VANCOUVER — BC Hydro is moving ahead with a $930-million plan to install “˜smart’ electricity meters on two million homes and businesses this summer, regardless of a government review of the Crown corporation’s finances.
Hydro on Monday awarded Washington state-based Itron Inc. a $270 million contract to supply the digital meters. It is the single-largest cost associated with the project, ahead of a $73-million meter installation contract and a $65-million information technology contract awarded in January 2011.
Last month, British Columbia Energy Minister Rich Coleman announced an in-depth review of Hydro’s capital spending and operational costs in light of public controversy about a proposed three-year, 30-per cent-increase in electricity rates.
However, Hydro smart metering program chief project officer Gary Murphy said in a phone interview that Coleman has given the project his support – although its finances will be examined in detail as part of the minister’s review.
Hydro calculates that smart meters will deliver a net benefit of $500 million by 2030 – with the ability to detect and eliminate electricity theft accounting for most of that.
“We have received the green light, to move forward with the smart metering program, from the minister – simply because the business benefits are strong,” Murphy said. “It’s going to reduce rate pressures in the short term – which is a major driver of the [Hydro] review.
“We basically signed the contract shortly after Minister Coleman gave us the approval to go forward.”
Murphy said that if the review determines that there’s an opportunity to reduce the cost of the smart meter program, “we certainly are going to be finding a way to make that part of our overall effort here to support our customers.”
By deadline, Coleman had not responded to The Sun’s request for comment.
Some critics have questioned whether Hydro’s estimate of the amount of money it will save through theft detection is as large as the Crown corporation asserts – if it’s not, there’s a possibility that the benefit of installing smart meters could be smaller, or non-existent.
In 2004, for example, Hydro rejected a B.C Chamber of Commerce claim that theft – notably by marijuana grow operations – was between $100 million and $200 million annually.
At the time, Hydro said electricity theft was costing it $12 million a year – but changed that number to $100 million a year after a consultant’s report in 2006.
“The $100 million is the low end of the estimate and even with that we don’t anticipate being able to eradicate all of that,” Murphy said. “We do believe that we are going to make a significant dent, and that dent will grow.”
B.C.-based Corix Utilities has the $73 million contract to install the meters, and plans to open seven regional offices around the province to facilitate installations. The company has previously installed 10 million smart meters around North America for a variety of utilities and expects to complete the Hydro project by the end of 2012.
Itron, the manufacturer of the meters, has 16 million meters under contract around North America. The company and its predecessors have been manufacturing utility meters for 100 years according to marketing and communications director Sharelynn Moore.
Itron also builds smart meters for natural gas and water utilities.
There have been reports of electrical utility customers in California and Ontario expressing alarm that their power bills jumped up after smart meters were installed.
However, Moore said those stories have tended to emerge in places where the installations coincided with a seasonal weather change, or an increase in electricity rates.
Independent audits have confirmed that the meters are accurate, in addition to in-house tests and tests by utilities buying the technology, Moore said.
“In Texas they conducted audits because there was the same concern – where customers get a bill and say “˜Ever since the smart meter was installed I swear I’m paying more,’” Moore said.
“We have a significant portion of smart meters deployed around the Houston area so we had a large portion of our meters that were part of that audit. We found all of our smart meters were accurate, and these are the same smart meters that are being deployed by BC Hydro.”
Meanwhile the union representing 387 casual workers who are contracted by Accenture Business Services to read Hydro meters each month says the fate of those workers remains in limbo.
Gwenne Farrell, COPE Local 378 vice-president, said most of those workers are effectively logging full-time hours despite their casual status. Historically, meter readers were regarded as a reliable labour pool when BC Hydro sought to hire new employees, but that has changed, Farrell said.
The union has been asking Hydro and Accenture about the workers’ future for four years, Farrell said.
Comments