“Smart” Meters: Not Smart. Not Green. Not Safe. Not Legal.

What’s Wrong:

‘Smart’ meter radiation is a Class 2B carcinogen according to the World Health Organization (pdf), at least 100x the exposure from a cell phone, say UC Nuclear experts.  Like living within 500 feet of a major cell tower, according to Sage Associates.  Thousands report adverse health effects to the PUC, yet installations continue as if nothing is wrong.

“Smart” meters are responsible for a number of structure fires and explosions, including one that burned Santa Rosa Mall in April.  The meters are not even UL certified.

“Smart’ meters violate privacy, recording every detail of your power usage – a permanent search warrant into your home- data that can be shared with law enforcement officials and other corporations.   Watch this short video for the full scoop.

What to Do:

SEND A LETTER TO YOUR UTILITY BY CERTIFIED MAIL- LET THEM KNOW YOU DO NOT CONSENT TO A ‘SMART’ METER ON YOUR HOME

• If you are present during an attempted installation, you have the right to tell the installer to leave your property, even if you are a renter at an apartment or a worker at a business.  If they fail to comply, call the police and report a trespasser.

Lock up your analog meter to prevent illegal installation by the utility in your absence.

• Meet your neighbors and declare a “smart meter free zone” in your neighborhood- defend your street together!

•  If you already have a smart meter, you have the right to have it removed from your home. Purchase an analog meter at an electricity supply shop and hire an electrician to swap it out.  Then lock it up so your utility can’t steal it.

More ways to take action.

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59 Responses to “Smart” Meters: Not Smart. Not Green. Not Safe. Not Legal.

  1. Mia Nony says:

    WHY OPTING OUT IS BAD AND WHY REFUSAL TO OPT IN IS GOOD.

    If meters were good for us, the utility corporation would need to use no force or legal trickery, would they?

    B.C. Hydro Corporation has done a LEGAL smart meter end run around unsuspecting customers.
    I was one of them.
    Take heed.
    Be wary.
    This corporation, in collusion with P,G & E and countless other Canadian and American electricity utility corporations which are all on exactly the same legal deception page, is hoodwinking the public into colluding with getting meter, by using a trick disguised as just the opposite.

    They are deceptive in the extreme.

    Here is how it works legally: The minute you get on any kind of Hydro list at all, – as I did – be it a “flagged for later consideration” list, or any kind of “concerns” list, at that point you have been legally entrapped – that is, unless and until you then retract by registered mail using a carefully worded written withdrawal of all consent for them to put a smart meter on your property.

    The Hydro website says “Contact us if you have concerns”.
    BEWARE: THIS IS A TRAP.

    The moment you DO successfully manage to “Contact them with concerns”?
    THE LEGAL REALITY IS THIS: At that point they will ask you for “permission to return your call”.
    What does this mean in law?
    You have agreed to a contract and are now negotiating the terms iof that contract with them.
    What terms have you now entered into?
    Terms for the installation of a smart meter.

    Bingo!
    Without even realizing it, you have just entered into a perfectly legal contractual agreement with your utility corporation to unwittingly negotiate ONLY ONE THING: the “when” and the “how” of getting a smart meter.
    It is kind of like a faint hope clause.

    DO NOT KID YOURSELVES.

    So for those of you who fell for this trick and now feel prematurely relieved and perhaps you have also flagged your meter with a special sign saying you are on a “list to delay” or a “list to be flagged”?
    WRONG. DELAY? YES. GET OUT OF A METER? NO.

    So while they feed you info that you are “special”, the reality is this:
    Make use of their “delay” game to buy the time you bought to secure the analog meter on your wall.
    As soon as you have done so in a way that no pry bar or bolt cutters or other instruments of destruction can be used to remove analog meter chains or padlocks or metal boxes or other enclosures which can be pried back off?
    Than and only then, you MUST contact B.C. Hydro and proactively reverse being on that list – just as soon as your analog meter is secured in lock down.

    If YOU are already on a list of any sort with Hydro or any other utility corp, from a legal perspective you have legally just inadvertently OPTED IN to the Smart Meter program.
    You have been tricked and deceived by B.C. Hydro or whatever other utility is using this exact same strategy.

    This manoeuvre is a form of legal entrapment, but sadly it is one which is permitted in law.

    So to reiterate: If you verbally or in writing so much as allow Hydro to contact you directly – even to offer fake reassurance or to clarify how they will agree to exempt you from the regular program and how they will (they always very vague terms here) “customize” “options” to “suit your unique circumstance”, just be aware: Just as soon as B.C. Hydro contacts you with this legal double talk designed to allay your fears and to put your guard down and to reassure you, from that point on all you are negotiating with Hydro from a legal perspective is WHEN you get the smart meter, not WHETHER you get the smart meter.

    Many people, without understanding the legal implications of being put on such a list, inadvertently have contacted Hydro and asked for “special consideration” and are already on the Hydro’s list, be it ANY list to delay or to be flagged or to be temporarily exempt (from the inevitable) for ANY reason whatsoever.

    Such people have inadvertently granted Hydro something in law called “implied consent”.
    They are using a legal strategy by saying: “Due to privacy laws Hydro cannot contact you, it is you who must contact us”.
    Then they play hard to get which makes you all the more eager to contact them. Once you do? Voila.

    Welcome to Hydro’s law department, there to trick you for your own harm.

    THE SOLUTION:
    In reality, in law, you can also undo or exit from this potential leghold trap.

    What you MUST do at this stage even if you are NOT on a LIST TO DELAY or are not already FLAGGED is this:
    Proactively and formally assert IN WRITING, including your name, your account number and your address in full and all details sent by registered mail a copy of your refusal to allow Hydro’s installation of a smart meter on your property.
    Or, if you are already on a list – and if you succeeded in contacting them you ARE on a list – , then revoke such list based consent for them to install a smart meter on your property.

    You do so by sending them notice that you will not be “opting in” to the smart meter program at all.

    Hydro’s legal department knows perfectly well that this works for you, since the minute you do this there is no longer any need for you to ask to “opt out” since you have just INFORMED THEM that you are not going to “opt in” in the first place.

    The deception of a LIST GAME is an exceedingly nasty and underhanded trick they are playing.
    The list is simply a flagging a troublemaker list used to hold off on forcing you to have a meter.
    If meters were good for us, the utility corporation would need to use no force or legal trickery, would they?

    • Redi Kilowatt says:

      Right on Mia, you are 100 percent correct.
      I live in northern California (Marin County) and my meter reader told me 2 years ago, DO NOT CALL PG&E to request being put on a list. He said that once someone does that, they will be put on a list to have a new meter installed.
      When a sub-contractor was making his rounds installing meters on my street, I was tipped off by a neighbor who called me and said that he just ran off a Wellington Energy employee, and that to expect him soon.
      So I went down to the street and started doing some work waiting for the man.
      He showed up, I told him that I won’t have a new revenue meter and that was that, I ran him off also.
      Then , PG&E called me and left an automated message asking me to call them to set up an appointment for a new meter. I would never call them back. Then they sent a letter stating that they needed access to my property so they could install a new meter. I ignored it.
      Then , another automated message said in a much more aggressive and desperate tone that the new meters are required (they did not say by who), and that they would be necessary if I wanted to continue to have electric service. Once again, I ignored it.
      You are right Mia, and so was my meter reader. They (PG&E) tried to trick me into contacting them, and I did not, as well as many other neighbors in my area at my suggestion.
      All these people who fall for the false advertising and delay lists will be sorry if they don’t want a new radio transmitting revenue meter.
      In our area, we have won the battle, we still have our analog meters, but we will find out next month when the CPUC makes a decision about a true opt-out, or compromise. Time will tell.

