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Utilities across the country are installing so-called ‘smart’ meters. As a result, bills are skyrocketing, health effects and safety violations are being reported, and privacy in our homes is being violated. Do we really need wireless smart meters?
Decide for yourself:
Do you want an accurate, reasonably priced utility bill? Utility customers have noticed huge increases in their bill after a ‘smart’ meter is installed–in some cases hundreds of dollars more than usual. Utilities claim the meters are accurate,but unexplained over-billing has featured in many negative reports, all around the US. Read more.
Do you value your health, and the health of your family and friends? Just as we’re learning that cell phones cause brain tumors, why are we installing the same technology on everyone’s homes, often with no right to opt out? Thousands of people have complained of tinnitus, headaches, nausea, sleeplessness, heart arrhythmia, and other symptoms after a ‘smart’ meter was installed. Wireless technology is a public health hazard. Smart meters can violate already high FCC limits on human exposure to microwave radiation, and are being installed even as people are developing “electro-sensitivity”. There are also reports of ‘smart’ meter interference with pacemakers and other implants. Read more.
Do you value civil liberties and the right to privacy? When a ‘smart’ meter is installed, your utility has access to a treasure trove of information about your electricity usage, potentially compromising your privacy. Depending on the regulatory protections–and enforcement of those rules–in your state, they will be able to sell this information to a series of corporations and the government. Read the interview with the Electronic Frontier Foundation about how ‘smart’ meters violate privacy. Read how the ACLU in Vermont and the ACLU in Hawaii have both condemned the lack of consumer privacy protection.
Do you care about wildlife and cutting carbon emissions? Smart meters do not result in energy savings, according to Reuters. They may even increase energy consumption. There is also emerging evidence that wireless, non-ionizing radiation (from cell phones, wifi, and ‘smart’ meters) harms wildlife and damages trees. There have been direct reports of how smart meters affect vital bee populations.
Are you concerned about job losses in this anemic economy? PG&E claims that they are retaining 80% of their meter readers. What they don’t tell you is that several years back, they transitioned their meter readers from full time to temporary so the job loss would not appear so drastic. Utilities look upon smart meters as an easy way to boost profits by cutting jobs. We cannot afford to lose thousands of jobs in this economy.
Are you in favor of fire regulations that put the safety of residents first? A number of electrical fires have been caused by ‘smart’ meters. Like all other smart meters, PG&E’s meters are not UL certified, as is required by electrical code for all electric appliances within the home. Smart meters are potential ignition sources and remove utility personnel from neighborhoods. If meter readers had been present in San Bruno, would the gas leak have been detected? Whistleblowers have alleged unsafe installations. Here is another whistleblower’s story in Alabama.
Are you alarmed about the decline of our democracy and informed decision-making? The conversion to smart meters is one of the largest technology rollouts in history, and yet virtually no public consultation with ratepayers or local governments was carried out in advance. The CA Public Utilities Commission, an appointed (not elected) body who are charged with regulating utility companies, ignored popular local opposition for years–though finally and belatedly producing an opt-out in early 2012 that costs PG&E customers hundreds of dollars just to avoid a recognized possible carcinogen. In the rest of CA other utilities continues to install smart meters (Feb 2012).
SPEAK OUT! Spread the word to friends and neighbors, put a NO SMART METERS sign in your front yard, demand the regulators and your local government TAKE ACTION, REFUSE installation, and DEMAND REMOVAL!
As of April 2012, more than 54 cities and counties in CA have demanded a moratorium. Twelve have even criminalized smart meters. More ways to take action here.
If Wellington/pg&e comes to my home to install, I will not even order them off my property. I will immediately arrest them and hold them until police come to haul them to jail and impound their vehicles. Trespassers with radiation devices beware and be very afraid.
Why don’t u get some real proof and go to a whole street that has smart meters installed and ask the customers if they have gotten any headaches or any of that BS you guys claim u can get off a smart meter, and also ask them if they have noticed any noticeable increase or decrease on their bill, if you think about it some of those meters have been on peoples houses for over 30 years so their probably paying way less then their supposed to because the gears inside those meters are running slower than their supposed too, or in other cases the gears on the old meters are running faster than their supposed too so their people are paying more than their supposed too, and in other cases their meters are working perfectly fine and when they get the smart meters installed their bill is exactly the same. Also another thing to think about is that those smart meters installed in the gas meter have a battery that last 15 years which has a size of about 1 inches wide and about 4 inches in length and 1 inch in height, and how could that LITHIUM Battery possibly last 15 years if supposedly the radiation coming off those smart meters is a lot stronger than a cell phone that barely last ONE DAY! In addition, another thing those smart meters DONT transmit 24 hours a day, they only transmit for TWO SECONDS EVERY HOUR which is a total of 48 SECONDS every day. Which most people spend way more that 48 seconds a day on their phones or by a router or any other wireless device! so please do your research based on people who already have their smart meter installed for longer than 2 months and ask them what their feedback is and DONT just get the negative feedback, but I ask u to PLEASE GET THE POSITIVE FEEDBACK as well and find out if the positive outweighs the negative or not, and ask the people what their honest opinion is on the smart meters without filling their heads with negative ideas without getting their honest opinion first THANK YOU.
The issue here is the right to choose. If you want one, go get one! But I choose not to have one and I shouldn’t be forced to get one. Nor should I have to prove why to anyone regarding my choices and personal beliefs about what is healthy. The people who are claiming discomfort from these devices have nothing to gain. PG&E/Edison….have everything to gain by denying any negative findings = profit. If there is even a shadow of a doubt as to the safety of these devices, they shouldn’t be installed. When we have the right to choose, everyone is happy. (oh, except maybe PG&E…wah wah)
If you dont want a smart meter… discontinue pg&e service. You get way more EMF from the 60 hz 120VAC wires 5 feet from your body at all times inside your house than from the low power radios used in smart meters. Go take your Fariday hat off and move to the country.
Bad science abounds!
Any conversation of EMF power radiation has to include discussion of the spectrum where the power is found. Everyone knows that microwaves cook stuff, but radio, or the visible light spectrum, does not. There is no reason to believe radiation given off from 60Hz house wiring is harmful. I’m with Mike on this. A few bursts of communication once an hour is nothing in comparison to your cell phone, especially when you’re actually talking on it with it next to your brain.
As far as the right to choose.. I agree that there is the potential for information abuse by these utility companies. Therefore the easy solution is legislation that bans them from collecting information that can be gleaned from the data and bans them from passing any data to another entity.
Oh.. I guess i might be wrong about the visible light spectrum not being able to cook things.. Though I thought it was just the ultraviolet portion that had that ability (which by definition is not visible)
Did you have a choice when they installed your old “dumb” meter? You could certianly choose not to have one of those as well. The choice you have is; do you want their service or not? Electricity is a service provided by a company just like your phone or cable TV. Electricity is not a right protected by the Bill of Rights.
When what happened to us happens to you… you will shut your yap and delve into the truth. We are, so far, out $36,000 worth of electronics and appliances in our home due to a “severly malfunctioning” digital meter (AMI) manufactured by GE and placed by FP&L even thought they knew 1) the meters had not been properly field and laboratory tested (no UL ratings for sure) 2) that the meter design was VERY potentially flawed and that they were being mass produced way beyond quality control’s ability to keep up and 3) that at any time, any one of the meters could fail due to improper contact design within the meter’s construction and blow a surge of various types of energy into your home wiring system and crash any or all of your devices that operate on this electricity… or even worse start a fire at the box which will come through into your home and make you homeless!!
Get real and do your own homework. There is NO benefit to us consumers, just to GE and the Power Companies. Plus they used OUR own money (a large Government grant of 1/3 of the cost) to infringe upon our safety and comfort.
Now… what are you thinking? Or are you finally thinking… for the first time?!!
Also… did you know that our Government has made it legislated that our Power Companies can NOT be held responsible for and damages that their equipment causes to us consumers and our personal property… for ANY reason?! Scary isn’t it?!!!!!!!
PV
I have never heard such a bunch of un-educated drivel. What rock do you live under?Environmentally unsafe “smart meters” are already decimating bee colonies (do you like to eat)?I suspect you work for PG&E, Mike.This goes well beyond the safety hazards to humans. the increase in rates and infringement on our rights and privacy.Dr. Bill Wattenburg(considered the “smartest man in the world”(nuclear physicist)Senior research scientist).says. The CPUC did not do the needed “field”testing ( the suppliers of the metersmeters did).He says CPUC cannot do the job.And seldom report anything that might embarass their source of income!!!He suggests that the legislature must take charge and demand an independant study be done. He says these meters are very dangerous.Our constitution demands this!
I agree. The battery in a Smartmeter is not big enough to create the kinds of radiation discussed here. Maybe we, as a society have run out of problems. Maybe the act of worrying about the new meters is more toxic than the meters themselves. Also, not one permanent PG&E meter reader will be displaced as a result of this program. The Permanent employees will be offered other jobs in the company, 100% of them. The other employees, are temps. They were hired as temps, and knew going in that they were hired for a period of 1 year or less.
