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TUESDAY
Tuesday, April 10, 2012 X Volume 25 No. 29
THIS WEEK
Kamloops student awed by Antarctica Page B1 Thompson River Publications Partnership Ltd.
No word yet on why meter went wonky By Dale Bass
NOT-SO-SMART METERS?
STAFF REPORTER dale@kamloopsthisweek.com
PAUSING OVER PRINCESSES Three-year-old Emilie Michaud of Ashcroft was not really sure about having her picture taken with Princess Belle and Cinderella, but she did put on her bravest face as her dad tried to coax out a smile out of his little princess. Emilie was in town to attend the Sahali Mall Kids’ Easter Party. For more photos from a glorious Easter weekend, keep turning the pages of today’s edition. George Wycherley/KTW
A BC Hydro smart meter removed from a Kamloops house is still being tested — and the utility isn’t sure when it will be complete, or what the results will show. However, said Jim Nicholson, B.C. Hydro’s director of customer care, it’s hoped the examination will reveal why the meter isn’t working properly. Describing it as the only smart meter installed in the province that has been found defective, Nicholson said the malfunctioning equipment led to an overbilling to a Valleyview homeowner. During a two-month period, the Kamloops meter measured 48,285 kilowatt hours, which led to a billing of $4,800, something Nicholson said was “very unique.” Alerted by a technician, BC Hydro issued a notice to its billing department to not issue a bill based on what the meter was showing, but to consult the house’s consumption history. Nicholson said there was “a miscue in the back office” and the customer received the higher bill, something that was rectified when the customer complained. Nicholson said the meter is the only broken one he has heard about. “But, that doesn’t mean there won’t be others.” Sharelynn Moore, vice-president of corporate communications for Itron, the Washington-based company that supplied BC Hydro with smart meters, told KTW the Kamloops meter is the first it knows of that has been malfunctioning in this way. “The root cause is still being investigated. This process takes a few weeks,” Moore said. “Overall, the number of meters that malfunctioned is very small and averages less than 0.5 per cent of the total delivered.” A second BC Hydro meter described
Do you have a BC Hydro smart meter that has spit out hard-to-believe data? If so, let us know by dropping a line to editor@kamloopsthisweek.com.
as moving at “warp speed” was reported by a homeowner in Sidney; however, it has not been removed for testing, Nicholson said. BC Hydro staff are reviewing the consumption patterns and equipment in the house, he said. The Kamloops meter was reported by a field-service representative. BC Hydro technicians confirmed the situation and removed it, replacing it with another meter. Nicholson said meters are subjected to several tests before they are installed, noting Itron tests each one, then retests them, to ensure they conform to Measurements Canada requirements. A sampling will be tested two more times to ensure they meet the federal and the more stringent provincial standards, Nicholson said. Noting many consumers are worrying about the accuracy of the meters, Nicholson said BC Hydro regularly receives twice the number of calls at this time of year than any other, a result of moving from winter weather to milder temperatures. He said the concerns are usually resolved at the call-centre level and are often consumption-based, noting BC Hydro has had to go back to 2008-2009 consumption-usage data to find comparable temperatures to that experienced this past winter. It’s not the only meter being tested, however. Itron had already asked BC Hydro to remove 1,000 from throughout the province so they could be tested, something Nicholson said is part of the company’s normal practice.
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