Precautionary Initiative Bears Fruit in Vermont

The Smart Meter Caper and The Need For S.214 - VT State Senator Robert Hartwell

On January 3, 2012, I introduced legislation in the Vermont Senate which would change significantly the way in which so called smart meters are deployed in Vermont. A device attached to the side of one’s home, the meter was sold to the Vermont Public Service Board as promoting more even use of electric power by educating ratepayers as to their use of power and how to use it more efficiently going forward. The proposed meters are wireless devices which allow utilities to read power consumption while eliminating traditional meter readers, the people we see driving in my area from time to time in little orange pick up trucks.

Painting by Rebecca Gottesman

In fact, smart meters are not very smart at all; they bring continuous radio frequencies into the home and therefore represent a serious potential health threat to residents, particularly children and adults with health problems.

In addition, the evolving technology allows utilities and therefore, potentially, the government, unprecedented invasion of the privacy of those whose homes are so equipped. Not only will the power companies read every impulse of power allowing them to charge more, it will lead to the gathering of information about the occupants of each residence, an unprecedented invasion of the personal business and privacy of thousands of Vermonters. As technology evolves further, the clear potential exists for the collection of endless data about individuals and families, data which are not the business of anyone except those individuals and families themselves.

As if these issues are not enough, the deployment of smart meters is of little, if any, economic value to ratepayers and offer benefits only to the utilities. There is not a single value to the consumer who already knows that running a dish washer late at night uses less power than running it during the day or that plugging in an electric car should be done overnight not during the day. In fact, the real purpose is to measure power consumption as accurately as possible in order to set up rate structures advantageous to the utilities.

Also troubling is the fact that without federal government spending in the form of $70,000,000 in grants for smart meter deployment and other highly questionable programs relating to energy policy under provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, smart metres would probably not have happened. (The money would be far better spent repairing bridges and bringing more passenger rail service to Vermont thus creating rather than eliminating jobs.) If deployment is accomplished, Americans will have paid millions in tax dollars for a system which is a threat to their well being and of no meaningful economic value.
S.214 proposes to require the utilities to hard wire the meters and to use analogue and not digital technology if meters are to be installed. These requirements mitigate the health issues but not the invasion of privacy or lack of economic value to the ratepayer. The real import of the bill is to allow ratepayers to opt in to the program not to be required affirmatively to opt out and pay a $10 per month fee.
Customers should call the utilities right now and “opt out” of this poorly conceived and risky program even with the $10 per month opt out fee. I and others in the legislature will work to direct the utilities not to collect the fee and to direct the utilities to engage in smart grid alternatives clearly available which offer far less risk than smart meters which are not at all smart after all. 

It is clear that so called smart meters are advantageous only to the utilities which have shown no knowledge of let alone interest in their seriously negative effects for ratepayers.



Bob Hartwell
State Senator, Bennington Senatorial District
Including the Town of Wilmington in Windham County
rhartwell@leg.state.vt.us

History of the Bill

Bill as passed by House and Senate



Sec. 15. 30 V.S.A. § 2811 is added to read:
§ 2811. SMART METERS; CUSTOMER RIGHTS; REPORTS

(a) Definitions. As used in this section, the following terms shall have the following meanings:

(1) “Smart meter” means a wired smart meter or a wireless smart meter.

(2) “Wired smart meter” means an advanced metering infrastructure device using a fixed wire for two-way communication between the device and an electric company.

(3) “Wireless smart meter” means an advanced metering infrastructure device using radio or other wireless means for two-way communication between the device and an electric company.

(b) Customer rights. Notwithstanding any law, order, or agreement to the contrary, an electric company may install a wireless smart meter on a customer’s premises, provided the company:

(1) provides prior written notice to the customer indicating that the meter will use radio or other wireless means for two-way communication between the meter and the company and informing the customer of his or her rights under subdivisions (2) and (3) of this subsection;

(2) allows a customer to choose not to have a wireless smart meter installed, at no additional monthly or other charge; and

(3) allows a customer to require removal of a previously installed wireless smart meter for any reason and at an agreed-upon time, without incurring any charge for such removal.

(c) Reports. On January 1, 2014 and again on January 1, 2016, the commissioner of public service shall publish a report on the savings realized through the use of smart meters, as well as on the occurrence of any breaches to a company’s cyber-security infrastructure. The reports shall be based on electric company data requested by and provided to the commissioner of public service and shall be in a form and in a manner the commissioner deems necessary to accomplish the purposes of this subsection. The reports shall be submitted to the senate committees on finance and on natural resources and energy and the house committees on commerce and economic development and on natural resources and energy.

(d) Health report.

(1) On or before January 15, 2013, the commissioner of health and the commissioner of public service shall jointly submit a report to the senate committee on finance and the house committee on commerce and economic development. The report shall include: an update of the department of health’s 2012 report entitled “Radio Frequency Radiation and Health: Smart Meters”; a summary of the department’s activities monitoring the deployment of wireless smart meters in Vermont, including a representative sample of postdeployment radio frequency level testing; and recommendations relating to evidence-based surveillance on the potential health effects of wireless smart meters.

(2) The commissioner of public service, in consultation with the commissioner of health, shall select and retain an independent expert, not an employee of the state, to perform the research and writing of the report identified in subdivision (1) of this subsection. The commissioner of public service may allocate the costs of retaining the independent expert to electric utilities in accordance with sections 20 and 21 of this title (particular proceedings; personnel; assessment of costs).

Sec. 15a. INSTALLED WIRELESS SMART METERS If an electric company has installed a wireless smart meter as defined in 30 V.S.A. § 2811(a)(3) prior to the effective date of this act, the company shall provide notice of the installation to the applicable customers, and such notice shall include a statement of customer rights as described under 30 V.S.A. § 2811(b).



Thank your Representative or Senator for supporting this important piece of legislation!