@David. There is NO battery in an electric ‘smart’ meter. This is documented in statements made by Silver Spring Networks and PGE executives at the “Opt-Out workshop” which took place at the CPUC. Video: http://eon3emfblog.net/?p=3520
Electric ‘smart’ meters work off grid electricity only. For “last gasp” transmission at point of outage they use a capacitor.
Also at the workshop we managed to get them to admit that the power of the 1-watt transmitter is increased to a rule-breaking 2.5 watts due to the 4db antenna inside. Transmitters in the FCC-unlicensed band of 902-928MHz are not allowed to transmit with more than 1 watt. Corruption in the CPUC and the FCC has allowed this already-too-lenient rule to be broken.
We have technicians measuring these meters, and their measurements suggest that the Instantaneous Peak Power (IPP) of these transmitters is VERY HIGH, much higher than PGE or the CPUC will admit.
THEY KNOW there is a problem. But the same people who brought you (NO) biologically-based safety testing on your cell phone have made it possible for your utility to install these rule-busting RF transmitters on very nearly each and every house in CA, and all across the US.
Please do a bit of research before you comment.
admin,
I took a close look at a SmartMeter installed about a year ago, it was a Landis+Gyr, it said right on it that the power must be turned off to replace the battery inside.
Also, I read in a recent article that PG&E is indeed going to start upgrading the power grid in about a year. The project is expected to cost around $300 million, and that has nothing to do with the $2.2 billion meter project.
What they are going to do is install sensors at intervals on the circuits coming out of the sub-stations to monitor for power outages and monitor total loads used by all the customers on that circuit . That is how PG&E will know directly how much power is being used instead of relying on the billing radio network.
In that article, they did mention that some of the SmartMeters do have batteries to report outages, but that using sensors is much more reliable and effective.
At this point, I don’t know what to believe about the SmartMeters, they change their sales pitches all the time. I think that the outage detection function of the SmartMeters was just another sales pitch to sell the project to the public, but has no real value or effectiveness. And of course, nothing will ever prevent outages, they will always happen no matter what kinds of sensors used.
I know my local PG&E lineman foreman, and I know what is done in outages, they have to identify the problem, fix it and inspect the whole circuit visually first before re-energizing the circuit to make sure that there are no other faults down line. Sensors do nothing to help them, and they are not going to re-energize a circuit before checking the whole thing, otherwise all their work could be in vein.
I saw near my house that a little twig blew across the primary conductors in a storm, it caused the 5000 volt cutout fuses to blow, and our power was out for 3 days because PG&E was overwhelmed during that storm. The crew that finally came up and found that twig was from another region.
I must start by saying that I admire your approach of maintaining your composure against blatant ignorance. A smart meter insures that my neighbor and I are being charged fairly for the electricity consumed. Did you get the right to chose when your original meter was installed? This equipment is the property of the electric company. If you chose you don’t want it on your house, you are denying service. No one is going to force their way to the side of your house to install a new meter.
A class 2b carcinogen pulsing microwave frequencies throughout your home is ok with you? Did you know that your brain operates at 8HZ? Do you understand that your cells function with electricity? Your body is a resistor because it doesn’t operate at the same frequency as all wireless devices. I can choose not to have wireless saturating my home. Unfortunately there are millions who are being sickened by the smart meter and they don’t have a clue why they are waking up in the middle of the night for hours at a time.
My point is that if the water company put large amounts of acid in your water and you were being harmed by it, then it would be ok? Just because they have a captive audience doesn’t mean that they have a right to harm. Your type thinking would be right at home in Nazi Germany.
There’s a vast difference between “their” and
“they’re” (they are) and that’s only one of many errors. You should brush up on your English and writing skills if you want to write more coherently.
take your network searcher on your laptop or a signal meter and you will see all your reasoning is bs, there is always a stronger than the usual wifi signal coming off those meters , and its on all the time
Spookie, I know for a fact that SmartMeters do not use Wi-Fi radio, but I am curious about your statement about using network searcher for SmartMeters.
What is the name of the Wi-Fi system that allegedly pops up on your device for a SmartMeter ?
If you used a real radio frequency counter and not just a field strength meter, then you would see that the SmartMeters don’t use Wi-Fi.
I did take a survey of my neighborhood. People ARE having problems waking between 2 and 3am. They can’t get back to sleep! Frequent headaches, ears ringing, heart palpitations, nightmares and dizziness are some of the other side affects. People need to talk to their neighbors and educate them about what’s going on. WARNING!!!!!! The smart meters are slow KILL devices!!!! Barry Trower will tell you all about it!
1. INSURANCE COMPANIES WON’T INSURE THE HEALTH PROBLEMS FROM WIRELESS Smart Meters
And Insurance companies don’t sacrifice insurance premiums ($$$) for nothing.
TV NEWS VIDEO – Insurance Companies Won’t Insure Wireless Device Health Risks (3 minutes, 13 seconds)
http://eon3emfblog.net/?p=382
2. WIRELESS SMART METERS TRANSMIT RADIATION APPROXIMATELY 25,000 TIMES PER DAY, 24/7, not 45 seconds per day as claimed by PG&E Corporate.
VIDEO – Radiation Measured From Smart Meter Mounted On A Home (6 minutes, 21 seconds)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRejDxBE6OE
3. UTILITY BILLS SKYROCKETED AFTER WIRELESS SMART METER INSTALLATION.
Senator Florez in a hearing with both PG&E customers whose bills have gone up and PG&E Corporate representatives.
TV NEWS VIDEO – Skyrocketing Utility Bills after WIRELESS smart meter installation (3 minutes, 19 seconds)
http://www.bakersfieldnow.com/news/63581287.html?tab=video
Morons. “Radiation” from wireless devices is not the same as radiation from x-rays or nuclear waste. It does nothing to DNA and cannot cause cancer or other health problems. Anyone claiming that it does is a quack or a hypochondriac.
Instead of complaining about imaginary problems online, try going outside and getting some exercise. That WILL help you avoid health problems!
Peer-Reviewed Scientific Evidence of DNA Damage from levels of EMF WAY lower than the “smart” meter: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/bem.2250160309/abstract
World Health Organization announcement linking wireless radiation to cancer: http://www.iarc.fr/en/media-centre/pr/2011/pdfs/pr208_E.pdf (pdf)
At least you’re right about the exercise!!
Yes Reasonable Person, I wish you could tell that to my sister, who died last year at age 60 from a cancer they said was caused by radiation. The radiation she was exposed to over the last 20 years was her cell phone, microwave, x-rays, and whatever else is out there, we don’t need to add smart meters to the list.
I just moved into a house with a new PG&e smartmeter and have unexplained acne, headaches, and sleep disturbances. Maybe it’s the smartmeter or not I can’t be sure I don’t have proof except pointing at that thing and blaming my problems on it. It does make me feel better that if a 9.0 earthquake hits the San Andreas. Fault that the smartmeter will shutoff the gas to the home and it might save me from being burned to death but people dont mention that kind of positive that much in this debate.
HI Dadave,
The gas meters have no ability to remotely shut off gas supply. They are simply microwave transmitters that transmit your usage. Because they have a battery in them, they are a potential ignition source. Not too bright putting an ignition source next to a gas line, is it? That’s the utility industry for you!
If you are having symptoms you believe are related to the smart meter, go to an area with little wireless and see if the symptoms persist. Lodge a complaint against your utility at smartmeterhelp.com
Thanks,
SSM!
Dadave,
If you have a gas meter that has been fitted with a AMI transmitter to automate reading, that transmitter that was fitted on to your existing gas meter is nothing at all like an electric SmartMeter.
The transmitter is battery powered, and transmits in the 450 MHz band, it is not microwave, and it only really needs to transmit a cumulative reading once a month, but PG&E claims it transmits 6 times a day. Why ?, I don’t know, and how are we to know if what PG&E says is true about anything.
The gas meters bill at a flat rate, there is no way to do time differential pricing, the gas meters do not have any remote disconnect and cannot sense leaks or customers diverting gas before the meter (but neither can any electric meter sense a diversion either).
Most gas meters are very old, it is only the module that was installed with the transmitter that is new.
But, for the last 10 years or so, PG&E has been installing automatic earthquake shut off valves before the meter. I had a customer who bumped one of those valves and it cut off his gas service.
So, your new gas SmartMeter module does not protect you from earthquakes, it is the existing shock activated valve that shuts off your gas, the sole purpose of the SmartMeter program is to eliminate meter reading jobs.
my goodness, you just got owned ReasonablePerson. I have 8 pdf peer reviewed studies and a report from Nasa coming out of the 70′s about the harm to the human body, from everything from internal organs, brain function and blood supply, sperm production, and actual dna changing.. you sir, must be an agent of disinformation. You have to be.. the public is becoming aware of your trickery…
owned? your trickery?
Tin-foil hat wearers like you are scary.
In response to 2. you do understand that the meter being used was a RF analyzer right? That means it is checking the RF signal from the WIRELESS smart meter. DUH!! it better give a reading, or it is not on! This is not a radiation meter, it is the radio frequency, and it was in micro-watts. A HAM radio puts off more power than this thing, your wireless network at your house puts off more power, your cell phone puts off more power.
