How the electric company tried to con me into a smart meter today
After I had already filled in their form AND notified the town manager they were not allowed on my property to touch the existing meter
The utility company (in this case, Versant) owns the meter but I own the house it is attached to and the land it is on.
So when we were informed the meters would be changed out to a smart meter (which made one of my patients sick and has allegedly led to fires and very high, crazy bills in some areas) I told the town manager I would not accept a changeover and was instructed to write to the company with their form, which I did. I explained to both that changing the meter entailed trespassing, an illegal act.
Nonetheless, today a young man drove up and announced he was changing the meter. No, said I. Well, we will change it to a non-transmitting meter, he said—which comes with a $15/month service fee. No thanks, the old meter is working fine. Well, said he, I will give you the OPT-OUT form. While I had alreaedy sent one in, I thought I’d take a look at it.
As before, they give you the general number to call, so it takes awhile to get the right person. I was able to confirm with him that yes, in fact the “OPT-OUT” non-communicating meter was the exact same smart meter they planned to install, except Versant would not turn on the communicator. Hello? My meter had come to the end of its useful life, you see. Except it was still working just fine.
Do you see their attempt to mislead? Your two choices are opt-in or opt-out and each involves a switch to the very same smart meter. I suggested to the man at the other end of the call that he might reconsider his job choice, since it involved misleading his customers. He replied that he liked his job. In the current milieu, he should go far.
I informed him that if anyone tried to trespass and install the new meter, I would call the police. I carefully avoided mentioning my 20 gauge purchase, though I leave the box it came in by the front door for people like the meter man to be aware of.
I wonder if the utility companies are being paid by the government to install new meters, and if the meters have any other functionalities. Why the bait and switch?
So if you don’t want a smart meter, be cognizant that “opting out” may in fact opt you in.
I think the meters are set up to be turned off if we don’t cooperate. But that’s just me…
I'm gonna go in a little different direction. Versant provides electric transmission and distribution to approximately one third of the State of Maine's 1.3mm population. It is a regulated monopoly. It is a public utility. It offers a natural monopoly service that is considered essential. You could be off grid and that would be great, but most of us are going to have to rely on electricity coming down roads on poles and we don't want several providers of redundant service, so we grant a monopoly to one. And we oversee that with a Public Utility Commission. That's the idea and the ideal. It is very compromised and corrupt and colluded in actuality.
On top of all that, to add insult to injury, Versant is 100% owned by ENMAX, a private for profit corporation, that in turn is 100% owned by the City of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Yup, you heard that correctly. ENMAX pays a dividend to its owner, City of Calgary, or $50mm per year, as a reward.
The City of Calgary paved its sidewalks and builds its public ice arenas on profits guaranteed by the PUC of Maine for Versant.
Next month Mainers will vote on Nov 8 to force the purchase of Versant (and CMP, the dominant provider which is in turn owned in large part by the sovereign wealth funds of Norway and Qatar - recycled oil wealth) by a new cooperative entity, Our Power. This would replace the investor owned, profit at any price, abusive current utilities with a statewide consumer utility that would pay not dividends to shareholders. It would only pay bond payments based on revenues. It would replace "expensive" capital with much less expensive capital. Would it ram smart meters down customers throats? Perhaps, but probably not to the extent that CMP and Versant have been hell bent for years to install meters that many customers don't really want. Today 30% of Americans get their electricity from rural cooperatives and municipal systems. Generally, the level of customer satisfaction is higher in non investor owned grids.