PG&E Green Lights Unwanted “Smart” Meter Removal

Posted on October 29, 2011 by Josh Hart

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.

Posted in Citizen rebellion, CPUC, PG&E | 10 Comments

Dutch Research on Wireless Tree Damage Backs Up “Smart” Meter Plant Harm Observations

Posted on October 27, 2011 by Josh Hart

A vine surrounding a 'smart' meter in Ontario Canada shows the dangerous effects of spiked meter radiation on living things- Dutch researchers explain more about wireless plant/ tree damage in the video below

Yesterday, we received the following update from the disabled woman who had been living above 112 electrical ‘smart’ meters in the complex in Berkeley.   For the last several months, she has been living in only half of her section 8 (low income) apartment to distance herself from the meters.  It appears she was finally granted her  request to move to a different apartment.   The previously healthy shrub located in front of the bank of meters was unable to move however, began to show signs of distress soon after installation, and died within weeks of the microwave emitting meters being installed.  The woman (whose name we are withholding at her request), told us:

“With great relief and also grief, i was finally afforded an apartment transfer this week. i am well away from the wall of smart meters, at the loss of my beloved apartment.  Thank you for all your support and diligent work.”

If the radiation from the meters is causing plants and trees to die, then what is it doing to us?  Perhaps its time we start listening to the thousands of ordinary people reporting disturbing symptoms, and take action to stop the damage.

Who are the utilities and their lapdog regulators to tell us what we can and can’t have on our own homes?  Nothing but arrogant, ignorant, greedy fools all of them.

Below is a video of a conference that took place in the Netherlands that brought together dozens of experts in the field of EMF damage to trees and plants.  Perhaps we could encourage the staff of EDF, NRDC, and the Sierra Club to attend- maybe they’d learn something.

Posted in Berkeley, Environmental Concerns, Health studies, PG&E, Plant damage | Comments Off on Dutch Research on Wireless Tree Damage Backs Up “Smart” Meter Plant Harm Observations

‘Smart’ Meter Health Effects Worsening

Posted on October 25, 2011 by Josh Hart

We continue to receive a great number of reports of people suffering health effects when ‘smart’ meters are installed.  It seems that women are being impacted far more frequently than men, consistent with existing research on electro-sensitivity.   Here are firsthand reports from two women living in the San Francisco Bay Area.  If you or someone you know is suffering health damage from ‘smart’ meters or other wireless devices, try following the advice on our FAQ page.

Santa Clara County:

“One day last December (2010) 8 months after the SM deployment and 2 months after they supposedly turned it on (I believe after getting a lot of different answers from PG&E and the increased intensity of my symptoms, that they in fact turned it UP or made us a relay house), I was trying to just be normal and get ready for the holidays. I needed a break from this encroaching health war.   I got up to begin decorating our tree.  Something we have greatly enjoyed every year in our gorgeous craftsman style home that we put so much love and work into over the years.   As I drank my half a cup of coffee from one of our pretty Christmas mugs in the kitchen, I began to get the usual shakiness  and weakness in my legs that I now know are classic symptoms of EHS and that I had had for many months.  “Here we go”, I said to myself as I soon became so lightheaded and dizzy I almost dropped the coffee cup. Not wanting to give in so early in the day, I went into the living room to put an ornament on the tree.  As I came back through the kitchen, I broke into hives on my face and neck and my lips burned.   I quickly called out to my husband to look so he could see the effects in action.  “Wow” he said ” That’s amazing.”  Amazing and life shattering.

I had come to the sad realization that the place that used to my favorite part of our house – our lovely kitchen with its countertops littered with cook books and vases of fresh flowers from our garden; where I whipped up many creative meals for my husband and our friends (some great, some not so); the place in which we prepared and sat to numerous holiday meals with family visiting from far away; our kitchen, the center of our home just as the kitchen was for my family while growing up, my refuge, our gathering place;  the spot where my husband and I would reconnect each morning over a home made breakfast and each evening over a glass wine, sharing our days, stresses, ideas, dreams was no more.  It had become the most uncomfortable, unhealthy and dangerous part of the house for me.

With great sadness, I walked into the backyard to escape while Bing Crosby sang “Sleigh Bells” in the other room.

