Last month, I requested information about smart meter public open houses, only to be ignored by the BC Hydro representative I had sent the request to.
I was informed by the B.C. Eenergy critic’s office that they couldn’t find any indication of upcoming smart meter open houses for the public before the start of smart meter installations in July.
I attended BC Hydro’s “pseudo” smart meter open house (a last-moment addition to the BC Hydro Infrastructure Business Plan open house) in Vancouver in March.
It was quickly apparent to me that the smart meter program was moving forward before issues regarding the public policies that would guide remote shut-off, pre-payment and load monitoring (privacy and security) were adequately addressed.
BC Hydro representatives were not able to answer my questions, except to assure me that there would be public smart meter open houses in the future, prior to the deployment of the meters.
I am extremely disappointed about this lack of public engagement, and can only wonder what questions BC Hydro is avoiding to answer on the smart meter program by not appearing before the public.
Liz Walker, Surrey