but...but...I thought the system wouldn't work if people opted out, that BC Hydro would have to set up a seperate, and very expensive, data collection system for the few people that opted out.

and when UBB comes, how are they going to handle that?

This is only a temporary reprieve, until after the election. Now is the time to corner your MLA or candidate and make them promise to provide an opt out program. We don't need BC Hydro and their friends monitoring our every minute of hydro consumption, the inevitable time of day billing or the constant bombardment of RF radiation from a million meters (which is recognized by the World Health Organization to be a category 2b carcinogen, the same as lead and asbestos).

Take our privacy away and raise our hydro rates to pay for BC Hydro's system "up"grade, while they lay off hundreds (or is it thousands?) of meter readers and watch their profits go up, patting each other on their corporate backs and taking home huge remunerations in the process. Pay for it yourselves, if it's such an upgrade.

Answer the questions. How often do "smart" meters send data? How will anyone GUARANTEE that the usage data will be safe from loss, theft or sale? What is the strength/power and range of these wireless signals? What is the risk involved with being exposed to several hundred "smart" meters emissions at the same time? BC Hydro won't answer these questions because we wouldn't like the answers.

The lab rats will find out some day and then the people of BC can sue themselves for restitution, as BC Hydro's corporate heads and the current government officials are insulated from responsibility.

SM are here for you to perpetuate the profit increase of industry biggest players.

"The truth is that smart meters aren't exactly necessary for a smart grid," stated Forbes (Feb. 1, 2011), "but for technical and economic reasons, they're here to stay."

The key reason for smart meters is huge profits for the ICT (information and communications technologies) sector - IBM, Cisco, General Electric, Oracle, Itron, etc. In other words, the reason for smart meters is to sell smart meters, and then smart appliances.

A Few Somebodies
Since 2006, Ontario electricity customers have paid at least $1 billion to subsidize power exports, with private-sector energy traders (remember Enron?) profiting handsomely from these exports. Nevertheless, the Ontario government has committed to $87 billion in electricity "upgrades" over the next 20 years to increase exports; Alberta at least $14 billion; and Manitoba is considering spending $20 billion. In Quebec, one single hydroelectric mega-project - the Romaine River project - will cost taxpayers $8 billion, with all the electricity intended for export to the US.
Our "cheap, clean" electricity is increasingly very costly - not only to our environment, but also to taxpayers right across the country. But for the IPP companies (like GE, Fortis BC, AltaGas), the ICT sector (GE, IBM, Itron, Corix), GENI participants (GE, Mitsubishi), EPIC members (GE etc.), and the American Energy Innovation Council (again GE), the future is bright indeed. "I love the energy field," AEIC member Bill Gates said in 2010. "There is a big market. If you can make a real breakthrough, a few somebodies will get very rich."