AS WE have pointed out several times, the protests over smart meters are just dumb, and we have no doubt that, once the meters have been operating awhile, the hyperventilating activists who oppose them will move on to other, and probably equally pointless, causes.

PG&E is apparently thinking the same thing, and that’s why it decided to install smart meters on every home and let the fearful crowd opt out by having WiFi transmitters in individual meters turned off. That way, as soon as an activist realizes his fears were groundless, or decides to worry about something else, or moves, his smart meter can easily and immediately be activated. We like it.

Editorial: What $5,000 will get you

THE GROUP of Carmel Valley activists who were hesitating to appeal the amended permit for a senior care facility under construction just off Carmel Rancho Boulevard has decided to go ahead, despite the fact the appeal will cost $5,000. But the group’s hesitation is quite meaningful and shows that the county’s steep fee for appealing a permit decision to the board of supervisors is achieving its purpose.

County officials say the fee is meant to cover staff time, which sounds fair enough. Appeals can be very complicated and involve a lot of paperwork. Not only that, but preparing a coherent recommendation for the board of supervisors takes quite a bit of expertise. There are county ordinances and general plans to analyze, state laws to follow, public hearings to convene and comments to digest. $5,000 is a lot of money, but it’s an expensive process.

However, it’s also true that the government doesn’t impose big fees on something it wants to encourage people to do. In fact, when the government really wants you to do something, it offers a reward.

For example, the state Legislature wants people to file CEQA lawsuits, so it requires payment of only a $395 fee to file such a suit, and it offers a big reward — reimbursement of attorneys fees, often at $200 or $300 an hour — if the suit is successful. So many CEQA lawsuits are filed every year, you’d might think that, ipso facto, the law is a failure. But since its purpose is to encourage lawsuits, the law actually succeeds magnificently. And keeping the cost of filing a CEQA lawsuit low is a big factor in its success.

Similarly, the coastal commission wants to make it as difficult as possible for anyone to build anything along the coast, so it charges steep fees to apply for coastal development permits, but doesn’t charge anything for appeals. It also doesn’t allow counties or cities to charge fees for appeals of permits in the coastal commission’s territory.

So if the senior housing project the C.V. activists object to were along the coast, they could fight it for nothing. Since it’s inland a couple of miles, they can’t.

The net effect of these complicated and seemingly contradictory policies on permit and appeal fees is to discourage development along the coast and encourage it inland. Check the 2010 Census to see how well it’s working.