This bill creates a new law by adding sections 1–4 as a new chapter in Title 19 RCW. It lets utility consumers decline installation of a digital utility meter and requires electric, gas, and water utilities to remove an installed digital meter and replace it with an analog meter if a consumer requests it, at no cost to the consumer (explicitly allowing no penalty, fee, service charge, or any other cost). The act requires utilities to provide written notice at least 90 days before a scheduled digital meter installation; that notice must explain the consumer’s right to decline installation at no cost, the right to require removal and replacement with an analog meter at no cost, and the procedures and timelines for requests based on electromagnetic sensitivity claims. If a consumer notifies the utility in writing that they suffer from electromagnetic sensitivity, the utility must comply with the consumer’s instruction within 10 days; in other cases utilities must comply within 30 days. Utilities must retain records for at least three years of all consumer requests to remove or replace digital meters and of responses received to installation requests. For multi-consumer buildings or properties, utilities must collect consumer responses and may not install or upgrade digital meters if at least 50% of consumers decline; utilities must remove and replace a digital meter when requested in such settings. The bill defines analog and digital utility meters in the text, and identifies affected entities including consumer-owned and investor-owned electric utilities, gas utilities, water utilities, and utility consumers. The act declares an emergency and takes effect immediately. The extracted text does not state the new chapter number to be added to Title 19 RCW and does not include enforcement mechanisms, penalties for noncompliance, funding or implementation details, technical standards or limits for meter removal or noninstallation, or the full external statutory definitions it references, so those specifics are unknown from the provided material.

If enacted, the bill would give individual utility customers the right to refuse a digital meter and to have an installed digital meter removed and replaced with an analog meter at no cost to the customer, with utilities required to give 90 days’ written notice before installs, respond quickly to electromagnetic sensitivity claims, and keep related records for three years; buildings where half or more of occupants decline would block new or upgraded digital meters. Because the act takes effect immediately, utilities would need to change installation and customer-service practices right away to honor opt-outs and fast removal requests. The people most affected are electric, gas, and water utilities and their customers: utilities will likely face greater direct costs for removing and replacing meters and added administrative work for notices, recordkeeping, and quicker response times, while customers gain a new no-cost option to avoid digital meters. Important implementation details are missing from the text provided — notably who ultimately bears large-scale replacement costs, how compliance is enforced, and what technical or safety standards apply — so the scale of financial and operational impacts is uncertain.