If you are going to site something, you should probably verify its credibility…
Huuurrrr Duuurrrr I no like new things.
Here’s a new article titled : “Unknown-Safety of SmartMeters’ New Disconnect Switch” detailing why smart meters could be causing fires.
http://1hope.org/hopeblog/?p=630
You know, I’m not a smart meter expert, but my problem is I don’t think these people are either. Using exagerated inflammatory rhetoric just undermines their cause.
“customers have noticed huge increases” Really? How much? Maybe they have been undercharged for a long time due to manual meter reading?
“your utility has access to a treasure trove of information about you” Hmm. How exactly? Sounds like maybe they can read the spikes in power use, I am guessing? So they are inferring your habits? And you justify the Nazi graphic based on that?
“do not result in energy savings,” Well, they save gas, since meter readers don’t physically drive to your house every month.
” emerging evidence that wireless, non-ionizing radiation (from cell phones, wifi, and ‘smart’ meters)” There are a few more cell phones than smart meters. Giving up cell phones, too?
“transitioned their meter readers from full time to temporary” Well, the times they are a-changin’. There are a lot of old jobs that no longer exist.
“Thousands of people have complained of tinnitus, headaches, nausea, sleeplessness, heart arrhythmia, and other symptoms after a ‘smart’ meter was installed” Documentation please? Also, can you say, ‘mass hysteria’?
“A number of electrical fires have been caused by ‘smart’ meters.” What number? Any proof at all?
“conversion to ‘smart’ meters is one of the largest technology rollouts in history, and yet virtually no public consultation with ratepayers or local governments” Oh jeez.
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I did NOT know about all of this information many many months ago when my SM was installed. How the hell do I get it taken out??? Anyone know???
Blessings and thank you!
I was told you have to pay for them to do it.
I sent this to info@stopsmartmeters.org for advise on my situation with Florida Power and Light. Any feedback would be appreciated.
———————————————————————————
I was hoping to get some advise on a situation that happed today. I came home to find Florida Power and Light installing a Smartbox on my front yard. The reason they said was due to the fact we have a power box on the outer end of our front yard and they were going to use it for powering the meter. They also said we were centralized to recieve the signals from the surrounding area. I immediately turned on my computer and found the website you all have posted the important information. After reading your website I went outside and told them to stop and to refill the hole and they did. I forbidded them from putting it on my yard and they left. I called FPL and let them know and there representative could not give me much information. She tried to contact several people but none could give her any answers. One thing she said was that we would have to pay the cost of moving it and I told her there was nothing to move, I had stopped them and that I would not allow them to install it on my property…ever. I have an elderly woman and a sister that are very ill and use electronic equiptment for there health problems. I gave the representative my cell number and told her to have her superiors call me when ever.
My question is what right do I have? This box would be put up against the metal power box that is already on our front yard. It would stick out an extra 2 feet and remove our yard space. It would be sitting on our property. Since I stopped them before they installed it what can I do? What will that do next? What right do they have?
They never informed us of this in advance in anyway. Did they need a legal authorization from us since it would take up space on our property? I can send you pictures if you like.
Any help would be appreciated,
Thank you
Anthony Hernandez
US District Court has described a “corona discharge” by which a smart meter “could potentially cause a fire”.
Interesting Electric meter video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5yie2gFhmE
Interesting Gas meter video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snmdkRsP4ug
Viewing both the suggested videos does nothing to debunk smart meters.The electric meter,I would suggest,is more likely to be a part of a grow-op in that house.There certainly didn’t seem to be any sense of urgency on the part of the person taking the video.The gas meter was probably due to a leak that ignited somehow and has nothing to do with it being a smart meter or not.Having worked with both electric and gas meters,I would opine that neither of these videos prove anything nefarious on the part of new technology.
Here’s the link for the US District Court case.
http://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?q=Cannon+Sensus+August+19,+2010&hl=en&as_sdt=203&case=1966039804553725949&scilh=0
INDO NOT WANT SMART METERS
I need some help with a situation regarding installation of smart meter by FPL at our home in Fort Lauderdale.
My mom was home and she let the FPL guy in to install the device. Shortly after the FPL guy installed the smart meter and left, our power completely went out. There was no electricity in the house at all. My mom managed to call FPL and they said a representative will be dispatched between 5 and 7:30 pm. 7:30 passes by, then 8pm passes by and there was no sign of FPL coming back to look at the problem. Finally, when my brother arrives home from work at 9:30pm, my mom was still sitting in the dark at home.
My brother calls FPL to find out why there is no sign of anyone to fix the installation. The FPL representative gives him the run around to try and fix the problem himself on the phone. So now my brother and mom are both working themselves to turn off, and turn on the breaker and going back and forth outside the house and coming inside the house to get electricity back.
After about an hour or two of talking with the FPL representative on the phone, FPL tells my brother that it wasn’t FPL’s problem and it had nothing to do with installing the smart meter. We have to pay ourselves to get an electrician to fix this problem which obviously occurred after installation of smart meter.
Could anyone offer me any suggestions or who can I speak to about incorrect installation of smart meter where a loss of electricity had occurred in their homes???
I want to stick FPL with the $400 or so charge for getting an electrician to fix a problem with faulty installation of smart meter.
Call the Public service comission, they regulate utilities such asphone, water, and electric companies. You can look the number up oline since I dn’t have it available.
FPL plans to roll these out in Palm Beach County Florida this month, in Boynton Beach residents are refusing installation and FPL is not advising customers of their rights regarding these potantially deadly meters and the major health risks attached to them. They are potentially a source of cancer causing radiation and people have a right to make informed decisions about such devices being forced upon them as well as the violation of privacy these meters represent. Big brother is invading our lifes and want to monitor everything we do. If you think you personal private usage information is safe from prying eyes think again! Say no to smart meters, refuse installation and seek legal advice if necessary do not let them install these meters on your homes!
Ahh!!! Electromagnetic fields!!!
Just don’t turn on a light or go outside and you’ll be fine… http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visible_spectrum
Tin foil hats anyone?
Lol, no kidding. I love when TV reporters throw around the word “radiation” to scare people, all the while failing to mention that the TV broadcast itself and the lights coming out of the set are all types of radiation.
And what about those solar flares!?!? We should boycott the sun for hurling x-rays, microwaves, ultraviolet rays, GAMMA RAYS, red, blue, green, orange, yellow, violet, and IR at us. I probably missed a couple, but you get my point right? Then again its all natural radiation, not radiation made with additives and corn syrup. <- that was a joke by the way. Man made Electromagnetic Waves = Naturally occurring Electromagnetic waves.
Also maybe you should get your houses haunted, i heard from someone that said stuff intelligently (Ghost Hunter) that ghosts draw energy from the air, maybe they eat EM radiation.
EMF in the microwave range has never, up until just a few decades ago, been a part of this planet’s fields. We now contend daily with microwave RF fields several billion times the natural level on earth. Biological effects are documented, over and over, at levels far below FCC standards.
Have a look at an excellent, well-substantiated paper assessing this issue:
http://stopsmartmeters.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Sage-Carpenter-Public-Health-Implications-Wireless-Tech.pdf
I think it’d be helpful if your organization had a better description of the financial impact of Smart Meters.
The little blurb above just isn’t enough information.
I just googled your site after reading the SFGate’s story about Pine/Oakland’s refusal to install the Smart Meter, and wanted more information about the how it affects my bill.
The rest of the problems you list are fine, but the most important in my eyes, and in the eyes of most people who will look for information is how it affects the bill.
The bottom line is, the CPUC approved charging the PG&E ratepayers $2.2 billion to implement the new automated billing meters. That is a direct cost to the ratepayers of $220 million per year for 10 years.
The main purpose of the automated meters is to eliminate the meter readers, saving the corporation around $62 million per year for labor (meter readers) and a few more million for trucks and fuel.
In a report that I read in Electrical Contractor Magazine, it said that a utility with 10 million meters could save (profit) about $80 million per year by implementing the automated reading system and by increasing rates “at will” on hot days or when Enron needs some extra cash.
And some of that increase will be paid to advertizing agencies and television networks to air stupid actors touting the false benefits of the new automated meters.
PG&E claims that they have been authorized to use $20 million of our ratepayers money for advertizing, but I don’t by that crap, they are running multiple ads on multiple networks multiple times per day. They must be spending $5 million per day on their false advertizing propaganda campaign to brainwash the public into thinking that there is some benefit to them.
Rates cannot be increased “at will” in California. Only the CPUC has the authority to mandate a rate increase.
FYI–direct from the ranch
We had three bee hives that were healthy and had no other reason to leave–when bees are uncomfortable, threatened, or lack food sources, they leave. Now, a colony will leave individually, yet these hives, all on completely different areas of the property left with in three days of the installation of a PGE smart meter. We also called PGE and asked them not to install, and they did when we were off the property.
I have read reports on the smart meters and was not enrolled that they were/are safe and now have evidence that they effected our personal livelihood and lost three hives which equates to $250/hive loss, pollination loss to fruit tress (bees pollinate 80% of all fruits and vegetables) $5k+/-, and honey as a source of medicine and food $4k.
