Our land line phone quietly complains of the lack of electricity
Our electricity remains off more than two weeks after PSREC illegally disconnected us on February 19th. It has been a real challenge to continue living in an all-electric house with no electricity. But we refuse to be coerced or agree to fees based on a medical condition — when such fees clearly violate state law. Why should we pay more when other PSREC customers use analog meters at no extra charge?
We are drawing a line in the sand and saying enough is enough. Charging a fee to protect your health and safety is literally extortion and we will not participate in it.
I went away for a few days to the Bay Area this week. We did a Take Back Your Power screening in San Rafael, and had a productive meeting with local advocates. I also went to visit my good friend and activist powerhouse Deb Hubsmith, a national leader advocating for Safe Routes to Schools for our children– a program long overdue. Deb and I worked together more than a decade ago to open the old railroad tunnels to bicyclists and pedestrians in Marin County (the Cal Park tunnel was opened in 2011 and has been a huge success providing commuting options for thousands of people. It came very close to becoming a parking lot for the Golden Gate Ferry).
Deb and I have also worked together to stop “smart” meters from being installed in the area. The town of Fairfax is still mostly smart meter free 4 years after PG&E’s deployment began, due to a pro-active and educated town, and a council who passed the state’s first ordinance banning smart meters. It doesn’t hurt to have a tough police chief willing to enforce that ordinance. Don’t let anyone tell you that local government or local action is not effective. It is!
Deb was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) in October 2013 and has been in treatment for the last several months. She believes her illness was likely caused in part by wireless radiation exposure from smart meters and other wireless devices. Meanwhile utilities are charging people to keep these off their homes.
Please donate to her mounting medical expenses if you can afford to help a little.
When I returned home yesterday, there was a story on the front page of our local paper, the Plumas News, about our dispute with PSREC. The story consisted almost entirely of the utility’s talking points.
Needless to say, this is plain bad journalism, and amounts to an attack piece on us and our work. We have provided the following facts to the paper, and yet these were not included:
- I am Director of StopSmartMeters.Org (they did not even name our organization in the article)
- My physician wrote a letter to PSREC telling them that because of my medical condition of Electro-Hyper-Sensitivity (EHS) I should not be exposed to radiation from PSREC’s “smart” meters.
- The radiation emitted from PSREC’s meters is considered a possible human carcinogen by the World Health Organization (WHO)
- Dozens- perhaps hundreds- of PSREC electric customers self-read their analog meters at no extra charge- including in our neighborhood. We are simply asking for the same treatment. We are being singled out and penalized because of our advocacy.
- The “threats” alleged by Bob Marshall were never identified in the article and we were not given a chance to respond to this absurd allegation. The only “threat” we have ever made to Bob or PSREC is bad publicity. Which they bring upon themselves.
- In truth, it was Bob Marshall who rudely interrupted my wife during her comments and was the first to raise his voice at us. This can be verified by watching the video we took at the meeting.
- Bob is not being truthful when he says it is “against state law” to video someone without their permission. The law says you can photo or video any place you are allowed to be. We were allowed to speak at the meeting and there were no signs saying “no photography.” There is nothing in PSREC’s bylaws that prohibits filming, and to our knowledge they have never asked anyone else not to film an open ratepayers meeting. What is so bad about recording a meeting for the public anyway? What are they trying to hide?
- The article also conveniently neglects to mention that we caught PSREC staff photographing into our home with a telephoto lens the day after they disconnected us. This is a 100% certifiable double standard on the part of PSREC.
Should utilities have the right to disconnect someone’s essential utilities because of their political beliefs or a medical condition? PSREC is doing just that, and now they are getting cover for their abusive treatment by the local “newspaper” who are publishing misleading, incomplete, and inaccurate stories as news on their front page.
