Okay so they didn’t exactly give a green light to having your “smart” meter removed. But it wasn’t a red light either. More like a flashing yellow caution sign.
First of all, as is clear to anyone who reads the post they refer to, we never encourage anyone who is not qualified to work on electrical equipment or to change their meter themselves. PG&E is right about one thing — it could be dangerous and even lethal (much like the “smart” meter itself). We are promoting residents who have requested ‘smart’ meter removal and have been met with a denial by their utility company to find a qualified professional who can swap the meter out for them. Particularly if they are suffering common symptoms like headaches, nausea, tinnitus, or insomnia from the microwave emissions. No one deserves to be forced to endure those kinds of health effects in the sanctity of their own home. In addition, Michael Peevey, President of the CPUC, has authorized analog replacements for customers who request them. Get with the program, Piggy.
Utilities could avoid people having their meters removed by third parties if they did their job and had their own technicians remove ‘smart’ meters upon customer request. Until that day comes, utilities should not be surprised when people take matters into their own hands and have the smart meter removed.
If the originator of this letter, Mr. Christopher Myers, Safety Engineering and Health, really wants to live up to his job title, then he should order an immediate recall of ‘smart’ meters due to their threat to the aims of his job title. Do your job, Chris!
Let’s just review what the utility company has threatened to do to people who want to have their meter removed, and find out whether any of these threats hold water:
1) “You will be arrested and thrown in jail” Again, having a meter changed is NOT a crime. Tampering with an intent to defraud the utility is a crime, but if you are careful and document each step of the process, it’s unlikely that a jury of your peers would find you guilty of tampering. Even PG&E does not pretend that meter changing with intent to protect your health and safety is equivalent to tampering with intent to defraud.
2) “We will disconnect your power” State utility code does not allow utilities to disconnect anyone who has paid their bill on time simply for swapping a meter.
3) “We will charge you hundreds of dollars” They can only charge you more if your state PUC allows them to do so, and this is typically a lengthy process. Maine’s PUC, for example charges about $10-$20/ month to keep your analog (which is still extortion) It will likely be months – if ever – before any fees are allowed to be charged by the CA PUC.
The proof is in the pudding. Not one person has been arrested, had their electricity switched off, or charged one extra cent for refusing or replacing a ‘smart’ meter. So ignore their threats, stand your ground, and have that analog put back in its rightful place – on the side of your home! Then lock it up!
Typical of the utility’s dysfunctional circular logic, the last sentence reads: “tampering violates numerous state laws intended to … protect the public from … unlawful activities.” Those are the best kinds of laws — ones that protect the public from law breaking!
This letter is interesting as much for what it does say as for what it does not say. It does not say that having your meter changed is illegal. It does not say that changing a meter constitutes tampering. Because it isn’t and it doesn’t.
This is where PG&E’s claim falls to the ground. They are hoping that by intimidating individuals who want their ‘smart’ meter off — by sending threatening letters, and using scary words — that they can dissuade 99% of the public from taking the very reasonable step of having the class 2B carcinogen-emitting meter removed from their property.
The truth is that the so-called “mandatory” ‘smart’ meter program is so much smoke and mirrors – a house of cards ready to fall. In reality, a utility like PG&E would be impotent in the face of thousands of people returning their unwanted ‘smart’ meters. This is the stuff of smart grid company executive nightmares.
Let’s make those nightmares a reality.
SMILING!
It IS time to put an end to corporate dictatorship and thuggery. Occupy your heart, mind, and body, and lets end the $ profit is everything at the expense of life or a healthy future. No more B.S. While you are at it, move your money, what little you may have, out of the big banks, to local credit unions, and small community banks.
No fear. “they” are mostly puff and hot air, and We, the people, ARE the power.
Yes, WE can.
“tampering with meters… is extremely dangerous” — I know Stop Smart Meters does not advocate for tampering, but something is so wrong with the logic of this letter, right? It should instead read, “installing a smart meter at your home or residence is extremely dangerous and respresents a significant threat to personal and public safety.” That’s what PG&E should be alerting customers about. Okay, so what’s needed to make the CPUC recognize smart meters as a potential and real personal and public safety hazard, just like it has done with the overloaded utility lines? This is not just anecdoatl, people’s lives and homes and properties and safety and health are already being damaged and threatened here, and this is going to add up to millions of dollars in healthcare costs, lowering of real estate values, etc. Read LATimes, Oct. 23, 2011: “99 milion dolllars in fines urged in power poles that sparked fire” (http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-utility-pole-fines-20111023,0,5357957.story), and Read Page 2 of this news story, “PUC Recommends that So Cal Edison and Four Cellular Providers Face $99.2 Million in Fines for Fire Role” (http://www.malibusurfsidenews.com/current_issue.pdf).
No doubt about it, PG&E reads these forums.
I’m surprised that they acknowledged this with a letter to Joshua.
Once again, PG&E is full of BS. I have seen many Wellington installers working installing electric meters and none of them have face shields, hardhats, goggles or fire retardant clothing. The only time I saw a picture of them wearing protection is when it was featured in an article in the local paper.
Has anyone seen a Wellington installer wearing hardhats and a face shield ? Let us know. And by the way, what good is a hardhat going to do to protect the worker on a residential meter job ? Hardhats are mandatory on large construction jobs, but most people won’t wear one unless it is critical to safety and/or there are company spies with cameras on their mobile phones who like to get brownie points for turning other people in for safety violations, or if management wants to get rid of someone and needs some ammo.