    • susan says:

      I called SCE and told them not to install a smart meter and they said they would relay my concerns but I had to have one. Am I on a list now and do I need to do something to insure I’m not on a list?

  2. mt says:

    Can you really have an electrician install an analog meter (a ‘sane meter’)? Where would you actually purchase such a meter, and would the power company have issues with reading it?

    • As long as you don’t damage utility property, who are the utilities to force a carcinogenic emitting device on your home? You can buy analog meters at realgoods and many electrical supply shops. Many electricians are willing to do the work, especially if you are suffering adverse health effects and the utility isn’t assisting. They may threaten you and tell you they are switching off your electricity but they haven’t done this to anyone and if they do, we’d go straight to the press. Doesn’t look good switching off disabled people’s electricity when they are paying their bill.

  3. Mia Nony says:

    WHAT PRICE DOES ONE PUT ON NON SUSTAINABLE AND EVEN CATASTROPHIC DESTRUCTION OF THE ECOSYSTEM?
    Think this is an exaggeration?
    The science is in.

    Exactly who gave B.C. Hydro, or PG&E or ANY utility corporation or for that matter any government the right, presumably unintentionally, to use force to expose the unwilling and the vulnerable
    – who make up every part of the human electrical grid,
    – who are a part of the natural ecosphere and
    – who depend on its geomagnetic frequencies to survive,
    to proven harm from forcible use of man made artificial conflicting frequencies which are effectively being “deployed” and used as a grid weapon of mass destruction?

    This is the question asked in the Oregon lawsuit below, which predicates its case on the fact that these frequencies are ALREADY illegal in existing Health Safety law throughout the western world.

    The link below takes you to a document page on which you will find all pertinent preliminary documents involved in what it is hoped will be a landmark case regarding an Oregon lawsuit against wireless devices.

    In this instance that lawsuit addresses harm to children from WiFi in schools . However, case law precedent, once established would then in turn be useful for smart meters.

    Granted, the law moves far more slowly than does this diabolical global smart grid and smart meter deployment. However, if won this will challenge the way in which corporations have illegally and in violation of Health Safety Code Law in each country taken over and essentially carried out a pre-emptive strike against us all. This is being systematically carried out while corporations privatize the Commons and airspace of the world, a Commons which belongs to all creatures including humans, a Commons which utility corporations in collaboration with governments everywhere have usurped.

    This lawsuit has HUGE implications, legally and otherwise.
    The human right to not have one’s own future downline nuked is at stake.
    So is the future of all beings including pollinators, and in turn the world’s food supply.

    Ask a lawyer this: In considering a settlement figure against a corporation, exactly what price would be sufficient award as punishment for the use of corporate force used to subject people as targets to frequency conflicts involuntary which have now been proven to be responsible for:
    – Splicing of DNA?
    – Destruction of genes?
    – Irradiation which ends someone’s ability to reproduce?
    – Crossing the blood brain barrier?
    – Using electrical induction via frequencies to induce cancers and heart attacks as well as ultimate human electrical failure precipitated by mesh wireless networks virtually everywhere on this planet?

    What price do you put on causing in many cases irreparable harm while ruthlessly abrogating the right to survive of all biological creatures in the ecosphere?

    There is not enough money in the entire world to compensate for precipitation of slow motion ecocide.

    Any final decision from this lawsuit would then apply equally to smart grids and meters, and all other frequency devices inducing harm by means of frequency conflict and incompatibility in humans.
    This includes harm caused through the use of signal relay aggregators (those signal booster devices which are small and pencil like structures installed atop lamp posts and utility poles, particularly in rural areas), and collector meters etc., all part of the mesh network scheme to blanket our world in EMF wireless devices.

    FREQUENCY HARM LAWSUIT WITH WHICH CANADIAN FREQUENCY EXPERT CURTIS BENNETT IS INVOLVED
    Current US case against wireless devices

    HERE IS THE ACTIVE LINK TO THE LAWSUIT DOCUMENTS LINKS:

    http://www.thermoguy.com/emfeducation.html

    Current US case against wireless devices:
    Link above leads to documents including:
    [1] Complaint

    [2] PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION MOTION

    [3] Memorandum in Support of Preliminary Injunction Motion

    [4] Declaration of Curtis Bennett

    [5] Declaration of DR. David O. Carpenter M.D.

    [6] Declaration of Lloyd Morgan

    [7] Declaration of Barrie Trower

  4. peggy lin says:

    Did I read this article correctly? I have the right to remove the smart meter which they’ve installed without my permission? They won’t be telling me that I’m demaging thier property. I would be glad to return it.
    In fact, we just had a guy install the smart meter from the water company as well. I saw him but didn’t think we had a choice until I read the article. Can I rip that one out as well?

    • Hi Peggy, The utilities made a big mistake by not asking residents their permission before installing their new meters. The bottom line is that YOU HAVE THE RIGHT to a safe, healthy home. Whether its a utility or some creepy guy (or some creepy guy employed by the utility) forcing a carcinogenic box on your home, you have the right to tell them to get off your property and you have the right to remove a meter that is (or may be) making you sick. Since its the utility’s property, keep it safe after you remove it and available if they want it back. This is your home- no one has the right to violate your home as the utilities have been doing.

      • Janet Curtis says:

        my neighbors house blew up killing her and her pets leaving her cancer stricken husband homeless. they say it was NOT the smart meter, yet they put my anolog bk on and they sent an electician to check wires now they are fixing my refridgerator. why because they are afraid of lawsuits and there are many suits going on alert id shows us just how many”electrical” fires have happened. their own employees told me oh yes they will jump yr fence to do what u said not to.

  5. Mia Nony says:

    NATIONAL PETITION:

    This petition automatically emails your objections to smart meters to the appropriate legislators.
    http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5836/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=7308

    • Mia Nony says:

      CORRECTION OF ABOVE POST:
      I have since learned how to lawfully prevent the installation of a smart meter. Therefore, I wish to rescind what I wrote back then about signing petitions.
      If you put the utility on the correct form of Notice by using a Claim of Right, followed by a Notice of Default, and if by so doing you then put them into estopple by acquiescence, once done you MUST refrain from later signing any other document after that point which could undo you common law rights. So if you used COR and NOD, do not sign any petition, nor join any “class of persons” class action lawsuit, and take care to avoid any subsequent actions which could nullify or rescind or void your Claim of Right and Notice of Default.
      Exercise and protect you UNalienable rights.
      The government has subverted the term itself, intentionally, by amending the absolute rights of any and all private men, women and children, simply by changing two letters. This single word change effectively converts universal common law lawful rights into maritime commercial rights., subject to the whims of Authority.
      Your government has carried out mass deception by changing the meaning of the legal word “UN-alienable”. They did so by eliminationg the powerful word “UN-alienable” from your DEclaratoin of Rights, and by substituting for it the word “IN-alienable” . This is HUGE!
      IN-alienable is a commercial law term which commodifies everything and everyone, humans, property, rights, and actions and which converts universal rights into revocable benefits and privileges accorded by corporations and government. Corporations have thus imposed themselves upon the people as the new Monarchy, using legal tricks to overturn history.
      This is possibly the biggest deception in all of American history.
      In light of the fact that Claim of Right and Notice of Default have proven to be the only effective way to refuse a smart meter, I therefore reverse the above post and wish it to be ignored by anyone willing to claim their right of refusal of a smart meter.
      Claim your right AND THEN do not sign any petition or class action or referendum. IN fact if possible do not register with the Government in any fashion once a right has been claimed. Not only will ANY form of registration (REGIS means King) void one’s legitimate Claim of Right and Notice of Default, but to do so establishes and reenforces the fictitious Authority of Government over oneself as a private man or woman or child.
      http://bcfreedom.wordpress.com/2013/01/11/phase-1-documents-to-help-prevent-smart-meter-installs-in-b-c/

  6. RobertWilliams says:

    MUST-SEE 4-minute youtube video on Smart meters:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=8JNFr_j6kdI

  7. Jim says:

    They are already hacking new cars, smart meters are next!

