FortisBC has announced how much it’s going to charge customers in Oliver and Osoyoos and across the South Okanagan who decided to “opt out” and have their radio signal turned off when new “smart meters” are installed next year.
In late July, the British Columbia Utilities Commission (BCUC) approved FortisBC’s Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) project, which will allow the company to install 130,000 smart meters on the homes and businesses of customers spread across the South Okanagan.
As part of their decision, the BCUC directed FortisBC to submit an application for an option that would allow concerned customers to receive a smart meter with the radio turned off.
That application has now been posted on the BCUC website and advertisements notifying customers of the regulatory process will be published in numerous newspapers and publications across the province this week, said Neal Pobran, manager of corporate communications for FortisBC.
While the company maintains that smart meters don’t pose any health risks and will provide customers with numerous benefits, it has taken steps to comply with the BCUC directive to turn off the radio signal on meters if requested by customers, said Pobran.
In the application to the BCUC, FortisBC is proposing an initial fee of $110 to turn off the signal and an $11 per month ($22 per billing period every two months) charge for residential customers.
“The $110 fee is intended to recover additional administrative and infrastructure costs associated with the installation of a radio-off AMI meter,” said Pobran. “The per-read fee of $22 recovers the cost of manually downloading the consumption and operational data from a radio-off meter.”
FortisBC came up with these figures after careful consideration to recover the costs involved from those who “opt out” of the AMI program and not to make any profits from the installation of the meters, said Pobran.
“We looked at the administrative and infrastructure costs that will be involved for those who insist having their radio signals turned off,” he said. “We were told we had to provide an option to our customers who wanted their signals turned off and there would be a separate application to pay for this program and that’s what’s now in front of the BCUC in our latest application.”
The BCUC will look at the entire package provided by FortisBC and can approve the application or rule that the dollar figures provided are too high and order them to be reduced, he said.
“The decision now lies in the hands of the BCUC,” he said.
No schedule has been set to start installing smart meters in Oliver, Osoyoos or anywhere in the South Okanagan, but the tentative plan is to begin the process some time in 2014, said Pobran.
There will be a large-scale publicity campaign well in advance to inform the public when these devices will be installed, he said. FortisBC plans on spending $51 million to install 130,000 smart meters in the South Okanagan in the next two years.
“We expect to achieve $13 million in savings over the life of this project,” he said.
The application sent to the BCUC last week did not have to be filed until November, but FortisBC wanted to be proactive to let their customers know about it as quickly as possible, said Pobran.
While customers can turn the radio signals off, Pobran reiterated that it is FortisBC’s intention to install smart meters to all of its customers as part of its AMI project.
Keith Lacey
Special to the Chronicle