I would never work on any job that requires a hardhat for many reasons. The restrict your vision and one could get hurt because of that, they are very uncomfortable to wear, very hot, cause unnecessary sweating (water and electricity are dangerous when mixed) and they mess up your hair ! (if you have any left).
When Wellington sneaks onto peoples private property, they almost never knock on the door to let the customer know what they are about to attempt to do.
Many people lock their panels in high crime areas, or if they are going through a divorce and have a spouse that likes to cut the power on their ex (don’t laugh, I have seen this happen). When Wellington changes out a meter without being able to turn off all loads being fed by the meter, that is the danger to the public that PG&E is concerned about. Anyone who has half a brain who wants to have a meter changed out will always make sure that whoever does the job is able to have access to turning off all loads first.
Smart Meters Are NOT Green.
Concepts and theory sounds great, but upon closer inspection:
1. Customer information from smart meters is NOT formatted for customers and does NOT change customer behavior towards conservation.
2. Cost – Benefit is horrendous being promoted to profit the utility monopolies and their suppliers, not customers or our society or our environment.
3. The Smart Grid does NOT use or require a smart meter on each home. The necessary smart information for the grid can be gathered much more efficiently and timely and inexpensively at energy distribution points.
4. The vast amount of unnecessary and nearly useless information to be handled and stored may actually end up raising energy usage.
5. This massive Billions-of-dollars smart meter program will leave NO funds for programs that would truly bring energy saving solutions and the public will not be receptive to real solutions after being burned by these so-called smart meters.
Awesome reply! So true!
Class action lawsuit?
Over 2 million people are now without power as power company CEOs rake in millions of dollars in overblown salaries and spend millions of ratepayer dollars on worthless “Smart” Meter purchases.
They should have spent millions on normal tree trimming and inspection activities to prevent the outage.
When the lawsuit hits for this outage, it will be the ratepayer who get hit, again.
And don’t forget, the so called “smart” meters will allow quicker responses to power outages!
News: “People could be without electricity for as long as a week, said Gov. Dannel P. Malloy.”
I have been fighting with BC hydro for yrs now! My home has been underconstrucion for 7 yrs ( Paycheque to Paycheque). At Christmas time my bars are off the map, last yr I was in Calgary for my daughter got her wisdom teeth pulled.
I haven’t had had a fridge, stove, washer or dryer for atleast 5-6 yrs and only a six cubic ft top loading energy efficent freezer, but my graphs have been off the chart for Feb and April
My last bill for June, July and August is 24/5/5% Well had no appliancenes in June, but bought a stackable washer/dryer and used daily in July and August! Sept is less than 24%. Lmao, I call and they just get meaner and say they want a deposit or will cut me off and my disability pays them Monthly $90.00 for 1 1/2 br trailer with new roof and windows and tons of insulation. I’ve uped it to $ 100.00 per month because really need a fridge and stove!
The rest is free trade! I can’t get it here so why should you there?
The biggest problem with the smart meter is that it become a legal wire tap loop hole.
PG&E can do anything it wants with the “smart meter data”
Provide this data and your address to third Parties for the purpose of
SPAM
Marketing
Sales
Police
They can do this without your permission and without a warrant, they do NOT have the right to know what goes on in anyone’s home. They can tell if you have an indoor green house, legal or not legal ones, they can determine times to best increase prices for a particular neighbor hood so that they can continue to price gouge.
PG&E is known as anti-human organization
Poisoning water supplies to increase profits so that top executives can get bigger bonuses “Remember Chromium 6” and a whole town of Men, Women, and Children where purposely given Cancer by PG&E. PG&E gave these people cancer on purpose to shave expenses so the CEO could get a 20 million dollar bonus.
This is why companies do this kind of activity and why they need to be regulated and under the control of the people they are suppose to serve.
A more recent event is the San Bruno Explosion, this is the same exact thing as the chromium 6 being dumped into the water supply. They, PG&E, did not check the pipe on purpose so they could save money, why did they want to save money, so they CEO could get is Big FAT Bonuses.
I’m not against bonuses but it should be given for doing the right things not the wrong things.
While I agree with much of what you write, I have a question about what you say that PG&E knows what is going on inside your house ? Could you please explain how you think that could be done ?
I have been a licensed electrician for decades, and also an electronics technician, and I say that there is no possible way that PG&E will ever know what one is using electricity for, the only thing reported is total electricity used and billed for.
You must realize that PG&E is in business to buy power at wholesale prices and sell it at a profit to customers. The more power that they sell, the more money that they make.
They love cities like Arcata, where 1 in 5 houses use large amounts of power.
PG&E would never want to lose good customers who use large amounts of power and always pay their bill on time. No corporation would want to turn away good profits in a down economy, especially since PG&E went bankrupt a few years ago.
Up in Humboldt county, the timber industry used to buy large amounts of power to operate electrically intensive lumber mills and related industrial equipment. But now, most of the mills have been shuttered, that really hurt the electricity market in Humboldt county. Now, a new industry has emerged and proved to be a good market for PG&E , you know that PG&E is very happy with the way things have improved in the electricity market.