The math does not equate, the loss of pollination does not equate, and the rapid push of PGE to do this just because they may be at a financial loss–does not equate when it DOES in FACT harmfully effect our community, livelihoods, and food stuffs.
I have experienced this personally and documented it. Call and email if you need further documentation.
Thank you for listening and doing the right thing.
Thank you for sharing that detailed and articulate experience. Good for you for keeping documentation–in this fight against these meters, one can never have too much audio, photographs, and video of everything related to these meters.
We would be interested in your documentation. If you go to http://www.bansmartmeters.com, our email address is on the upper right portion of the page. Thank you!
Now, that really bothers me about you losing honey bee hives. I am a honey addict, I use it every day in my coffee, about a pound of the sweet stuff per week.
I have been doing so for 40 years. I don’t remember ever buying a box or bag of sugar. It’s honey and pure maple syrup for me.
Sorry to change the subject, but I saw on KTVU channel 2 news this morning that the City of Capitola has lifted the ban on PG&E’s new automated billing meter program. Tori also said that PG&E has allowed customers who do not want the new transmitting meters can opt out ? This is big news to me, I thought the CPUC was going to make a determination in September of this year, I didn’t know any decision was made yet.
Also, she announced that PG&E is “working on” a new type of meter that is non-transmitting. Again, I have not heard of that yet. Anyone who has heard something about that new meter that is not manufactured or installed yet that does not transmit please let everyone know. This is HUGE news, and the details and questions about these new meters need to be brought out in the public forum.
Some questions that I have are:
Does this mean that customers (like myself) who still have their analog meters will not have to pay for all the other new meters that are being deployed, in other words, a rebate of the portion of the $2.2 billion rate increase to pay for the new AMI radio meters ?
If PG&E somehow gets permission to change out my perfectly good analog meter with a new digital non transmitting meter that will still be read monthly by a meter reader, then will they try and charge me $270 for disabling other customers meters that do transmit ?
Will PG&E try and charge me a new extra fee for reading my meter , even though it has been built into my rates since the beginning ?
I smell a rat, I think that PG&E gave KTVU a line of BS, I will believe it when I see it. More PG&E propaganda released to the media, but I could be wrong, maybe they really are working on a new meter that does not transmit anything, no billing data, no commands for air conditioning compressor remote control, and no ZigBee wireless or HomePlug powerline carrier being broadcast into peoples homes (Home Area Networks)
The electric vehicle meters (E9) are completely separate and very expensive to each customer that orders them, so those meters will have some external control functions, but any who can afford an electric vehicle, the service upgrades, the chargers and the new E9 meters is loaded with dough anyway, so they won’t mind big bro checking on them to make sure that they are not running their 30 amp clothes dryer between the hours of midnight and 7:00am to get the low E9 rate of .06 per KWh.
I got a call from PG&E yesterday that gave us a phone number to call to “opt-out” of SmartMeter installation. (We live in Capitola, CA). The number is 866-743-0263. I called it and PG&E told me that they would delay installing a SM on our property until after the PUC decision in Sept. At that time, PUC willing, we would be able to have a new meter installed with the “radio frequency” turned off for which we would pay an “up front” fee. We would also have to pay a monthly charge to pay for the “meter reader.” At least it puts off installation for a few months, but I am completely against this intrusion into our homes, yards, atmosphere and cells, so PG&E can pile on more profits.
Smart meters are monitoring devices that tell everything that you do at all times to whoever agency would later wish to get the information from power companies and under homeland security nothing is private; especially when stored in huge data bases. More on this other site, http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/no-more-privacy-smart-meters-are-surveillance-devices-that-monitor-the-behavior-in-your-home-every-single-minute-of-every-single-day
Do you honestly believe that Big Brother isn’t watching everyone already? You probably are being recorded.
Tom,
It’s true that there is a lot of surveillance going on today, but the SmartMeters are nothing to worry about.
All this hype about SmartMeters is being way overblown by some people. It is because these people do not understand what the SmartMeters do and do not.
A SmartMeter is a revenue collection meter only. it sends total usage data to the utility of each meter once every 4 hours. The utility servers compile this information days, weeks and sometimes months later. That is how the utility collects revenue, they compile this information to make up a monthly bill, and in 2014, they are set to start time differential pricing programs where the utility will add up how much electricity customers use between the hours of 2:00pm and 7:00 pm and charge them a higher rate for those hours.
The outage detection feature is a gimmic and a joke, and it is useless. The meters transmit data on a radio network that they call a “smart grid”. That data is just code sent in packets that are compressed bursts that last a few seconds once every four hours for each meter. That data does not contain the customers address, name, account number, phone number or any other personal information, just a meter number and a cumulative reading starting when the meter was first turned on. The SmartMeter does not send real time data to the utility or the customer. The only way a customer can view real time data is to go out and put their face in front of the meter and read the digital display on the meter.
The utility will never be able to monitor ANY individual appliance or device, and the utility and the SmartMeters will NEVER be able to discern what any of the billable electricity, gas or water is being used for, only total cumulative readings to to compile the monthly bills.
The Home Area Networks and the few “chipped” appliances are not automation systems, they are for personal customer “in home” monitoring only. These HAN’s (which turned out to be a dud) have absolutely nothing at all to do with the SmartMeters, the electrical power grid or the Silver Springs Networks radio network that they call their “smart grid”.
And, big brother isn’t watching everyone, only the people that are letting them do it, but there are many ways to duck the surveillance. Some good ways are, don’t buy a smart phone, stay away from crowds and urban areas, avoid public transportation, don’t use wireless systems for computers and peripherals, don’t use credit or debit cards, don’t join social networking programs or private “healthcare” insurance programs which plug you into the electronic medical records database and most importantly, be aware of what is going on.
Don’t think that using computers and phones cannot be compromised. Be careful what you say on ANY phone and what you write on any computer, especially when using Facebook and Google accounts.
And last and least, if you don’t want PG&E to know how much total electricity you use in each hour, don’t opt into the SmartMeter program or any other “smart pricing schemes”.
There are a LOT of people in this area (Capitola, Santa Cruz, CA) that are against Smart Meters. My family has THREE on our property up in the Gold Country with no adverse effects. (I am down here for school.) Nobody has grown an extra head, or a third nut, or anything negative. Mom has even noticed our bill actually has gone down. I bet a lot of the people down here that are protesting the meters are the type who drink alcohol, smoke, or text while driving. (Especially you idiots on Portola Ave. who DO NOT stop for people in crosswalks!) There are a LOT more dangerous things than a little gadget on your house. Get over it! Thank you for your time. No refunds on time spent reading this.
Kammie, your mother’s bill has likely gone down because the daylight hours are longer and the weather is warmer. I can assure you that our rates have increased to pay for this program and will continue to increase to pay shareholders and executive$’ salaries, as PG&E has rate hikes pending at the CPUC. Tell me about your mom’s bill in a year or so.
“Smart” meters are not energy saving devices, they are energy measuring devices, that’s it. Only we can choose to save energy on our own. However, as you will see when the new pricing tiers come in to play once the “smart” grid is established, those that choose to conserve energy will pay more per unit than those that use the most energy. Just like a cell phone plan–the more you use the less you pay per unit. But this is neither green nor fair when we apply it to energy usage, as energy use almost always results in depletion of resources, destabilization of the climate, and pollution, as we do not yet have viable alternatives to coal, natural gas, or nuclear. If anything, the energy hogs should be penalized, while those conserving should be rewarded with a lower rate, but this does not equal big profits for the corporate machine, who always put profits before health, safety, and environmentalism.
Wouldn’t it have been great if the $2.2 billion had been used to create *real* solutions to our energy and climate crises, instead of being used to create a system that only benefits the utility, and not future generations or the consumer? PG&E has publicly stated that not one unit of energy has been saved since installing “smart” meters, and there is even an Oxford University study that found that these meters will actually *increase* our energy usage! Wouldn’t you rather your taxpayer (via federal stimulus money) and ratepayer dollars had been used for truly green improvements to the grid, instead of greenwashing advertising campaigns?
For the record, I do not drink or smoke. I stopped using a cell phone 5 years ago once I learned about the associated health problems, and I have chosen not to own a car because of the environmental impacts. I do not use wi-fi in my home and I avoid all businesses and homes that do. As this is still a free country, I am entitled to my lifestyle choices (which do not hurt anybody) and should be entitled to thrive in my community (and home!) free from environmental and electrosmog pollution. I will fight all such things (especially when forced) in my community as necessary in order to protect our health and defend our civil liberties and inalienable rights.
As you have pointed out, there are “a LOT” of people in this area who are against “smart” meters, and for good reason. They are not safe, not “smart,” and are an utter violation of our most basic rights and their forced roll-out is completely anti-democratic. You mentioned that you are a student and I implore you to study this topic further before making up your mind. There are so many reasons to oppose “smart” meters, I’m sure you will be able to find one that you can relate to.
Thank you for your time and good luck with your studies here in Santa Cruz, my home town.
