Title
Consider Providing Direction to Staff on Alameda Municipal Power’s Smart Meter Program, Including Opting Out, City Manager Voting, Radio Frequency (RF) Radiation, Maintenance and Inspection. (Mayor Spencer and Vice Mayor Vella)
Body
COUNCIL REFERRAL FORM
The Council can take any of the following actions:
1) Take no action.
2) Refer the matter to staff to schedule as a future City Council agenda item.
3) Take dispositive action if sufficiently noticed such that the public and Council have been provided sufficient information by the published agenda, and no formal published notice of a public hearing is required.
Name of Councilmember requesting referral: Mayor Spencer and Vice Mayor Vella
Date of submission to City Clerk (must be submitted before 5:00 p.m. on the Monday two weeks before the Council meeting requested): November 16, 2017
Council Meeting date: December 5, 2017
Brief description of the subject to be printed on the agenda, sufficient to inform the City Council and public of the nature of the referral:
Some Alameda Municipal Power (AMP) customers do not want to have smart meters installed due to health concerns. AMP’s smart meter opt out program requires customers to pay a $125 initial fee with a $10 monthly fee and requires installation of smart meters at the end of 2019. Information on AMP’s opt out program is available at the following link: <http://www.alamedamp.com/business/smart-meters>
PG&E’s smart meter program requires customers to pay an analog meter installation fee of $75 with a monthly fee of $10 per month for 36 months, with no requirement to switch to a smart meter. PG&E has indicated there is not a date when installation of smart meters will be required. Information on PG&E’s opt out program is available at the following link: <https://www.pge.com/en_US/residential/save-energy-money/analyze-your-usage/your-usage/view-and-share-your-data-with-smartmeter/smartmeter-updates/smart-meter-opt-out-program.page?WT.mc_id=Vanity_smartmeteroptout>
Consider directing staff to determine whether the City Council has authority to require AMP to allow customers to opt out of smart meter installation indefinitely similar to Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E). In the alternative, if the City Council has no authority to make this determination, consider taking a position opposing AMP’s current program and recommend adoption of a program similar to PG&E’s.
Since the City Manager is a voting member of the Public Utilities Board (PUB), Council should consider requiring the City Manager to obtain Council direction and/or input on issues prior to voting and provide updates to Council after PUB votes.
AMP should provide information on radio frequency (RF) radiation assessment, including testing and hiring someone independent to measure RF radiation. A determination needs to made whether having over 10 meters installed in one location is safe, what is the maximum number of meters at one location and if people residing with a certain number of feet of multiple meters need to be notified.
Additionally, information should be provided on whether the meters are being properly maintained by AMP and inspected by the City to monitor RF radiation and prevent explosions, bursting into flames and other fire hazards.
Priority Ranking:
|
↑ Urgent |
2 |
3 |
|
|
1 |
4 |
|
|
Important → |
____ 1 = Not urgent, not important
____ 2 = Urgent, not important
__X_ 3 = Urgent and important
____ 4 = Not urgent, important