Smart Meters - Public Service Commission

It’s precisely why the Smart Meter Safety Coalition is kicking off a series of discussions and Q&A
sessions called “Smart Choices About Smart Meters: Crucial Issues to Consider in Making an
Informed Decision.” The first one’s happening June 29 th at 6:30 pm at Scarborough Town Hall. All
are welcome.
Meanwhile, Bath residents who don’t want a wireless meter won’t have to pay $40 up front and $12
per month to keep a piece of equipment they already have.
Or will they?
It seems, in addition to threatening to sue the city, CMP is also threatening to skirt the ordinance by
charging every resident the opt-out fee if they don’t accept a smart meter. So says the letter, which
informs the city that the ordinance is “not in the interest of CMP’s customers in Bath who, as a result
of the Ordinance, will be required to pay the opt-out fees unless they affirmatively ask to have a
smart meter.”
For nearly nine months, the Smart Meter Safety Coalition has tried to work with CMP to find
reasonable solutions. At every turn, the company has not only disregarded and disrespected
legitimate customer concerns, but actively sought to dismiss and discredit those concerns. CMP hired
the same firm that represented the tobacco and asbestos industries in cancer cases to try to “prove”
smart meters are safe. When that didn’t work, CMP submitted reams of paperwork to the PUC,
trying to “prove” opt-outs were technically and economically unfeasible. When that didn’t work and
the PUC staff issued a recommendation for opt-outs, CMP filed exceptions to that recommendation,
trying to “prove” why the PUC should not only reject the recommendation of its own staff, but reject
opt-outs altogether.
It didn’t work.
The threatening letter is another hired scare tactic — an attempt to “prove” why the Bath ordinance
wouldn’t hold up in court. Whether it would or it wouldn’t is not the point. Bath councilors have
stepped up and taken a stand to protect residents from the actions of a company with a clear disdain
for its customers.
—SMSC
Filed under: smart meters | Tagged: Bath Somerset, Central Maine Power, Public Utilities
Commission, Smart meter, World Health Organization | Leave a Comment »
Winning Opt-Outs, Setting the Record Straight about
Wireless Smart Meters
Posted on May 18, 2011 by Smart Meter Safety Coalition
smartmetersafety.org
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