Um, then why are you on a computer?
You basically allowed there to be many reasons to oppose a smart meter, but the person you responded to has had a good experience with one. Your first paragraph immediately assumed -you- knew more about their life . Which is simply rude and arrogant.
What if there are actually benefits to having this technology? Also what about the places that sell Data and electricity? Eventually their meters are going to be connected (via fiber probably) and will monitor your power consumption in real time, then probably have a nifty website so you can see your power use in real time. The world progresses towards managing data more efficiently. Smart meters are not an end all. Its an attempt to have better control over a power system. Customer housing is not the only one receiving them i bet. Substations are too. All power networks are old, rusting, and becoming more and more inefficient. As a person that uses electricity i’m happy that power providers are making an effort to advance somewhere.
You all miss the holy grail of Smart Meters…
It’s not about helping YOU manage your electrical usage. It’s not about laying off all the meter readers to save money. It’s not about a high-level manager at PG&E getting a handsome kickback from the manufacture. It’s not about the health effects (PG&E and your government don’t care if you live or die, but actually prefer you were dead).
It’s about control, control over YOU. It’s about all the new Smart Meter Enabled laws that are already written and waiting for you. It’s about requiring Smart Meter Enabled appliances be in place in your home. It’s about some appointed jerk deciding what appliances he/she will order turned off at any time they feel the electric grid needs a break (thus THEIR statement of using Smart Meters to “Better Manage the Grid”). It’s about no new power plants (they’ll just trim everyone’s usage to make them unnecessary) . It’s about YOU on a hot day and some jerk turning off your air conditioner because there is not sufficient generation available to power the grid (due to no new power plants). It’s about YOU are the commodity and YOU will be “MANAGED.”
Smart Meters have TWO receivers and TWO transmitters in them. One for the surveillance and billing, the other to CONTROL *YOUR* usage. Your new Smart Meter Enabled appliances will be automatically field-programmed to communicate with your Smart Meter, and not your neighbors. It will serialize itself using a “Powerline Carrier” (signal superimposed on the 60Hz AC) that the Smart Meter will, from then-on, identify as being your toaster or waffle iron that is on or off. You will adhere to a usage “schedule” or face fines. You will be put in the dark if that is what the controllers of this system want. You may end up with a monthly usage limit much like some internet companies impose on their customers for data, where once you have used up all your KWH, you get cut off until the next billing cycle or pay a super-premium rate to continue.
It’s about YOU are nothing more than a SLAVE to the Government, the banks, the utilities, and the food suppliers. YOU will work like a slave and get what THEY decide is proper for YOU to live with. Slaves have no rights, and are NOT allowed to complain.
Still think you are free? Try complaining about your Smart Meter!
You are sadly misinformed about the new meters. You are wrong on everything except the fact that the utility company will be able to control the relay for the compressor motors on air conditioning units some day.
Don’t fall for those slick brochures or stupid ads on TV put out by the utility companies, they are all false advertising.
I’m not a slave to PGE, I have a solar electric system. That said, I welcome smart meters, and have one on my gas meter. They are not able to put them on solar electric systems for technical reasons. I sure hope that the 4000+ kilowatts of energy being produced on my roof every day doesn’t kill all my favorite neighbors. So far, so good.
However, I’m not afraid of my smart meter for the following reasons:
1. It is outdoors on the side of my house and I rarely stand with my head next to it. How much time do you spend with your head next to your meter?
2. Electrical magnetic energy is everywhere. Almost every house is
full of electrical wires, wi-fi, cell phones, radio waves, T.V.s, microwaves and such items. There are so many things in our personal environments that emit electromagnetic energy much closer to us than a meter.
3. I hope the protesters and those who are against these meters do not go to coffee shops, they are all rigged with wi-fi. I hope they do not own a GPS, a microwave, a radar detector, or go into supermarkets, which are full of electromagnetic energy. I assume no one who would dislike these meters owns a cell phone. One phone call probably gives you a greater dose of energy than ten years of a smart meter on the back of your house. Yes, cell phones are suspected of being deadly, but there has never been a single case where a person has be PROVEN to have died from using one. But, we should outlaw them anyway, as the danger of being killed by someone driving with one is thousands of times greater than the chance of getting cancer from one.
4. The number of people killed while bicycling, riding motorcycles, driving, joining the armed forces, drinking alcohol, having weird animal grunt-sex, running marathons, taking the wrong medicine, joining a gang, doing drugs, patching the roof, and many other activities far exceeds the potential death from smart meters. Let’s stop all of these things first. We need a new movement called, “Everything is fatal”. I will never get in an ambulance, as the high rate of death from people who do, scares me. I will never let a fire engine near my house, as so many houses seem to be burning down when those things come around.
5. Do not get a job as an electrician, they are dropping dead everywhere from overexposure. Don’t work for PGE, your life will be over in a week. Don’t go near electric guitars, or rock singers with wireless mics. Don’t go outdoors, there are thousands of satellites broadcasting on every possible bandwidth. Don’t go near an ATM, a garage door opener, a T.V. or even worse, an airliner.
I don’t own a T.V., cell phone, or microwave. Why? Not because I am afraid of them. I just think they are inelegant junk. But, I am not giving up my stereo, I would rather die. Now, it is time to go breath the noxious chemical off-gassing vapors I absorb from my epoxy surfboard. Wish me well!
If your not a slave to PG&E WHY ARE YOU STILL USING THEIR SERVICES ? They popped you and said you didn’t have a choice so you acquiesced to their command perhaps, that’s your choice. “Smart Meters” are about health concerns and control. You owning the right to say yes or no to something YOUR PAYING FOR. If you want it by all means use it and best of luck, if you do not then by all means don’t use it. Unfortunately these meters are being thrown up by people who act like thieves in the night. This is not acceptable, again this is a choice, if you don’t mind being forced to buy something / anything then great, I’m falling into line with those who find this completely unacceptable and thus the meter came off.
If you don’t want electricity, then don’t use it. All your electrical devices depend on your power provider, so sure, they have control. But in essence electricity is still a product, like gas. You buy gas to drive a car. You pay for electricity cause you like gizmos in your home. You can live without electricity if you want. Its not some free commodity like air or water, it costs money to produce it, manage it, and fix the outages that might happen. Oh, and managing it means knowing more about what customers need, and better metering means better knowing. If you think this is an obstruction of privacy, then i hope you are complaining about your isp, cable and phone providers because like electricity, they keep track of things for management purposes.
@Average Joe. Electricity is not a consumer product, it is a utility, necessary for life.
The rise of investor-owned utilities–is the company you work for one?–has obscured this basic notion. Criminal extortion is the only way to describe tactics of companies that hold basic necessities hostage, until the “customer” complies with policies driven not by providing a needed public service, but by massive profits.
Are you kidding me, electricity is necessary for life? If that is even part of the motivation of this site, you are peddling poor information. People lived long before electricity was invented.
Excuse me, I mean 4000+ watts, not kilowatts, sorry. (That’s 4 kilowatts). I’m so stoopid.
To Sacred: if you believe you must stick your head next to the meter, why has my outside temperature reader quit working after the instalation of a SMART Meter?
People are ignorant and can’t accept what they don’t see. These “intermittent bursts of transmissions” very well could interfere with wildlife that navigate by sonar / radar. I attended a presentation about Bats. No one knew why the swarms from Mexico never made it to our farmlands. When we FINALLY obtained technology to see what was happening everyone was shocked, Bats were intercepting them. Again due to our ignorance we ASSUMED bats were ot useful to humans. IF an animal has no use, than who cares………well I hope we don’t wait too long to accept the fact that all these SMART Meters very well are harming us and or the environment.
It would be better to more deeply explain “quit working”. The way ‘radiation’ is harmful is because of the molecular structures it resonates with. Microwaves resonate with water (Hence why sticking dry ice (CO2) in a microwave for a few minutes does nothing to it, just an example) . You don’t get a suntan while driving your car in the day because glass resonates with UV radiation. Gamma radiation resonates with living tissue. Its highly doubtful a 1 Watt RF wave could destroy electrical equipment. In fact a 10 Watt RF wave probably couldn’t destroy electrical equipment. So are you sure nothing else was wrong with it? New batteries? Its brand new? Ants aren’t building a nest in it?
Also there is an exponential decrease in power of EM radiation the farther you get from it, so if your external thermometer is right next to your meter there is a slim chance I’ll believe you.
Also sonar is sound. Radio is an Electromagnetic wave (yes light). They do not work the same way. Wildlife are more effected by solar activity (Big flares are very dangerous to people in direct sunlight when solar energy hits. People in planes can have their health damaged.) Then any household device sold commercially.
@Average Joe, You sound knowledgeable, as you might, given you work for a midwest utility.
Reports of RF interference are numerous, the denials of utilities notwithstanding. The peak pulse of the RF from a smart meter can be very high, which is hidden by the time-averaging shenanigans of those who’d rather not have this known.
