Lindsay Council hears smart meter report

LINDSAY — The City Council learned Tuesday night that more smart meters are coming to Southern California. They also approved submitting a waiver to the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program for $50,000 to complete an agricultural well.

Southern California Edison (SCE) Region Manager Cal Rossi reported that as of July more than 4.5 million meters have been installed as part of the Edison SmartConnect program which will be used to help customers monitor their own electricity usage, and more are coming.

“It will empower customers to better manage [their] energy usage. Customers will have 24/7 access to what you’re using [and] will be able to see what you’re using instead of waiting for the bill,” said Rossi.

According to Rossi, there will be 5 million meters installed in the SCE service territory area with 200,000 in the San Joaquin Valley District. With the new meters, customers will be able to read and track their daily usage, as well as expected future use, by accessing the information online at www.SCE.com.  

SCE will also be able to better monitor the overall system with the new meters.

“[It has] added reliability. SCE will be able to more readily determine that the power is out,” stated Rossi.

The fee for the program is expected to have a 1.6% change on a customer’s bill which works out to about $1.60 for every $100. The charge will continue until the end of December as this is the end of the smart meter installation time frame. The installation time for the meter is between 5 to 10 minutes.

For those who want to opt out of the program, a $75 initial opt-out fee, and a $10 monthly opt-out charge is added. For those income qualified customers only, i.e. California Alternate Rates for Energy  (CARE), there is a $10 initial opt-out fee and a monthly opt-out fee of $5.

Mayor Pro Tem Estaban Velasquez asked about the meters and if they would measure the high energy usage of appliances. Rossi replied that the meter only measures overall usage.

Other projects that SCE is working on in the San Joaquin Valley include the Mascot substation which is located east of Hanford, in Kings County and is a $30 million dollar project. It will serve 60,000 customers both in Hanford and Kings County and will be operational this December with two miles of 66 kz transmission lines.  

The $50,000 waiver submittal to the CDBG for approval, with funds drawn from the business assistance revolving loan program, will be used to complete an agricultural well for California Citrus Pulp, Inc, (CCPI) and Vita Pak, Inc.

The well is part of a three-phase project for CCPI. Currently, the city has $111,000 to help complete the cost of the third phase of this well. However, City Services Director Michael Camarena, and city staff, estimated that the cost of the total replacement of the third phase to be around $134,685. If approved by CDBG, the money would be awarded to Valley Pump and Dairy systems from Tulare to complete the project.

However, “They have to wait for [the] okay, before they can spend anything,” said Carmen Wilson, city clerk. She pointed out that any remaining finds will be put back into the fund.

Council member Pam Kimball wanted to know if this amount was the normal amount to dig a well.

“[It’s] a very cheap well. A regular well would be five to seven times more,” said Camarena.

In other news, the council elected the Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem to be voting delegates to the 2012 League of California Cities conference.

- Heard from the Orange Blossom Festival committee that it agreed to pay $7,500 for the construction of four horseshoe pits and an arbor in the vicinity of these pits north of the newly constructed Sierra View Street.