Meters that Smart: The Name is All Too Accurate

The new wireless utility meters going in around the country have been called many things: spy meters, dumb meters, even murder meters.  But we think the industry chose well when they named their new meters “smart,” a word in English indicating a sharp injury or pain. While utilities may want customers to say “Wow, that’s smart,” all too many of them are saying “Stop–that smarts!”

Indeed many people around the country are wincing in pain, grimacing as the terrible reality of pulsed microwave radiation permeating our communities becomes ‘normal.’  For every story we publish here on StopSmartMeters.Org, there are many more that go unreported. We hear about them everyday.

An 82-year-old woman living in Santa Cruz, feeling a weight on her that refused to go away, and thinking that she was about to die, wrote out her will.  Traveling to another part of California to be with her family over Christmas–a part that doesn’t have smart meters yet–she found her symptoms vanished, and she felt fine.  She put the pieces together and realized her health problems stemmed from the ‘smart’ meter in her home.  She had the meter removed and presented it to her elected officials in disgust on Tuesday of this week.

For every one who is willing to have his or her story heard publicly, there are many more who just want their health back, with no publicity, thanks. A couple in San Francisco moved out of their apartment building after the husband suffered weeks of poor sleep and headaches after five wireless meters were installed. Now they move from place to place, while trying to figure out how they can make their home livable again. His job might be on the line, if their efforts to get analog meters were made public.

One woman who has been sick from the smarting meters in her building for months can’t get her landlord to change the meters. He would do it, except for the cost to opt (even though there is no cost as of yet).

The health of an elderly couple in San Francisco took a nose-dive after the installation of their ‘smart’ meter: the husband is suffering from a progressing case of prostate cancer–which his doctor says is unusually rapid given his tests last year–and he is getting hormone and chemo treatment. The wife’s heart condition has worsened, and her weight dropped 20%. Their adult daughter would like that smarting meter off their home.

One of our members reported that while talking with a Comcast installer the other day, the installer mentioned  his company could provide a wireless modem. This launched a discussion of the health hazards of wireless radiation, and the ‘smart’ meter scourge.  His mouth agape, the installer mentioned that he had not been sleeping well at all for several months.  Thinking back, he realized it all started around the time his own smart meter went in. He had been to a doctor but tested negative for sleep apnea, and the sleep disturbances continued. Disgusted at PG&E’s greed and recklessness, the installer found out where to buy an analog meter and said he planned to remove his meter the following day.  Even for people working inside the industry, the wall of denial surrounding wireless health hazards is showing significant cracks.

Just like the Comcast installer, it’s time we all wise up and implement change.  There is no need to smart from these meters in our own homes.  These are our homes, our communities, and our lives. Our rights are on the line–basic human rights to health, safety, and privacy.

From this point on, we will no longer be using quotes around the word ‘smart’ when we refer to smart meters. We mean to say these devices cause sharp and persistent pain. The insomnia degrades health; tinnitus punctuates hearing; the headaches soak up time and energy, and keep us from enjoying our lives and our homes. The sense of intrusion, injury, and violation from smart meters indeed gives a sharp mental pain.

Get wise: no more smarting!

You can defend your analog, or change your meter, or submit a complaint!