Josh- is there a place on your website with no smart meter signs to download?
i went through it- perhaps i missed it- i will post a link to your website on our new flier-
valeri
Hi Valeri- A poster can be downloaded under number 2 here: http://stopsmartmeters.org/how-you-can-stop-smart-meters/
I had a smart meter installed after I specifically instructed the Wellington Truck worker to not install it. I did not know that it was installed next to my head on the wall behind our bed until the next morning. This is what happened-I could not sleep, had a buzzing in my head probably from my fillings, and severe anxiety. I awoke in the night and could not go back to sleep. In a daze the next morning I realized that the smart meter was placed behind my head on the next wall. I can absolutely say that these meters are full of potential hazards for our health. Also, my friend informed me that it is commonplace for mountain dwellers to chase PGE off their land with shotguns. One person had reported that they placed a smart meter on his land with little else than a pole for a RV hook up their bill went from $5. month to $200.
Another friend got out of her smart meter because her Dad is on a pace maker. They immediately said that they would not put one on her property. Look CLOSER people and take charge of your health or you will certainly pay later.
As an electrician I can tell you these meters are no different than the meters what have always been used other than a small transmitter, no different than a cell phone, to report power usage. I don’t understand what all the hype is about, its simply a better faster cheaper way of reading meters.
John, I agree that the new radio meters are very simple and are only to report monthly usage via radio to the revenue collection department.
If you don’t understand the hype that has been put out by the corporately controlled government I will try and explain it too you.
The corporations say that the new radio meters will somehow save energy when the customer buys new appliances fitted with a chip that transmits consumption data (the same data that is on all appliance rating plates) to a new computer system bought by the customer that shows the usage data on a “in home display monitor” That is the hype, saying that a customer must spend thousands of dollars to buy a Home Area Networks system that also consumes large amounts of energy-to see how much energy that they are using.
All the customers individual appliance usage data stays inside the customers building, it is not transmitted on the radio networks outside to the utility company, and some people don’t know that and start going off about spy meters and surveillance and evesdropping.
It is the same with all corporations, they say that there is a scarcity of everything, and that the corporations have to throttle down (ration) things like water, electricity, medical care, education, housing, food and wages so they will have enough of these things to continue business as usual, and keep on over developing and extending cheap credit to control the masses. Basically make 99 percent of the people slaves to the corporations.
They want to build tar sands oil pipelines because there is an oil shortage, build expensive desalination plants because there is a water shortage, build expensive old diesel commuter trains up in Sonoma county because there is a transportation shortage, cut out funding for education because there is a job shortage (they shipped all the jobs out of the country), and do away with medical care because the insurance companies are having a profit shortage by actually paying out claims for needed medical care.
Now, the electricity corporations want to ration electricity to residential customers who live in hot areas where air conditioning is mandatory, which uses 40 percent of the residential load on the power grid on hot days.
The government has allowed developers to run rampant building thinwall high density housing out in the desert, and the utility corporations can’t keep up with the power demands to cool these uninsulated buildings built in Texas, Arizona and many other uncomfortably hot areas. Now, they say that we need to build more power plants to power all these 10′s of millions of new radio meters, the radio network infrastructure, server farms and Home Area Networks monitoring systems.
Now do you understand what all the hype is about ?
@John, I can’t use a cell phone or get a headache. I tested this, and it starts on the side of the head where the phone is. Other people have this sensitivity, at least 3 percent of the population is estimated to be electromagnetically sensitive. Any additional source of rf can be the tipping point. People should not be forced to have utility meters that often pulse every 4 seconds (despite the utility only reading them by driving by once every quarter). It has been shown that It Is The Pulsed Radiofrequency that causes biological abnormal cellular function resulting in a host of physical problems. It is the OFF AND ON of the signals that makes these emission biologically active and harmful even at levels far, far below heating, and current FCC standards.
We are now at the stage of denial similar to the decades of defense of cigarettes. People should be able to control their own living spaces and refuse to have utility transmitters installed. Period.
I cannot put my cell phone to my ear(s) or within 6″ because it produces pain like an earache. I put a couple of those stick-on buttons on the back of the phone to mitigate the assault and I think it helps but I only use the speakerphone function now. I used to use an air tube head piece but the phone I have now does weird things when I plug into the jack so it cannot be used.
Withe the exception of the cell phone, I do not use anything wireless. Smart meters are wireless. Our choice to use or not use needs to be respected. However, the bad thing is that even if I am “allowed” to make that choice I still receive the emissions from my neighbors’ installations. This is criminal.
The “smart meters” are a stupid idea for the sheeple. Just one more way to control, overpower, and destroy us.
This issue really isn’t if Smart Meters are a violation of privacy or safety, but that consumers should have a right to decide for themselves what is safe or suitable for their household. We should be given Opt-Out ability since we do not have the option to change utility companies.
Currently consumers do have the right to choose to smoke, use cell phones, use microwave ovens and many more controversial health-damaging activities. However, the utility companies do not give consumers the right to decide if they would like the smart meter or not installed in their homes. Personally I prefer to err on the side of caution. I have a serious inherited autoimmune disease. I don’t drink, smoke, use cell phones and I eat organic and gluten-free because I have to do so for my condition.
I don’t believe anyone has the right to come on my property and install controversial technology without my consent. The utility companies back you into a corner because they are a monopoly mandated by the government. They know that you have little choice but to comply if you want to continue to enjoy electricity. This is consumer blackmail and it has to be stopped now.
You guys are nuts. Yes, they will fire their meter readers. That’s what happens with technology. Do you want to ban ATM so that banks can rehire all the tellers? Do you want to ban robots so more people will work on assembly lines (and cars will cost more and have more malfunctions). If you are freaked about emissions, do you use cell phones? If you are worried about privacy, why do you want to have a meter reader having a key to your garage or back door?
I have no links to or love for PG&E, but it seems that smart meters are an improvement and will allow people to be more thoughtful in their use of electricity. They probably could have done a better job explaining why they are doing this, but you guys are really paranoid and irrational.
I just love that everyone who minimizes the dangers keep statings things like, “well you use a cell phone, don’t you?”, or “smart meters are no more dangerous than cell phones.” Two points: 1) A person can choose to own a cell phone, and how much to use it. I own a cell phone, but only use it for urgent reasons. Basically, I make choices throughout the day to minimize my RF radiation exposure. where I can. As for smart meters, the utility co. will decide this for me. I feel strongly that this is an infringement on my ability to minimize exposure, and protect my health. No government agency or corporation should be allowed to attach a RF radiation device directly to my home. PERIOD. 2) “Smart meters are no worse than cell phones”, except cell phones are dangerous. People don’t want to acknowledge that. Recent research now states that using a cell phone to your ear 30 min per day, every day, for 10 years will produce a 40% increase in Gliomas, a serious brain tumor. Radiation is accumulative. The World Health Organization felt compelled to change their position in May 2011, classifying RF radiation as a possible 2B carcinogen, and that was without even completing their research. We are being bombarded from every direction with increasing electrosmog. When is enough, ENOUGH?? I believe the answer in NOW, before future generations pay the price!
Please define a “2B carcinogen”. After that, include coffee in your full page advertising list along with “lead, benzine and DDT”. Maybe then you won’t be so deceptive.
ELECTRIC MAGNETIC ENERGY IS EVERYWHERE PEOPLE!
Do you have tv’s, a microwave, cell phone, wi -fi, game systems, etc….. It’s to late. This is all around us now. Some new meters on the OUTSIDE of your house is not going to have an impact.
@Sally Gosh darn, but I thought that too, until I bought an expensive analyzer for RF Microwave frequencies, and began to measure in my environment.
And LO! I found out that smart meter pulses are way higher at peak than even my friends’ cell phones! And higher than the cell tower in my neighborhood!
Maybe you want to look into this a little more… Here is a whole list of videos showing that smart meter radiation is NOT just another little transmitter in your life.
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA69545E741F08AA2&feature=plcp
And then there are all those folks, from CA and all over the U.S., who write us because they have been made sick by their smart meter. Read some other smart meter experiences here: http://emfsafetynetwork.org/?page_id=2292
My grandouther is paralise from the vaccine . We spend 1 milion +++ for halth . Finaly we have halp from doktor in Mexico .She start inpruve and now smart meter stop hear inpruve. She have bliding and we in home are all sick from smart meter .I asck FPL after many many cole i have discusion and i reseive documents smart meter is ok. we care for chldren i care from me my wife and we no we ar all sick from smart meter. Please halp how we cane stop FPL to kiling my family and all people in florida . Wath police duing this is kiling mashine FPL kiling all .Halpppppppppppppppp
I smell a troll on here. Sounds like the same person making up fake screennames and bashing anyone who would dare dispute that these Smart Meters are in our best interest or if we should actually have a choice in the matter. I have kids; if there is any possibility at all that this may endanger their health or my own, I just don’t want to take the chance. What is so hard to understand about that? You’re not going to convince people that you are right and they are wrong, and besides, why take it so personally unless you have a personal interest in the matter?
I’m no conspiracy theorist, but this technology seems way too new to force a mandatory change to a system that works perfectly fine today. Remember, at one point, people thought asbestos and smoking were not harmful to your health. I’d prefer to not be a guinea pig, just so the electric companies can save a few bucks on meter readers. Low benefit + arguably some risk (unless you can see the future) = no thank you.
