Smart Meters
Hidden agenda for smart meters
Battle to curb $154m in losses to marijuana grow ops may ding all of us
By Michael Smyth, The Province June 26, 2011
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Fiona Taylor of B.C. Hydro holds new smart meter (left) and old meter.
Fiona Taylor of B.C. Hydro holds new smart meter (left) and old meter.
Photograph by: Bill Keay - PNG Files, The Province
It's amazing how the amount of electricity stolen by marijuana growers in B.C. is increasing faster than a hippie's appetite after a double bong hit.
A new report cited by B.C. Hydro pegs the annual amount of power stolen by marijuana grow ops at an astonishing $109 million.
The report adds some new categories: "illegitimate" power use by marijuana growers who actually pay their bills, and the amount of money B.C. Hydro must spend on upgraded infrastructure to deliver all that power to thousands of grow ops.
Total damage to B.C. Hydro and its customers from marijuana grow ops: $154 million a year, the equivalent of a five-per-cent surcharge on your electricity bill.
B.C. Hydro's answer to the problem: spend $1 billion on smart meters to stop pot-producing power poachers.
It's hard to know where to begin explaining how screwed up and illogical this is.
But first, let's review Hydro's recent history of estimating marijuanarelated power theft.
Grow ops need a lot of electricity to power high-wattage lamps, water pumps, dehumidifiers, security systems and other equipment. Growers often steal electricity, by tampering with Hydro's existing "dumb meters," or diverting power from the main supply line.
In 2004, Hydro estimated marijuana power theft at $12 million a year. Then Hydro rolled out its plan to install smart meters.
Hydro estimated power theft at $30 million last August, then $100 million in the spring, and now $154 million from theft and illegitimate use.
A cynic might suspect Hydro was exaggerating grow-op thefts to gain support for its smart meters from suspicious customers.
After all, the original purpose of smart meters is to jack up your electricity bill through "time of use" billing, where you pay more for consuming power at peak periods, such as around dinner time.
Hydro denies the smart meters will be used for time-of-use billing. Instead, the smart meters will be used for things such as catching all those illegal grow ops, it says.
Really?
If Hydro wanted to catch powerstealing pot growers, it could hire a few dozen retired cops to inspect power lines for signs of tampering or jerry-rigging. That would cost a lot less than $1 billion.
Ironically, many marijuana growers like the idea of smart meters, because it means Hydro won't be sending snoopy meter readers around their houses any more.
"It's actually better to have the smart meter," writes an anonymous poster on rollitup.org, a marijuana chat room.
"The guys that check meters won't have to go in your yard any more, eliminating any chance of seeing or smelling something."
Other large-scale growers are switching to diesel-powered generators to conceal electricity use. Just last week, Mounties busted a huge grow-op near Hope powered by a dozen gas generators.
And do you really think clever growers won't figure out a way to bypass the smart meters, just like they bypass the dumb meters now? Google "hack your smart meter" for the answer.
The bottom line: B.C. Hydro is stoking reefer madness. It loves pushing this stamp-out-grow-ops line because that's its best argument for selling the public on smart meters.
My prediction: Marijuana production in B.C. will continue to soar, while you get gouged on your electricity bill with time-of-use billing.
msmyth@theprovince.com
Read more: http://www.theprovince.com/technolog...#ixzz1QV8nFcZD
Peace GS
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