Dealing with Opposition to Smart Meters

Sadly, progress in smart grid is slow and incredibly painstaking.  In particular, there are people who oppose smart meters, largely on the basis of health issues (i.e., the scientifically unfounded claim that the meters emit dangerous levels of radiation), as well as privacy.  It’s true, your utility will be able to infer something about your family’s personal habits from the way you consume electricity.  Personally, I think that’s a small price (very close to zero, in my mind) to pay for the benefit of reducing the environmental impact of our society’s energy generation and consumption. 

Here’s an article on the subject, detailing how the state of Massachusetts and the Hawaiian island Maui have successfully fought off campaigns that would ban smart meters. SmardGridNews editor, my colleague Jesse Berst, introduces it as follows:

Fortunately, most (though not all) utilities have been able to overcome (the health) obstacle. Typically, they are forced to conduct their own study to confirm safety (even though there are dozens of conclusive reports in the public domain). And usually, they are required to offer an opt-out option for those who don’t want a smart meter no matter what the studies show.