Pubdate: Fri, 30 Dec 2011
Source: Record, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2011 Mike Taylor
Contact:  http://www.royalcityrecord.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1654
Author: Mike Taylor

PLEASED WITH SMART METERS

Dear Editor:

More than $100 million worth of electricity is stolen from B.C. Hydro
every year, with much of it stolen to power marijuana grow-ops.

As an honest B.C. Hydro customer, it makes me more than just a little
unhappy to know that people are stealing electricity.

It makes me even more unhappy to know that the cost of all that stolen
electricity gets added to the hydro bills of honest B.C. Hydro
customers like you and me.

That's why I'm glad B.C. Hydro is finally installing smart meters and
putting an end to preventable electricity theft.

Smart meters will let B.C. Hydro zero in on electricity theft quickly
and accurately and shut down the perpetrators.

The old mechanical meters B.C. Hydro has relied on since the 1940s and
1950s simply can't do that.

All they can do is measure how much electricity has gone through them,
and they only get checked manually every couple of months (long after
the opportunity to catch electricity thieves has passed).

I doubt that most people are still using the same appliances, phones,
TVs and radios that were around in the 1940s and 1950s. So why would
anyone want to use metering technology from 50 or 60 years ago,
especially when smart meters can detect electricity theft and save
B.C. Hydro customers $100 million per year?

Investing in smart meters is well worth the cost. And preventing the
theft of $100 million a year will basically pay for the meters in just
10 short years.

Mike Taylor,

Port Moody
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D