Page 12 - the NOISE September 2013

GERMANy GETS WISE
In the Arizona Corporation Commis-
sion’s 2007 decision that enabled the start of the “smart” meter fiasco in Arizona, a cost/ benefit analysis was called for but never completed. Since then, it has been point- ed out repeatedly to the ACC that “smart” meters are a boondoggle, even detailing a report by the Connecticut Attorney Gen- eral based on a “smart” meter pilot project involving thousands of real people and me- ters.
As of August 1 and after another study, Germany joined the list of places waking up to economic reality and rejecting “smart” meters. Unfortunately, that list does not in- clude Arizona.
Frankly, I find it amazing that anyone would need a study to figure out that when you wreck something that works, and re- place it with something that costs well over five times more, you aren’t going to save money. But after commissioning a feasibil- ity study by “Big Four” accounting firm Ernst & Young, Germany’s Economy Ministry has proclaimed the European Union’s proposal for 80% of homes to be “smart” metered by 2020 as “inadvisable” since installation costs would be greater than energy saved.
This echoes the findings of three Attor- neys General which I have brought to the ACC’s attention several times in the past but which commissioners have chosen to ig- nore, to the detriment of Arizona ratepayers.
Connecticut AG: “...the costs associated with the full deployment of AMI [“smart”] meters are huge and cannot be justified by energy savings achieved.”
Illinois AG: “The utilities have shown no evidence of billions of dollars in benefits to consumers from these new meters, but they have shown they know how to profit.”
Michigan AG: “A net economic benefit to electric utility ratepayers from ... smart meter programs has yet to be established.”
Here’s a real-life example of what hap- pens when regulators such as the ACC don’t do their homework: Central Maine Power is now being audited by Maine’s Public Utility Commission. CMP promised $363 million in savings from “smart” meters but in just three years, the utility came begging for an 8% rate increase because the $363 million turned into a $99 million cost — and all because Maine’s Public Utility Commis- sion conducted no independent feasibility study beforehand and believed the utility company’s sales pitch instead.
One can only wonder when the ACC will wake up to economic reality — or if they will wake up at all.
ACC COPS OUT
The ACC demonstrated extremely poor judgment at their August 5 meeting. De- spite voluminous evidence that I and many others have provided the ACC over the last several years — evidence enough for the ACC to exercise their statutory obligation to determine “smart” meters cannot be proven safe — the ACC has instead copped out and passed the buck onto the Arizona Depart- ment of Health Services, asking it to con- duct a “smart” meter health study.
Since this buck-passing was a suggestion of ACC staff, and since ACC staff has only provided misinformation biased in favor of utilities, I suspect this new study to be just more damage control on the part of the ACC, as opposed to a sincere interest in truth.
What’s worse — and incredibly negligent — was the ACC’s decision to allow continued “smart” meter installations while the DHS
takes a year to do its “smart” meter study.
12 • september 2013 • the NOISE arts & news • thenoise.us
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