    Aug 2011
    http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Texting-grand-theft-auto-apf-37058933.html

  8. Robert says:

    Thank you for the EXCELLENT posts and comments. They are extremely helpful. I too have come to the conclusion that the most effective ways to combat this atrocity are: protect our analogue meters from being replaced, and sue the utilities.

    There’s another aspect to the Smart Meters we have not yet discussed:

    Excerpt from: http://biggovernment.com/tslagle/2010/11/29/washington-set-to-control-your-light-switch/

    “Washington Set to Control Your Light Switch – by Tim Slagle

    ….Right now social engineers are busy working on “Smart Grid” technology… The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 set aside $11 billion dollars to begin construction of that grid.

    Smart Grid sounds harmless and modern, but it will be incredibly intrusive. Appliances in the future will have [UPDATE: they already do] microchips installed; when you plug them in, they will handshake with the grid, and a central authority will determine whether that appliance deserves to get power or not. If a bureaucrat in Washington decides that it’s not hot enough for you to put on the air conditioner, your air conditioner will not work. If the Fed decides that Margaritas lead to too much trouble on Cinco de Mayo, all blenders can be disabled for the day.

    They can also turn off radios, televisions and computers. In the era of electronic information, restricting the freedom of the press is as easy as turning off the light. The idea is to conserve power, but a Smart Government will be able to use the technology to retain power as well.

    … In fact every appliance that was built before the smart grid will eventually be forbidden power. Which means that once the “Smart” Grid is fully operational, everything in your house that requires a plug will probably need to be replaced… (which will also leave a record the central office, every time it’s turned on).”

    Robert

    • Redi Kilowatt says:

      I’m sorry to pop your bubble, but only the low voltage thermostats that control the relays for the compressor motors for air conditioners will be controlled by the new AMI meters. No other appliances will be able to be externally controlled by the Home Area Networks (HAN’s) planned for in the future.
      That means, no toasters, no blenders, no refrigerators, no ovens, no ranges, no lights or lighting systems, no well pumps, pool pumps, ejector sewer pumps, electric gates, elevators, hillevators, clothes washers and dryers, dishwashers, grinders, computers or periferals, radio gear, televisions, vibrators, fans, irrigation pumps and controllers, electric blinds and window shades, telephone and radio (mobile) telephone equipment or electric gates will ever be monitored or controlled by the Utility Companies using the new mesh network which is primarily for revenue collection.
      This big dream of Home Area Networks is not even working yet, but the main purpose of controlling the compressor motors of AC units or heat pumps is and has been working in a few areas for over 10 years. In North Carolina, their local utility company installed controllers on heat pumps about 10 year ago.
      They did not charge the ratepayers, but they came out and installed receivers on the heat pumps to turn off the compressor motors. They used receivers that operate at around 150 MHz, not interactive devices, one way communication only. They also tried this in other states.
      This hyperbole about controlling appliances is hogwash, the utility companies do not have the technology nor the desire to control appliances.
      It is that in many areas of the country, the electric load of air conditioners are a burden on the power grid. But who’s fault is that ?
      Perhaps the planners should have never allowed development in hot areas in which air conditioning is mandatory, if they did not have the proper electricity generating capacity to deal with the load !

      • Jim says:

        “That means, no toasters, no blenders, no refrigerators, no ovens, no ranges, no lights or lighting systems, no well pumps, pool pumps”…

        Actually they are developing “Zigbee” controlled EVERYTHING, and the idea is to create jobs by having consumers buy all new stuff, whoopee! SOCIAL ENGINEERING! Government knows best!

        It’s called the HAN (Home Area Network via “Zigbee”) part of the smart meter and it’s another source of RF and can be hacked from outside the home, telling everyone everything, if you are home etc.. Plus with enough transmitter power someone could shut off refrigerators for blocks around, maybe further, every day for weeks or months your fridge goes off in the morning and stays that way till you find out later.

        These technologies are a risk to our infrastructure. The manufacturers are desperate to make a buck and always leave out the details on the downsides.

        With all the computer hacking going on year after year and everyone now using a virus scanner where even that doesn’t work sometimes, why is it when it comes to simple technology suddenly everyone goes dumb?

        It is simply NOT A GOOD IDEA to allow control of any electrical device in your home via RF. And especially NOT THE MAIN POWER!

        It’s just common sense and why the power companies should be held for negligence because there is no way they don’t know this from their own staff of engineers.

        No way they can claim they didn’t know. It’s all out there on the internet, has been for years.

        Example:
        http://www.simplehomenet.com/solutions.asp?page_id=SmartEnergy

        • Redi Kilowatt says:

          I have been designing and installing home automation and commercial building automation systems for decades, as well as structured cable for multi- media systems.
          The best systems are the ones that use a 24 volt control bus like GraphicEye and HomeWorks.
          Then, there are the powerline carrier systems that send simple commands such as on-off and dimming functions transmitted as RF on top of powerlines. The original powerline carrier system called X-10 was invented in Scotland in 1974. The newer Z-Wave and ZigBee systems transmit into the air, not on powerlines.
          Building automation is nothing new at all, and is very helpful for controlling lighting and HVAC systems remotely using telephone or internet interfaces.
          What gets me is all the slick brochures and posts on the internet claiming that automation systems are part of the Smart grid and were invented by the scientists and engineers for the power companies.
          All this sales hype, fear and paranoia about how the power companies will control all appliances is BS.
          The systems that are being considered by the utility companies are the HomePlug powerline carrier system for multi-family buildings air conditioning compressor motor on-off remote control, which is not mandatory, unless the building owners give permission to install the new Smart thermostats.
          The ZigBee system is a radio automation system that is capable of monitoring some large appliances, not toasters or blenders, that have the chips installed. That is all they do, monitor, not control.
          These systems are completely paid for, installed, programmed and maintained by the private customer should that customer decide that they want or need such a system.
          The only thing that the utility companies do is incorporate the interactive interface into the new AMI electric meters. It is the utility company that uses the meters for revenue collection, TOU pricing and in some areas at some times, controls air conditioner compressor motors only, nothing else will ever be remotely controlled by the utility company.
          I don’t care what the manufactures and paranoid people post on the internet. It’s all derived from sales hype, and some people who don’t know anything about automation and controls systems start making things up, because they don’t really know what is going on.
          By the way, the ZigBee system that interacts with the new AMI meters is just a pipedream now, it is not in operation yet. And keep in mind, the upgrading of the power grid to being smart has not yet begun in this country, that is a completely separate project from the AMI meters. The meters are often confused with being the power grid, they are not the grid, and the mesh networks and mobile phone networks that the meters use are not the power grid, they are separate systems.