RFs are everywhere; even in the local library. However, the risk of fire is solid if the meters are not UL approved. I noted the USD case and will ask the power co to remove any smart meter that is not UL approved. As someone else mentioned, nothing else in the the home is acceptable unless UL approved – the power companies are no different. Reminds me of Ford’s Pinto & how for years they denied knowledge of a problem w/ the car. Quite a few charred people & the courts decided otherwise.
Ummm, yes, the power companies ARE different.
Meter Sockets are UL listed and marked as such.
Meters are exempted from requiring UL listing by the National Electrical Code
NEC 2008 Article 90.2(B)(5)
90.5 B 5 a & c Specifically exempts the electric meter from requiring UL listing.
I won’t post the text here (its pretty dry reading and its copyrighted).
You can look it up for yourself.
This is not my opinion, it’s the law.
Actually, the utilities are exempt from many NEC codes.
One example is the service drop to residential buildings using overhead feeds.
The service conductors bundled together call “triplex” for a 225 amp and under service are #2 aluminum run in free air with no overcurrent protection from the transformer. But once it reaches the customers weatherhead, (the point of demarcation) the customer must run at least 2/o copper in the riser to the meter for a 200 amp service, and 3/o copper for any branch circuits that are 200 amps.
The utility companies are exempt from all NEC codes, and a private citizen or contractor has to strictly adhere to these codes.
But what about sub-contractors working for the utilities installing their watt hour billing meters on private residential properties ?
It is very important to know that all electrical equipment on any building is provided for by the building owner, that includes the weatherhead, riser, meter enclosure/main disconnect, and of course the main load center and all other sub-panels , the distribution network and any and all devices or appliances being fed by the meter on the building. Only the meter is owned by the utility, so shouldn’t citizens in possession of the property have a right to decide what they want to allow to be installed on their property ? I think that everyone has a right to decide for themselves ?. I decided that I don’t want a new SmartMeter installed on my privately owned equipment and refused the installation a year ago. So far so good, they sent a couple of stupid letters stating that the meters are required if I want to continue to have electrical service. What a joke !. I ignored the letters and I still have electrical service.
I think the utilities are just trying to be the big bad bully on the block, but if some people challenge them in a court of law about private property rights, maybe some new revelations will come out in favor of private citizens. WE SHALL FIGHT AND PREVAIL !!
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Theres alot here about PG&E, but how come the San Francisco Water department rolled out their smart meters, and nay a word…what about that?
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This is way bigger than any of you think, they want you to fight it out district by district and they have got you beat at most arguments,and have been planning to do so for years,please look up NARUC this is a group of the largest and most powerful people in the world today, and they are just farmers, they want to farm your data, it’s IBM and Intel, it’s ATT and Verizon it’s Aclara and GE,anyone who is a Policy advisor or executive of anyone in the power supply field or tellecommunications field ,thats Coal,natural gas Nuclear, Hydro.Turbine etc. their deployment of this grid is to buy low sell high on a global scale,and capture data from you and sell it as a side line….look for yourselves research the members it includes about 1200 people from all the Regulatory Commisions around the country,and secretly but not actually supported by the FERC and DOE…look it up………..NARUC
So, anonX,
What do you mean when you say “this grid” ?
Are you referring to the revenue collection radio “smart grid” or the electrical power grid ?
Just curious if you even know the difference.
I have a friend who is freaking out about these new meters. BUT she does not hesitate to talk for an hour with her cell phone to her head! Go figure.
My bet is the people trying to turn this into a big deal are the FPL meter readers who are going to be out of a job.
@Cindy SomeSense I suggest you acquaint yourself with the plethora of health complaints—tens of thousands now submitted to SmartMeterHelp.com and to state authorities–and you can read others here: http://emfsafetynetwork.org/?page_id=2292
Do your homework before you spout off.
I just called pge, my son has 17 smart meters outside his window. They have a help line, and they would not answer any of my question pertaining to my particular situation. Any suggestions for what I can do next. I cannot figure out how much exposure my son is getting. They would not help me with that either. Everything they (he) told me was figures based on one meter at 1 or 10 feet away. The nine electrical meters are 1-2 ft away, I haven’t checked with a measuring tape yet. The 7 gas meters are a bit further. I need to know the amount he is being exposed to, and what I can do about it besides move. They say I can opt out, well it’s expensive and what about all the other ones….can someone offer me some advice for next steps. Or how to protect my son….
Put up a couple of layers of aluminum foil on the entire wall facing them. You really do need to move.
My smartmeter was installed a little over a month ago. I can’t say for sure what is going on in our home is from it, or something else. But the clear facts are that we haven’t had any problems until after it was installed. Smoke detectors going off for no apperant reason, only for like two seconds. Batteries are new, and we have even installed new ones, seven to be exact. The appliances are malfunctioning, and these are newer appliances as well, but we now need to buy new ones? The cable box’s are spazzing out, sounding like they are frying. Called Dish Network to come take a look just today. Headaches, migraines that just will not go away, massive nosebleeds galore! It’s humid and rainy here in Houston, so it isn’t from the cold. Lights flickering all the time. It does concern me, as nothing has ever happened all at once as this has since it was just installed. Waiting on the next bill to see if we actually saved some bucks. I would also like to think what we are experiencing isn’t from the smartmeter, but it just seems too coincidental.
I don’t know anything about the smart meters. What I have learned so far from the comments is that the jury is still out on if and how the devise could harm our health. They are installed mainly to to control costs and add to the profit margin of the utility companies.
If we still value lives (human and animal) over money, why can’t we gather more data before arriving at a conclusion? It may turn out that after all, the devise is safe for the majority, give or take some unpleasant symptoms caused by the emissions. Or we may find out that we should have never used any of them, because people, animals, bees and bats are made gravely ill by these meters.
What is the great rush to install a questionable and potentially lethal instrument across the entire nation? The analogy here is: approving a new drug before testing/trials on human/or animal subjects. Would you pop a pill not knowing if it will heal or kill?
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I have read a few of your posts and stories concerning smart meters. Most of the stories I’ve read concerning health related problems are about people with pacemakers or cancer, but has anyone ever discussed miscarriages?
FPL placed a smart meter on my home in October 2011. We had received a postcard prior to this telling us that one was being installed as part of their attempt at increasing energy efficiency, but nothing mentioning our right to opt out or anything about the possible detrimental effects it may or may not have.
My husband and I found out we were pregnant with our first child in December 2011, right before Christmas. We went to our first well baby visit to find that our baby’s heart beat was dangerously lower than normal, about 30 bpm rather than 150. Our Dr. said it was likely a problem with cardiac development and that we would likely miscarry. My husband and I were devastated to say the least. A week later, our baby’s heartbeat stopped. I tried taking medication to speed along the expulsion process, but it did not work, and I ultimately had to undergo surgery.
During this whole process, a friend of ours brought up the topic of smart meters and some of the issues he had read about. We immediately began looking at some of the research, and decided exercise our right to opt out as per Florida law. FPL agreed to remove our smart meter and install a regular digital meter instead.
I know that radiation can affect fetal development, which is why healthcare professionals ask if a woman is pregnant prior to taking X-rays. I am curious if the amount of radiation these smart meters supposedly put out could have had an affect on my baby’s development, thereby leading to my eventual miscarriage. I have not found any concrete information concerning this topic, but I am sure that I am not the first person to bring it up. Additionally, for those who post to this comment, please be kind as this is a touchy subject, and it has taken me over a month to even begin to speak about outside my family and close friends.
I feel anguish for your loss. According to Barrie Trower, microwave weapons expert, the emissions from all wireless devices are dangerous. There are a number of sources of microwave radiation that most are unaware of. The only way to find the source of your problem would be to test your home for rf radiation. I would suggest buying a Gigahertz Solutions meter. It has an audible and digital readout for easier detection. I prefer the 38B because it has a peak hold function and it is directional. You will notice the pulses from wifi, cell phones, baby monitors, and chordless phone base stations are quite strong.
There is plenty of “concrete” proof that this type of radiation harms us on a biological level.
Go to http://www.magdahavas.com for scanned documents.
Here is a video from Barrie Trower discussing the effects on the Fetus.
http://youtube.com/results?q=barrie%20trower#/watch?v=iLWRdkxKXiw
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I am interested in the safety of these meters, but have just one question, do you have any factual information related to the levels that are put out by these meters? I have been looking through your site and have yet to find one mention of factual information about the transmission levels.
Have there been any independent studies done on this or is this all based on opinion? I would be willing to contribute to a fund established for this research.
Here is a link to a video of a smart water meter in Saint Paul, Minnesota to provide you with some factual information. You can see the readings and hear when the pulses are. I have seen quite a few of these types of videos on various websites. I’m sure that there are some others on this website. Water meters, I believe, are not as bad as electrical meters, but still have pretty strong pulses. I was the person with the video camera, and Damon Coyne, a Building Biologist and EMF expert in Minnesota, is the one in the video with the meter.
http://intentionalenvironment.com/smart-meters
Interesting discussion on this site…
I’m from the UK, I dont know how different our smart meters are, but it sounds like they do a similar thing. I’m all up for my energy company knowing all about my consumption habits – that will help predict electricity generation and help reduce wasted power consumption.
