ENVIRONMENT & ENERGY COMMITTEE TO RECEIVE DEMOSTRATION OF CON ED METERS THIS MONDAY AT 3PM
Con Ed’s planned installation of “AMR” meters still held up in PSC proceeding after Kaplowitz called for “Smart Meters”
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 21, 2006
Contact: Michael B. Kaplowitz
Tel: (914) 995-2848 or (914) 924-3404 cell
After a convincing presentation and demonstration of “Smart Meters” in October, 2005, County Legislator Michael B. Kaplowitz (D-I-WF, Somers), chairman of the Legislature’s Budget & Appropriations Committee, lead the full Board in a vote passing a Resolution that calls on the NYS Public Service Commission (PSC) to prohibit Con Edison from implementing saturated Automated Meter Reading (AMR), specifically the replacement of approximately 300,000 meters in Westchester County with “dumb meters”, and allow the County’s residents the option to obtain a “Smart Meter” – a meter capable of providing ‘Real Time Pricing’ (RTP) and ‘Real Time Usage’ (RTU).
Board Resolution No. 194-2005, which Kaplowitz authored, also had the County Attorney officially intervene in the PSC proceedings on Competitive Metering. The Case (PSC Case 00-E-0165) was initially scheduled to be decided by December 31, 2005. When March, 2006 came around and the case was still pending before the Commission, Kaplowitz authored Board Resolution No. 20-2006 urging the PSC to vote on the case and requesting that both Con Edison and NYSEG voluntarily move aggressively towards the implementation and promotion of in-home devices such as “smart meters”, unless and until the PSC issues such a directive.
Now Con Ed says they want the opportunity to formally present their meter choice to the Legislature’s Committee on the Environment & Energy, chaired by Legislator Thomas J. Abinanti (D-I-WF, Greenburgh). Therefore, this Monday, April 24th at 3pm at the Board’s Offices in White Plains, Con Edison, along with their meter manufacturer, ITRON, will give a presentation and demonstration of the AMR meter.
Kaplowitz, who says he welcomes the demonstration, still feels that the County’s residents, municipalities and small businesses should have the choice to obtain a Smart Meter. “They could lower the cost of their electric bills and increase their usage efficiency,” said Kaplowitz, the immediate past chair of the Legislature’s Environment Committee. “That helps the consumer and the environment.”
The public and the press are encouraged to attend.
