Editor, The News:
After reading many emails and articles discussing issues around smart meters, one thing has become clear: the government of B.C. cares less about what the taxpayers (rate payers) think and once again is pushing through with the global Orwellian agenda, the one that has eyes on everything all the time, in every place.
Between the Golden Ears Bridge toll cameras that the police use to monitor gang activity, red light cameras, and highway and intersection cameras that have been installed on top of virtually ever corner of the Lower Mainland, we now need to step into electronic monitoring of everyone’s comings and goings from where they live.
I do not know the true capabilities of these so-called smart meters, but as technology has leaped forward in larger leaps and bounds (I believe the generation change is every six months now), smart meters will be most likely able to detect small changes in current consumption and be able to report in real time to whomever has been contracted to receive the data.
Therefore, each time the alarm gets turned on or the garage door opens, or the sequence of events of the residence entering or leaving can be plotted, monitored or even predicted.
What else can these devices do?
Can they receive data from you wireless home network and transmit it to anyone who has the proper software to read the data bursts. As with any wireless data transmission, anyone with the proper gear will be able to collect and interpret the data.
One thing I do know about the government is that if there are hidden extras that can benefit it at our expense, it will most likely be exploited.
Also, which government insider is reaping the benefits, which ministers or aids purchased stock in Corix or the meter manufactures just before the contracts where awarded?
Call me cynical, but just take a look at the Wall Street, government, global melt down to see the level of corruption running rampant across our globe. The corruption infection is everywhere in everything, and the complainers and whistle blowers must be kept at bay.
Electrical work is only allowed to be performed by licensed electricians unless you are the home owner. Are these Corix contractors properly licensed or merely trained in removing and installing the meters with some special sanction from the province?
What is the cost per meter and how does it actually save any money?
B.C. Hydro has very sophisticated monitoring equipment to monitor and regulate the flow of electricity as the demands are placed on the system, and has highly trained staff to deal with the issues that arise from critical changes in demand, such as when fridge doors opened during Super Bowl or Stanley Cup playoff commercial breaks.
B.C. Hydro and the Government of B.C. could save millions by having installed smart meter technology on a specific area grid wherein they monitored blocks of 100 or 200 homes and collected data from that specific catchment. It would have been more cost effective and provide similar data compared to the individual home invasion that is totally unnecessary.
Necessity being the mother of invention, the criminal element will undoubtedly come up with inventive ways to thwart the technology, just like the BCLDB’s sensor system’s RFID tags placed on bottles of liquor to prevent shoplifting that where completely disabled by placing a loonie on it as the thief walked past the detectors.
I am sure many a smart meter will undoubtedly be hit with a not so smart hammer.
Either way, the roll out of the smart meters appears to be a really dumb idea and appears to be a public relations nightmare for the government, Corix, and B.C. Hydro.
I feel for the meter readers who will be out of work when this is all said and done.
M. Felgner
Maple Ridge