- When you turn on a light, that doesnt instantly fire up a coal, nuclear or gas fired power station into generating more power – that power must be there ready for you to use. To make that possible that there is typically a 10% over production of electricity – if energy producers can use my consumption data to reduce that to 1% or 2% thats quite a significant energy saving.
As for wanting to opt out – I’m sure you could get the electricity disconnected and not have to worry.
@Nick Well, all you folks in the UK have got your FREE opt-out, so look into it further before you go whole hog: stopsmartmeters.org.uk is the UK-specific site about smart meters.
Nick,
Supposedly from what I have read, the meters in the UK are different from what we use here in the U.S.
You meters differ because they do not use a mesh network that communicates to the utility. Each of your meters has their own transmitter and frequency that transmits directly to the utility, meaning that the radio gear is much more powerful in each meter.
But the way that the power plants operate is the same, no matter what fuel is used.
The power plants generate AC power, and they have to keep the plants operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
At night, there is less demand on the grid, and grid operators can reduce output a bit at night, but yes it is true, even in the UK, they have to keep those plants running 24 hours a day.
The reason being is, it is far to costly to shut down a generation facility and then fire it back up in a day. So your theory about the smart meters being able to save energy, anywhere in the world is not reality. Perhaps you have been brainwashed by the UK “thought police”.
The problem is, the choice to use AC current was kind of a mistake as far as storing electricity. Alternating current cannot be stored, so whatever AC current that is generated at night and not used is wasted. There is no way around that. But, if that unused AC power could be rectified to Direct Current (DC), it could be stored in expensive batteries at night, then inverted back to AC for use the next day. All the components like inverters, batteries and rectifiers are very expensive and lossy, meaning that they are only about 80 percent efficient combined. That is why nobody is doing it.
And there is new technology that is being tested, like the Bonnieville Power Authority in Oregon is using bricks and water heaters to store heat energy in residential applications. The ratepayers are subsidizing experiments that cost around $1000 for controls and large water heaters being installed in 300 houses to test the effectiveness of storing energy as heat. Again, very expensive.
So Nick, I’m sorry to inform you that you have been fooled about the smart meters. The sole purpose of the smart meter program is to automate meter reading and eliminate good jobs, and later, gouge ratepayers even more when the start the time differential pricing schemes. Here where I live (northern California) our private utility provider (PG&E) is boasting to their employees that starting in 2014, they will raise the rates up to $1 per kilowatt/hour between the hours of 2:00 pm to 7:00 pm. It’s all about gouging the ratepayers, not about saving energy at all.
That is the main reason that many people (myself included) would never opt in to such a program. If you are smart, you will just say no to SmartMeter !
They installed these things in Canada and everybody is getting a 100-200% increase in rates overnight. One guy was on vacation for an entire month with his house empty/no lights and gas heat, yet his bill still tripled. WTF. Total scam
Looking back at all the comments, 99% are against this meter. health effects, privacy and high billing and more comments coming in world wide. Why is it so hard to convince Hydro that these meters are bad news. Well could it be for some other purpose with a name tag ‘ULTIMATE CONTROL’? How about N.W.O. Just think about it., the plan for these meters is world wide. Cozy every one under the same umbrella of the smart meter, plus its three different chips .Two we know about, but how about the third????
We then become no more than slaves to corporations. Sounds a lot what Hitler had in mind, except he did not succeed. He self destruct. We must fight for freedom and it starts with the “Smart Meter”. or settle for ultimate control. My dad always pointed out to his children, that power corrupts and ultimate power corrupts ultimately.
I think that we are missing the whole point. We are controlled by corporations who hold all of the world riches. “Rothchilds ” is one of them, who owns some 80 % of the worlds wealth. They could feed all the hungry and homeless in the world and still have money left. Why is there such a desire to control the masses and decide for their destinies? Over population has been mentioned many times, but is the world really over populated? No I don’t think so. You can be flying over Canada, Australia and many other parts in the world and not see any live at all. With some effort from the rich, no one needs to go to bed hungry, we just need the support to spread out more. The 1% of elite sooner or later will sink, and the other 99% will have the victory. As for the “Smart Meter”? It is just another way of control over the masses, just think of it. world wide?
To what purpose? To feed their ignorance and fear to lose what they got. . Freedom and Democracy is worth fighting for. Having lived in very under developed countries for a while and see the poor living in holes in the streets, I can only say, this will not go on forever as long we allow it. My teachings in life from my parents was: Power corrupts, and ultimate power corrupts ultimately Hitler had ideas but did not succeed, he took his own live, and I’m sure if we could hear his last words, would it not have been. I should have done this differently? Too many people suffered on my hands>
I would suggest moving quickly to have the meters removed, time is running out.
http://www.spaulforrest.com/2012/04/nation-of-morons.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AmericaRevealed+%28America+Revealed%29
We are led to believe, that these meters the ” Analogue” that is , belong to the Electric co., but I beg to differ. For years we have paid through the nose for these meters over and over again. don’t tell me that they belong to Hydro, is there any sign which states their ownership? I don’t think so. Therefore they may supply the energy, but let’s not forget they use B.C.water. Not only that, Hydro is a public utility. So we should be charging them for use of our waters.
Not realistic, but some food for thought. ” THEY REMOVE THE METER, THEY ARE TRESPASSING” THEY ENTERED WITHOUT YOUR PERMISSION. Let them in writing from outside sources confirm the safety of these “Smart Meters”.
Hello everyone,
I just found the flyer regarding the STOPSMARTMETERS. I reside in the City of Burbank (CA) and 4 months ago we were advised that a Burbank Water and Power technician would have come to install the smart meters.
Until now, our bill has been fine, none of us got any physical problem. I wanted to say something regarding the environmental issue. Bees, like you were saying are mostly dying not because of smart meters but because of CELLPHONE use.
If you all are worried then throw your phones away. Not to mention the fact that the majority of pollution comes from INSIDE our home. The materials that are used to built furniture and homes themselves are not that great for our health!
There are so many things that are “bad” for us in our daily environment that we do not even think about…if these smart meters are “bad” for us then let’s publish some studies, some data…we need to change the way we think about the world…the corporations only reflect the thought of the collective consciousness… it seems easier to blame others but the real problem comes from inside our way to think.
Please any of you…publish concrete studies!
Thank you
To Concerned Florida Person,
Please accept my deep condolences on your loss. I was pregnant and lost my daughter at nearly 32 weeks. Having read the research, I now believe that micro wave radiation played a role. If you would like more information on what else I discovered- feel free to email me at:
getsmart2wifi@hotmail.com
Elizabeth
Elizabeth,
If you are worried about microwave radiation in your home, please get rid of your microwave oven.
SmartMeters, mobile phones and conventional Wi-Fi do not use microwave.
There is a new Wi-Fi system that supposedly does use low powered “scattered” microwave transmissions in the 5 gigahertz range. It is very low powered and only transmits a signal about 9 feet.
The scattered microwave used for the new Wi-Fi must be above 5 GHz and very low powered, otherwise it could possibly interfere with other wireless devices like SmartMeters , mobile phones, automation systems etc. etc. if it was used in the lower frequencies. The FCC makes the rules, but it is not to protect the public, it is to protect the corporations who manufacture and sell electronic products from interference that could squelch $ales.
Marianna,
Thanks for taking the time to look into what all the fuss is about.
Bee colony collapse disorder did begin in places before Smart Meters were installed, so no one is claiming Smart Meters have killed all the bees. The “official” word is that pesticides are killing the bees. Cell towers are likely contributors, but throwing away your phone will not make a difference.
You seem to understand that we are indeed living in a toxic world, even in our own homes. We can choose to purchase toxic cleaning products, pressed formaldahyde furniture, compact fluorescent lightbulbs, processed additive-filled “food” or lawn/garden products that poison our yards. Or we can choose the safer alternatives. The same goes for electric meters. Keeping your Smart Meter is a choice you are free to make. Researching the KNOWN health effects of radio frequency radiation is also a choice you can make. Measuring the RF in and around your home is also up to you.
I know a number people like yourself who are waiting for “peer reviewed science” to spell things out nice and neatly. That waiting game is going to get boring, trust me. We’ve looked at the existing research, we’ve measured the actual Smart Meter pulses, and we trust people when they say they are suffering after SMs have been installed.
These choices are yours to make.
http://the-coming-depression.blogspot.com/2012/05/expert-warns-100-certainty-of-total.html
And people wonder why America keeps going deeper into the sewer. Look in the mirror and you’ll see why America is going in the crapper. Get some facts people, there are bigger more troubling issues than a Smart Meter. Funny how people used to think AM/FM radios was a hazard to their health.
Smart meters were installed in my neighborhood 6 months ago, energy costs are lower, no one is the neighborhood is experiencing ill effects, headaches, plenty of bees.
If a electric smart meter will save me money why don’t they make smart gas pump meters.