Dive Brief:
- Commonwealth Edison is among the latest electric utility to propose allowing customers who object to smart meters to opt out for a fee. It wants to Illinois Commerce Commission to approve a $25 per month charge for those wanting to the smart grid to bypass their homes.
- Fees charged to those refusing a smart meter vary. In British Columbia, BC Hydro charges $35/month. In Hawai, Kauai Island Utility Cooperative wants to charge $10.27/month to the roughly 10% of its 30,000 customers who have opted out. Memphis Light, Gas and Water does no charge anything for opting out.
Dive Insight:
The concession being made by utilities to opponents of smart maters may not be enough to satisfy groups like stopsmartmeters.org, which assigns all sort of ills to their use.
