Edmonton utilities company drops part of opt-out fee after pressure from advocates for Palestinians

Edmonton utilities company Epcor has dropped part of a fee charged to customers who opt out of the installation of new water meter reading devices.

Some customers and advocates for Palestinians had expressed concern over the device's ties to an Israeli company criticized for water extraction and exploitation in the West Bank and Gaza.

In 2023, Epcor started installing water meter reading devices — also called Advanced Metering Infrastructure — on water meters in Edmonton. 

The devices provide improved monthly billing and timely water data to help customers make decisions about their water use.  

To date, Epcor, a City of Edmonton-owned utility, has installed about 150,000 AMI devices on water meters in Edmonton. An Epcor spokesperson said about 300 customers "opted out for various reasons" but would not specify what those reasons were.

Some customers told CBC their concerns are rooted in a movement known as Boycott, Divest and Sanctions, which seeks to put financial pressure on Israel and Israeli companies to end what some aid groups have said are human rights abuses against Palestinians.

Epcor said its new water reading devices are supplied by Landis+Gyr, which contracts with a company called Master Meter. 

Master Meter's parent company is the Israel-based Arad Group, an international water metering company with business that includes supplying equipment for Mekorot, Israel's national water company.  

Edmontonian Fatima Saleh said there has been a significant lack of information about the devices provided publicly by Epcor to its customers. She is a spokesperson for a local group that calls itself Epcor Delivers Genocide.  

"People of conscience are asking where these meters are coming from," Saleh said.

As a Palestinian, Saleh said she feels it's vital to call out Epcor's business ties with a subsidiary of Arad. "It's about the fact that our families are still being violently displaced and dispossessed for these corporations to exist on our traditional homelands in Palestine," she said.

Fees dropped

For Epcor customers, non-standard meters have been available as an alternative for those who decline the new water meter devices for any reason.

But those meters originally came with a $200 installation fee and a $50 monthly fee. 

The $200 installation fee was dropped in the fall, but customers who choose to opt out of the Master Meter will still be charged a monthly non-standard meter reading fee that amounts to $300 annually, or $25 per month, starting on Sept. 1, 2025.

Epcor said the devices supplied by Landis+Gyr are the only ones on the market that are compatible with its existing Advanced Meter Infrastructure technology platform, which is also being used for electricity meters.

"Using the existing technology platform was the lowest-cost option for our customers," Epcor said in a statement to CBC.

"We recognize that the ability to opt out and use a non-standard meter may not resolve these individuals' concerns, but we hope it is helpful as we aim to balance our ability to assist these customers with our responsibility to all our customers given the very significant costs that would come with replacing our existing AMI network and metering equipment."

Greater ethical decision

For some who don't want the new meters, there is a greater ethical decision to be made.   

In December, Human Rights Watch published a report saying "the true scale of those harmed or killed by Israeli authorities' actions that have deprived Palestinians of adequate water is unknown and may likely never be fully understood."

"However, these policies have likely contributed to thousands of deaths," the report says.

Israel has repeatedly rejected any accusation of genocide.

Greater scrutiny has been cast on assessing the geopolitical implications of financial connections following Israel's military offensive in Gaza after an attack led by Hamas on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. 

The UN is seeking information for a March 2025 investigation into how non-state entities are complicit in Israel's occupation.

Epcor Delivers Genocide has submitted a report for consideration to the United Nations outlining its concerns.

READ | Edmonton group takes concerns with Epcor to UN:

CBC requested comment multiple times from the Arad Group, which did not respond. Master Meter also did not respond to a CBC request.

Edmonton resident Joshua Goldberg, who decided to pay the additional fees for a non-standard meter, said it has not been made clear by Epcor that the installation is a choice. Residents have not been given information to give informed consent, he said.

"They're the only suppliers of water," Goldberg said. "That they would be putting all of us in a position where we would have to be opted in to a company that has deep ties to genocide of Palestinians. I was furious."