People are fed up. Fed up with being forced to have an unwanted, intrusive device attached to their home. Fed up with utility company threats, coercion, and lies. Fed up with having their essential services disconnected or being charged a hefty fee if they don’t want to subject their families to fire risk, higher bills, privacy invasion, and health damage.
“Smart” meters are not “progress” “cost saving” or “green.” They are ruining lives, reducing service reliability and costing us dearly. The “smart grid” and its “mesh networks” are a madman’s greedy vision gone horribly wrong.
Remember- these are the same guys who brought us the Enron scandal.
“Smart” Meters are cheaply made but highly profitable plastic fire hazards, spying on, radiating, and gouging utility customers. Hundreds of smart meter fires and electrical hazards have destroyed people’s homes and livelihoods and risked their lives.
It’s time to take action.
ON OCTOBER 4th– THIS THURSDAY- People around the world are wising up- rising up- and saying NO to this dystopian “smart” future.
The International Day of Action to Stop Smart Meters! is being organized by the National Campaign to Stop Smart Meters! and the Wireless Radiation Protection Coalition. More than twenty events are planned in a dozen states and Canada, including Sacramento, CA, Eureka, CA, Kelowna BC, Naperville, IL, Maui, HI, Reno NV, and Detroit MI! All events are listed at: http://actiondaytostopsmartmeters.org/?page_id=20
• If you don’t see your local area listed, why not plan your own event? This is a grassroots effort and people are planning a variety of gatherings, such as leafleting, going door to door, attending public meetings, holding signs at busy intersections, and vocal protests at utility offices. October 4th (or anytime next week) people all around the world are taking action together to defend our right to health, safety and privacy in our own home! More on planning your own event: http://actiondaytostopsmartmeters.org/?page_id=18
• Materials to promote next Thursday’s event are available on the Action Day website- including posters, leaflets, and sample press releases. It’s easy to modify these with local information. Materials here: http://actiondaytostopsmartmeters.org/?page_id=22
• US press release: http://actiondaytostopsmartmeters.org/?page_id=25
TELL OBAMA TO STOP SMART METERS! Whether or not you are participating in an event, call the White House on Oct. 4th at 202-456-1111 and demand that President Obama take responsibility for the smart grid mess- and immediately enforce a recall on ‘smart’ metering systems. For our health, safety, and privacy. For our families.
Thank you all for spreading the word via social media, by phone, and in person.
Together we will take back our power!
If you buy a single solar panel, you could turn your mechanical/analog meter backwards.
But not with a “Smart” Meter!
A “Smart” Meter that goes “both ways” is more expensive, so it usually has to be replaced by the power company, and you know that they will want you to pay something for that, and charge you extra and require all sorts of approvals and paper work and on and on…
So “Smart” Meters are not solar friendly. You know that some day you may want to go solar and maybe start small and try to keep the costs down. Panel prices keep dropping so it’s starting to become within most people’s budgets.
With the old mechanical/analog meter you already have the option to go solar on a low budget and start out small to start covering your daily loads.
Just pointing out another problem with these STUPID Meters.
http://www.pge.com/myhome/saveenergymoney/solarenergy/solarupgrade/installation/index.shtml
@Jim – Your comments don’t square with this reference. Just FYI 🙂
…or this one 🙂
http://www.pge.com/myhome/saveenergymoney/solarenergy/install/netenergymetering/standardnem/index.shtml
>> scroll down for: “NEM Meter Costs by Rate”
Paperwork, sure, like anything else. At least you don’t have to file for a $1000 permit.
Richard, not everyone here lives in a PG&E area, and they are talking about people who already have a net meter installed, which means they went through all the paperwork to get one already and probably spent a bundle to do that.
I am talking about people who want to make their meter go backwards cheaply, or really, just make the thing stop most of the day with low cost equipment.
Grid Tie Inverters are $100 now and solar panels are close to $1 a watt including shipping to your door, so it’s pretty easy for most people to do it themselves.
The problem across the nation right now is that a lot of people can’t use a low cost easy to install grid tie because of the costs and trouble getting the permissions to get a 2 way meter. So if they have a “smart”meter then they have to worry about generating more than they are drawing at any moment, meaning the meter will charge them for power they send out! (meter can’t tell which way the power is going)
I hope people look into this problem further and see what I mean.
