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Friday, Nov. 23, 2012 | 12:21 p.m.
CARSON CITY — An estimated 10,000 NV Energy customers in Southern Nevada who don’t want smart meters will be hit with extra costs, under a draft order to be presented to the state Public Utilities Commission on Tuesday.
If adopted, those who opt out of the smart-meter program in Southern Nevada would have to pay $98 for installation of an alternative meter and a $9-per-month fee.
In Northern Nevada, some 4,000 customers would be charged $107 for installation and $10 a month, under the draft order by commission Chairwoman Alaina Burtenshaw.
The three-member commission will vote on the proposed plan and is still free to make changes.
The draft order says the fees imposed on the opt-out customers “will result in just and reasonable rates.”
Some customers oppose the smart meters, fearing they might cause health hazards, and many said they would be willing to pay the added cost.
NV Energy has installed about 1.3 million smart meters, which can transmit meter-reading data directly from a home or business to the utility.
Comment removed by moderator. ALL CAPS
This is a good idea.
Those creating the additional costs will get to pay for them instead of the rest of us paying for their desire to be different.
The only problem is that the old meters allowed one to go off the grid, but if they install new meters, just a different type, will that still be the case?
There are only three poeple on the utilities commision?. Wow that makes it very affordable for the utlilty providers to have to pad three wallets vs five or six.
These new meters installed all across the valley were supposed to bring millions of dollars in savings to NVEnergy, and now they want to charge you for refusing to change to a smart meter, thus generating more revenue. I guess for anyone in town growing marijuana at home, $9 a month is worthwhile if you don't want these smart meters to bust your operation as they have been doing all this past year.
peacelily,
You can go off the grid, but these meters will NOT allow you to sell energy back to NV Energy. At least the old meters would spin backwards.
These smart meters are a complete rip, and the primary reason NV Energy wants them is to be able to implement hourly billing rates. That will screw anyone who does not leave the house during the day such as the elderly, infirm, single income families, or those like me who work from home.
NV Energy is ripping us off left and right and our PUC is allowing it. This MUST be changed!
We were sold a bill of goods with the whole "will save money and make it easier to conserve". This was never about the consumer or the ecology. Soon as we conserve the price goes up. It gives them more accurate methods for tracking usage during certain hours. Now they can turn off your power without sending out an employee when you can no longer afford the 3-4 times per year increases.
NV energy is one of only 2 electrical generators in the US, that still does not have to pay for energy put back into the grid.
This is why you don't see much solar in Nevada. This is wrong and screws Nevadans.
The law needs to be changed to make a new solar industry in Nevada.
Green energy and smart meters are not about and never have been about conservation, it's about revenue. Pay up Nevada.
Perhaps it is time to consider a PUD (Public Utility District), as exists in other states like Washington State. This would eliminate the private electric monopoly and replace it with a publicly owned utility whose mission is to provide lower cost electricity at cost, without trying to provide a profit on top of that, to a private company. Decisions concerning how meter data is to be used in setting rates would be based on what serves the public interest, versus the needs of a private monopoly and its investors.
Why one of the best locations in the county for solar (Southern Nevada) is so solar unfriendly is appalling.
It is nothing more than Nvenergy protecting its Monopoly and not having to compete with its customers.
If it takes legislation to require utilities to purchase power from independent generators, whether a local neighborhood electric co-op or individual THEN lets make it happen. NO hidden or overt extra fees, NO penalties. Harangue, pester and contact your state legislator and ask that they introduce and publicly support UNLIMITED power buyback legislation. Sorry NV Energy, you're not in tune with the conservation and sustainability movement and if it takes a spanking to get your attention, then so be it.