Smart meters opt-out bill ready for Michigan House energy committee vote

The Michigan House Energy Policy Committee is considering a bill that would allow residents to opt out of any utility company smart meter program. An approval would clear the way for the bipartisan bill to move to the full House floor for a vote.

The state’s largest utilities, DTE Energy and Consumers Energy, use smart meters to remotely track electric and gas usage and outages.

Michigan House Bill (H.B.) 4220, introduced Feb. 15 by state Rep. Gary Glenn (R-Midland) and 17 cosponsors, would give customers the option to say no to having a smart meter installed at their properties.

So far, roughly 15,000 DTE Energy and Consumers Energy customers combined, out of a total 4 million Michigan customers, have opted out due to privacy, health or cybersecurity concerns — which DTE says it has addressed in several ways.

“Protecting our customers’ personal information is a priority for us, and cybersecurity measures are implemented to ensure the safety and security of data,” Stephanie R. Beres, DTE Energy’s manager of media relations, told Daily Energy Insider.

Over the last decade, Beres explained, DTE has been improving overall service for all utility customers, while integrating technology across operations, installing more than 3 million advanced meters covering 99.7 percent of its customers throughout Michigan.

Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) technology, she said, allows DTE to read the meter without entering a customer’s yard, home or business. The reading gets sent to DTE via mobile communication technology and is used to produce bills that are more accurate because customers only pay for the energy they use.

In addressing privacy concerns, Beres said the AMI meter does not gather any new or different data than DTE’s analog meter gathered a decade ago. “The main difference between AMI and traditional meters is the AMI meter allows wireless communication between the meter and the utility,” she said.

“This technology provides tremendous benefits to our customers,” Beres added. For example, when connected to the free DTE Energy Bridge and Insight app, customers can track, manage and control their energy consumption.

And DTE has also actively worked with the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) to address AMI concerns and “has vetted responses and recommendations through the commission in a very thoughtful and deliberate way,” she said.

Opt-out fees
For the utility customers who currently choose to opt out of having a smart meter, they are required to pay a $70 initial fee, plus a $10 monthly charge to cover the cost of having a utility employee come out to read the meter.

H.B. 4220 would allow residents to “self-report” their utility usage to DTE and Consumers Energy and then company representatives would have to verify consumers’ reports several times a year. The bill also would cap the monthly fee at $5 and allow the utility to charge an initial fee that matched the actual cost of removing the smart meter.

“A private property owner should not be forced by a monopoly” to have smart meters installed, said Glenn, chairman of the House Energy Policy Committee, during a committee hearing in late February. Residents also should be able to request that the utilities use analog machines, which don’t transmit information directly from the consumer to the utility, he said.

H.B. 4220’s “costly impact” on utility operations would ultimately raise the cost of electric and gas service in Michigan, while benefiting the interests of less than 0.3 percent of DTE Energy’s customers who opt out of the AMI program, Beres said.

Utility rates, including opt-out fees for AMI, are established through a rigorous process before the MPSC to reflect the true cost of service and should not be subsidized by DTE’s 3.1 million customers who participate in the AMI program, Beres said.

“Any increase in the operating costs for a utility increases the rates customers pay for gas and electric service,” she added.

Glenn’s proposed legislation overall would cost Michigan residents and businesses roughly $9 million more annually for energy, Beres said, which would detract from implementation of the bipartisan-supported energy policy passed in December 2016, and impede Michigan’s continued economic growth and prosperity.

The MPSC earlier this year denied requests from both utilities to increase smart meter opt-out fees. The commission told DTE and Consumers to resubmit their requests six months after completing smart meter installations statewide.

The MPSC also has come out in support of the utilities’ plans to transition to smart meters—a standing that may have sway with the state House energy committee’s forthcoming vote on H.B. 4220. Jerry Norcia, DTE’s president and COO, was on the committee’s April 25 meeting agenda, though no details were provided.

Nationwide, Michigan is among 25 states that have rules regulating how utilities use smart meters, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.