Fortis/Smart Meters: Innovation and controversy heading your way
By Allyson Kenning
On Sept. 1, FortisBC will be applying to the BC Utilities Commission for permission to install so-called “smart meters” on all its customers’ electric meters. This is a switch BC Hydro customers elsewhere in the province are going through now, with all houses and businesses in its service area expected to have the new meters by Dec. 31, 2012. And with the switch comes a little controversy.
The project for Fortis is expected to cost about $40 million and be revenue neutral, according to Neal Pobran, Corporate Communications Manager for Fortis. There are approximately 112,000 meters in the service area that will require replacing should the application be approved.
The new meters, which Fortis is referring to as Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) as opposed to smart meters, are anticipated to have many benefits. “We think they’re a good fit and we think they’re a great way to improve the electricity service that we can offer our customers,” says Pobran.
The benefits touted by the power company are:
- FortisBC will be able to provide enhanced customer service from AMI through more flexible billing options
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FortisBC customers will have the opportunity to monitor their electricity use and tailor their consumption to promote conservation
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AMI helps FortisBC respond more effectively to power outages
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AMI allows FortisBC to eliminate traditional electricity meter estimates
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Additionally, the new meters would be tamper-proof, eliminating electricity theft, in, for instance, illegal grow ops, and would thus eliminate some of the safety hazards associated with electricity theft. The company also expects this technology to be greener because regular meter reading by a human won’t be necessary, thereby taking vehicles off the road. Finally, readings will be able to record electricity use of customers in real-time.
The new meters transmit readings via wireless signals to a network that is established when the AMI devices go in. The Fortis site says, “a software infrastructure will be installed along with a communications network.”
The data is routed from meter to meter using until it reaches a collector, which is a box mounted on existing hydro poles; from there the data is aggregated and sent to the power company using already existing communications infrastructure.
But this technology doesn’t come without a certain amount of controversy: devices that transmit data also emit radiation. Among the areas BC Hydro services, four regions (Salt Spring, New Denver, Cowichan Valley, and Colwood) have all put a temporary kibosh on the smart meter installation, citing the need for more studies to be done on potential health effects from the wireless transmission signals. Indeed, one Merritt man is taking his fight against BC Hydro to city hall after he began to worry about a heart condition his wife has that he claims might be worsened by their close proximity to the meters, which emit radio-frequency electromagnetic fields (RF EMF).
This type of radiation was in May categorized by the World Health Organization as a Class 2B carcinogen. Incidentally, cell phones also fall into this category. Class 2B carcinogens are said to be “possibly carcinogenic to humans”, as opposed to Class 2A carcinogens which are “probably carcinogenic to humans.”
BC Hydro claims the meters are perfectly safe, however. Their smart meters, which may not be exactly the same ones that may be installed here in the Kootenays, emit a signal about 4 – 6 times a day in short bursts that would be about a minute in total. However, one website this reporter consulted did say that the signal strength can be detected up to two miles away, therefore potentially exposing people constantly to radiation.
Another concern that has come up with the smart meters is privacy. Some people have voiced concern over the power company being able to have access to such detailed household information–and over a network to boot. There again, BC Hydro has clarified the issue by stating that smart meters “cannot detect how someone uses electricity or which appliances are being used–they only measure how much energy a home used or generated in total” and that “will have no access to real-time consumption information. Real-time data will only be made available if someone chooses to receive it.”
Fortis says something very similar, noting that data is encrypted for privacy and that no one except the company and the customer will be privy anyone’s electrical usage.
“The security of the AMI network will be a primary consideration in the design of the proposed FortisBC system, which will use strong encryption technology to prevent unauthorized access to customer data,” says a recent press release. Fortis also assures customers that all personal information will be handled in accordance with the British Columbia Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.
If Fortis’ project is approved, the new meters will be installed by 2014.
What do you think: are these new meters smart, or not so smart?
