Hydro Smart Meters could be costly to apartment dwellers

Hydro Smart Meters could be costly to apartment dwellers

Updated 1 day ago

Smart metering conceptually is designed to allow consumers to identify their demand profile and change their usage behaviour and move that use into periods when the cost of electricity is cheaper. In turn in will also reduce the overall demand for power in the province.

The last two provincial governments embraced the idea touting how it will reduce need for new power generation and save consumers money.

Recently, North Bay Hydro explained the coming of Smart Meters (SM) to all it customers and how that program cost factors into hydro's rate increase.

Unlike the other direct and indirect costs hydro needs to recover on their portion of the average customer's bill -- $35, the additional SM charge is fixed at $1.69 or almost 5 per cent alone of the 6.9 per cent it needs.

The current cost of electricity paid to Ontario Power Generation is 5.6 cents/KwH up from 5 cents last month. The currently proposed rate matrix once the SM program is in place will see rates range from 4 to 8.8 cents/KwH depending on the time of day.

The expectation is the average consumer in a house who has laundry and dishes to do, or a shower to take, will do so after 10 p. m. when the rates are much cheaper.

Customers living in apartment buildings will not be so lucky. Most do not have dishwashers or in-unit laundry. Their hot water usually comes from a central tank. Their demand is basically limited to their lights, the TV, fridge and stove.

Their average payment to hydro is about $20. That means the new meter will cost 8.5 per cent more. I can see their OPG or the other $20 portion of the total bill increasing 25 per cent. When they are normally cooking breakfast or dinner, watching TV is when the rates will be highest.

Are these people supposed to make dinner at midnight to break even? Only watch TV then too? They can't and they shouldn't.

Aside from the savings of having to build a new nuclear generation plant, in the end the total cost of generation, transmission and distribution is a zero sum equation.Itwillalwayscost X"torun the system.

If the average larger householder is able to reduce their actual bill because they can shift their demand that lost revenue has be made up somewhere else. The apartment dwelling segment of consumers will be doing the subsidizing.