I feel bad for the power companies. They were sold a dangerous “smart” grid and now they are being threatened with “alternative” energy. Wind and solar create horrible electromagnetic fields when not setup properly (which is expensive to accomplish). Coal fired plants are being shut down because of corrupt science. What a mess!
The Obama attack on the power companies has ruined the health of this country!
Don’t blame Obama for the smart meters. You seem to forget, that
you are the power. We only allow it to happen. Governments , corporation seems to be running the planet, but why??
Have you forgotten, they are only the one or two percent and we the others, There lies your answer. We have become too involved in our cell-phones and other gimmicks, we don’t even talk through the phone any more. As a matter do we still know how to answer?
Take back your power and show your energy, rather than the grid.
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>>”The problem across the nation right now is …”
Sure, folks from outside PG&E territory may have different issues, but it seems the utilities are beginning to recognize this and could easily do **what PG&E is doing. Just seems like industry growing pains; not an insurmountable problem.
** http://www.pge.com/myhome/customerservice/smartmeter/nem/ (and links within)
FWIW, I have no ties to PG&E or the wireless industry, I’m just a current customer–no pun intended:-)
I have chosen to move due to living in a densely populated area. The problem now is that the power companies have collector cell towers everywhere. Acreage on the outskirts of the city are bombarded 24/7 by them. They will blanket every square inch of civilization with man made electromagnetic radiation carrying data packets (the silent assault on the cell). Wether it be wireless or over the wire, creating a plume of radiation on every home, they won’t be happy until this goal is met.
The interesting part about the whole problem is that we have “educated” people cheerleading the demise of civilization as we know it.
If a drug company produced studies stating that they couldn’t find any harmful affects, but independent and governments studies found that in fact the product was dangerous, would you take that medication? How about this same
drug company forcing you to take it?
For someone to come to this site and try to create doubt, even though there are millions of people with “radio wave sickness” symptoms, then tell you they have no interest and expect you to believe them, is ludicrous.
Believe what you want, Paul. That’s your M.O. 🙂
I know who I am; Do you know who you are?
Maybe I missed something? Hopefully anyone reading my comments understands who I am and my position against this poison called the “smart grid”. Posting information about my experiences and what I have found is for helping others understand what they are dealing with. Knowing first hand the danger, my passion for spreading info is not luke warm.
Yeah, Paul – Except you effectively called me a liar – (“For someone to come to this site and try to create doubt, … then tell you they have no interest and expect you to believe them, is ludicrous.”) – and your speculation [accusation?] could not be further from the truth. Nice try. And don’t be afraid to doubt, Paul…It’s actually quite liberating 🙂
Anyone with half a brain is on your side Paul. Richard is just another ignorant troll.
Another point for people with whole brains.
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In PG&E territory, up until about a month ago, the AMR SmartMeters were not able to record the bi-directional use of current flow, so even the digital E7/6 customers still had to have their meter read manually monthly.
But, PG&E has recently made available an advanced (AMI) SmartMeter capable of recording the bi-directional flow of current and broadcasting it on their radio SmartGrid.
So, the statement that SmartMeters were not solar friendly was true, up until about a month ago.
I would call this newly released advanced SmartMeters the third generation of digital radio transmitting electric meters.
The first generation of untested SmartMeters introduced by PG&E used a powerline carrier (PLC), which was a total failure. They installed 830,000 of those meters back around 2008-2009.
What happened was that PG&E’s aging power grid that uses ferrite core transformers did not pass the billing data very well or at all. That was the cause of the complaints about inaccurate bills and the lawsuits that followed. PG&E wasted untold tens of millions of their ratepayers dollars on these first generation SmartMeters, all without successfully leaking the failure to the public or the media, I read it in a report filed by PG&E.
So, PG&E quietly recalled all the 830,000 PLC meters and came up with a plan to use UHF-FM radio transmitters to create a radio SmartGrid for their revenue collection system. The main purposes of this was, to automate meter reading without having to upgrade the electrical power grid to handle PLC meters.
