Sandgate Takes a Stand

In a textbook example of how local communities can fight back against Smart Meter installations, the town of Sandgate, Vermont has dropkicked CVPS's plan to confiscate their analog and non-transmitting digital electric meters. At their town meeting Tuesday, residents voted 54-0 in opposition of the new RF meters. This leaves Central Vermont Public Service in a sticky situation. Do they begin installing meters anyway, in defiance of one of the oldest forms of democracy, or charge the entire town to opt out? Luckily for Vermonters, the punitive $10 a month fee to avoid pulsed radio frequency radiation won't go into effect until 2013.

It raises a number of interesting questions, though: What if everyone in Vermont opts out? Will all ratepayers be expected to pay $120 a year for manual meter readings that have always been included in their bill? What happens to the $69 million that the Department of Energy borrowed from taxpayers to "stimulate" the state? Will the planned 4G mesh network, intended to support the deployment of Smart Meters even get off the ground? What will happen to all those Elster Smart Meters CV and GMP have purchased?

Hopefully they kept the receipts.

The Town of Sandgate website features a variety of Smart Meter resources.