To the editor:
More than $100 million worth of electricity is stolen from BC Hydro every year, with much of it stolen to power marijuana grow ops.
As an honest BC Hydro customer, it makes me more than just a little unhappy to know people are stealing electricity. It makes me unhappy to know the cost of all that stolen electricity gets added to the hydro bills of honest BC Hydro customers like you and me.
That's why I'm glad BC Hydro is finally installing smart meters and putting an end to preventable electricity theft. Smart meters will let BC Hydro zero in on electricity theft quickly and accurately shut down the perpetrators.
The old mechanical meters BC Hydro has relied on since the 1940s and ‘50s simply can't do that. All it can do is measure how much electricity has gone through them and it only gets checked manually every couple of months (long after the opportunity to catch electricity thieves has passed).
I doubt most people are still using the same appliances, phones, TVs and radios that were around in the ‘40s and ‘50s. So why would anyone want to use metering technology from 50 or 60 years ago, especially when smart meters can detect electricity theft and save BC Hydro customers $100 million per year?
Investing in smart meters is well worth the cost. Preventing the theft of $100 million a year will basically pay for the meters in 10 years.
Mike Taylor
Port Moody
