Letter: You can opt out of smart meters

Letter: You can opt out of smart meters

Cyndi Stevenson
Fruit Cove, FL

Dear Editor:

I wanted to respond to a recent letter from a Historic City News reader who expressed concerns about the new “smart meter” from Florida Power and Light.

I talked to David Cobb about the approximately 4 million meters installed to date. There is additional information on the FPL website about the meters.

According to Mr. Cobb, anyone who wants to be skipped for a smart meter will be accommodated by Florida Power and Light — about 12,000 to 15,000 customers have asked not to have the new meter installed.

Energy use is not recorded by device. Cobb pointed out that many heavy residential energy uses are not correlated to when you are at home. I, personally, am not concerned about the privacy or radiation, for my own home.

The device transmits about 15 to 20 minutes a day – intermittently.

It captures hourly energy usage and the user can view their consumption online

I feel like it might be useful for people who are trying different ways to save energy.

And, since this is a labor saving device for the utility, I expect the Public Service Commission to consider a rate increase for customers who opt-out of the smart meter.

Cobb reports that, in other states where the smart meters are used, there is a differential to pay for people who opt out.