Photo: Contributed

Summerland council is in no big rush to develop an opt-out program for electrical smart meters.             

Staff have been approached by residents from two households requesting an opt-out option for Automated Meter Reading (AMR) electric meters. At Monday night’s meeting, council voiced a desire to have a less formal discussion before making a decision.

“In the past, the district has used both estimates and self reporting for electrical usage for some customers for a variety of different reasons,” said director of finance David Svetlichny. “However, we have actively moved away from these practises in order to minimize administrative time.”

At a council meeting last month, the two residents spoke about similar feelings towards the smart meters “emitting radiation,” with both looking to get rid of their current smart meters for a manual version.

“I don’t see that we need to rush into a decision on this,” said Coun. Janet Peake, adding residents she has spoken with, who wish to opt of smart meters, would rather council take their time in making a decision, rather than just shutting the idea down.

A draft policy suggested charging “opt out” households $100 to replace the meters and $24 per month for manual reading, by council had previously sent that back to reconsideration.

City manager Linda Tynan said the topic will probably be back before council for a decision at the first council meeting of 2018.

“I would have a conversation with my staff at the management meeting tomorrow and we would look at potentially putting it on the Committee of the Whole meeting,” Tynan said. “Then we can actually have some good conversation about the bigger issues not connected to the dollar and cents and get some direction on how to proceed.”