The City of New Westminster is in no rush to make a decision about smart meters.
B.C. Hydro plans to install 1.8 million meters in homes and businesses across the province by December 2012. Some critics have voiced concerns about the smart meters, but B.C. Hydro believes they will allow for faster restoration of service in the event of a power outage, will save millions in the years to come, will keep rates among the lowest in North America and are safe.
"We are monitoring what B.C. Hydro is doing," said Rod Carle, general manager of the city's electrical utility. "We are not required to put smart meters in."
Carle said the city has yet to determine what technology will be used to replace New Westminster's aging meters.
"Our meters are getting at an age - they are 50-plus years old - where we are going to have to do something," he said. "The current methods we use are outdated."
Carle said the city will be moving to a digital meter but hasn't decided what form that will take.
"Smart meters are the same as digital meters, they just come with different programming which makes some of them smarter than others," he said.
City staff will be holding information sessions with council and its electrical utility commission between March and May.
"Before we do anything at all, they (council) wants to have some kind of workshop," Carle said.
The city has until the end of the year to decide whether it wants to piggyback
on B.C. Hydro's purchase of Smart Meters and take advantage of their attractive price point or opt for a different digital meter system, he added.
"We are going to have to do something. I am just not sure what," he said. "We are going to take our time."
B.C. Hydro said its new meters include measurement technology to determine how much power is being consumed and produced, a computer to store the data collected by the measurement technology, two radios (one to send consumption data and another to allow the customer to help with conservation) and a battery to send a signal to B.C. Hydro when the power goes out.
Unlike other communities, the City of New Westminster owns its own electrical utility. It distributes electricity to 28,000 residential customers and 3,000 commercial/business customers.