  9. Arrow says:

    It is hard to predict who the collection of information can be used for or against someone. If you want the government and or power company turing your air conditioning and pool pump on an off then surely you have the right to give up your right of control.

    But regardless of what the intent is behind the smart meter, it seems pretty clear that these are dangerous devices for ones health. That should be the bottom line. Why the hell would any parent want to expose their children to this kind of pollution? It is insanity.

    • Redi Kilowatt says:

      I agree, it is insanity.
      The only thing that the power companies will ever be able to control is the low voltage (24 volt) relays for air conditioner compressor motors, on or off only.
      They will never be able to control anything else, especially pool pumps, toasters, refrigerators, blenders etc, etc.
      What they can do in some areas, is turn off the compressor motors during times when they feel that they cannot meet the demand on hot days in hot areas. They will leave the fan on, they cannot even control any fans, heating, medical equipment, computers, communication equipment or anything else in residential dwellings. And of course, cannot control anything in commercial or industrial office campuses or complexes.
      The AMI meter program is a sham and a fraud, exposing people to RF radiation, costing the ratepayers billions, just to enhance the bottom line of the utility corporations by eliminating the meter reading departments, and in the future to do time based pricing.
      When I think about it, in business, entities have to invest their own or shareholders money to develop new ways to increase profits, it’s called return on investment (ROI). But in the case of the AMI meters in PG&E territory, there is absolutely no investment by the corporation or the shareholders.
      The bottom line is : they cooked up this big propaganda campaign to charge the ratepayers $220 million per year for 10 years for investing in a scam that will provide the corporation with an increased profit of $80 million per year by eliminating the meter reading department, and then some more when they start the time pricing program.
      In the real business world, this is unheard of and a first. For the corporations, this could be the smartest program ever cooked up.
      Unfortunately for PG&E, the AMI electric meter program is not panning out well, and the investors are starting to get very uptight.
      Haste makes waste !

      • Redi Kilowatt says:

        PG&E has not yet started to upgrade the power grid to being “smart”, but in a recent article in the N.Y. Times they have announced that they do intend to start upgrading the power grid in the future, after the meter project is completed.
        This plan to upgrade the power grid is necessary, not just for increased profits but mainly because the power grid in this country is archaic, the SCADA controls and transformers are 40 years old.
        The deregulation of the power industry has put much more of a stress on the aging power grid now that they “wheel ” power all across the country on transmission lines that were only designed for regional use.
        There is very little effective interoperability between the nodes of all these independent generation and distribution corporations and public entities. They really do need better communication between the nodes.
        So in PG&E territory, the report says that the upgrading of the power grid will cost between $500 million and $1.2 billion over the next 10 years.
        They said that this will be a capital improvement project paid for by the corporation, some federal stimulus money (unlike the AMI meter project) and the ratepayers will only have to pay about $50 per year.
        If PG&E has 10 million electric customers each paying $50 per year, then they will be collecting $500 million dollars per year from the ratepayers for 10 years to upgrade the grid, that is on top of the $2.2 billion plus we are now paying for the AMI meter project.
        I say that PG&E takes the cake for extortion , and also for being stupid and thinking that nobody will figure them out.
        PG&E thinks that they are SuperSmart, but eventually the shit is gonna hit the fan and they will be exposed. The ratepayers are going to revolt (no pun intended), and demand a rebate and the boot to them. Off with their heads !

  10. Robert says:

    In response to those who say the utilities, through their ‘SmartGrid’, will not or cannot turn off our appliances and electrical devices, please watch this excerpt:

    IN THEIR OWN WORDS – VIDEO:

    http://www.blinkx.com/watch-video/smart-grid-ibm-energy-efficient-smart-grids-for-a-smarter-planet/mklfR55aasdedmHXJMXFkw

    – at 2:29 minutes watch Ron Ambrosio, Energy and Utility Research, IBM, say: “We were taking home area networks as a way of sending messages to the home and to the devices in the homes about when they should run and not run.”

  11. susan says:

    I called SCE and told them not to install a smart meter and they said they would relay my concerns but I had to have one. Now down I need to do something to insure I’m not on some list to get one. I gave them my address and phone number.

    • Robert says:

      Susan, send SCE and also your gas and water companies a certified letter such as the one shown on this website:
      https://stopsmartmeters.org/sample-letter-to-utility/

      Also build protective devices or security cages over your existing SCE meter, as well as your gas meter and water meter, like these:
      https://stopsmartmeters.org/2011/04/28/defend-your-analog-meter-part-ii/

      I built mine from heavy gauge expanded metal.

    • Redi Kilowatt says:

      Susan,
      SCE may be different than PG&E, but in PG&E territory, if you contact them asking to opt out of a new AMI meter, you have just been put on a list to have a new meter.
      PG&E will say things like, “the new meters are required”. Required by who ?
      The CPUC will be having hearings and is supposed to make a determination about the AMI meter project. Until then, any utility corporation should not and legally cannot tell a customer that the new meters are required, mandatory or necessary for continued electrical delivery.
      What the utilities corporations are doing is being big bullies, trying to bluff the customers.
      Some people don’t care at all, they are the corporatists who might stand to profit from the utility companies eliminating the meter reading departments.
      Then there are the manufacturers , installers who are non-electricians, utility executives and many other officials who will benefit from this meter project.
      The utility corporations who control the government claim that the new meters could somehow save energy by the customer knowing how much electricity their home uses, but we have all known how much electricity we use since electric meters were invented, 100 years ago.
      The new meters do not generate electricity, regulate electricity or save electricity, and are connected to the power grid with no current limiting or over voltage protections of any kind (see what happened in East Palo Alto last week).
      The utility corporations are in the business to sell electricity, and the mo the bettah.
      The utility corporations biggest worry is not having enough electricity to meet the demands of air conditioning systems in hot areas on hot days. That is piss poor planning on their part. The same goes for water agencies.
      The corporations lobby for over development of buildings without any concern for the environment, traffic infrastructure, water, sewer, gas or electric supplies.
      The developers have had free reign to trash the planet with overbuilding. Now those developers and politicians want the public taxpayers to bail them out by paying for fire protection, water and electricity rationing and new roads so they can carry on with business as usual.
      Business as usual is getting very old and smelly, something has got to give out and blow up, like the San Bruno gas pipeline did.

      • well said, mr. kilowatt. Corporations- particularly utilities are in the business of internalizing profits and externalizing costs to health and the environment (not to mention public services required to mop up after their boondoogle schemes).

  12. Donna Avent says:

    Last year, I did call PGE and told her that I want to take smart meter out but PGE gave me warning me If I remove smart meter and PGE will punish and charge me . I am scary. Where is my right??

  13. Richard says:

    You wrote above that ” If you already have a smart meter, you have the right to have it removed from your home. Purchase an analog meter at an electricity supply shop and hire an electrician to swap it out. Then lock it up so your utility can’t steal it.”

    Are you really sure that it is legal for me to do this?????

