “This whole program
needs to be stopped.”
Energy Minister Rich Coleman
said the government is talking to the approximately 70,000 people who have
refused smart meters.
At the end of 2012, B.C. Hydro
reported that 93 per cent of customers — about 1.73 million locations — have
accepted the smart meters. B.C. Hydro has said the devices help it to monitor
electricity demand and make adjustments when necessary, to detect outages, to
record electric usage for billing without the need for staff to go house to
house, and to promote conservation by giving customers access to their daily
electric use statistics.
Coleman said the project
requires wireless meters to form a smart grid, and wired meters aren’t being
considered despite the NDP’s position. “They can do all the speculation they
want,” Coleman said of the NDP. “We’re going to go through what I said we would
do.”
He reiterated that no one will
be forced to accept a smart meter during the next few months while the issue is
further investigated, though anti-smart meter advocates say they hear stories
every day about installations being forced despite the objections of
homeowners.
People who have accepted smart
meters against their will have “every right” to raise those issues with the
utilities commission should the NDP form the next government, said Horgan.
