HALLOWELL (AP) — Maine utility regulators are setting the stage for several months of complicated testimony about smart meters.
The Public Utilities Commission on Thursday voted to open an investigation of the wireless devices, which critics say could pose health and safety risks.
The Portland Press Herald says the PUC will hold the hearings even though 615,000 smart meters, nearly all of them, are up.
The commission thought it had dealt with health and safety issues in 2010, when the issue was first raised. But last month, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court sided with opponents of the newtechnology digital meters, who argued that regulators ignored their legal mandate to ensure the delivery of “safe, reasonable and adequate” utility service.
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