Hydro grilled on opting out of smart meters

If too many residents reject the devices, rates will have to go up, panel told

Hydro-québec’s economic assessment supporting its controversial smart meter program does not include the economic impact of customers opting out, Quebec’s energy board heard Thursday.

It’s a situation that has supporters and critics of the $1-billion meter deployment guessing about the logistical and economic consequences of a proposed opt-out program.

Remi Dubois, a Hydro-québec Distribution director, was asked what would happen if the energy board decided that Quebecers should be able to opt-out of the program without cost to themselves.

How would that change the economic justification of the project, asked Éric David, a lawyer representing Option consommateurs, a consumer advocacy group.

“There would be less benefits and more costs,” Dubois replied.

Hydro-québec has repeatedly stated that the deployment of 3.8 million wireless smart meters across the province by 2017, in tandem with a wireless advanced measurement infrastructure system, would translate into almost $300 million in savings over 20 years for the utility and its ratepayers.

But, as Hydro-québec CEO Thierry Vandal pointed out Tuesday when questioned by reporters, that is after an initial investment of almost $100 million, bringing projected savings down to about $200 million.

When Hydro-québec first filed its petition with the Régie to go ahead with the smart-meter rollout, there was no mention of an opt-out plan.

Amid growing opposition to the meters, the Régie asked for one.

The opt-out plan was unveiled by the utility March 14, days before the hearings on the meters began.

Consumers choosing to opt out for health or other reasons would pay an initial fee of $98 and then $17 a month to cover the cost of manually reading the meters. The cost would be $302 the first year and $204 each year thereafter.

As the opt-out program would have an impact on rates, it is subject to Régie approval. No date has yet been set for those hearings.

It is possible that the board could reject the opt-out program. What would that mean to the meter program now before the board?

It’s an “egg-and-chicken” situation, Richard Lassonde, the Régie de l’énergie official presiding over the meter hearings, said Wednesday.

Lassonde might want to hold off ruling on the meter rollout until after a ruling is rendered on the opt-out provision, François Hébert, Hydro-québec Distribution’s director of regulatory affairs, suggested.

Hydro-québec estimates that one or two per cent of its clients would opt out. If so, additional equipment would not be required and, with a user-pay system, the economic advantages of the meter rollout would not change, according to documents filed by the utility.

But those estimates are based on U.S. jurisdictions, some rural, and not Montreal where there is a high proportion of multi-unit dwellings and rental properties, noted David.

Wouldn’t it be best to test estimates through scientific surveys or better, pilot projects that offered opt-out provisions, he asked a panel of Hydro-québec executives.

Georges Abiad, the meter program’s project manager, said surveys aren’t the best indicters.

“What we really need is information from the field,” real-life scenarios where people are supplied unbiased information about the meters and their options, he said.

The hearings continue Friday.