    Has anybody here done it and had success with it? Did PG&E not shut off electricity and gas afterward?

    I’m a little confused because there are no instructions what to do with the smart meter once it has been removed. Obviously it is not my property so I would have to give it back to PG&E somehow.

    • HI Richard,

      We can’t give legal advice but we can share what has happened with others who have done this. Important to realize that “Smart” meters are not mandated by state or federal government. The utility is not the government, even though they seem to think they are. You have a right to refuse a new, carcinogenic device on your home, whether it is the utility trying to install or some random guy on the street. That is your right to a safe and secure home guaranteed by the 4th amendment, and basic property rights. Your agreement with the utility was not modified and therefore the utilities have no permission to install these meters on your private property. They will threaten to disconnect your service, but they have not done so and they do not in fact have the legal right to do so for paying customers. Depending on what the PUC decides, they may or may not be able to charge you an additional fee for having an analog. If you have your smart meter removed, you should do so methodically, not damaging the equipment, photographing the reading of the smart and analog meter with a photo of the day’s newspaper with the date showing and keep the smeter in a box safe for PG&E if they want it back.

  14. Richard says:

    Thank you. Would any electrician do this or do I need to find a daring one?

    • Probably an irreverent (and wise) electrician 😉 Really — having a meter replaced on your home is NOT illegal. Show me the law you are breaking. If you do not tamper, and simply have it replaced with a functional analog meter, and you make sure to pay your bill, your utility can throw a hissy fit and stomp around- threatening to cut you off or increase your bill. But this is about your contractual relationship with your utility provider- they violated that contract by failing to obtain permission to install their evil little devices on our homes and our communities in the first place.

      • Richard says:

        Thanks again! Have any of you actually had this done? Or are we just theorizing?

      • Breeze Harper says:

        Anyone have an recommendations for what type of analog meters to buy to replace the Smart Meter?

        • You could get one from here- just make sure not to buy a smart meter by accident! (the safe ones are generally the ones with the spinning discs)
          http://www.tdsurplus.com/bidsale/usedelectricmeter.htm

          • Redi Kilowatt says:

            Refurbished analog revenue meters are available at most electrical supply houses, the cost varies from around $50 to $75.
            The new AMI and AMR meters are not available to the general public, but there were a couple on Craig’s list a month ago.
            There are 100’s of different kinds of digital electric meters available, but those are used for advanced power quality and condition analysis.
            The new so called “smart” meters do not generate power, do not store power, do not regulate power, do not save power (actually they use more power than an analog meter to transmit RF for sending usage data to the central controller), do not analyize power for quality and condition, cannot distinguish what the power flowing through it is being used for (only the total kilowatts used at any given time), do not in any way prevent blackouts or brownouts, and finally do not provide any over current or over voltage protection from what happens on the power grid. Their only purpose is to record and transmit usage data, That’s it, nothing else.
            But I admit, they will record every milliwatt of power that flows through it, no more ghost loads that didn’t use enough electricity to spin the dial.

      • Don Banjo says:

        onthelevelblog;

        Sage advice.

        This is as well a Fourth Amendment issue and also called out in the California Constitution Re; property owners rights.

        I have refused to allow the SCE installer to install one on my dwelling or property on July 21, 2011. I have yet to hear from SCE or see their installer since, nor has my utility rate increased, if it does I will sue for discrimination (health, disability and medical issues). What is ones health worth?

        This should be fought out in the courts. I do not understand why all these groups of protester (talk on the blogs) do not pool their money resources and get this smart grid/agenda 21 thing outlawed?

        • Sorina says:

          Are you all aware, that in California some 56 counties and or communities have criminalized the smart meters?
          Now I wonder why, could it be that they are actually dangerous? How about B.C? 54 moratoriums were demanded, that is in total more than 3.5 million people.
          Yet the smart meter soldiers keep marching on.Your politicians, unless of strong character, don’t seem to have a whole lot to say in the matter. The information out there as to the danger of the smart meters is mounting. The human power grid has got to be stronger then the Hydro grid. So let’s take action and protect that what is rightfully ours. Democracy the freedom the resist that what endangers our lives and of future generations.

  15. Richard says:

    Thanks for all the answers except for this question: has anybody here actually had their smart meter removed, or am I going to be everybody’s guinea pig?

    • Sorina says:

      Yes Richard, there have been people who had them removed. A form is needed and send out registered mail to “Hydro” of the removal of the meter. Later on you may check with the post office if they have received your request. It won’t be easy, but stand your grounds. Get informed through :www.citizensofsafetechnology.com and update your self. Here in” Enderby” we had a meeting in a small hall and some 300 people showed up to listen to the important information of the dangers of the smart meters. Click on to “Enderby meeting July 18th 2012., and it will surprise you for such a small town with that kind of turn out. The speakers had years of research and experience in the field of electromagnetic pulses from smart meters etc.

  16. Richard says:

    OK, I talked to several electricians and none of them are willing to do it, citing potential legal issues.

    I take it given the lack of responses that nobody here has actually tried removing theirs and are either happily living with their smart meters while scaring others or don’t have the guts to have theirs removed.

    • Redi Kilowatt says:

      I am a licensed electrical contractor, and I also still have my 30 year old analog meter.
      I have changed out 100’s of electric meters in my career, but never a new AMI or AMR meter.
      I would do it for someone that I have known for a long time, at least 30 years.
      Of course I would insist that if the person that I changed out a smart meter with an analog meter would never give me up if the PG&E gangstah’s came down on them.
      I don’t trust any strangers anymore, but I do trust my friends not to rat me out.
      I really don’t know the legalities of doing such a job, but I do know that PG&E is a powerful corporation with powerful lawyers paid for by their customers.
      I am busy doing all kinds of other electrical work now, and I would never risk my career for a little $250 job of getting rid of a smart meter for a stranger.
      My advice is to do whatever it takes to prevent Wellington or PG&E from installing a new meter now, before the (bought) CPUC makes their decision later this month.
      I don’t want a transmitting meter on my property, so I hope the CPUC gives us an option to opt out of having one.
      If PG&E is allowed to install new digital meters that don’t transmit RF, I will reluctantly give them access to my property to do so, but I will insist that they disable the transmitter on their own dime at their meter shop. I will refuse to pay a $230 fee to deactivate the transmitter at my house, and I will howl loudly if they try and tack on a new rate increase or electricity surcharge to read my meter that has built into my existing electricity rates for decades.
      This whole meter project is just a money grab by the utility corporations, basically a rate increase pushed through on false pretenses, like saving money for the customers, what a lie, it’s costing the customers more every day for this project.
      Just because their (PG&E’s) grandiose plans did not pan out for them, and they were too hasty in ramrodding the project through that the main objective was to eliminate the meter reading department and save $80 million per year for 10 years, doesn’t mean that we all have to pay more for electricity.
      PG&E and all the other utility corporations made a huge mistake in thinking that they could pull this scam off without a hitch.
      They went about it all wrong, and their profits are not going to as big as planned. A lot of people have made a lot of money off of this scam so far, but hopefully the party will be over soon for them.
      The saddest thing to me is that some people have been fooled by all the false advertising, and then start to go off into making things up based on silly videos claiming that the new meters are sophisticated devices. They are not very sophisticated at all, their only purpose is to transmit usage data via RF, (automated meter reading), and eliminate the meter reading department for the shareholders.
      I will post some of the myths and misconceptions about the new meters later, there are many, but this post is long enough and it’s dinner time.
      Have a great holiday everyone out there.

