PG&E Threatens Elderly Lady with Power Shut-off in Red Bluff

PG&E is threatening old ladies in Red Bluff

Reports are coming in from Red Bluff in Northern California that PG&E’s ‘smart’ meter installers have been threatening 78 year old ladies with having their power cut off unless they accept a new wireless meter on their home.   In the middle of winter, threatening to cut off the heat to an elderly person’s home is akin to a death threat.

If PG&E wants to pick a fight with the people of California, they’re sure going about it the right way.

This is from Gloria Linch’s letter to the local paper:

When I told (the ‘smart’ meter installer) my objections and that I was writing a letter to the editor of our local newspaper to vent my frustrations his expression suddenly changed and he looked very concerned. He told me to be careful about causing any problems for PG&E. He confessed that he had already been threatened by people and refused entry on properties. I told him that I could not help the actions of others but I felt it was wrong for PG&E to force the people to accept the SmartMeter without a choice and I felt compelled to continue my protest. He warned me that PG&E would retaliate by removing the old meter and leave me without any power whatsoever.

I am 78 years of age, and I took that warning as a threat. What else could it be? That warning told me just what sort of authority I was going to have to face. But even more to the point, since when does big business dictate to the citizens of California they must accept a product or survive without electricity? That is totally against our constitution of civil rights, and I do not remember voting for SmartMeters.

This entry was posted in Citizen rebellion, Democracy, PG&E. Bookmark the permalink.

9 Responses to PG&E Threatens Elderly Lady with Power Shut-off in Red Bluff

  1. Pillage and Greed…and if that doesn’t work. Execute. PG&E…

  2. Ron says:

    The big sign could just as easily say, “Welcome to Red Buff: Human nature at its rawest and most dreadfully repressive.” Underneath is a smaller, ominous sign that reads something about deadly poison and 1080 baits. Is that what they plan to do to Gloria Linch?

  3. Tom says:

    I don’t get it! Everyone is going after the electric companies for upgrading their systems. I did not like what was going on with the electric utilities so I chose to move on, I no longer buy my electric service from them. Don’t go crazy after the companies make a choice and do it yourself.

    • onthelevelblog says:

      Hi Tom, While going off grid is certainly an option for many people, there are those that for whatever reason- location, poverty, etc cannot do this and are therefore stuck with the utilities. Should these people be forced to have a smart meter?

  4. claire says:

    So, Tom What are you doing for electricity if you are off grid? How do you get your electrical service….clue the rest of us in please.

    • Redi Kw from Marin says:

      I have a good friend who lives up in Trinity County who has been “off grid” for the last 11 years since he built his house. There is grid power about 2000 feet away, but PG&E wanted a large amount of money to run electrical service down to his property.
      He has a solar system with an inverter and batteries. His PV array is on a tracking mechanism out in the yard. It uses water and weights to move his solar panels to follow the abundant sun during the hot season.
      He uses wood for house heating, and also has a wood fired water heater (a hassle), also solar water heat coils.
      He also has an AC alternator-DC generator combo for backup when he has huge parties that need to power musical equipmentand to charge the batteries.
      Now he has his own hydro-electric generator 1000 feet down at the river. That generator puts out 500 volts of DC constantly during the wettest months, enough to charge his batteries and then some.
      So the excess bleed off power generated now is used to heat water. The battery bank can only store so much power, so the extra would be wasted unless he built up his battery bank. The batteries are expensive and only last a finite amount of time. He said that he drives down to Sausalito to buy his batteries from a company that has the best prices in California.
      Now with the economy the way it is, there is a lot of industrial equipment for sale very cheap due to the mills closing, and some of it requires 3 phase power.
      Now he is building a wood shop to start milling and planing all the wood he has, and PG&E said that they would run a line down to his property for no charge if he agreed to but a lot of electricity. So he might also have grid power soon, but it won’t be 3 phase power like what is available in more urban areas.
      What he will do is buy a 3 phase alternator that takes single phase power and converts it into 3 phase either electro mechanically or with solid state power electronics.
      All his solar and hydo-electric gear, costs a bundle of money, probably 1000 times as expensive per kilowatt hour as buying power from the grid.
      Some people have no choice but to generate their own power, but in most areas that is not necessary and far too costly. These people that tell others who don’t like what the power companies are doing to go off grid are ignorant, arrogant, assholes and don’t have a clue of what is happening in the world today. If they actually knew even a little bit about electricity, they would not be saying what they say.

  5. Pingback: Defend Your Analog Meter Part II | Stop Smart Meters!

  6. George Houlican says:

    We all try to blame something or someone when we receive unjust and over the top electricity bills. Me to so searched the Internet and came accross the following:

    Many times we hear of or see ordinary people who are struggling to survive receive over the top of electricity bills for thousands of dollars. Many blame it on their electricity meter or just assume that the electricity company has grossly overcharged.

    In some cases this is true. Nobody ever questions if the man who reads the meter is wrong.

    As an ex electricity meter reader and about to retire to New Zealand, I can tell you what is happening in some cases. Meter reading figures can be altered by simple technology. Some meter reader simply swings his or her own personal electricity usage onto other customers.

    Others, and even worse get kick backs from some businesses to offset usage to ordinary customers.

    I personally have even known two meter readers who where receiving cash money from people who had rented or bought a home and where growing or producing drugs and using thousands of dollars worth of electricity. This huge amount of electricity usage was then simply added to some poor persons bill. Whist the criminals only paid a few hundred dollars every few months for electricity usage.

    As I will be living overseas, but my children and grandchildren will still live in Australia, I hope someone where you live will also help to expose this worldwide and criminal rip-off of people that can least afford it.

    Cheers

  7. Dena Hurlock says:

    They did the same to me. Only they took the meter and left us with nothing! The tree companies they hire have beat my dogs, called animal control when I was not home and not expecting them on my property behind locked gates. The tree company also ran over my daughters ‘show’ duck and squished it with guts and all left for us to clean up. They broke the lights on my quad and some antique glasses on my porch. they leave a big mess and are rude and intrusive. We have been without ANY meter on our property now for 2 years. They just recently tresspassed saying ‘yes’ they had an appointment as that is what we now ask for since they kill our animals and destroy things. And accused us of using power. I told them they had to brind an officer with them as they had no right to be on our property as we do NOT use them. They brought cops, treated us threateningly, saw the generators and that there were NO meters anywhere on our property. We have 3 places to have meters. The agriculture electric panel was burned up as the ground on thier pole rotted and was smoking out of the ground. They said they were not responsible to replace our panel. so they pulled the meter and pulled the fuses. that was 4 years ago. The other was a meter that has never been on the pole since we have lived here. They somehow believed we were getting power here from them and forced there way on and found they were wrong. and again, they tried hitting my dogs with battons. (the officer that came with them would not give me one minute to put the dogs away) He just walked on without regard for my asking him to wait. our sherrifs in Tehama county are just mentally ill.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.