Smart Meters: Measuring, Monitoring, and Managing Electricity - Smart Grid (R) Evolution: Electric Power Struggles - page 124

using time-of-use pricing mechanisms. Smart meters can also offer resilience in terms of
monitoring consumption and by directly controlling demand through preset controls. In
Europe, despite a top-down EU directive encouraging smart meter installation, there has
been wide variation in member state responses. Another major promise of smart meters
is that they will save money and reduce costs to consumers, utilities, and society. Many
customers have been skeptical of this promise because some electricity bills actually
increased immediately after smart meters were installed. Another important promise of
smart meters is the environmental improvement associated with enhancing efficiency,
enabling changes in electricity use patterns, and reducing overall electricity demand.
Different actors ( Chapter 4 ) have different priorities for smart meters. For some smart
meters are a critical tool to manage energy; for others smart meters feel like an imposition
with no tangible benefits. The passionate opposition to smart meters can be understood, at
least partially, as a symptom of deeper mistrust of government and industry in the United
States. As Americans react to revelations of NSA spying and corporate data breaches,
mistrust of government and industry grows, but there are very few venues for expressing
outrage or standing up against increased monitoring. Smart meter installations therefore
provide one specific venue for citizens to question the benefits of collecting all of this
electricity usage data.
Opposition and controversy are expected parts of any technology development. At least
in the case of smart meters, it seems clear that opposition is not solely about the technology
in question. Social and political concerns such as choice and privacy may be at least as
important as the technology itself. When people are required to make changes without
feeling like they have had a choice, concerns and mistrust emerge even more strongly. If,
on the other hand, people have opportunities to learn about new technologies before being
presented with an a priori decision, they are more likely to be open to the possibility of
change.
The examples provided in this chapter demonstrate the complex nature of smart meter
deployment. Different local contexts are shaping patterns of support or opposition. The
accumulated experience of smart meter deployment continues to grow as more and more
smart meters are installed and the novel technology becomes less threatening as it becomes
mundane. This wealth of experience is shared among utilities and communities and activist
groups.Inmanyplaces,includingTexasandIllinoisintheUnitedStates,smartmetershave
been installed with virtually no apparent citizen concern. Canada provides an interesting
national-level example of this variation (Mallett et al. 2014 ). While smart meter
deployment has been relatively smooth in Ontario (some resistance has emerged due to
concern about unfair pricing), in British Columbia tensions have emerged as marijuana
growers, some of whom have been stealing electricity for decades, have been threatened by