Dear Editor:

The letter to the editor in the Osoyoos Times by the FortisBC customer service director two weeks ago brought to me serious questions about this company servicing our region with electric energy.
I question how the project to install smart meters across the South Okanagan will cost. According to the company, it will cost $48 million and provide saving customers a net saving of $15 million.
I want to know who will pay for the project and in which time period it could bring the savings?
Being able to stop local power outages using smart meters in remote locations is a technical fallacy.
Further, the published letter indicates contradicting electro-magnetic field (EMF) levels by a study commissioned by Fortis.
Why did Fortis not prove such claims during recent public meetings where it was being discussed in detail and who is the author of this study?
It seems illogical that each smart meter transmitter, which must reach a centrally-located receiver, should be smaller than the ones we now use.
FortisBC management should study the experiences of residents of Salt Spring Island in B.C. when real levels were measured before statements like this are made to members of the public from this region.
The customer service department with FortisBC should realize that the majority of customers do not wish to have smart meters to be installed on their property. The customers who would not have them installed should receive a monthly rebate for the amount saved by opting out.
Unfortunately, because of the monopolistic situation, customers cannot use another service provider. For this monopolistic situation the utility is under supervision of the B.C. Utility Commission to protect interest of B.C. residents.
The company should understand that it is using the power of water, which belongs to all B.C. residents, to create the electric current and it does not pay royalties for the licence under the riparian law.
Basically, the majority of the customers do not wish for this smart meter project to proceed and they do not trust the company and hope the elected government in a democratic system will respect the majority of Canadians.

Ivo Tyl
Osoyoos  B.C.