The City of North Vancouver is calling on the provincial government to halt plans to install Smart Meters or bring the program under the oversight of the B.C. Utilities Commission.
Council voted 5-2 in favour of the position after a presentation from the Citizens for Safe Technology group.
Spokeswoman Sally de la Rue Browne offered a wide range of complaints with the wireless Smart Meter program, which B.C. Hydro says will provide a more detailed picture of the usage patterns and problems on the power grid.
We call it the Smart Meter boondoggle, she said. We found out that Gordon Campbell set up this Clean Energy Act but exempted the Smart Meters because theyre going to cost over a billion dollars. They are going to be pushed through with no consultation. This has been enforced by Christy Clark and Rich Coleman.
The reason why is mainly for profit. We researched and found out who is installing these, a company called Corix. The insiders are all either associated with or worked with Gordon Campbell or his associates . . . We dont need to change the analog meters.
She also argued that the meters will lead to higher bills, an insecure wireless data network, health risks and damage to the environment.
None of us here at the council table are experts on this technology or the economics of it or the health effects, said Coun. Craig Keating, who put forward the moratorium motion, The point here is BCUC oversight. It needs to address the health concerns, economic concerns and it certainly needs to address what I think may be the best argument for Smart Meters, which is how does it affect behaviour in terms of getting us to reduce energy consumption. Maybe spending a billion dollars on education might be a better way to go.
Coun. Guy Heywood strongly urged his colleagues to invite B.C. Hydro to present their case before voting. B.C. Hydro has offered to make such a presentation.
I really think we have seen only one side of the discussion, he said. Heywood also chastised de la Rue Browne for her tone and the inclusion of several editorial cartoons in her presentation.
It was couched in the worst kind of cartoonish political reductionism that I find inappropriate and unbecoming. If you truly have expertise in this area, you wouldnt couch it in such partisan political terms, he said.
Coun. Rod Clark said he was happy to hear from Hydro, but still supported a call for BCUC oversight.
The much more salient concern is how $1 billion of public money can be thrown at a new technology that is very much the bailiwick of the B.C. Utilities Commission and that can be done by cabinet completely aside from regular process, he said.
Heywood and Coun. Bob Fearnley voted against the motion.
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