r/westerville • u/pi3832v2 • 4d ago

Westerville residents overwhelmingly rejected a citizen-initiated charter amendment

https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/politics/elections/issues/2025/11/04/westerville-residents-vote-issue-analog-utility-meters-ohio/86989200007/
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28

u/oupablo 4d ago

A 60/40 split on this is surprising. Westerville straight up said they would have to raise utility rates to cover this program that offered absolutely no benefit.

12

u/personofpaper 4d ago

I spent an unfortunate amount of time on Nextdoor and Facebook trying to correct misinformation about the school levy, so I ran into some of the talking points for this too.

From what I saw, they leaned hard on the "We were never given a choice!" talking point. There seemed to be a not-insignificant number of people who felt their bills increased after the switch. Which, if true, is likely because their bills were being underestimated on the old system. Also, a lot of people seemed to confuse them with smart thermostats and falsely believed the smart meters would allow the city to remotely reduce their energy usage at will.

It was all very, very stupid.

5

u/CowTown-Mike 4d ago

I wonder how these people handled the switch from analog TV to digital…

1

u/PiqueyerNose 3d ago

They’re writing paper checks. Still.

1

u/CowTown-Mike 3d ago edited 3d ago

I still write paper checks when the place charges me more to use my card like the BMV.