Hydro should let us opt out of meters
In what may seem like an odd decision given its usual support for all things green, Vancouver council has joined the growing choir of voices calling on B.C. Hydro — and presumably its B.C. Liberal overlords — to allow people to opt out of smart meters. Good on council for joining the nearly 40 other B.C. municipal governments in urging B.C. Hydro to quit using its bully boy monopoly to shove a widely unpopular $930-million program on electricity consumers.
Individual homeowners have a variety of concerns about the meters. Some fear alleged negative health effects from the electromagnetic waves given off by the devices. Others don’t believe B.C. Hydro should have the right to invade the privacy of their homes by monitoring electricity use minute by minute, and therefore the level of their activity. Others oppose the huge cost of the project, while others simply don’t like having the meters imposed on them.
Hydro says it has the legal right to ignore the views of municipal councils because it is provincially regulated. But it can’t ignore the provincial government, which increasingly had better quit ignoring consumers and voters on this issue.