A panel of experts gathered Tuesday night for a Smart Energy Community Forum at UCSB hosted by Southern California Edison and UCSB’s Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, and seemed to agree that the installation of a smart electrical grid would benefit the South Coast.
Ken Devore, director of Edison SmartConnect, championed the $1.6 billion project as essential to modernizing the antiquated grid but acknowledged that Edison stands to save $1.7 billion to $1.9 billion in operational costs during the next 20 years.
“There’s no question that the customer is bearing the cost of this new system,” said panelist Steve Cushman, president of the Santa Barbara Region Chamber of Commerce.
Devore said Edison customers will see a 1.6 percent hike in their rates after smart meters are installed in Santa Barbara County in early 2012.
Small businesses will benefit if they change their energy use habits using the new system, Cushman said. The smart meter can monitor the amount of electricity used every hour and communicate that to the customer via the Internet or text message.
Those who use the system to cut their use before hitting the next expensive tier save 2 percent to 4 percent off their electric bill, Devore said.
Steve Gaines, dean of the Bren School, said he was interested in hosting the community forum on smart energy because of growing concerns about issues relating to health, privacy, accuracy and cost of smart meters.
“I think a lot of these issues are complicated enough that you end up with misconception driving a lot of problems,” he said.
Audience members at Tuesday night’s forum were invited to write down questions to be answered by the panelists.
Lauren Navarro, an attorney with the Environmental Defense Fund, criticized the national grid, calling it a waste of natural resources and contributing to the public’s respiratory problems, but added that her organization is working proactively with Edison to ensure its grid is implemented with more renewable resources such as solar and wind.
Several residents spokes about the effect of smart meters on their health when the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors held a public hearing on the issue earlier this month.
The panel’s academic expert, Leeka Kheifets, a professor of epidemiology at UCLA, said the risk posed by a smart meter’s electromagnetic field is the same as that emitted by a cell phone. She said research on the effects of cell phones is very reassuring and has not yet determined a certain link to brain tumors.
The panel also discussed how utility companies will allow customers to opt out of having a smart meter.
Marzia Zafar, manager of business and community outreach for the California Public Utilities Commission, said the commission is holding the first pre-hearing regarding the opt-out program on Wednesday.
PG&E submitted a proposal to the commission in March for a $135 to $170 upfront charge, $14 to $20 per month and a fee to turn the meter’s emitter on or off. The Board of Supervisors voted July 5 to send a letter to the commission asking that opt-outs be free.
Members of the public are encouraged to participate and submit their own proposals, Zafar said. The commission isn’t likely to render a decision before late this year.
Panelist Dave Davis, CEO and executive director of the Community Environmental Council, said he supports putting energy conservation in the people’s hands, but the concerns about smart meters are serious.
“I am really concerned that the roll out of new technologies is something we can lean to do in a much more efficient way,” he said.
Southern California Edison plans to begin installing smart meters in Santa Barbara County in early 2012.
— Noozhawk intern Daniel Langhorne can be reached at dlanghorne@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Become a fan of Noozhawk on Facebook.