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Former Texas PUC Chair Urges Smart Meter Opt-Out, Asks PUC to Minimize Opt-Out Costs Barry Smitherman, current Texas Railroad Commission Chairman and former Chair of the Public Utility Commission of Texas, has urged the PUCT in a letter to the agency to allow customers to opt-out of having a communicating advanced meter.
Smitherman is also running for Texas Attorney General, and the Texas Tribune noted, "recent moves suggest Smitherman, 55, is positioning himself to appeal to voters farther to the right." Matters notes specifically the success of the anti-establishment right, such as the Tea Party, in installing Ted Cruz as Texas' federal senator, over establishment candidates
While opponents of smart meters span political ideologies, a driving force behind the organized opposition to Texas smart meters include groups fearful (rightly so, given recent revelations of unconstitutional fourth amendment violations by the federal government) of government intrusion into their private data, as occurs, through corporations essentially acting as agents of the state, with smart meters. Texas opposition to smart meters include local 9/12 chapters and like-minded organizations.
"I ask the PUCT to adopt a rule that allows customers who presently have an advanced meter to opt out, if they so request, and have that smart meter replaced with a conventional meter. In adopting such a rule, please do so in a way that minimizes both the cost of replacing the meter and the costs associated with reading the conventional meter," Smitherman requested of the PUC.
Smitherman also, "strongly encourage[d] the PUCT to examine the way in which other state commissions are addressing these important [opt-out and cost] issues."
While Smitherman in his letter did not elaborate on this point, other states have limited the costs of an opt-out, in recognition that customers not wanting an AMS meter were not given the opportunity to "bypass" the costs of AMS installation even though they did not want the option of having a smart meter. Accordingly, it can be argued that it is only fair that customers not wishing to partake in the opt-out should not be allowed to bypass the cost of offering an opt-out, since the cost of providing these customers with their AMS meter was already subsidized by customers wanting a conventional meter.
If Smitherman wishes to continue this courtship of the Tea Party and similar groups opposed to the corporatization of government, we'd suggest that an approach similar to that taken with the AMS opt-out issue also be undertaken with respect to capacity markets. Smitherman was a long-time critic of capacity markets while a Commissioner and later Chair of the PUCT, and compelling Texas customers to purchase a government-mandated amount of capacity reproduces the worst aspect of the federal Affordable Care Act (over which Texas' current AG has sued the federal government).
In 2009, Smitherman told the Gulf Coast Power Association that those generators in the ERCOT market seeking a capacity payment or administratively determined scarcity pricing are seeking to protect their specific investment against competitive forces (see: "Smitherman: Calls for Capacity Payment, Administrative Scarcity Pricing are Rent-Seeking Behavior")
Smitherman's AG campaign website notes that as Chairman of the PUCT, "Smitherman helped make the Texas electric market the most competitive and free market based system in the world, all while cutting costs and eliminating unnecessary expenditures."
Smitherman's AG campaign website also says that as AG, Smitherman will, "fight against over-burdensome government regulation on private businesses."
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July 31, 2013
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Copyright 2010-13 EnergyChoiceMatters.com
Reporting by Paul Ring • ring@energychoicematters.com
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