Another very important reason (to the utility corporations) is to in the near future implement a peak time pricing program. Whereas all customers who now have SmartMeters will be forced into a pricing program that will charge more per kilowatt/ hour during times of the day when most people need to use the power the most, especially in hot climates where air conditioning use is almost mandatory to stay comfortable.
PG&E’s big marketing claim is that by jacking up the rates during peak times is going to force people to not use as much electricity during the day or pay exorbitant rates if they do. That is what all this energy saving BS was about, not based on any facts at all, just speculation.
I would never allow any kind of SmartMeter to be installed into my electrical equipment, and by not having a SmartMeter, when they do try this peak pricing scheme, I will save thousands of dollars per year on electricity costs. I won’t be using any more or less electricity, just saving money, and that is the bottom line for most home based small businesses.
By the way, anyone who has a solar system that is grid tied and backfeeds to the electrical power grid that uses the E6/7 meters will automatically be switched to a peak time pricing program, so be careful and do some research before switching.
One option is to run the house on an E1 meter, and only use the E6 meter for solar systems backfeeding to the power grid.
“…all customers who now have SmartMeters will be forced into a pricing program…”
I’d like to know if there is any documentation to back this up, or is this just your speculation about the future?
Yes Richard,
There is plenty of documentation to back this up.
Supposedly, in about a year, PG&E is being allowed to test a “peak pricing program” on all customers who got stuck with a SmartMeter. This one of the most important reasons for justifying the SmartMeter program all across the country (and then some).
The deal in PG&E territory is (once they get the SmartGrid radio system fully functional) is to be allowed by the CPUC to run a two year test program on peak pricing. Right now, it is voluntary to people who get suckered into thinking that it will somehow-miraculously save energy. It won’t for most people who live in their houses and run businesses during the day or have hired help during the day taking care of household chores and business.
PG&E has approval to run this peak pricing program for two years, and after that, an evaluation must be performed to see if it actually saving all customers energy or not.
If it is deemed to be a useless program (which it is) , and if customers actually see their electric bills increasing (which the majority will), then the program must be scrapped by law.
So, all this marketing hype about SmartMeters saving energy and reducing the need for more power plants is bunk, ( as the test will show).
I choose not to partake in the experiment for many reasons, so I will never allow a SmartMeter to be installed into my privately owned electrical distribution network in my house.
Time will tell after the experiment is over, but it won’t be at my expense.
So, I reluctantly paid the $75 bribe to PG&E to not ever have a SmartMeter installed, but that is just a drop in the bucket compared the the money that I will save by not paying peak pricing.
You know the old saying, “it takes money to MAKE money”, but in this case, it takes a little money to SAVE big money.
The best ROI for any customer is to pay the $75 and have the SmartMeter yanked out and chucked into the recycle bin to China or India.
Yet you don’t provide the documentation…
All I can find on PG&Es website is that “Time-Varying Pricing” will be rolled out to (or onto) businesses, small and large very soon, if not already.
As far as I can tell, the TVP/TOU pricing is (and will be?) voluntary for residential customers. If you know otherwise, then I would appreciate a specific reference.
Thanks in advance 🙂
So…FWIW…There is some talk out there about “default TOU pricing” for all customers in the future…but not yet.
Found this on the PG&E site (dated 10/1/12): “PG&E continues to administer and offer Time Varying Pricing (TVP) Rates to all PG&E bundled residential and non-residential customer class. Beginning in November 2012, SMB customers with 12 months of SmartMeter™ data will begin a mandatory transition to TOU rates and two years later, in 2014, will be transitioned to opt-out PDP. Small Agricultural customers will transition to mandatory TOU rates annually starting in March, 2013. **There is currently no decision that requires the default of Residential customers to TVP.** However, they may opt-in to SmartRate™.”
For the complete report, search for this: http://www.pge.com/myhome/edusafety/systemworks/…/AnnualReport.pdf
…the direct link doesn’t work due to the “…” in the URL, but you can paste the URL as listed into a search and obtain the correct file.
