Posted by KMILBURN on 11/3/2008, 8:05 pm, in reply to "smart meters and disasters"
Anyone who believes the average tenant is going to "save" money with smart metering is either stupid or not telling the truth.
The cost per kilowatt hour is going up in every time slot except the 10pm to 7am time slot. So unless you can limit your hydro usage to that time slot your hydro costs are going up.
In a house you can save money by doing your washing and drying late at night. But in an apt building you use the laundry room and have to do your wash when you can find an empty machine.
The largest draw of hydro usage in the typical apt is the fridge and stove, along with A/C usage. The typical computer will use $10 per month running 24/7...so unless you can run your A/C only after 10pm or limit your Internet usage to after 10pm, how are you ever going to save energy costs? The fridge runs 24/7 and you use the stove in traditionally high energy cost time periods.
Add to all this the cost of the smart meters on the monthly bill, the possibility of LL's applying for AGI's based upon the cost of installing smart metering, and the monthly cost of administration fees (some as high as $17-$20 per month), how is there any "savings" in "smart" meters?
All I can see is rising energy costs for the same amount of energy usage. What's "smart" about that?
it seems like false energy conservation and an opportunity for private energy companies to make huge profits on the backs of tenants.
Of course the huge raise in energy costs might be enough to cause tenants who currently run two or three A/C units 24/7 at the LL's expense to cut back to one or none if they have to pay for the cost themselves. Perhaps that is were the government expects to find their "savings" in energy use?
--Previous Message--
: this is a letter we sent to the Minister
: yesterday
:
:
: October 22, 2008
:
:
: The Honourable Jim Watson
: Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing
: 777 Bay Street, 17th Floor
: Toronto, Ontario
: M5B 2E5
:
:
:
: Dear Minister,
:
: We are writing to you about two urgent and
: immediate issues affecting tenants.
:
:
: Smart Sub Metering
:
: This issue has caused great stress to
: tenants because landlords are using
: regrettable tactics to push tenants into bad
: deals to take over hydro payments. Tenants
: who have taken this matter to the Landlord
: Tenant Board have had to deal with hundreds
: of pages of legal documents from a high
: priced lawyer to avoid a simple declaration
: that landlords can not force tenants into a
: deal they do not want or risk losing
: electricity.
:
: This is also a “back door” method to get an
: extra rent increase by offering tenants only
: a very low rent reduction that does not meet
: the real costs of hydro for tenants.
:
: We believe that it is imperative that you
: protect these tenants with swift and
: decisive action.
:
: 1. Charges need to be laid against those
: landlords who are threatening tenants with
: the loss of their electricity. We are aware
: that some landlords are doing this in
: several apartment buildings in the Greater
: Toronto Area.
: 2. Take steps to proclaim section 137 and
: 138 of the Residential Tenancies Act. We
: are aware that there is work to do on the
: regulations and some issues of concern to
: some tenant advocates. However, these
: sections do have elements of fairness and it
: would be far better to have this in place
: than to have tenants go through the stress
: that landlords (and smart meter sales
: people) are causing. To protect the
: thousands of tenants we have been meeting
: with in the last few months, the
: proclamation would need to have
: retrospective effect to July 1, 2008. This
: will still leave plenty of time to work on
: the regulations.
:
:
: Mr. Minister, we fully support the goal of
: energy conservation. We are encouraging
: tenants to conserve, and we will step up
: those efforts. We know that every person in
: Ontario can do better, although we reject
: the suggestion from landlords that tenants
: are terribly wasteful.
:
: Tenants can not wait until the landlords
: take this matter to Divisional Court to know
: that the Government will protect them from
: this blatantly unfair scheme foisted on them
: by some landlords. We have been meeting
: with tenants in their buildings across the
: City for several months. The stress and
: strain on them is unacceptable.
:
:
: Protecting Tenants Suffering From A Disaster
:
:
: We very much appreciate the answer that you
: gave the member from Beaches East York with
: respect to the recent disaster at 2 Secord
: in East Toronto.
:
: You indicated that you would look at
: possible amendments to protect tenants
: better.
:
: All of us can imagine the stress and trauma
: of being forced out of our apartments by an
: explosion in the middle of the night, and
: then weeks later having to move back in to
: units that smelled and were dirty and having
: to worry whether they were really safe. The
: tenant population in this building included
: families with children, the elderly, and
: many newcomers.
:
: We also realize that it may not have been
: the fault of the landlord and that needs to
: be factored in.
:
: We would like to meet with your policy
: advisors and eventually yourself to see if
: we can help develop ideas to improve the
: legislation. Your answer to Mr. Prue was a
: great start.
:
: We thank you for your consideration to these
: matters. We will follow up in the days
: ahead.
:
:
: Yours sincerely,
:
:
:
:
: Gene Lara, Dan McIntyre
: Chairperson Program Co-Ordinator
:
:
:
:
:
:
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