Tacoma: High-priced meters show misplaced priorities

The Tacoma city manager, City Council and Tacoma Public Utility Board plan to spend nearly $100 million on automatic electric and water meters.

There is no business case. Their claims for needing these meters do not stand up to inspection.

You can change your billing date now. You can go to monthly billing now. You can pre-pay your bill now. You can analyze your energy use now. You can access TPU from your home computer or on your mobile phone now.

AMI meters will make the entire electric grid cyber insecure.

The city will allow you to “opt out” of an AMI meter – for $180 a year.

We need a city that is connected to the internet for all Tacoma Public School students and all who now work from home. This could be accomplished for less than $15 million. Equity demands it for all in our community.

Spending $100 million on housing would help at least 500 families. This is a higher priority.

We don’t need AMI meters. We need good investments. Contact city and TPU officials and tell them to terminate this program.

This story was originally published September 26, 2020 at 4:07 PM with the headline "Tacoma: High-priced meters show misplaced priorities."