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Liberty Utilities defends smart‑meter rollout and wildfire spending as council presses for safety review
Summary
Liberty Utilities told South Lake Tahoe leaders it will centralize customer service, pursue new power supply as Green Link is completed, and finish a $30M smart‑meter project aided by a $13M DOE grant. Residents pressed the company and council for independent safety checks, lower opt‑out costs and clearer plans for undergrounding and affordability.
Liberty Utilities president Eric Schwarz told the South Lake Tahoe City Council that the utility serves roughly 50,000 customers locally and is moving to a new energy‑supply procurement process once the Green Link transmission project provides capacity. The company outlined a $30 million advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) rollout — funded in part by a $13 million Department of Energy grant — and said it had centralized customer service functions to improve service and control costs.
"If we are not delivering value to our customers and our community and our employees, we're not doing a good job," Schwarz said, arguing the company’s moves aim to improve customer experience and free funds for wildfire mitigation. He described wildfire…
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