The disconnection of our electricity back in February 2014 is not unusual or an exception. It is part of a larger pattern of utilities withholding essential services, in a coordinated tactic to suppress resistance and force an unwanted smart grid on the public. Recently, utilities in Michigan have disconnected a number of people including a 92 year old blind women in Detroit for the crime of refusing to allow a smart meter on her home. All this for the sake of the “smart grid” whose benefits remain illusory, and then (in a cruel Orwellian twist) the utility has the chutzpah to say that they disconnected her in the best interest of the customer and the community!
You can’t abuse people in plain sight without some sort of reaction, and that has come in the form of legislation- House Bill 4916 currently before the Michigan legislature. It’s not perfect (the smeters should all be banned of course), but it would provide a basic level of legal protection against the worst utility abuses for the most vulnerable among us.
These are the types of crimes that utility executives will be imprisoned for
For local support on Michigan smart meter issues, contact the Smart Meter Education Network or one of the other groups working to defend MI residents.
92 years old and legally blind, Olga Puste, a DTE customer since 1951 was also disconnected by DTE, for securing her analog meter
85 year old Glenna Long was disconnected by DTE for refusing a smart meter, and has sought alternate energy supplies
In a video posted to youtube yesterday, People in the Dominican Republic showed their disgust for smart meters forced on their homes and businesses, by bringing them back to the utility en masse, in an action reminiscent of Stop Smart Meters! 2010/ 2011 actions in Santa Cruz County, California. It appears that the main complaint here is the high bills, reported wherever smart meters are installed, but other issues- including a lack of democracy and transparency, privacy violations, and health effects- are also likely at issue. The translation is bad on this video- see below for English translation kindly provided by Maine Coalition to Stop Smart Meters and Boil the Frog Slowly.
Stop Smart Meters! proclaims our solidarity with the people of the Dominican Republic, and remind our readers that if we really want to be rid of these stupid meters, that mass direct action can achieve this goal where other methods fail.
Let’s return them together.
Smart meters are – after all- unwanted equipment forced on our homes and into our communities, and we the people have a right to have them removed. Period.
Think the utilities will disconnect all these people, and risk a wider conflagration and the loss of electricity revenue? I don’t think so.
Translation courtesy of a Spanish Speaking SSM! Supporter:
Wow ~ these folks are really angry! As they indeed have a legitimate reason! In the video, it states that the community of Piedra Blanca (which literally means white rock in spanish) Province Monseñor Nouel which is in the Dominican Republic are beyond livid due to this constant abuse. Hundreds of folks in diverse districts ripped out the smart meters on their property and threw them in front of their electric company EDENORTE and the masses protested in the streets. Issues with way higher bills among the constant flow of outages that are VERY prolonged is indicative of this entire system being rigged and corrupt. One man in the video (holding a smart meter) asked how was it possible that his pharmacy that was established not that long ago is going to consume 1,041 kilo?! He stated that was just part of the many abuses ~ it is rigged to benefit THEM as it did not make sense that the less electricity the residents consume the higher the bill.
It is indeed a testament that this cannot continue.
Hundreds of meters were removed and put in front of the electricity company offices of the north ( in the municipio of Vidra (sp?) Blanca, Provinica Monseñor Nahuey (sp?)
The reason was high rates combined with frequent electrical outages in the region. The outages became prolonged and the electricity bills arrived at nearly double that of the month before.
One guy (Pink T-shirt) holds up a meter and asks how it is possible in X days for it to register 1041 Kilowats. And he says, “this is why we say that they have rigged these meters to benefit them.”
The residents say that the lower their consumption, the higher the bills.
Since yesterday (whatever the date of the video is, the day prior), residents from numerous barrios had gone out in the streets to protest this.
Subject: Fw: From my cousin who is there
Here is a translation…
Good morning, They and many others are very angry about the new method of charging for electricity, and the politics around how they raised their rates. ( again) There is NOTHING in the video about ‘a new method of charging for electricity’ or about ‘the politics around how they raised their rates. I have transcribed above exactly what is said in the video.
That video is the result of 2 things:
1: The electric company has changed all of the meters to digital meters, so there’s no more tampering with him, they begin that process a year ago and so throughout the city we all have digital meters which the electricity company says it’s a more accurate reading of the usage of every home. Good background info, but this is not in the video itself.
2. And also because the electric company is now a ” free entity” meaning that they are no longer under government regulation, they can essentially do whatever they want, hence charge whatever they want. Ditto.
