Re: Zalm joins Hydro conspiracy club (B.C. Views, Nov. 2)
Tom Fletcher does a good job skewering the claims made by opponents of B.C. Hydro’s smart meters.
Too bad he didn’t use the same rapier to examine the claims made by B.C. Hydro regarding the benefits of smart meters.
Of the ones he mentions, B.C. Hydro provides no evidence of any cost savings or actual benefit to consumers.
Detecting outages, for example, is pretty easy and quick to do now because consumers use their phones to immediately call and complain.
Other major disruptions such as broken transmission lines, power poles struck by vehicles or lightning, or other failures are all easily and quickly detectable with B.C. Hydro’s existing technology.
And as far as electricity loss through theft, that is also detectable.
Most laughable is the assumption that shifting your dinner hour to “low-peak” time like midnight or doing your laundry from two to three in the morning will actually result in a discount.
Rey Carr
Victoria