Hydro gives customers tight deadline to opt-out of smart meters

MONTREAL – Hydro-Quebec may have already moved ahead and installed its smart meters in over 2.5 million homes, but the company says it will allow residents to keep their old, non-communicative meters – at a price.

According to the utility company, customers who received notice before October 3 of the installation of their new smart meter have until January 5 to opt-out and keep their non-communicative meter.

These customers will be charged $15 to re-install the old meter.

READ MORE: Fighting Hydro Quebec smart meters

Customers who received notice after October 3 will have 30 days from that date to request to keep their original meter.

They too will have to pay $15.

After that, Hydro will charge customers $85 to take out the smart meter and re-install the old meter.

Clients opting for the non-communicative meters will also have to pay $5 a month to have someone come to their house and read the numbers.

READ MORE: Protests continue against Hydro-Quebec smart meters

The controversial device has had many residents concerned about health dangers, despite Hydro insisting the meters are perfectly safe.

Others claim their bills have skyrocketed since the new meters were installed.

Hydro-Quebec started installing the smart meters back in 2012.

There are still 1.7 million homes that don’t yet have the new meters.

The smart meters send usage numbers directly to Hydro-Quebec so the company doesn’t have to send employees to each home to take notes.

**UPDATE – January 5, 2015: The opt-out approved by the Régie de l’énergie does not apply to next-generation meters that measure demand (200 amps or more). These are usually found in large homes, plants, factories, industries.

If you opt out but then decide you want a smart metre, you can it installed free of charge.