The Vermont state legislature has voted to eliminate smart meter opt out fees, forcing state utilities to provide customers an opt out option for free. As part of its plan to roll out about 160,000 smart meters to customers in its territory, Central Vermont Public Service had proposed to charge customers who chose to opt out of having smart meter a $10 fee. The recently-approved legislation allows for customers to "choose not to have a wireless smart meter installed, at no additional monthly or other charge." Customers can ask for the removal of a previously installed wireless smart meter for any reason and must not be charged for the removal. Additionally, the legislation requires utilities to provide prior written notice to customers indicating that the smart meter will use radio or other wireless means for two-way communication between the meter and the company, and informing customers of their rights under the new law. Furthermore, the bill also puts a requirement for studies related to smart meters to be submitted to lawmakers. To that end, the Vermont Department of Public Service is to prepare a report on the cost-savings associated with smart meters, while also addressing any issues of security breaches because of the wireless smart meters, that is due to the legislature by January 1, 2014.

The Colorado Public Utilities Commission has issued a list of recommended smart grid data privacy rules that subject utilities to a whole range of requirements, and penalties up to $2000 per violation. The document also gives utilities up to 20 days to file their objections, and if no exceptions are received, the rules will become law. The rules would require utilities to explain their data collection processes, the frequency of data collection and the security measures that will be taken to ensure privacy of customers. Additionally, the utilities would be expected to provide this data to anyone authorized by the customers, with no charge to the customers or recipients.

North Carolina is looking to restrict municipal broadband, and UTC is fighting against it. This week UTC and seven other signatories (including the American Public Power Association, Alcatel-Lucent, Google and Intel) sent a letter to the North Carolina legislature opposing a bill that would place a moratorium on public broadband deployments, such as those by municipal utilities. That succeeded in getting legislators to back off a complete ban, but they did decide to consider legislation that would restrict the funding of such broadband deployments.

Specifically, the draft bill would require localities to go through a referendum process to obtain funding, and UTC and other proponents of municipal broadband are concerned that these restrictions could have the same practical effect as a ban because incumbent providers such as AT&T and Time Warner can launch massive advertising campaigns against any such referendum. Although the sponsor of the bill, Sen. Hoyle stated that the bill would grandfather existing municipal broadband deployments, the bill would require any municipal broadband financing, improvement, upgrade or repair to be funded with general obligation bonds. As such, it may restrict existing and future deployments. Although the bill has been introduced, it has not been given a bill number yet. UTC will post the bill and report developments as they become available.