  17. Richard says:

    OK.

    Well if anybody knows any electrician who would would be willing to exchange my meters please let me know.

    Also, if anybody knows anybody who had their meters exchanged, please post.

    I mean no disrespect, but am a little disappointed by those here who made it sound like this would be easy to get done and legally no problem, but then nobody actually has the balls to do it or experience of having done it themselves. It’s just not very useful advice.

    • Redi Kilowatt says:

      If you don’t know any electricians personally, I would think it would hard to solicit someone who doesn’t know you to do that job.
      Electricians don’t trust PG&E, and like all big corporations, PG&E has a “security team”. I would not put it past PG&E to do a set up and try and nab some electrician for changing out one of their new meters and try and set prescedent and make up new laws or make an example out of the electrician.
      The legalities are not clear, but given the deep pockets of PG&E with all their ratepayers money at their disposal to hire expensive law firms, even if it turned out to be legal to do, it could cost an electrician thousands of dollars in legal fees.
      I have worked with PG&E for many years doing new main services and relocating meter mains.
      PG&E told me that they frown on me doing my own hot taps, but when I have to do a new main service and PG&E says that they are 2 months out to do the changeover, I do it myself, get it signed off by the inspector and PG&E shows up later to remove my splice connectors and use their own crimping connectors.
      I remember doing a job for a new main service, and went back there 4 months later and PG&E still had not been there !
      The job of changing out an electric meter is very easy, even a non-electrician (monkey) from Wellington Energy can do it.
      If you do it yourself, turn off all loads at the main circuit breaker panel first. This is to prevent arcing. Anytime you switch or disconnect power under load, arcing will happen. Even little wall switches arc inside when the circuit is opened.
      If there already has been a new meter installed and it hasn’t caught fire and burned, it’s safe to remove it and change it out with an analog meter from an electrical supply house or Solar/Alternate energy company like Real Goods in Willits.
      The problem with Wellington Energy installers is that they are hasty, often times sneaking onto peoples property and slapping in new meters on meter main enclosures where there is no access to the main load center panel, hence doing the change out under full load, and then go and put a door hanger on after they are done, a chimpo thing to do. They should be instructed to always notify the customer first, and get permission to turn off all loads or the main service fused disconnect first. But doing what electricians are required to do would take extra time, and some customers might run them (Wellington) off of their property.
      PG&E has already made the sale and been paid too, but Wellington needs to complete the deal with an installation in order to make a profit on this huge contract.

    • Jim says:

      Did you put them on notice yet?

      There is sample letter text online here, link at top to the right. You should be able to get it removed for all the stated reasons, including hacking, endangering the community and other technical stuff which I don’t know why hasn’t been added to the sample letters yet. ( stopsmartmeters guys are you paying attention? Update those letters! )

      DEMAND IT BE REMOVED IMMEDIATELY! Don’t “request” or “ask” – are you a sheep?

      EVERYONE needs to put them on notice so they are in a liability position, it just makes sense. These guys think in terms of $$ and you all know it, so use that against them!

      Later if there is a class action lawsuit, it puts you in a better position, don’t you think?

      • Sorina says:

        Finally some one is getting to the point. Are you sheep let to the slaughter? Are you willing to give up something that is right fully yours? Are you aware, what is on the line here?? Your DEMOCRACY, YOUR RIGHT TO MAKE DECISIONS.
        THEY ARE STEPPING ON THE “‘CHARTER OF RIGHTS”, LIKE IT NEVER EXISTED. (I.E FOR B.C.) You were born free to decide for your self.
        Protect that which is most sacred, your Freedom to chose.
        Do think of future generations . LET’S TAKE THEM TO COURT, and see their house of cards crumbling $$$$$$$$$

    • Hi Richard, We’ve heard from a lot of people who have done this. From our perspective, and from many legal perspectives, this is absolutely consistent with your property rights to choose to have a device on your home or not. What the utility does in response is unclear- there is no legal right for the utility to disconnect service to a paying customer because of sm refusal or removal. If someone knows of a clause that allows disconnection, please post it. They can try to charge you more money but that ability is regulated by the PUC. There are a lot of people doing this, but not a lot who are willing to be public about it. We’ve had one report of service being disconnected out of state for sm refusal and are trying to gather more details on that. As of today, a woman in Santa Barbara County changed out here meter and is being threatened with service disconnection. Whether PG&E will follow through is another matter as the bad press would be significant- cutting off power to an 80 year old electrosensitive veteran just trying to survive. These gestapo type tactics thrive on secrecy and lack of public awareness. We encourage people to submit their meter switch out stories and we will publish them. For now, see http://emfsafetynetwork.org/?p=5783

    • The important thing is distinguishing between THE LAW and utility company POLICY. They are two different things, even though PG&E would like you to believe they are the arbiter of the law…

    • Jim says:

      If you did do that I think you would want to have some sort of certificate of accuracy for the new mechanical meter you are going to put in, maybe the installer electrician could do that test and sign something.

      Then I would take a reading of the old meter and the new one at the start and then send that in a letter to the power company notifying them of the reading change (within 30 days or the day of the next read etc..). And also send their meter back of course.

      That would be fair notice to the power company and fair to everyone involved and shows that you are not trying to rip off any power etc… And I think it would set up a good legal paper trail that you are trying to be fair and allow them to still get their $$ for power used.

      Plus they have the simple option if they get all freaked out about this to just come there and put BACK the mechanical meter that was there in the first place, case closed and so simple and money saving.

      Or get solar panels and go off grid 🙂

      The other problem with these smart meters it that you can’t go buy a $200 enphase grid tie inverter (UL approved NEC compliant, power company clean power) and just plug it in like you could do now with a mechanical meter where it would turn backwards all day long, giving you “credits” to use later at night.

      So they just lowered your property value and everyone else’s because now it’s harder to go “green”, but yet they charge you every month for “green energy projects”. WTF?

      Laws need to be put in place to force the PUC / power co. to let people turn their meters backwards without a hassle. Some States already have that law in place.

      One more issue to work on….

  18. Stand Up Citizen says:

    For those who still have thier analog meters, I think any letters or notices sent to PG&E by non attorneys, the composition of the letter should be done with a few basic ideas in mind, suggested below as follows:

    1. We have an unequivocal right to order non-PG&E personnel off of our properties, including Wellington Energy, with whom we hopefully have no undisclosed contractual arrangements.

    2. We have a working arrangement/implied consent contract with P.G.&E. granting them an easement onto our properties for the sole purpose of having PG&E’s employees (not Wellington’s) read and maintain the meter in return for PG&E’s agreement to provide varying amounts of electrical energy to our homes.

    3. The meter, having been in place for times long antecedent to our occupancies in most cases, is mutually agreed (by the principles of implied consent to repetitive and oft-repeated practices with no notable objection from either party) to be fair and accurate in measuring electrical usage, for the purposes of billing in terms of U.S. Dollars or fractions of dollars per Kilowatt hour. PG&E’ confirms the notion that the meter is agreed by both parties to be accurate, and places a small, easily breakeable seal on the meter (a small padlock type gadget, breakable with a small hand tool) in order to provide evidence of tampering and or unauthorized replacement on our part, should such activities occur. Tampering or unauthorized replacement on our part may be construed as evidence of “theft of Service”, which is a misdemeanor.

