Three Attorney Generals Reject “Smart”-meters as Too Expensive after Testing

Three State Attorney Generals have solidly rejected utilities push for “smart”-meters.

Michigan, Illinois and Connecticut Attorney Generals cited the exorbitant costs to consumers with no proven benefits after testing a pilot program with 10,000 customers.

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan Commentary in the Chicago Tribune, June 2012 wrote

“The utilities have shown no evidence of billions of dollars in benefits to consumers from these new meters, but they have shown they know how to profit.

“I think the only real question is: How dumb do they think we are?”

State of Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen said

“The pilot [program] results showed no beneficial impact on total energy usage, and the savings that were seen in the pilot were limited to certain types of customers and would be far outweighed by the cost of installing the new meter systems.”

Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette wrote

“. . . at least two very substantial issues remain that must be further addressed before the [the Michigan Utilities Agency] authorizes or approves any further deployment of smart meters by Michigan electric utilities and the recovery from ratepayers of the costs of smart meter deployment.

First, there must be a sufficient demonstration that implementation of the smart meter programs will actually produce a net economic benefit to customers. Second, customers must be afforded a meaningful and fair opportunity to opt out of smart meter installation without being penalized by unwarranted and excessive costs.“