Utilities Commissioner Disagrees with High Opt-Out Fees for “Smart” Electric Meters; Cites Consumer Privacy Concerns

By B.N. Frank

Opposition to costly, privacy-invasive, and hazardous utility “smart” meters – electric, gas, and water – has been worldwide since they started being deployed over a decade ago. In addition to symptoms and illnesses caused by “smart” meter radiation emissions (see 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7), experts continue to report that these devices are not accurate, essential for “energy efficiency”, mechanically safe (see 1, 2, 3, 4, 5), or secure (see 1, 2, 3). Unlike traditional meters, “smart” meters allow utilities to collect consumer usage data to sell and/or share with 3^rd parties (see 1, 2) and some consumers also have a problem with that.

From the North Dakota Monitor:

Otter Tail Power meter upgrades approved; higher rates kick in

Public Service Commissioner objects to high opt-out fees for smart electric meters

By: Jeff Beach

New meters from Otter Tail Power will relay data on energy use every 15 minutes, helping the company address outages and providing customers with more information on energy use, the company says. Photo courtesy of Otter Tail Power

Otter Tail Power Co. will start installing new “smart meters” for customers this year, which the company says will help people save energy and money, while it also seeks a rate increase in North Dakota.

The North Dakota Public Service Commission in a split vote on Thursday approved the Otter Tail plan for the meters, including fees for the customers who might want to opt out of the new meters.

Otter Tail Power refers to the meters as advanced metering infrastructure, or AMI.

Unlike traditional analog meters, the new meters will capture energy usage data every 15 minutes. “Customers will be able to see and track how patterns in their daily lives or operations affect energy consumption,” Otter Tail said in documents filed with the PSC.

For customers who want to opt out of the new meters, there will be an up-front charge of $120 with a monthly charge of $20.

Commission Chair Randy Christmann called those fees “way too high” during the Thursday meeting.

“There’s some good things about this, but it’s the company’s responsibility to sell them on that, not just come and sell us on a dollar amount that they come up with arbitrarily, to make sure that no one will resist this,” said Christmann, the only member of the three-person commission to vote against the Otter Tail request.

In an interview after the meeting, Christmann said the high opt-out fees don’t really give people a choice.

“There are some people who are fearful about what all is being monitored and what kind of information is being sent out of their home, through the web, and to the utility company and then what happens to it,” he said. “So, we do expect that there might be some people who will not want electric meters to be a two-way device.”

Otter Tail Power, in a filing with the PSC, said, “Because Otter Tail’s service territory is 70,000 square miles and covers portions of three states, each customer who chooses to not have a communicating advanced meter installed will erode the savings and efficiencies we hope to achieve by installing AMI.”

Otter Tail Power expects to start installing the meters in June.

Otter Tail Power, based in Fergus Falls, Minnesota, estimates that about 17,500 of their 46,500 residential customers in North Dakota would be eligible to opt out.

Otter Tail is recovering the costs for the new meters through a Metering and Distribution Technology Cost Recovery Rider on customers’ bills. The rider also helps pay for a new outage management system and a new demand response system, the company said in an email.

It has been recovering the costs through the rider for about a year. The charge for a residential customer was a $1.71 per month in 2023 and drops to 73 cents per month in 2024.

Rate case

Otter Tail Power also is seeking a rate increase in North Dakota of about $40.6 million annually.

The PSC approved Otter Tail Power’s request to increase rates by $34.4 million on an interim basis beginning Jan. 1. Otter Tail Power expects the interim rates will remain in effect until late 2024, when the PSC makes a final decision.

With the interim rate increase, Otter Tail Power says customers will see an average net increase of 6.03% on monthly bills.

Deputy editor Jeff Beach is based in the Fargo area. Interest areas include agriculture, renewable energy and rural issues.

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Other ongoing issues and complaints about electric, gas, and water “smart” meters include

billing errors and higher bills (see 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
fires and explosions (see 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) as most have no built-in surge protectors
installation mishaps (see 1, 2)
operational problems and
short lifespans

Consumers who are permitted to “opt-out” of “smart” meters are often required to pay expensive fees as well as accept meters that aren’t as safe as traditional analog meters.

Despite all of the above, utility providers worldwide continue to force these awful devices on consumers (see 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6). Of course, in addition to data collection, “smart” meters also allow providers to remotely control and/or ration utility use (see 1, 2) which is also beneficial to them and not consumers.

Children’s Health Defense has made it easy to for Americans to contact their lawmakers and ask that they introduce and/or support utility meter choice legislation. Click here to learn more.

Activist Post reports regularly about “smart” meters and other privacy invasive and unsafe technologies. For more information, visit our archives and the following websites: