LIPA to charge $11.40 a month to those who opt-out of smart meters

With smart meters installed in 98% of LIPA’s 1.1 million customer base, the utility has moved up the date to begin charging customers who’ve opted out of the automated meters for the cost of a manual read.

The charge will begin appearing on the bills of around 5,000 customers who have formally opted out, as well as 14,700 "presumptive" opt-outs who didn't respond to PSEG's attempts to contact them to change meters, LIPA said. 

LIPA trustees Wednesday unanimously approved the imposition of an $11.40 per month charge for those customers who’ve opted out. Previously, LIPA had proposed a $9.19 opt-out fee. The increase is “based on the latest cost information,” and designed to "reimburse the utility for the cost of the manual meter read," said LIPA vice president Justin Bell. The fee was originally approved in 2020, but delayed.

LIPA will begin charging for the opt-out starting Aug. 1, sooner than its previously expected Jan. 1, 2023, date. Bell explained the earlier date was the result of the full implementation of smart meters occurring sooner than planned. LIPA charges $65.61 to those who request removal of an already-installed smart meter. 

One LIPA customer who has opted out of his smart meter, Joseph Rinaldi of Wading River, criticized the fee as “coercion,” saying LIPA has always allowed customers to call in their own meter reads. Grid manager PSEG even provides a web page that shows customers how to read their manual meters and even submit the figures directly online.

“They never charged for meter reading before, but now since we decided we don’t want their unhealthy smart meters, they want to charge us,” Rinaldi said. “If it wasn’t coercion, they would give us the option to read our own meters.”

LIPA in response said, "Relying on customer-supplied reads is unworkable in the long-term. The utility requires regular verified reads by a trained utility employee." 

Bell called the mass rollout of smart meters a “success story,” noting that 98% of residential customers now have a smart meter. “The remaining customers are those difficult to reach,” and require “individual targeting and individual outreach and appointment setting,” he said. It’s unclear whether those “difficult to reach” customers, who apparently didn’t formally opt out, would be hit with the fee.

LIPA said about 5,000 of the 19,700 residential customers who don't have a smart meter formally opted out of the program. The remaining 14,700, LIPA said, have "all received multiple contacts," including field visits, calls and emails, but still haven't allowed installation of a smart meter. "For this reason, it is fair to consider them 'presumptive opt-outs,' LIPA said, and start charging them for manual meter reads.

"Many of these presumptive opt-outs will accept a smart meter when the opt-out fee begins," LIPA said, adding, "Any presumptive opt-out customer issues can be addressed on a case-by-case basis based on the facts of the situation."

Rinaldi said while he has Wi-Fi in his home, he turns it off at night and he has no cellphone, all because of safety and health concerns. “All my devices are hard-wired,” he said.

The smart meters use the 900 MHz wireless radio frequency to send customer usage data through a communication network to PSEG every 15 minutes, while giving customers real-time data on their power use. PSEG recently implemented a feature that allows it to use the smart meters to detect whether customers are experiencing an outage, but PSEG Long Island still wants customers to notify it if their power goes out.

Bell said the meters undergo multiple rounds of testing and are required to meet industry standards for accuracy and safety, and customers can submit requests to have the meters tested.

The American Cancer Society says because the "amount of radio-frequency radiation you could be exposed to from a smart meter is much less than what you could be exposed to from a cellphone, it is very unlikely that living in a house with a smart meter increases risk of cancer."

By Mark Harrington

mark.harrington@newsday.comMHarringtonNews

Mark Harrington, a Newsday reporter since 1999, covers energy, wineries, Indian affairs and fisheries.