From the office of Del. Glen Glass:
Maryland State Delegate Glen Glass will be holding a press conference at 12:00PM on Tuesday, March 4, 2014. The press conference will take place in Room 318 of the House of Delegates Building at 6 Bladen Street, Annapolis, MD 21401.
Delegate Glass plans to address the topic of smart meters and his two bipartisan smart meter bills, House Bill (HB) 331 and HB 332. The Senate cross-filed HB 331 and HB 332 as Senate Bill (SB) 280 and SB 880, respectively. HB 331 aims to protect consumer usage data by prohibiting utility companies from selling the data to third parties. HB 332 tries to maintain consumer freedom by allowing consumers to freely choose to decline the installation of a smart meter without having to pay excessive fees in addition to endless monthly fees.
“The issue of smart meters and their installation,” Delegate Glass says, “is one that impacts all Maryland citizens. Smart meters only benefit the utility companies. They do not benefit Maryland citizens. Maryland consumers, not the utility companies, should have the authority to decide what kind of electric meter to maintain without unnecessary fees attached.”
“Having to pay an extreme fee to the utility companies for not installing electric equipment is intimidating to many Maryland citizens. These fees discriminate against people such as the poor, senior citizens, single-family households, and families of low income (including many minorities). My bipartisan bills seek to protect these people,” says Delegate Glass.
Delegate Glass also says, “Lastly, the usage data from smart meters contain very detailed information concerning consumers’ electricity and appliance usage. I want to protect that data and keep it from being distributed to third parties. Constituents do not want ‘Big Brother’ to have another avenue at which to monitor them.”
The press conference will take place prior to the bill hearing in the Senate for SB 280 and SB 880.
Glen if you don’t like what BGE is doing buy a generator and unplug from the grid.
Wise up Bill H. Do you really approve or want BGE giving and/or selling information about you and your electric usage? Nip this in the bud and keep the freedoms that you have or you will continue to lose them. Now, don’t you think your comment to Glenn is rather dumb?
Wise up Dave. Installing a smart meter does not suddenly and magically give BGE the ability to sell your usage information, they already sell it.
Big brother refers to the government, BGE is not the government, although they are regulated by the government (more heavily than most). I thought tea party Republicans were supposed to be all for private businesses being able to run their business however they want (in your eye Arizona).
But why do utilities want to have smart meters, and why are people against them? Because they allow the utilities to charge different amounts for energy based on the time of day they are used. We have all heard utility companies say over and over again to do high energy household tasks at night, why? because there is less demand in the evening as air conditioners aren’t needed as much, and businesses aren’t as active. It’s a very “capitalist” concept, when demand is high, the price should be higher. Energy isn’t something that can be stored (on a large scale) so energy companies want to be able to incentivize night time usage by making it cheaper and penalize day time usage when demand is greater. Tea Partiers usually talk about how people should be accountable for their own actions, smart meters allow for this accountability.
Does a utility care if you’re running 4 dishwashers or what kind of appliances you own? No, they just want to get paid, and create efficencies in their business model anywhere they can.
Should you be concerned about the radio waves coming off your smart meter? Sure, but only if you don’t have any wi-fi, cell phones, or cordless phones in your house as they put off way more radiation than a smart meter. (and if you live by a cell phone tower you’re screwed too).
Why do you have to pay a fee? Because the utility company now has to have a seperate crew trained on maintnance and monitoring of the old system, AND the new system. Also, the utility company will soon begin charging you at a different rate since you won’t be eligible for the night time differential, you would be paying an average usage cost, which would probably weight heavier toward the daytime rate.
The idea that you should have privacy from a company that you are doing business with is pretty ridiculous. Could you have protections against the company being able to sell your information without disclosing it first? Absolutely, but in order to provide the agreed upon service, BGE is telling you they need the information. If you don’t want the service, don’t. Again, a rather Tea Party idea.
But I guess Tea Party ideas only exist as long as it doesn’t affect white middle aged men.