Our meter is less than 3 feet from our kitchen table and 4 from our kitchen sink.  Our neighbors is 9 feet.  When I stand in the kitchen, at the counter, or in the dining room, I get hit with all 3.”

Santa Cruz County

“This is the weirdest energy I have ever felt and each day now, since a neighbor 2 doors down (who did not keep his poster posted) got a (‘smart’) meter installed, as well as 2 others, I have pulsing energy very strong right where my bed is.  I am just devastated that this has happened. It is sick. I have felt sick many days and awake each day feeling nauseated. I have been sleeping downstairs in my bathroom with my head in the far corner where there is the least EMF.

I cannot tell you how SERIOUS this issue is. The cellphones and wifi are bad enough but I can elect not to have them. This EMF and neighboring EMF from wifi is seriously affecting me. I have 6 wifi signals in my home. That is how I became so sensitive to the EMF as my neighbor put a wifi unit on the other side of where I have my headboard. She never mentioned it and finally a friend with an analyzer came over and we picked it up. I talked with my neighbor and she agreed to turn it off. She told me first that I should move- suggesting that I am just behind the times.  If our technology mad society means I have to continue to feel like this, I want no part of it.”

Thousands of health-related complaints have been lodged with the CA Public Utilities Commission, some of which can be read at the EMF Safety Network site.

Posted in Electro-Hyper-Sensitivity, PG&E, Santa Clara County, Santa Cruz County | 6 Comments

PG&E Retaliating Against Low Income People

Posted on October 20, 2011 by Josh Hart

Phil, a protester with Occupy San Francisco, suspects that PG&E has been retaliating against customers who refuse ‘smart’ meters by conducting an audit for the “CARE” program- a program that is meant to help ensure basic heating and lighting to low income people.

What a pleasant bunch of folks at Pacific Gas and Electric.  They must know pretty clearly by now that their blind rush to install this technology has ended up hurting thousands- probably millions of people with constant radiation exposure.  Yet they continue to behave like bullies in the playground, picking on the most vulnerable people in society because they know they probably won’t fight back.  To admit publicly that there are major problems with the biological effects of their technology would be to derail the lucrative ‘smart grid’ con, and billions in profits.

Forced ‘smart’ meter installations are one reason that people are organizing against unchecked corporate power in America- but it’s certainly not the only one.   Forging links with others’ experiences and reports of abuse can stimulate understanding and empathy and link our struggles in common cause.  Whether it’s foreclosures, Wall St. bailouts, ‘smart’ meters, the Keystone XL Pipeline, or fracking, we all know deep down these problems are all coming from the same place.

Capitalism is in its death throes, and the beast is flailing.  Don’t get hit by the tail- organize with others and go straight for the heart.

Posted in Citizen rebellion, neighborhood organizing, PG&E, San Francisco | 2 Comments

Announcing Stop Smart Meters! FAQ

Posted on October 18, 2011 by Josh Hart

We are happy today to officially launch our new FAQ section which attempts to answer the many questions that reasonable people have when faced with the unreasonableness of ‘smart’ meter installations being pushed by their government and utility.  We hope it will be an ongoing project, informing people about the issue and why it matters and, most importantly, helping everyone become aware of our rights and how to defend them.

How did the FAQ come about?  For many months, we here at Stop Smart Meters! have been inundated with people sending us questions: “How do I stop them installing this meter?”  “How do I get them to remove this meter that is making me sick?” and many more.  As a relatively new organization with a limited budget and staff time, we have been struggling  to reply to the thousands of e-mails we’ve been receiving from those all over the US and abroad.  If you have sent us an e-mail and not heard back, we apologize.  Try the FAQ and if you can’t find an answer to your question feel free to e-mail us again. There is also a Links page.

The FAQ is not perfect, and as a work in progress, we welcome any suggested changes or additions.  This is a community resource and knowledge base and we encourage people to contribute their insights and wisdom. We are often asked for local contacts in places other than California, so if you would like to be listed in the Contacts Database, please let us know.

If you find this resource useful and want to help us keep fighting wireless smart meter mesh networks currently being installed in areas not aware of the dangers, please donate to us today.  We are able to continue our work through the generosity of hundreds of people around the world.  And we thank you. -SSM!

Posted in Democracy | 7 Comments