The Public Utility Commission of Texas (“Commission”) says that after years of vetting smart meter deployment through public hearings, workshops and four contested cases, no one objected to orders requiring full deployment and cost recovery of advanced meters. And when health and safety concerns were subsequently raised, the Commission evaluated these issues and concluded they were unwarranted. As a result, smart meters are standard in Texas. Usually this provides regulatory certainty.
But for an industry that provides for eminent domain, things have gotten interesting. For example, approximately 40 of more than 2.2 million of CenterPoint Energy’s customers object to smart meters and want the right to opt-out…and they are going to get it. For less than 0.002% of its customer base, CenterPoint must retain someone to read meters and put trucks on the road for move-ins/move-outs and other related services. They have to do this because the Texas Public Utility Commission recently decided that although smart meters are standard and safe, public interest requires transmission and distribution utilities to offer alternative metering to those who want to decline the benefits of advanced meters. This month new amendments were adopted to provide for Non-Standard Metering Service commonly known as opt-out. The new rules:
- Require a transmission and distribution utility (“TDU”) to provide non-standard or alternative metering service.
- Require the TDU to obtain and retain written customer acknowledgement regarding the negative consequences of opting-out.
- Allows the TDU to separately charge for the costs associated with opting-out.
Regulatory certainty?