ITEM:		ACTION ITEM
15.	CONSIDER DEVELOPMENT OF POLICY ON OPTION TO REFUSE SMART WATER METER INSTALLATION
Meeting Date:			April 20, 2020	Budgeted:	N/A
From:			David J. Stoldt,	Program/	N/A
			General Manager	Line Item No.:
Prepared By:			David J. Stoldt	Cost Estimate:	N/A
General Counsel Review: N/A
Committee Recommendation: N/A
CEQA Compliance: This action does not constitute a project as defined by the California Environmental Quality Act Guidelines section 15378.

SUMMARY: At its January 2019 meeting, the Board considered its regulatory position with respect to Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI), or smart meters, by receiving a memorandum prepared by District Counsel DeLay & Laredo, attached as Exhibit 15-A.

In its current General Rate Case (GRC) filing for years 2021-2023, California American Water (Cal-Am) has requested a full AMI program for its Ventura and Central Divisions, including Monterey. The District has supported AMI because of the potential to provide customers greater information and control over their water usage. There are other benefits including meter accuracy, high usage alerts, lower meter reading costs, and backflow and theft detection.

Some customers have expressed concerns about these types of meters and do not want to participate. During pilot studies, one pilot was designed as an “opt-in” rather than “opt-out”, which reduced customer participation. Hence, District staff supports an opt-out program in order to achieve greater customer participation.

As part of the GRC Cal-Am is asking to be authorized to implement an opt-out program and to recover the costs of opting out from those customers choosing to do so. That is similar to what the Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) authorized for energy utilities in 2014. Cal-Am is proposing opt-out customers be charged an initial fee of $70.00 and a monthly charge of $13.00 per month to not participate in AMI. The upfront costs were based on service order drive time and service time and an average meter technician rate. The monthly costs are based on the costs to manually read the opt-out meters.

RECOMMENDATION: The General Manager recommends the Board of Directors reaffirm the District’s position for a full opt-out AMI program in the Monterey system, but discuss and decide if it should promote a policy in the District’s GRC testimony as to who should bear the cost burden of the opt-out.

EXHIBIT

15-A District Counsel Memorandum on Smart Meters, January 2019

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