Opting out of utility 'smart meters'

Written by
Morgan Lee
6:24 p.m., March 29, 2012

State regulators are close to providing a way for San Diego-area utility customers to opt out of wireless “smart meters” that relay detailed information about home electricity use by radio frequency to the local power company.

Since 2008, San Diego Gas & Electric has gradually swapped out more 1.3 million dial-spinning analog electricity meters across San Diego and southern Orange counties with new digital equipment that intermittently transmits data to utility computer servers.

The utility’s network of wireless equipment does away with meter readers and holds out the promise of helping the public better understand how they are using electricity — and eventually how they might save power and money.

As soon as this summer, San Diego Gas & Electric intends to use smart-meter data to reward customers who cut back when demand threatens to outstrip supply on hot days.

Not everyone has embraced the home electric-meter upgrade. A small fraction of customers have health concerns about the effects of adding yet more wireless signals to the modern home. Some customers also oppose sharing information about their hourly energy use with the utility, or are suspicious that conservation incentives may function as penalties for others.

Retired La Mesa school teacher Susan Brinchman traces her own headaches, dizziness, sinus problems and nausea to the installation of smart utility meters at her home about two years ago by the utility.

In response, she founded the nonprofit Center for Electrosmog Prevention and took her concerns to the California Public Utilities Commission, where the Utility Consumers’ Action Network had initiated proceedings for a smart-meter opt-out policy.

Brinchman believes people can more safely learn how to conserve energy without the intrusion and health risks she sees in smart meters.

“There was a fairy tale they developed about giving customers a choice — for something that fills their home with radiation,” said Brinchman, 60, whose request to bill utility company investors for restoring analog meters was rejected at the utilities commission.

SDG&E said its smart meters comply with federal radio frequency limits and produce far less exposure than other household appliances and electronics, including cell phones, baby monitors and microwave ovens.

Installation of the meters, now just shy of completion, is a $572 million capital project approved in 2007 by the utilities commission and paid for by SDG&E customers.

The project began before the federal government started heavily subsidizing wireless meter installations at utilities across the country under smart-grid provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

San Diego’s residential customers would be able to opt out of a wireless meter for any reason or no reason at all, under recommendations issued this month by an administrative law judge at the California Public Utilities Commission. The five member commission will likely vote on the matter next month.

The recommendations seek to accommodate individuals who don’t want the new meters without compromising state energy objectives that are closely aligned with the technology.

A customer who wants to return to the analog meter would pay a $75 fee under the plan and an additional monthly service charge of $10. Low-income and other customers registered under the California Alternate Rates for Energy program — who constitute about 25 percent of customers — would pay a $10 fee and $5 monthly charge.

The charges cover only a fraction of the opt-out. SDG&E estimated that providing analog meters to 3,000 customers would cost just over $3 million — or $1,000 per customer.

SDG&E would be eligible to recover excess costs from its entire base of customers, according to the recommendations of Administrative Law Judge Amy Yip-Kikugawa. The recommended provisions closely mirror an arrangement already approved for customers of Pacific Gas and Electric in Northern California.

Regulators have taken pains not to link the opt-out provisions to any health concerns — an area pre-empted by federal law under the Telecommunications Act of 1996, explained Martin Homec, an attorney for two groups advocating for an opt-out.

Smart meters collect data on electricity use every 15 minutes for commercial customers and every hour for residential ratepayers, with that information delivered in short bursts.

“A smart meter is basically a sensor at the farthest part of your electrical distribution system,” said Ted Reguly, the director of customer programs at SDG&E who previously oversaw smart-meter operations. “You can use that data to better design and operate your system.”

There are some immediate savings and conveniences associated with cutting out manual meter reading and being able to detect outages remotely. And the meters also allow the company to start and stop service without necessarily having to send out a technician.

On a more technically sophisticated note, meter information already is being used for web-based services such as the “Green Button,” introduced in January, which allows residential customers to download hourly energy use data in simple-to-read format. The info can be analyzed further using consumer programs or third-part consultants.

Customers should soon be able set up alerts that signal when electricity use approaches the monthly threshold for more expensive kilowatt hour charges — the rough equivalent of an account overdraft alert.

The first “dynamic pricing” options for residential consumers should be available this summer, starting with an opportunity to reduce charges by conserving on short notice during summertime peak energy events. An alert will likely go out for the incentive when extremely hot weather tightens state’s margin between power generation and demand.

The meters’ still untapped potential is outlined in the utility’s 354-page smart-grid deployment plan for the next eight years.

An encrypted low-power radio feed — similar to wi-fi but utilizing a standard called ZigBee — will eventually be used to coordinate home appliances and thermostats.

SDG&E says customers’ usage data, just like any personal identifiable information, is considered and treated as sensitive and confidential, only to be shared under limited exceptions, such as subpoena by law enforcement agencies.

From smart meters, solar customers could eventually glean a more precise picture of when and how much energy they provide to the distribution grid, while the utility could make more selective improvements to accommodate the growing popularity of electric vehicles.

For now, it’s unclear exactly how many people might opt out of smart meters, but a list of customers who signed up to delay smart-meter installations while proceedings were under way represents just 0.05 percent of SDG&E customers, the utility said.

Opting out of utility 'smart meters' | UTSanDiego.com