As KIUC members vote to determine whether customers who don’t want smart meters should pay for the associated opt-out fee, we hope everyone will carefully consider the issue of fairness at hand. According to KIUC, only 10 percent of customers
As KIUC members vote to determine whether customers who don’t want smart meters should pay for the associated opt-out fee, we hope everyone will carefully consider the issue of fairness at hand.
According to KIUC, only 10 percent of customers who were offered the opt-out program have exercised that option. Should the 90 percent who have adopted smart meters be responsible for the costs incurred by the 10 percent of non-adopters? As a strict matter of fairness, the answer is no.
As the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission stated in their October decision approving the opt-out fee, “The commission concurs with KIUC’s overall position that the customer that chooses to utilize a non-standard meter which causes additional costs should be responsible for the incremental costs associated with installing and/or utilizing a non-standard meter.”
It’s easy to confuse this issue with a separate, emotionally charged question of fairness, that is, whether members believe it’s fair for the utility to make smart meters mandatory.
A small group of naysayers have been vocal about their concerns, which range from fears of radio waves to invasion of privacy. Is it fair for the utility to install these devices when some customers are concerned? Consider that as utility customers, we are opting into a service agreement: The utility delivers electricity, and we pay a tariff for that service.
Energy is a shared resource, and so is the grid that distributes it. Maximizing the effectiveness of the grid is in the best interest of all customers who have signed up for service. Those who don’t agree always have the option to opt out altogether, that is, completely off of the grid. It’s not fair for them to sell short the promise of a more intelligent, more sustainable, more cost-effective energy system for everyone else.
Currently, Kauai has one electricity distributor, and they have a heck of a job to do. With the steady addition of new sources of renewable energy, the island grid that provides the basic infrastructure for electricity service suddenly has many more moving parts.
Modernizing the grid is a fundamental necessity for enabling all those parts to work together, reliably and safely, so customers can enjoy uninterrupted service that also speaks to the community’s desire for a sustainable future.
With instantaneous, two-way communication, smart meters add intelligence to the utility’s information network.
The real-time measurement of supply and demand can increase the system’s cost-effectiveness, helping the utility to balance customer load with the best renewable resources at a given time. Power outages can be identified and remedied more quickly.
And customers can get better access to information about their own energy consumption habits and how to save.
But by withholding the ability to measure the instantaneous flow of power to their homes or businesses, those who opt out and insist on using meter technology that is long out of date are compromising the potential of a fully intelligent grid.
There is a deeper cost to opting out. It goes beyond the immediate costs of installing a non-smart meter and forcing a utility employee to drive out and read the meter by hand. It results in a less robust information network, and subsequently, a less efficient grid with “holes” that are ultimately plugged by barrels of oil that may have otherwise not been imported or burned.
Opt-outers may point to questionable Internet sources about health concerns, but they are trading unproven concerns for avoidable carbon pollution that is proven to be harmful to everyone.
We should all support the idea of customer choice. But should those who decide against smart meters also get to opt out with impunity for the societal and environmental costs of that choice? In fairness, the answer is no.
The terms of service here are straightforward: Customers can receive a standard smart meter at no additional cost or a non-smart meter for a set-up fee of $50.64 (residential) and a monthly charge of $10.27. The option remains with the customer, as does the kuleana for the choice he or she makes.
• Jeff Mikulina is CEO of Blue Planet Foundation, a 501(c)3 committed to clearing the path for clean energy.