The G3-PLC system jumps transformers because the low frequency (10KHz-490KHz) band is much larger than past PLC systems. It’s new and probably what they are using now. They can send their own pulsed electromagnetic field to your house wether you have a smart meter or not. It turns the wiring into an antenna and can be sent up to 125 miles away. The only way I have been able to beat it is by turning off every breaker at the fuse box. It wreaks havoc on the central nervous system and causes inflammation. All in the name of technology they have figured out how to ingulf us with 24/7 radiation.
Paul H.
The G3 PLC system is not used in PG&E territory because it needs either electronic transformers (power electronics) or special data concentrators to jump the old transformers and also needs repeaters . Also, it needs signal bridges to link between the phases.
In order to utlilize PLC, the electrical power grid must be updated first, and that has not yet started here, but has been done in other parts of the world like Europe.
It will be many years before our electrical power grids are updated, the estimate is 10 years now, but with this economy, who knows ?
Instead of investing so much money on upgrading the power grids to handle PLC, my feeling is that instead of dumping money into the existing corporate energy delivery and billing model, is to start doing away with the tired old methods.
We need to start focusing on alternate localized methods of generation, and focus on localizing the distribution networks.
Spending endless ratepayer and taxpayer money only to automate meter reading is a path that needs to be changed, and a foolish waste of money only to perpetuate the existing corporate energy model, nothing else.
So for now Paul H., you can rest assured that that G3 PLC is not in use here in PG&E territory, and probably never will be.
You now know what happened with the first generation PLC SmartMeters. PG&E decided to utilize a UHF-FM radio network that they call a SmartGrid instead of upgrading the power grid. It’s all about profits, upgrading the power grid is too expensive at this time for PG&E, (not that the radio network was cheap-just cheaper !) .
And, hopefully the strong movement for decentralized generation and distribution will prevail and force changes to the electrical power grids of the world. Believe me, the movement is worldwide.
From what I had gathered, G3-PLC was cost efficient due to the ability to cross over the transformers now in place. They tout that their signal would not interfere with other electronic equipment because they are using frequencies below anything used in the home. Elster is now teaming up with Maxim, G3-PLC .
http://www.g3-plc.com/content/g3-plc-alliance-gains-momentum-smart-grid-arena-eleven-new-members
We have Elster meters and I have recently noticed interference on the lines. I would think that all these different frequencies being sent to our 60 Hz appliances would prematurely wear them out. Tuning an AM radio to the 530KHz band will show a massive difference between fields found in nature. I am finding modulation on higher frequencies (500KHz<) in homes where the lines used to bring 60 Hz into the home. There is evidence that electromagnetic radiation is genotoxic.
PLC was first invented in Scotland around 1971 for home automation controls.
I have an old X-10 system that I did use for years, but I quit using it because something was causing my lights to come on at around 3:00 am. That was when they started installing SmartMeters in the area, but I don’t really know what was causing the interference.
The original PLC systems ran on the low frequencies also.
What it is ,is low frequency radio waves sent on top of powerlines. They should not ordinarily interfere with anything else but often do.
No matter what, if a utility wants to use PLC to send billing data to the base, they must have signal bridges to communicate across phases, signal repeaters and data concentrators. This requires a big expense to upgrade the electrical power grids. In some parts of the country, they have already started on a $300 BILLION project to upgrade the power grids, but PG&E has not started yet.
They are soliciting bids from vendors now and expect to start soon. The estimated cost to PG&E ratepayers is $300 million (that is over and above the $2.2 BILLION for the SmartMeter project) and estimated to take 10 years to complete.
Since PG&E already switched gears and abandoned the PLC meters, instead using a UHF radio mesh network for the meters and backhaul to the central billing department servers, I don’t think that we will see any PLC SmartMeters out here anytime soon.
After spending $2.2 billion of their ratepayers money on radio meters, PG&E would have a hard time convincing us to abandon the radio meters and have to pay for 6 million new PLC electric meters. The gas meters cannot use PLC, they have not yet figured out how to send data on top of gas, but who knows what these what these revenue collection engineers will cook up in the future ?
It could be very dangerous !
a Grid One Solutions truck is parked across the street from our house right now and men are yelling and lifting up covers to water meters. i have yet to hear of any organized resistance to the water department’s conversion to wireless meters and even the anti-Smart Meter people seem to be silent on this issue.
i’m really getting tired of trying to take on powerful authorities as an individual.