WSSC smart meters on the agenda for tonight's off camera Montgomery County Delegation meeting (2/4)

The Montgomery County Delegation's Metropolitan Washington Committee is scheduled to meet at 7pm on Monday 2/4/19 to continue discussing and potentially vote on smart meter legislation. WSSC, the municipal water utility serving Montgomery and Prince George's Counties plans to spend $100M to automate its meter reading operations by installing AMI smart meters. Delegate Al Carr has introduced MC/PG 101-19 that would require a study of the cost effectiveness of AMI smart meters and place a temporary moratorium on their implementation at WSSC.

The meeting location is room 218 of the Lowe House Office Building, 6 Bladen Street, Annapolis, MD 21401

WSSC opposes the bill. The Delegation received testimony supporting the bill on the grounds of cost, privacy, health and the impact on the labor force. The ACLU, AARP and AFSCME 67 all support the bill. The hearing was held in Rockville on December 3, 2018.

One option is a compromise: amend the bill to replace the moratorium language with language allowing customers to opt out of a smart meter at no charge.

The meeting is open to the public. The members of the Metropolitan Washington Committee are: Del. Al Carr (chair, D18), Del. Kathleen Dumais (D15), Del. Gabe Acevero (D39), Del. Lorig Charkoudian (D20), Del. Sara Love (D16) and Del. Julie Palakovich Carr (D17).

Link to meeting agenda: http://montgomerycountydelegation.com/MWAagenda2-4-19.html

Text of the bill:
http://www.montgomerycountydelegation.com/2019/documents/MCPG101-19.pdf

Fiscal and Policy note:
http://www.montgomerycountydelegation.com/2019/documents/MCPG101-19FN.pdf

Sponsor testimony:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Y833Gil0C6htOcYvs4ITTcHAjeuDOWTwTVaiYN5Dyjs/edit?usp=sharing

WSSC's testimony:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BwJDEJdZmrHpR201ZHh0eUoxUS1oMXBXXzBZYnFBaFhOdkY4

Link to WSSC's AMI smart meter FAQ page:
https://www.wsscwater.com/AMI

Contact info for members of the Montgomery County Delegation:
http://www.montgomerycountydelegation.com/contact.html