As bad as the extortionate and punitive smart meter ‘opt-out’ fee policy seems at the moment, utilities in California are pressuring the CPUC to increase the fees, and take away the choice of an analog meter, forcing us to pay hundreds of dollars/ year for a digital ‘radio off’ meter with many of the same problems as the ‘smart’ meter. It’s been revealed that utilities like PG&E have scrapped millions of perfectly functional analog meters– now they want to charge us for purchasing new ones.
We refuse to be charged for the mistakes of corporate utilities.
Yes ladies and gentlemen it’s that time of year again- when the Grinch raises his ugly head and tries to destroy your holiday season. Of course the Grinch is a sweet, cute and cuddly cartoon character, whereas the utility company executives forcing smart meters despite clear evidence of harm are thugs and criminals who don’t think twice about hurting your family for a few extra bucks.
Time to show up in force at the CPUC ‘opt out’ hearings happening December 13th-20th in Bakersfield, Santa Barbara, LA, San Clemente, and Santa Rosa. Here’s the info (with flyers to download in pdf):
BAKERSFIELD Dec 13 at 6:00 p.m. Bakersfield City Hall Council Chambers 1501 Truxtun Avenue Download Bakersfield Flyer
SANTA BARBARA Dec. 14 3:00 pm County Administration Building Board Hearing Room, 4th Floor 105 East Anapamu Street Download Santa Barbara Flyer
LOS ANGELES Dec 17, 2012 at 6:00 p.m. Junipero Serra State Office Building Carmel Room – Auditorium, 1st Floor 320 West 4th Street Download Los Angeles Flyer
SAN CLEMENTE Dec. 18, 2012 at 6:00 p.m.San Clemente Community Center – Ole Hanson Fireside Room 100 N. Calle Seville Download San Clemente Flyer
SANTA ROSA Dec 20, 2012 at 2:00 p.m. Steel Lane Community Center – Dohn Room 415 Steele Lane Download Santa Rosa Flyer
Great, legally based talking points for the hearings have been developed by San Diego’s Electrosmogprevention.org and you can download them here.
Big thanks to Stop OC Smart Meters for creating the above flyer. Download the version for the hearing that is closest to you, print, and post it everywhere you can. You can print 4 to a page and hand them out.
Bay Area “Analog Express” to the Santa Rosa Hearing
Hey Bay Area! Meet people. Have fun! Sing ‘smart’ meter themed christmas carols! Tell the CPUC what’s up!
Stop Smart Meters! is chartering a coach to take people from Santa Cruz to the Santa Rosa ‘smart’ meter ‘opt out’ hearing on Thursday December 20th. The bus will leave Santa Cruz County in the morning and stop on the Peninsula, in San Francisco and Marin County on the way to the Santa Rosa hearing at 2pm on Dec. 20th. It will return to Santa Cruz, making all stops along the way by approximately 8pm.
Tickets on the Stop Smart Meters! Analog Express are $25 return. Subsidized seats available. Please e-mail info[at]stopsmartmeters[dot]org to reserve your seat today.
If you cannot attend the hearings:
If you are unable to attend these hearings, you may submit written comments to the to the CPUC’s Public Advisor’s Office at the address noted below. Please refer to the application filing number, A.11-03-014 et al, when writing. Please state if you would like a response, otherwise no response will be sent. Your comments will become a part of the formal file for public comment in this proceeding. The Public Advisor’s Office will circulate your comments to the five Commissioners, the ALJ, the Division of Ratepayer Advocates (DRA), and to CPUC staff assigned to this proceeding (and then use it as toilet paper -ed.). You may also write to the CPUC if you need advice on how to participate in this proceeding, or would like to receive further notices regarding the date, time, and place of any future hearing in this proceeding:
The Public Advisor California Public Utilities Commission 505 Van Ness Avenue, Room 2103 San Francisco, CA 94102 E-Mail: Public.Advisor@cpuc.ca.gov
Pingback: Whose Costs? Our Costs. | Stop Smart Meters!
