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Smart meter on the way, Hydro insists: Billion-dollar plan
Posted May 21st, 2010
Suzanne Fournier
The Province
May 21, 2010
A controversial billion-dollar plan to install "smart meters" in 1.8 million B.C. homes and businesses is going full steam ahead, B.C. Hydro insisted Thursday.
Hydro touts the meters as cutting-edge technology that will conserve energy use and save money -- but critics say questions remain.
They include privacy concerns about who will hold and protect the data provided by the devices.
Two-way monitoring could provide not only Hydro but potential hackers, thieves or even advertisers with valuable information -- a concern great enough to have drawn the attention of Ontario privacy commissioner Ann Cavoukian about ongoing installation of the "grid" there.
"The smart grid will enable third parties to peer into your home,"
Cavoukian has warned. "You can imagine how tempting the marketing opportunities will be."
B.C. Hydro spokeswoman Susan Danard says Hydro "will address all privacy concerns before we go ahead. That's why it's best not to be the first, or last, to introduce a new technology."
Costs of the program concern critics, too.
"Given the amount of money the province seems ready to spend, we need some serious answers about the cost-benefits of smart-meter technology and why it's suitable for B.C.," says Simon Fraser University associate professor John Calvert, who teaches public policy and health sciences.
In 2007, Premier Gordon Campbell announced that all B.C. Hydro customers would be retrofitted within five years with the meters.
But aside from a popular prototype on view during the Olympics, Hydro has yet to install a single smart meter -- and says it is still checking out vendors.
The meters can minutely track energy use in a household or business, providing instant information to both the consumer and provider of electricity -- and potentially to others.
Danard says that consumers who actively use the new tools and conservation rates could save between $145 and $450 per year.
"Smart meters are intended to motivate behavioural changes, which in turn can save money for the system and the consumer," says Danard.
The concept is that a householder can actually view on their meter the cost of an energy-sucking beer fridge in the basement. Ideally, a smart customer would ditch the fridge. And those who choose to do a cold-water clothes wash in off-peak times like the middle of the night would be rewarded with lower rates.
Danard says B.C. Hydro is on track to meet Campbell's timetable.
Metering and the "initial Smart Grid Program" will cost $930 million, says Hydro, but could provide a "net present value of approximately $500 million helping to keep rates low."
But Lori Winstanley, a researcher for Hydro's 14,000 employees, charges that "B. C. Hydro has yet to present a realistic business plan as to how it's going to switch out every single meter in B.C.
"It could be a really great plan, but it also could be a bit like Big Brother watching you on your wall. How do you know that B.C. Hydro is protecting your personal information?"
Winstanley says the future of more than 300 meter-readers has also yet to be determined.
Smart-metering is already in use in 116 utilities in North America.
Alberta plans to install more than 400,000 smart meters by 2010; Ontario already has over one million in use.
The Province
May 21, 2010
A controversial billion-dollar plan to install "smart meters" in 1.8 million B.C. homes and businesses is going full steam ahead, B.C. Hydro insisted Thursday.
Hydro touts the meters as cutting-edge technology that will conserve energy use and save money -- but critics say questions remain.
They include privacy concerns about who will hold and protect the data provided by the devices.
Two-way monitoring could provide not only Hydro but potential hackers, thieves or even advertisers with valuable information -- a concern great enough to have drawn the attention of Ontario privacy commissioner Ann Cavoukian about ongoing installation of the "grid" there.
"The smart grid will enable third parties to peer into your home,"
Cavoukian has warned. "You can imagine how tempting the marketing opportunities will be."
B.C. Hydro spokeswoman Susan Danard says Hydro "will address all privacy concerns before we go ahead. That's why it's best not to be the first, or last, to introduce a new technology."
Costs of the program concern critics, too.
"Given the amount of money the province seems ready to spend, we need some serious answers about the cost-benefits of smart-meter technology and why it's suitable for B.C.," says Simon Fraser University associate professor John Calvert, who teaches public policy and health sciences.
In 2007, Premier Gordon Campbell announced that all B.C. Hydro customers would be retrofitted within five years with the meters.
But aside from a popular prototype on view during the Olympics, Hydro has yet to install a single smart meter -- and says it is still checking out vendors.
The meters can minutely track energy use in a household or business, providing instant information to both the consumer and provider of electricity -- and potentially to others.
Danard says that consumers who actively use the new tools and conservation rates could save between $145 and $450 per year.
"Smart meters are intended to motivate behavioural changes, which in turn can save money for the system and the consumer," says Danard.
The concept is that a householder can actually view on their meter the cost of an energy-sucking beer fridge in the basement. Ideally, a smart customer would ditch the fridge. And those who choose to do a cold-water clothes wash in off-peak times like the middle of the night would be rewarded with lower rates.
Danard says B.C. Hydro is on track to meet Campbell's timetable.
Metering and the "initial Smart Grid Program" will cost $930 million, says Hydro, but could provide a "net present value of approximately $500 million helping to keep rates low."
"It could be a really great plan, but it also could be a bit like Big Brother watching you on your wall. How do you know that B.C. Hydro is protecting your personal information?"
Smart-metering is already in use in 116 utilities in North America.
Alberta plans to install more than 400,000 smart meters by 2010; Ontario already has over one million in use.