Co-Opting-Out

When smart meters aren’t so smart - Your Houston News

As an option many customers have asked about, Stapleton believes [Sam Houston Electric Cooperative] would deploy pre-paid meters on a limited basis well before any other type of smart meters would be considered.

Stapleton added that, at the current price, the cost of converting SHECO’s 68,000 meters would outweigh the benefits. A cost he believes will go down in the future, as other technologies have, making smart meters a more viable option.

“The bottom line is we want our members to pay as little for electricity as possible,” said Stapleton.

“Our job is not to make huge profits for investors, because we’re a co-op, we are owned by our customers,” Stapleton continued. “We see some advantages to some smart meter applications, but we simply want to keep electricity costs down.”