The La Plata Electric Association board of directors has approved details for customers who want to opt out of having an AMI meter installed at their home.
The board also gave preliminary approval on Nov. 19 to a $20 manual meter reading fee for customers who opt out and to other fees not related to the opt-out program. This does not involve any increase in electric rates or the base rate.
The comment deadline is Dec. 17, the date of the next LPEA board meeting when the fees could be up for a final vote. Comments must be made in writing to LPEA, PO Box 2750, Durango CO 81302.
LPEA has more than 30,000 customers with almost 41,000 meters. According to LPEA, around three-quarters of the analog meters have already been replaced with AMIs, often called "smart meters." They report use data remotely. Most electric utilities around the country are converting to AMIs, according to LPEA.
Coop officials say the new meters are already showing benefits, streamlining efficiencies and saving money, as well as allowing customers with AMI meters to monitor their electric use via LPEA's Smart Hub at www.lpea.coop.
Some customers are adamantly against this AMI conversion on grounds that the intermittent radio transmissions are a health risk.
"While we have endeavored to educate our members about the myths and facts of this new metering system, we understand that there are those who still do not want the technology at their home," said Ron Meier, LPEA manager of engineering. "We have to recoup some of the costs of manually reading these handful of old analog meters scattered across our service territory, and the board settled on the $20 fee - to be assessed whenever a meter is manually read."
Meier said the actual cost to LPEA will be more like $50 per meter for a meter reader to go to opt-out homes.
Members who want to opt out must complete a request form with agreement to terms and conditions shown on the form. These members will be allowed to self-read their analog meters. They will be subject to a quarterly "true up" manual meter read by an LPEA representative and will be charged $20 per visit.
Members who want to opt out after an AMI meter has been installed during the current deployment phase (through 2015) will not be charged a $40 change-out fee. Meier told the Times that they will keep a stock of analog meters for this.
Some members will not be eligible to opt out. They include customers with services or optional rates that require AMI, such as pre-paid or future net metered accounts, Meier said.
"However, existing net metered accounts, those with existing solar or wind systems, will be 'grandfathered in' and allowed to opt out of AMI if they wish through Dec. 31, 2014, but we do advise that they go with the AMI for engineering reasons - the AMI helps us manage the flow of electricity from their generating systems."
Others who will not be able to opt out are customers who have tampered with their electric meters, those who do not provide accurate or timely self-read reports, those who have received a disconnect notice for non-payment, and customers whose meters are inaccessible.
A complete version of Board Policy 215 with details of the opt out program is at www.lpea.coop, as is the full list of proposed tariffs and information on LPEA's AMI system. Information also is available at 247-5786.
