MR. KAPLOWITZ GOES TO ALBANY!
MEETS WITH PSC ABOUT A WESTCHESTER “SMART METER” PILOT
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 10, 2006
Contact: Michael B. Kaplowitz
Tel: (914) 995-2848 or (914) 924-3404 cell
Westchester County Legislator Michael B. Kaplowitz (D-I-WF, Somers), chairman of the County Board’s Budget & Appropriations Committee, yesterday met with a high level working group at the Public Service Commission (PSC)’s offices in Albany. The focus of the meeting was the possible initiation of pilot programs for New York State Electric & Gas (NYSEG) and Con Edison that would permit 50,000 ratepayers per company to have a “Smart Meter” installed in their home.
In October, 2005, Kaplowitz, the immediate past chair of the Legislature’s Environment Committee, led the full Board in a unanimous vote passing a Resolution that he authored calling on the 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).
Currently, Kaplowitz has a second Resolution pending before the Board that calls on both Con Edison and NYSEG to voluntarily move aggressively towards the implementation and promotion of in-home devices such as “smart meters”. This Resolution is expected to be voted on by the full Legislature at Monday night’s Board Meeting.
According to Kaplowitz, there are three basic advantages to having a “Smart Meter”: 1) no meter reader has to enter the home to obtain an absolute reading, which prevents wild estimated rate swings in the homeowner’s monthly bills; 2) in the event of a power outage, the utility is automatically notified of the outage, as opposed to the homeowner having to call the electric company; and 3) it allows the consumer real energy sources, real time usage and real time pricing, enabling the consumer direct control over their electric bill.
“Consumers and the environment win,” said Kaplowitz, a member and the immediate past chair of the Legislature’s Committee on the Environment & Energy. “The consumer saves precious utility dollars and the environment wins as a result of reduced usage.”
Kaplowitz noted that even the “energy hogs” would benefit because the reduced usage would lower the marginal cost to all consumers.
“The PSC was very receptive to the idea. They are in agreement conceptually, however, are concerned about the details of the pilot,” Kaplowitz stated.
One of those details is the cost of the devices themselves. “We’re talking to the New York State Energy and Research Development Authority (NYSERDA) in the hopes of obtaining a grant to defray the cost of the devises for those consumers who volunteer for the pilot,” said Kaplowitz.
The vote on Kaplowitz’ second “Smart Meters” Resolution will take place this Monday, March 13th at 7pm - the Board’s regular meeting time.