Letters to the Portola Reporter Editor can be sent to: dmcdonald@plumasnews.com The deadline for the weekly edition that comes out Wednesday is Friday at 3pm
Call PSREC and demand that they re-connect our electricity and drop the fees. It’s toll free- there is no excuse not to:
Plumas Sierra Rural Electric “Co-Op” (PSREC) (800) 555-2207
So, the Portola Non-Reporter Editor basically left out all pertinent facts of the article. Well, they’re following a proud tradition that the pushers of “smart” meters have set: Don’t tell people what the facts are because, if they find out, they will unequivocally reject what is being sold to them!
Keep up the great work, Josh, and we look forward to having you speak in Savannah next month (Coastal Georgia Center, Savannah, Georgia, Thursday, April 3rd, 6 p. m.). You are really an amazing person, and this safe energy movement is lucky to have you in our midst!
publish an ad back in the paper, flyers about what the community should know about PSREC – include the video link?
we’ll help donate if you need it.
PSREC legally already has violated quite a few laws.
they are no different nor better than SCE, PG&E.
http://www.residocracy.org
(residents of a city-town so tired of the corruption within their businesses, corporations tied to their city council – that they formed their own
governing council)
“Residocracy.org was born in Santa Monica in 2014 to address the overwhelming lack of concern shown by the elected officials in City Hall towards issues and concerns important to Residents.”
can we set an intention and get more free markets for locally sourced energy? can you imagine each neighborhood
managing their own energy resource and no longer dependent on dirty petrol, oil and dirty electricity — honoring the right to choose solar, wind, geothermal, hemp, free energy, etc.
no longer harming people and life around the world to get energy?
if the people want it, they can have it
SCE, PGE, pseudo-“co-ops” like PSREC do not represent or reflect
freedom or the needs of the Community anymore. it’s time to move on.
Josh I ran into a plumas county supervisor a couple of days ago he said psrec gave u a real good deal to get your power back on. So why are u still without power? I won’t go into detail that is between u and psrec. Wake up. U aint in southern Califorinia . Good luck WM
PSREC’s “agreement” would have required us to agree to the fees and waive our first amendment rights. Not agreeing to that. PSREC needs to turn on our power and drop the fees.
LOL! Whats PSREC going to do? Shut down this website? Issue a C&D notice? They want to hide this truth. ANALOG METERS FOR LIFE
omg, just 2 days ago saw utility folks doing something to my meter. went out and noticed they had changed it out. just today on youtube I came across this information about smart meters and now I have one!! im scared to death! its Saturday and not a damn thing I can do about it till Monday. what steps can I take to have it removed in Alabama? I didn’t see a link for Alabama and was hoping you had information for me so that hopefully I wont get arrested for Christ’s sake!!! speaking of which I sure wish Jesus would come on because things are getting worse and worse everyday and im truly petrified!!!
Fear not Bonnie! The first step is being informed, and you are already there. There may not be official resistance in Alabama yet, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t lots of people like you wanting to take action. I highly recommend getting a copy of the film “Take Back Your Power” and organizing screenings in your area, even if it’s just with a few neighbors. Once you have one or two people willing to help you organize, you can plan a bigger screening at your library or church or community center. It actually doesn’t take much to pull off a screening. The film is a great tool that reaches a lot of different people, I urge you to use it. Get email addresses and phone numbers for everyone you talk to who cares. That’s how it starts.
You can order the film, as well as printed materials from this site (see sidebar) and you can get help with promotional materials for your screenings, too. At the beginning of this movement in California, where I live, there was a lot of door-to-door, speaking to people at farmer’s markets, churches, letters to the editor etc. Eventually, those of us wanting to stop smart meters found each other and together we made great strides. It took time and energy, but it sure beats sitting at home being afraid. And I have met some of the most wonderful, hard-working, principled people from all across the political spectrum through this movement. Friends for life.
It’s easy to feel afraid. These are indeed scary times. However, once we begin to take action (no matter the issue) we start feel better. Empowered. Connected. Capable. We will win this! My mother taught me that the truth always floats to the surface, that’s its very nature. In the meantime, we just need to help it along and inform everyone we can of this criminal trespass on our health and basic rights. Good luck! You can do it!