    4. In a likewise manner and for similar purposes we should place our own breakable seal around the perimeter of PG&E’s seal, also confirming the agreement and to provide evidence of tampering and or unauthorized replacement on PG&E’s part, should such activity occur. The tampering with and/or unauthorized replacement of the meter on PG&E’s part may be construed as evidence of potential intentional billing fraud and/or conversion due to (a.) the debateable calibration accuracy of ANY different type of meter that is not certified by an independent laboratory or other mutually agreeable authority. Intentional fraud or conversion of any kind is also, at the very least in a single incidence sense, a misdemeanor. On a large or massive scale as the smart meter program is, it most certainly can be called Grand Larceny, usually a felony. It should be noted that the tortious taking of property is, of itself, a “Conversion” which is, for many practical purposes the same thing as theft.

    Tortious conversion just means that the taking of the thing was for the purposes of converting it into something else that results in an unjust loss for the aggrieved party and an unjust gain for the taking party. This is certainly true in the cases of replacinng an analog meter with a Spymeter. PG&E will try to argue that since the analog meter is thier property, taking it back whenever they want cannot be considered a theft.

    However, the implied consent agreement between ourselves and the Utility amounts to what is called a “Bailment”, where personal property (the analog meter) is left by the Bailor, (PG&E), with the Bailees (the ratepayers). During the specific period a bailment exists, the bailee’s interest in the property is superior to that of all others, including the bailor, unless the bailee violates some term of the agreement.

    It should be noted that also during the term that a bailment agreeably exists without an incident of infringement, it has a certain value in terms of the advatages it affords to each of the parties that are due to circumstances created by the nature of the bailment agreement and the bailed property. Any intermeddling with the bailed property, any exercise of dominion over it, subversive of the dominion of the owner, OR OF THE NATURE OF THE BAILMENT, is also evidence of a conversion. 1 Nott & McCord, R. 592; 2 Mass. R. 398; 1 Har. & John. 519; 7 John. R. 254; 10 John. R. 172 14 John. R. 128; Cro. Eliz. 219; 2 John. Cas. 411. Vide Trover

    So the question becomes what monetary or other adavantage is being forfieted by us, the baillees of all those analog meters that we were in charge of, once they are replaced by a whole bunch of SpyMeters??

    One clear advantage that is lost is that with the analog meters, PG&E would be obliged to weigh the costs involved before sending a crew out to disconnect a customer for non payment of a bill. With the Spymeter, the utility can disconnect customers from a distance with just a mouse click, reportedly. This loss is the dollar amount of bargaining power a customer had if they happened to short of cash at the end of a billing period.

    Another perhaps more significant advantage however is the more favorable economy for ratepayers that exists when meter readers have jobs and are not on taxpayer supported food stamps. Remember many if not most Meter Readers are also ratepayers. This unilateral activity of converting our analog meters on the part of PG&E amounts to a huge loss of a valuable advantage on a massive scale that will be completely wiped out once all the spymeters are in place.

    I will wrap this up by saying that if the meter seals (small padlock gadgets) are broken by either party for any reason without mutual consent, it is the duty of the party discovering any broken seals to report the matter to the other party, and/or to the police or sheriff’s and the matter resolved by mutual consent between the parties, or by investigation of police.

    So if ya got a Spymeter by surprize and without mutual informed consent or notice, that usually means your analog meter that you held as a bailment holding PG&E to strict conditions has been stealthily converted and put into a warehouse somehwere nearby, and it should be reported as stolen to the police or sheriffs.

    All of the preceeding is my humble opinion, of course. None of the above should be construed as legal advice.

  19. Redi Kilowatt says:

    Wellington Energy has been instructed to leave any reversible analog meters in place for the people that are tied to the grid but also back feed power from geothermal, hydroelectric, wind, bio fuel and solar power generating systems.
    There are many who do this, and if Wellington sneaks in a new digital meter, the customer will get no credit for the power that their privately owned generating systems back feed to the grid.
    It’s just more marketing and sales hyperbole that the new digital “smart” meters are net metering devices. They ARE NOT !
    All these claims about all the capabilities of the new meters are propaganda and false advertising.
    Keep in mind that if one decides to replace a smart meter with their own analog meter, the PG&E meter readers won’t mind at all, and they would never rat you out to their autocratic superiors.
    They will welcome such a thing, it helps the ones that are left to keep their decent paying jobs.
    The meter readers are not electricians, but clerical workers covered by a weak division of the IBEW union. They don’t know who has a new meter or not, or care at all. The mo old meters the bettah.
    I have done jobs for people that have paid me to move the main service so they could build an un-permitted room in their garage.
    They were worried that the meter reader would notice the relocation of the meter. I told them not to worry at all, that the meter readers don’t care about electrical systems, just that they need to read the meter as quick as they can. Most of them don’t remember exact details, especially when they have large routes that cover a large area, and especially now when they have to cover new routes that they have never done before.

    • Amy O'Hair says:

      Here’s something that meter readers are getting right now, all over PGE territory: Zapped.

      For example, in my SF neighborhood, they still read, and 80%+ of the meters they are reading are “smart” transmitting meters. Twice a minute all day long, they stick their faces a few inches from RF transmitters, and they don’t get face shields like the Wellington installers have. Apparently their union isn’t giving them info or protection.

      My reader says he’s been given no termination date. He was just this rather frightened looking 19-year-old, working from week to week with no job security. Hey, Obama, your ‘smart’ grid might give a job to a highly educated ambitious person, but what about the corresponding hundreds of entry-level young people who will lose or never have the opportunity to get hired. It may not be a fabulous high-flown job, but for many it is the job they can and will do. No more, as our utilities would have it.

  20. http://www.ktvu.com/news/29135867/detail.html

    Protesters call for criminal charges against PG&E executives

    Posted: 3:33 pm PDT September 9, 2011
    SAN FRANCISCO — Criminal charges should be filed against the top executives of PG&E in connection with last year’s deadly San Bruno pipeline explosion, a Green Party candidate for mayor said Friday at a protest in San Francisco.

    In a rally outside PG&E’s San Francisco headquarters timed to coincide with today’s first anniversary of the explosion and resulting fire, which killed eight people and destroyed 38 homes, Terry Joan Baum said the company’s executives needed to pay.

    “We need to put these executives in prison because that’s the kind of wake-up call corporate America will respond to,” Baum said.

    Baum and her group of slightly more than a dozen supporters alleged that PG&E had fired whistleblowers who pointed out safety problems, pushed out experienced employees who knew how to handle emergencies and lobbied extensively against safety regulations in the years prior to the blast.

    They argued that the explosion demonstrated that private corporations could not be trusted and that utilities should be placed in public hands.

    Burlingame resident Pat Gray, a member of the Peace and Freedom Party who spoke at the rally, said she helped evacuate her sister from San Bruno following the explosion, and had two other friends who lost their homes.

    “This disaster should be the last straw for private for-profit control of our utilities,” Gray said.

    John Rizzo, a member of the City College Board of Trustees and a public power activist, said residents needed to know where other potentially risky pipelines are located.

    “We demand to know where those pipelines are, what condition they are in and when they’re going to be replaced,” Rizzo said.

