Will Smart Meters Be Stopped in Worcester?

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Thursday, December 12, 2013

Zeke Wright, GoLocalWorcester Contibutor

The rollout of wireless electric meters continues to face opposition in Worcester and across the United States.

Criticism of the smart grid pilot program in Worcester has postponed public hearings on a final wireless tower as National Grid says it continues to look at alternative siting for the new infrastructure.

Does Worcester want smart meters?

“I think it's a stalling tactic,” said Tim Sullivan, a resident whose property abuts an electrical substation on Tory Fort Lane where a wireless tower was initially planned. “What does National Grid have to do with telecommunications?”

Opponents say utility companies have used the Telecommunications Act of 1996 to undermine local communities' ability to block new towers. In addition to not being a good neighbor, through five years of construction at that substation, Sullivan said he had health and cost concerns with the changeover to wireless meters.

National Grid spokesperson Deborah Drew said the city Zoning Board of Appeals had requested additional information recently that the company was not prepared for by the Dec. 2 meeting. “We are preparing that for the (board) and we will appear at the next meeting in January,” she reported Wednesday.

The smart grid pilot program in Worcester plans to include 15,000 customers, who'll be the first in the state to adopt the wireless metering technology.

Benefits

A national effort underway to modernize the electrical grid, fueled by billions of federal dollars (2009's American Recovery and Reinvestment Act appropriated $4.5 billion for grid modernization, with $3.4 billion of that designated for smart grid investments), an October report by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission found a penetration rate of advanced meters of approximately 30 percent nationwide, or almost 46 million.

The advanced meters give power companies a clearer picture of energy use and outages, enabling them to restore service more quickly after storms and better meeting demands on the grid. (The regulatory commission's report noted quicker responses to outages in 2012 including after Hurricane Sandy in Maryland and the District of Columbia.)

Consumers meanwhile are promised future access to more complex and detailed data about their energy use, allowing them to conserve during peak periods and reduce usage. Future rate plans can charge higher rates during peak times and lower rates during off-hours.

Smart grid technology is also seen as better accommodating plug-in electric vehicles and home renewable energy sources including solar power systems and wind turbines.

But the so-called “smart meters” — particularly ones that transmit information wirelessly along radio wave frequencies akin to a cellphone or residential Wi-Fi router — have their critics.

Concerns

“There's a difference between the smart grid and the smart meter,” said Sullivan.

Opponents of wireless meters, in Massachusetts and other states, cite possible health risks and privacy concerns — in addition to the cost of implementation.

“I feel it's being pushed as a green issue — and it's more a profit issue,” Sullivan said. “They're spending a fortune, and it's only a pilot project.”

Patricia Burke, a Bay State resident who suffers from electromagnetic hypersensitivity, says the nation is on a “very dangerous trajectory.”

“It's such a huge issue, because it's our whole relationship with wireless technology,” Burke said. Given higher limits on acceptable radio frequency levels here than abroad, “the chances are the U.S. is going to have a more serious problem.”

Stop Smart Meters In Massachusetts is a statewide group organized against the wireless meters in the Bay State. Local activist Steve Quist meanwhile has organized Worcester residents against the rollout.

 

National Grid response

Drew called the Worcester pilot National Grid's “flagship” program in the state.

“This is a way to listen, test, and learn about emerging technologies and how we can benefit customers with a program that offers energy control, energy savings, and energy information,” she said.

National Grid has rolled out approximately 14,500 meters to customers to date, although the program doesn't fully launch until next year.

Previously responding to health and privacy concerns related to the wireless meters, Drew told GoLocal that the equipment used was in compliance with Federal Communications Commission guidelines and that the company would continue to comply with laws and regulations designed to protect consumer information.

The FCC, American Cancer Society, and World Health Organization have not found a causal relationship between radio frequency field exposure from consumer devices and harm to humans like cancer, although the issue continues to merit further study. (Electromagnetic hypersensitivity is not a recognized medical condition in the U.S.)

Pilot program still rolling out

On the Worcester's zoning board agenda for much of 2013, National Grid was seeking a new 80-foot lattice tower in place of an existing 55-foot wooden pole at the company's Tory Fort Lane substation.

An alternative is to erect a 90-foot-tall pole at a substation on Mill Street near Tatnuck Square. The improvements would install wireless antennas to transmit information to and from wireless meters in the area, and complete the current pilot program in the northwest part of the city.

Drew said concerns with the original Tory Fort site prompted National Grid to identify other sites. “Our testing confirmed the location at our Mill Street sub is situated such that it provides good communications to the devices we have planned for the area,” she said this week.

House bill 2926 introduced in this year's legislative session would give consumers the choice of wired or wireless meter, and require public utilities to obtain written consent before installing wireless meters on ratepayers' properties.

The measure would go further than similar approved restrictions in a half-dozen other states including neighboring Vermont, where residents are able to opt-out of having a wireless meter installed.

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• Residents Protesting Smart Grid Pilot in Worcester

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