Small wonder they want to hike rates — they have a bankruptcy to deal with. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323723104578185651853480758.html
The other side of the money story is:
1. Electric consumption has fallen and expected to decrease. The decrease has occurred as digital technology increases. It is anticipated that it will keep decreasing over the next nine years (http://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.cfm?id=6570)
2. Utility companies are looking to gain as much data as they can obtain in order to compete with other large corporations. Our personal information essentially became a commodity to be “harvested” that large corporations are fighting over since Citizens v. United.
The San Clemente meeting was exceptionally well-attended. Many speakers (about 45) passionately described serious illnesses and other objections to fees and smart meters – such as privacy concerns, the gathering and selling of personal data (concerning habits in the home and more), smart meter fires, hacking of data and use of smart meter information by thieves, before the impassive CPUC Administrative Law Judge Amy Yip- Kikugawa. Speakers were only given 2 minutes each and the meeting was cut off early without any apparent good reason, to the objections of the audience, after 1 1/2 hours. CEP audiotaped it and took some pics, offered in an uncensored pair of YouTubes.
Part 1 of 2 http://youtu.be/bO2ulWvDdg4
Part 2 of 2 http://youtu.be/JmgOMICt01I
San Clemente Patch (12/19/12)
OPINION: Opponents Hammer CPUC on Smart Electricity Meter Fees
YouTube Audio w/ Pics of Smart Meter Opt-out Fees CPUC PPH, San Clemente, CA, 12/18/12
The San Clemente Public Participation Hearing (PPH) was a roaring success! A smart meters protest was held on the street before the meeting. An overflow crowd of about 100 attended, which included Stop OC Smart Meters, Center for Electrosmog Prevention (CEP), nuclear and other activists and many other citizens unaffiliated with organizations. Many speakers (about 45) who passionately described serious illnesses and other objections to fees and smart meters – such as privacy concerns, the gathering and selling of personal data (concerning habits in the home and more), smart meter fires, hacking of data and use of smart meter information by thieves, before an impassive Administrative Law Judge Amy Yip- Kikugawa, for the CPUC. Speakers were only given 2 minutes each and the meeting was cut off early without any apparent good reason, to the objections of the audience, after 1 1/2 hours, though it was to have lasted 2 hours. CEP audiotaped it and took some pics, offered in an uncensored pair of YouTubes.
Part 1 of 2 http://youtu.be/bO2ulWvDdg4
Part 2 of 2 http://youtu.be/JmgOMICt01I
This is raw footage and pics – nothing fancy, but you can listen to the very compelling testimonies from Southern Californians who came together to decry smart meters and fees. I was speaker #7 and spoke as a citizen, and told my story of being made ill. The short time allotted did not allow for all that could have been said.
Virtually all were against smart meters and any opt-out fees, demanding no fees and banning smart meters. They objected to increases in fees. This meeting is one of five similar meetings held in December, throughout California. The last meeting will be held in Santa Rosa on Dec. 20th.
Location where meeting was held:
San Clemente Community Center
Ole Hanson Fireside Room
100 N. Calle Seville
San Clemente, CA 92672
December 18, 2012
6:00 pm – 7:30 PM (ended early by judge)
if you were unable to attend and would like to submit written comments about the
smart meters and opt-out fees (due to be doubled), please contact:
Public Advisor
California Public Utilities Commission
505 Van Ness Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94102-3298
Or via e-mail to Public.advisor@cpuc.ca.gov
Telephone: (415) 703-2074 or toll-free: 1-866-849-8390
Teletype (TTY): (415) 703-5282 or toll-free TTY: 1-866-836-7825
CENTER FOR ELECTROSMOG PREVENTION (CEP) IS A FORMAL PARTY TO THE CPUC SMART METER OPT-OUT PROCEEDINGS IN CALIFORNIA. CEP ADVOCATES FOR UTILITY CUSTOMERS, DEMANDING NO SMART METER OPT-OUT FEES, ELIMINATION OF BANKS OF METERS, ANALOG-ONLY OPT-OUTS, AND BANNING OF SMART METERS.
http://www.electrosmogprevention.org. Contact us at info@electrosmogprevention.org
http://sanclemente.patch.com/blog_posts/youtube-audio-w-pics-of-smart-meter-opt-out-fees-cpuc-pph-san-clemente-ca-121812
Transcripts for all five meetings are available here. http://www.scribd.com/collections/4058713/CPUC-PPH-Meetings-Transcripts-Dec-2012