IEEE Spectrum August, 2011 - 8

Saving Smart Meters
From a Backlash

A

big technological change
is inspiring fear and loathing
in the masses. The peril
is not a vaccine, a new variant
of E. coli, or mishandled nuclear
reactors. The peril is the smart
meter. Just as activists once cried,
"Ban the bomb!" they are now
crying, "Ban the smart meter!"
Sometime last year, Pacific
Gas and Electric Co. replaced
my old meter with a smart meter,
which sports a tiny antenna that
broadcasts information wirelessly.
PG&E supplied me with the meter
at no extra charge. The smart meter
is a digital computer that measures
the flow of gas and electricity
into my house and reports on
my usage to a central database,
G. Pascal 
which I can, at least theoretically,
Zachary is  
access (when PG&E finally gets
a professor of 
around to letting me do so).
practice at the 
The meter gives off ultrahighConsortium for 
frequency radio waves, but then so
Science Policy 
do cellphones. Across the United
& Outcomes at 
States, about 20 million similar
Arizona State 
meters have been installed. By 2015,
University and  
Chris King, chief regulatory officer
a frequent  
of eMeter Corp., expects 25 percent
contributor to
IEEE Spectrum. of utility meters to go smart, with
A longer version   millions more smart meters to be
installed between now and 2020.
of this article 
The smart meter promises
appeared on our 
to manage my electricity more
website in June.
8

NA * iEEE SpEctrum * AuguSt 2011

efficiently. Yet the device is
provoking the most organized
opposition to a technological
artifact since vaccines were
tagged (wrongly) with causing
autism in kids. In the superstates
of California and Texas, as well
as Connecticut, resistance to
smart meters is so widespread
that temporary or permanent
bans on these devices have been
either imposed or debated.
Here's the difference between
smart meters and cellphones for
people too confused or paranoid to
observe this for themselves: I don't
hold the smart meter to my ear or
carry it around in my pocket. It's
stuck in the ground outside my
house. Smart meters are not going
to increase my chances of contracting brain cancer, but my frustration
with people who believe that is definitely raising my blood pressure.
Radiation isn't the only
complaint. Smart meters store
much of customers' personal
data on electricity usage, which
could violate their privacy if not
safeguarded. And new meters have
spawned complaints of inaccuracy
in Texas and California. These
charges have been debunked by
utilities, but fears of inaccurate
metering are fanned by the
introduction of meters alongside
new rate plans, making straight-up
comparisons with the past difficult.
To be sure, the brouhaha over
smart meters is a reminder that
new technologies require patient
explanations or clever promotion
in order to win acceptance. Once
the virus of suspicion spreads, even
an electricity meter begins to look
menacing. In California, PG&E,
which has one of the nation's
most aggressive rollout plans, has
asked its government regulator to
allow customers an opt-out plan
in order to undercut opposition.
PG&E's request, which regulators could approve by September,
would charge customers for the
privilege of dumbing down their

smart meters by having the
antennas switched off. To have
this done, the customer would pay
a one-time charge of US $135 and
then a monthly fee of $20 to cover
what PG&E says are the costs of
humans reading stupid meters. In
economic terms, these charges are
disincentives, yet PG&E estimates
that at least 145 000 customers will
choose to opt out. Maine has also
decided to permit customers to
choose to have their meters' transmitters turned off for a one-time
cost of $20 and an annual fee of
$120. More states may do the same.
Refusing a new technology is a
democratic right, of course, but in
this case it reflects a shoddy way
of thinking about the electricity
system. Opt-outs, in short, carry
significant social costs because of
network effects. The less folks use
smart meters, the more everyone
ends up paying for power.
Utilities are chastened but
not defensive in their response
to frustration, anger, and
confusion over smart meters.
A coalition of utilities and meter
makers has formed a national
organization called the SmartGrid
Consumer Collaborative to
improve public understanding
of new metering technology.
Individual utilities are also
learning lessons from the debacle
in California. The Arizona Public
Service Co. is wooing customers
with information about the benefits
of smart meters rather than
depending on the presumption
that "new" is always "improved."
Better promotion of smart
meters may not be enough. Once
it gets amplified across the Web,
a belief can be hard to eradicate,
even when it's wrong. Smart
meters could well become the
big new fear in a society where
the endless embrace of new
technologies invariably coevolves
with a nagging suspicion of
hazards too horrible to discuss.
-G. Pascal Zachary
spectrum.ieee.org

Pat Sullivan/aP Photo

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Spectrum August, 2011
