Editor, The Times:
Re: BC Hydro’s recent notice on “expired meters”
I am deeply disturbed at how far BC Hydro will go to achieve its ends.
Despite assurances that those who did not wish a EMF-pulsating smart meter on their houses could, for a price, retain their own analog meters, BC Hydro once again has reneged on its promise and is now informing these customers (some of who had faithfully paid their bills for some 50 years or more) — is notifying these customers who have been paying monthly extortion fees of $35 in the last few years to keep their own analog meters — that they will now have to accept a non-analog meter.
Of course, they aren’t referred to as analog meters; they are, in BC Hydro terms, “legacy meters”, and their latest ruse is to force all customers into a new contract “by default.”
Never mind that a meter reader will still have to pay a call to read the newly installed meter; to add insult to injury, we will be charged another fee to exchange the very meter that we have been paying to keep!
Does anyone remember the “choice” we were given — to keep our meter, or to ‘choose’ a smart meter or a ‘radio-off’ meter? Apparently that choice has been revoked, with no refund of the extortion fee.
For some people, electricity is an essential life service. Medical appliances such as oxygen, electrical well pumps or, one could argue, even heat and light in the winter, carry no argument with BC Hydro, who hold all the aces.
I’m beginning to doubt that David will hold out against this greedy corporate giant.
Petrina Gregson
Upper Clearwater, B.C.
