A Maryland state pressure group opposed to the installation of smart meter technology has urged Bermudians to lobby the authorities to stop it from happening here.

Bermuda’s electricity supplier BELCO has proposed installing smart meters in every home, but an army of volunteers in the US, the UK, Canada and Australia have been opposing similar proposals in their own jurisdictions.

In the US, some 37 volunteer organisations across the country are coming together under the umbrella of a national anti-smart meter organisation.

BELCO faces the same problems their counterparts have faced in those very states and in many other jurisdictions. They are trying to update ageing infrastructure and ageing technology — and find a way for the ratepayers to help pay for changes that cost hundreds of millions of dollars. And in Belco’s case, it is just the start of a long term plan to bring cleaner and less expensive electricity to the Island.

But President of Maryland Smart Meter Awareness, Jonathan D. Libber, issued a warning to Bermudians.

“Smart meters are only a good idea for the utilities,” he said. “The only possible advantage for the ratepayer is you might get your power restored more quickly when a storm comes through,” citing health and safety fears that has seen organised public activism across the US.

“So Bermudians need to educate themselves, organise, protest to your public utilities commission, and complain to your legislature. It must be done in significant numbers. If only a few people contact their legislators they will not take you seriously.”

In many jurisdictions, smart meters are already installed, resulting in campaigners who have to be active on several fronts.

For example, Mr Libber is fighting against a ruling on a related matter: Maryland householders who avail themselves of a hard-fought-for preference to opt out of the smart meter installation, are being forced to pay an opt-out fee and an additional monthly charge.

Mr. Libber told us: “On February 26th, the Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC) finally decided to allow opt-outs, but they added a punitive fee that each utility can charge those opting out.

“I understand maintaining a separate system to support the old meters does cost something, but the cost proposals we reviewed did not justify any fee at all. In addition, our PSC is going to charge all opt-out ratepayers the cost of the smart meter system on top of the unsubstantiated extra costs to run the opt-outs.

“This is really just like mob protection money: “If you want to be left alone, then you gotta pay this money. If you don’t pay, something bad could happen to you’.” The energy companies are forced to act on their upgrade plans. So are there alternatives to smart meter technology?

Mr. Libber said: “The best alternative would be for people to use something called energy monitors. They tell you immediately what energy your appliances are using. They are cheap, effective, safe and do not have any privacy issues.”

“So, why didn’t the utilities just go that route if they really wanted to save energy and reduce carbon? Because they could not make any money from energy monitors.

“The next best alternative is fibre optic. You still have privacy issues, but you take almost all the health and safety issues off the table. It is more expensive than the wireless approach they are pushing, but if the public utility commissions around the country forced all the potential and actual users of fibre optic systems to cooperate, the cost per utility would drop.”

There is so much information on smart meter technology to be had, including a host of actual environmental studies, that interested parties can spend days sifting through material on the internet.

Mr. Libber is a retired lawyer who spent more than 30 years with the US Environmental Protection Agency’s enforcement programme. He also has an undergraduate degree in zoology, but began working the smart meter issue after retiring in the summer of 2010.

He told us, “There are about 37 groups around the country, but I have no idea of numbers. Each group is organised differently. Some are pretty sophisticated, others are not. We have had contact with anti-smart meter activists in Australia, UK, and Canada. There are probably other organisations out there, but we have not sought them out.

“Our group, Maryland Smart Meter Awareness has about 1,000 members. Funding is all voluntary.

“We have an annual budget of about $10,000. The funding is much too small to allow us to really advertise or litigate aggressively. But we are getting our message out with the help of some individuals.

“There is a semi-official umbrella organisation in the US that is just starting. We spent the week of June 23rd lobbying our elected representatives in Washington, DC and meeting with a number of federal agencies. We do share information.”

Last week, a California anti-smart meter campaigner, Joshua Hart of Stop Smart Meters!, questioned why Bermuda was “rushing forward with a risky, expensive scheme whose benefits have not been demonstrated by utility and smart grid firms.”