By Bill Petzold
Editor
CARO — DTE Electric Company plans to install advanced utility meters — also referred to as “smart meters” — at residences and businesses in the city of Caro.
Residents can choose to have their current meter replaced with a non-transmitting digital meter — but for a price.
“We were notified in the middle of June that DTE is planning on putting in ‘smart meters’ in the city of Caro,” Caro city manager Jared Olson said at Monday night’s city council meeting. “They started in the southeast corner of Michigan in the Detroit area and they’re moving their way outside of that. They, by law, have to notify us. What they plan on doing is offering an opt-out clause, where everyone will be changed over to smart meters unless they choose to opt out of the program.”
According to a letter to the city of Caro dated June 14 of this year, “Customers who choose to participate in the Opt-Out Program will have a non-transmitting (radio-off) digital meter installed. In order to participate in this program, the DTE Electric customer must meet the following requirements: Be a residential customer; Be the DTE Electric customer of record at the indicated site address; Agree to pay the following fees: $67.20 AMI Opt-Out Initial Fee; $9.80 AMI Opt-Out Monthly Charge.”
According to dteenergy.com, the acronym AMI stands for “Advanced Metering Infrastructure” program, which “involves the installation of state-of-the-art metering technology.”
The website informs customers that “your natural gas meter will have a small transmitter installed behind the existing meter face, so your existing natural gas meter will not look any different.
“These transmitters are extremely safe and highly accurate. They use secure, low-power radio-transmissions to encrypt your natural gas usage information and send that information to a meter reader who would either be walking nearby or driving down your street. The meter readers will carry a special device that allows them to receive this data. This creates a much more efficient meter reading process.”
In April, the Advertiser reported Fairgrove village president Tom Wassa’s concerns about the use of smart meters to gather information and how that information may be used. Wassa and the Fairgrove village council drafted a proposed privacy ordinance and sent it to the village attorney for review.
“There are a lot of questions,” Olson said. “It’s kind of uncharted territory as far as the technology goes; there are some issues that have arisen. There’s a lot of concerns with some of the health issues — whether they’re founded or unfounded. The fact that DTE is now going to charge people to not be part of the smart meter program is one that a lot of communities in the state of Michigan have brought up. One of the things that they have done is pass a resolution of opposition. We can’t outright oppose it or ban it or anything — it is DTE, it is their services — but we can take a stance and say ‘We are not in support of the citizenship (being charged) $10 a month to basically do what they do now in addition on top of their bills.’”
Olson said the matter will be discussed at next month’s council meeting.
• Work continues on the city’s fireworks ordinance, which was reviewed by the city attorney who recommended amending one section to reflect changes to state legislation. Olson said the state legislature gave communities the power to regulate fireworks discharged between 1 a.m. and 8 a.m. all year long.
“Gary Crews drafted an ordinance (on fireworks), it will be on the agenda for the next meeting,” Olson said. “We’re not changing the current ordinance, we’re just amending it to reflect the changes of state legislation.
“We had seven calls to the police department for fireworks in those two and a half days — I got my report at noon on Friday — so seven calls, six of those were between 10 p.m. and midnight. We had one call the next morning about a complaint. We did not have any calls after 12:30 in the morning as far as Wednesday, Thursday and Friday morning. We only had one fire call that went out as possible fireworks, ignition was a field and I think the fire department was asked to turn back on it, the homeowners just poured a bucket of water on it and put it out.”
• Council will hold a public hearing August 5 to impose an additional six-month moratorium on medicinal marijuana within the city of Caro. Olson said the city’s attorney recommended pushing the writing of a city ordinance back an additional six months as state laws governing the administration and regulation of medicinal marijuana continue to change.
Bill Petzold is the editor of the Tuscola County Advertiser. He can be reached at petzold@tcadvertiser.com.