Why the rush on PUD’s smart meter program?

I am an electrical engineer and a building biologist. I live in Lynnwood.

The Snohomish County Public Utility District commission is scheduled to make a costly vote on Aug. 4. The PUD staff are asking for permission to pursue a Request For Proposals for an Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) project that will cost utility customers $100 million. The public, for whom the PUD staff works and the commissioners represent, has not been adequately informed. There has been little opportunity for customers, like myself, to raise questions about the costs, benefits and risks that are not being considered.

There is little to no benefit to most customers and yet all customers will be paying more for electricity to pay for the project. This decision is happening in a rushed fashion during the most disastrous time in the United States economy. The few informed customers, like myself, have been raising the red flag to allow information to be shared with the public and to ask the crucial question, “Do you want the meager, proposed benefits if you need to pay more for electricity?”

For the sake of the public’s interest please ask, what’s the rush? Inform the people first. Delay the vote.

Sonia M. Hoglander

Lynnwood