Eight citizens – only two who weren’t town officials and didn’t have other business before the Board – attended an informational session on smart meters at the April 6 meeting of the Damariscotta Board of Selectmen.
CMP is replacing old, analog meters with smart meters, which use two-way radio communication to report electricity use.
Steve Daniels, manager of marketing and sales for Central Maine Power (CMP) began with a brief presentation about smart meters.
CMP must upgrade its infrastructure to “smart grid technology” in order to comply with mandates from the federal government, the state government and the Public Utilities Commission (PUC), Daniels said.
CMP received a $96 million grant from the federal Dept. of Energy for the effort and is matching the funds with $96 million of its own, Daniels said.
VSI Meter Services, a contractor, will install over 600,000 smart meters across the state, Daniels said.
Daniels described the installation process. If no one is home, the contractor will remove the old meter, perform the installation and leave a “door-hanger” to notify residents. The installation cuts off electricity for about a minute.
If the installers run into complications, they’ll leave an orange door-hanger with further information.
If the resident or property owner is present, they can approve immediate installation, ask VSI to return at a later hour or date, or – at least temporarily – opt to retain their old meter, Daniels said.
The PUC must ultimately determine whether to allow people with concerns about the meters to permanently opt out, Daniels said.
Customers can call or e-mail CMP to opt out in advance, Daniels said. The company asks customers not to communicate via notes left on the meters, as inclement weather can destroy the notes, creating confusion.
If CMP performs an installation and the resident later decides they want to opt out, they can do so, although CMP, in order to save time and money, prefers to know in advance, Daniels said.
Daniels addressed safety concerns relative to smart meters, calling them “a new use of a very old technology.” Many household items, including remote controls and wireless routers, use the same radio frequency technology.
“Radio has been around for a long, long time,” Daniels said. Smart meters only transmit for a maximum of about 45 seconds per day and the frequency they emit amounts to 1/7000 of the maximum allowable frequency.
A cell phone “uses 12,000 times as much power as the meter,” Daniels said.
Daniels referred attendees to the CMP website (www.cmpco.com/smartmeter) for additional assurances from the Center for Disease Control and the Federal Communications Commission, as well as a list of frequently asked questions.
The smart meters will provide benefits to customers, such as an option to switch to a “time of use” instead of a “flat” rate plan, which allows customers to save by using electricity at off-peak hours, such as evenings and weekends.
The upgrade also comes with a “green component,” Daniels said. CMP meter readers will “stop driving over two million miles” each year.
Although the change will result in the elimination of 148 positions, CMP is working with the meter readers union, offering early retirement and “enhanced severance packages” to some readers and retaining others.
“You don’t want to lose good people,” Daniels said.
One of the biggest advantages to smart meters, Daniels said, is a unique “last gasp” feature. At the time of a power outage, the meters, before shutting off, send a signal to CMP to inform the company of the outage.
The feature will greatly improve outage management, Daniels said, as CMP currently relies on customers to call in individual outages.
Daniels said there have been “very, very few” issues with the smart meters so far, including one instance when a meter caused interference with a wireless router.
“When there is a problem that comes up, let us know,” Daniels said, and the company or a contractor will investigate.
Selectman Vicki Pinkham asked about reports that customers’ bills go up after the installation of smart meters.
Daniels said the smart meters are accurate to within 0.02 percent. Sometimes, as the old meters age, the gears slow down and customers pay a smaller, although inaccurate bill as a result, Daniels said.
Buzz Pinkham asked about the measures CMP takes to protect the privacy of the information the meters collect and transmit.
CMP only shares the information with the PUC, Daniels said, and even law enforcement agencies need a court order to access the information.
A similar session was scheduled to take place at the Bristol Board of Selectmen on Wed., April 13 at 7 p.m.
