To pay for its “smart” meter boondoggle, Baltimore Gas & Electric (BGE) in Maryland is asking the Maryland Pubic Service Commission for a staggering $15.20 per month rate increase for all its 1.85 million customers, even those who had sense enough to refuse a “smart” meter.

If the so-called “smart” grid really worked, really saved money, people would be getting a rate reduction not a rate increase. But nowhere in the world have rates gone down where “smart” meters have been introduced. Rates have only increased because the upfront and ongoing costs of the “smart” grid are astronomical.

Another case in point: National Grid, a large Massachusetts utility, recently bragged that its “smart” grid pilot project “saved” $1.25 million in a year. But it cost $46 million! So it will take almost 37 years just to break even, and probably a lot longer than that due to the constant “upgrades” necessary — like for example the “smart” meters themselves which only last five to seven years. How “sustainable” is that?

Looks like our corrupt and incompetent Arizona Corporation Commission isn’t the only outfit that can’t do basic math.