    PG&E issued a statement in recognition of the one-year anniversary of San Bruno and in response to the protest, saying the company has reflected upon and learned from the tragedy.

    “Out of our sadness and regret has come an ironclad commitment to help the community rebuild and to refashion PG&E’s management and operating practices to make sure we operate our pipelines as safely as possible,” PG&E President Chris Johns said in the statement.

    The company also released a lengthy list of steps it has taken to improve safety in the year since the explosion, including improved inspection and testing of pipelines, development of better emergency response plans, the hiring of new executives, engineers and other employees and the separation of its gas and electric operations.

    Work is underway on efforts to test and replace pipelines where necessary, install more remote and automatic shutoff valves and sensing equipment, and to create a central records database.

    San Bruno residents are holding a remembrance ceremony later Friday evening at Skyline College to mark the anniversary of the explosion.

    The ceremony is scheduled for 6 p.m. and will be attended by various city officials and people who lived in the Crestmoor Canyon neighborhood affected by the disaster.

  21. Michael Boyd says:

    CPUC Prehearing Conference – September 7, 2011 – SDG&E Smart Grid Deployment Plan
    [Agenda]
    http://www.californiaadmin.com/agenda.php?confid=CPUC_PHC090711&dir=cpuc
    [Archive Video Part 1]
    http://streaming.aanet.org/ramgen/cpuc/CPUC_PHC090711-1.rm
    [Archive Video Part 2]
    http://streaming.aanet.org/ramgen/cpuc/CPUC_PHC090711-2.rm

  22. Jim Ostrowski says:

    Locking ring cut by SCE

    Posted on August 23, 2011 by admin

    Deborah Tavares, a leader in the nationwide Refuse Smart Meter movement, who owns property in Southern California, secured a metal locking ring around her analog meter to protect it from being replaced with a ‘Smart’ Meter. She also changed the lock on the cabinet where the meter was enclosed. Many people have taken similar action to protect their analog meters. Today, however, Southern California Edison (SCE) cut off both the cabinet lock and the analog locking ring, forcibly installing the new meter. Deborah said, ” This is tyrannical take over, a technocracy takeover- we are at war!”

    http://emfsafetynetwork.org/?p=5576

  23. Jim Ostrowski says:

    Woman restores analog meter to protect husband:

    PG&E Smart Meter agent “Dennis Weidman, before losing his patience and hanging up on me, said tomorrow he will bring the police and turn off our electricity.”

    Call to arms:
    No More says:

    “This is when the solidarity needs to leave the internet and move butts in the physical world. If those scumbags do come to this woman’s house, they should meet with a massive number of armed people.”

    http://emfsafetynetwork.org/?p=5783

  24. John O says:

    September 23, 2011

    Southern California Edison
    P.O. Box 800
    Rosemead, CA 91770

    http://www.sce.com/

    Theodore F. Craver, Jr., Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Edison International

    Ronald L. Litzinger, President, Southern California Edison

    RE: your address

    NOTICE OF NO CONSENT TO TRESPASS AND SURVEILLANCE, NOTICE OF LIABILITY

    Sent By Certified Mail and Email via SCE web site.

    Dear Chairman Craver, President Litzinger, agents, officers, employees, contractors and interested parties:

    Be advised, you and all other parties are hereby denied consent for installation and use of any and all “Smart Meters” or any other surveillance and activity monitoring device, or devices, at the above property. Installation and use of any surveillance and activity monitoring device that sends and receives communications technology is hereby refused and prohibited. Informed consent is legally required for installation of any surveillance device and any device that will collect and transmit private and personal data to undisclosed and unauthorized parties for undisclosed and unauthorized purposes. Authorization for sharing of personal and private information may only be given by the originator and subject of that information. That authorization is hereby denied and refused with regard to the above property and all its occupants. “Smart Meters” violate the law and cause endangerment to residents by the following factors:

    1. They individually identify electrical devices inside the home and record when they are operated causing invasion of privacy.

    2. They monitor household activity and occupancy in violation of rights and domestic security.

    3. They transmit wireless signals which may be intercepted by unauthorized and unknown parties. Those signals can be used to monitor behavior and occupancy and they can be used by criminals to aid criminal activity against the occupants.

    4. Data about occupant’s daily habits and activities are collected, recorded and stored in permanent databases which are accessed by parties not authorized or invited to know and share that private data by those who’s activities were recorded.

    5. Those with access to the smart meter databases can review a permanent history of household activities complete with calendar and time-of-day metrics to gain a highly invasive and detailed view of the lives of the occupants.

    6. Those databases may be shared with, or fall into the hands of criminals, blackmailers, corrupt law enforcement, private hackers of wireless transmissions, power company employees, and other unidentified parties who may act against the interests of the occupants under metered surveillance.

    7. “Smart Meters” are, by definition, surveillance devices which violate Federal and State wiretapping laws by recording and storing databases of private and personal activities and behaviors without the consent or knowledge of those people who are monitored.

    8. It is possible for example, with analysis of certain “Smart Meter” data, for unauthorized and distant parties to determine medical conditions, sexual activities, physical locations of persons within the home, vacancy patterns and personal information and habits of the occupants.

    9. Your company has not adequately disclosed the particular recording and transmission capabilities of the smart meter, or the extent of the data that will be recorded, stored and shared, or the purposes to which the data will and will not be put.

    10. Electromagnetic and Radio Frequency energy contamination from smart meters exceeds allowable safe and healthful limits for domestic environments as determined by the EPA and other scientific programs.

    I forbid, refuse and deny consent of any installation and use of any monitoring, eavesdropping, and surveillance devices on my property, my place of residence and my place of occupancy. That applies to and includes “Smart Meters” and surveillance and activity monitoring devices of any and all kinds. Any attempt to install any such device directed at me, other occupants, my property or residence will constitute trespass, stalking, wiretapping and unlawful surveillance and endangerment of health and safety, all prohibited and punishable by law through criminal and civil complaints. All persons, government agencies and private organizations responsible for installing or operating monitoring devices directed at or recording my activities, which I have not specifically authorized in writing, will be fully liable for any violations, intrusions, harm or negative consequences caused or made possible by those devices whether those negative consequences are justified by “law” or not.

    This is legal notice. After this delivery the liabilities listed above may not be denied or avoided by parties named and implied in this notice. Civil Servant immunities and protections do not apply to the installation of smart meters due to the criminal violations they represent.

    Notice to principal is notice to agent and notice to agent is notice to principal. All rights reserved.

    Signature and address

  25. Truly boggles my mind, that these criminals are allowed to keep on playing their games.
    Entering private property is already an offense under the law. Then to bully, especially those who are most vulnerable i.e the elderly and disabled, should be the cause for prosecution without hesitation. May be sharp words, but don’t they use sharp tactics??
    Corix and “Hydro” are businesses and we don’t want their merchandise. Stick like glue together on this one, because you will lose your “Democracy, Charter of rights and how about the “Constitution. if we give in I may have made some mistakes in the explanation, but I made my point. Think of the pregnant women the children and the future generations, and see what’s ahead of them!!!

  26. Paul says:

    Smart meters are part of UN Agenda 21. This is more about control than any conservation. Once installed they create a permanent data base on electric usage in your home. They can control your thermostat. The new “smart appliances” can communicate with and through the smart meters. These devices can be unsafe as well as intrusive.

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