Maine's highest court says the state Public Utilities Commission failed to resolve health and safety concerns when it signed off on Central Maine Power's plan to replace its analog meters with new, high-tech digital devices called smart meters. Opponents of smart meters say research shows that the radio waves emitted by the devices can cause cancer and other health problems. In a ruling handed down today, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court ordered the public ultilites commission to go back and look into the the potential health and safety risks. But CMPs installation of roughly 600,000 smart meters is nearly complete, so it's unclear exactly what the impact of the high court decision will be.

Central Maine Power began installing the digital devices in 2010. Consumers can decide not to have a smart meter at their house, as long as they're willing to shell out 12 bucks a month for an alternative.

The case before Maine's high court grew out of a complaint that 19 CMP customers made to the state Public Utilities Commission. Customers argued the opt out fee was discriminatory and that the PUC failed to consider new scientific evidence, highlighting the health risks associated with smart meters. The PUC rejected the complaint, so consumers took their case to Maine's high court.

"I feel like, finally, someone is coming along and saying, 'Hey, wait a minute. Maybe this really was rushed,' says Elisa Boxer, who runs the Smart Meter Safety Coalition. "We have said all along that since it's up to the Public Utilities Commission to provide safe services, and since there are no studies proving smart meters are safe, these things really should not have been installed."

So now, as Central Maine Power works to install the project's final 2,000 smart meters, it's unclear exactly what effect the high court decision will have.

Ed Friedman was the lead plaintiff in the case. "We would actually also hope that they have full evidentiary hearings and approach this with an open mind," he says.

It their ruling, justices argue that the Maine Public Utilities Commission never resolved questions about the health and safety risks posed by smart meters, even as it allowed CMP to move ahead and start installing them.

The justices are calling on the commission to go back and address the issue. But Friedman isn't holding his breath.
The commission is under investigation by OPEGA, the Office of Program Evaluation and Government Accountability, and they--there's no consumer confidence in that PUC commission," Friedman says. "They essentially work for the utilites, is my belief."

But what if the commission actually does hold hearings and decides that smart meters are a grave threat? Will it order the more than 600,000 currently in operation to be ripped out and removed?

PUC spokeswoman Karen Geraghty says no decisions have been made yet about how the commission will respond to the high court's demands. "All I can tell you is they're looking at it. The rules here don't allow us to look at and then decide what we're going to do and then just announce it to everybody," Geraghty says. "They have to do it all publicly."

CMP, meanwhile, shrugged off the ruling. John Carroll is a spokesperson for the utility. "It doesn't have an immediate effect on our operations," he says.

Carroll says CMP plans to move forward with its remaining installation of just under 2,000 smart meters in the coming months.