They are also saying that the electric bills are coming in double for the same usage as last year, and that is true.The bills came this month, and the video is an example of public outrage.They’re turning over The trucks to the electric company, slashing the tires, and breaking the windows but other than that it’s just a normal calm beautiful day here.
That is why the electric to Casa and VB are even higher than ever!!!
California Assembly Bill 57 would further limit the authority that municipalities currently have to prevent the installation of new cell towers or additions to existing towers. Designed to speed up the state’s wireless facility application process, CA57 would pressure municipalities to respond to a telecom corporation’s cell tower installation request very quickly, essentially allowing installations without public notice or chance of appeal. The bill has passed California’s Senate and State Assembly and now awaits Gov. Jerry Brown’s signature.
Perhaps the only recourse for municipalities is to pass ordinances (ASAP) that protect rights to determine cell tower placement and zoning. Find sample zoning regs and more in Blake Levitt’s book, Cell Towers: Wireless Convenience? or Environmental Hazard? Proceedings of the Cell Towers Forum, State of the Science, State of the Law (SafeGoods/New Century edition, 2001; iUniverse ed., 2007).
As Levitt explains, a tower can be placed in a residential zone that has restrictions for commercial use “unless the town’s regulations expressly forbid it.”US Fish & Wildlife Service’s guidelines designed to protect migratory and endangered bird species may also help prevent installation of cell towers.
It was the summer of 2010 when we received a notice from California utility PG&E that they would be installing a “smart meter” on our home. No one really knew back then what a “smart meter” was, but the more we did our research and heard the stories of people whose health was devastated, heard about those who lost their lives in smart meter fires, and realized that this was all being covered up, we decided there was no way we would permit the installation of such a device under any circumstance. When PG&E told us with a straight face that “you have no choice,” that really crossed a line, and boiled our blood. We realized we had to drop everything and mobilize against the threat. With calls for residents in California to establish and defend “smart meter free zones,” we launched our fledgling group, immediately generating significant media coverage.
Five years later, “smart meters” have spread across the planet, despite a widespread and potent resistance and a few notable holdouts. Truly a trojan horse technology, smart meters include an ongoing and deadly serious fire risk, health problems from dirty electricity and pulsed RF, invasive surveillance, inflated bills, and the loss of thousands of steady meter reader jobs. The “deployment” and the bullying it has required, has left a bad aftertaste of corporate rule, but it has also inspired a potent resistance movement.
California residents return unwanted smart meters en masse to the utility in one of our early direct actions
One thing is for sure: the utilities had no idea of the scale of rebellion they would encounter when they started deploying these meters. The strength of our movement is reflected in the more than 175 local groups around the world now engaged in the fight to stop and roll back the smart meter installations, according to our Global Stop Smart Meters Directory. If your group isn’t listed, please submit it by contacting us.
A culture of resistance to the smart grid has spread like a viral immune response, and we will be forever grateful to those who have put so much of their time and energy toward this cause. We acknowledge the love and the empathy toward neighbors and friends that has shone like a light through these dark, scary times. That love will carry us through, and is more powerful than greed or hate or fear. While we cherish the community that has sprung up around this cause, we also grieve for the losses and injuries to our compatriots, and the divisions that the smart grid has ripped through our communities.
In 2015, the work of Stop Smart Meters! has grown and diversified.
First International Day of Action to Stop Smart Meters Oct. 4th 2012
We started StopSmartMeters.org in the Summer of 2010 with a vision of an informed public rising against the corrupt and arrogant utility bosses, rejecting their disastrous, wasteful green-washed false solution to the real and present danger of climate change, with local communities taking a stand and determining their own energy futures. That vision is palpably within reach, if we demand it.
The decision to toss smart meters (and the ideology that spawned them) in the dustbin of history is ours to make. It’s a decision that utility companies have tried to convince us is out of our hands. But we know better now— that people can and do stand up to the powerful utilities and win. With this knowledge, and with love and empathy for all those who have suffered as a result of this misguided technology, we will never back down.
Stop Smart Meters!
Now, help us mark five years of our work together by:
No time to mince words: this is what the warning should say
Victory!! Federal Judge Approves Berkeley, CA RF radiation warning.
On Monday, Berkeley’s cell phone radiation warning ordinance was approved by Federal District Court Judge Edward Chen, despite the CTIA’s ridiculous and groundless objections of their 1st Amendment rights (to hide already-existing warnings from customers) being violated. Berkeley has retained Lawrence Lessig, Harvard Law Professor and candidate for President of the United States, to defend the ordinance against industry vultures.
According to SaferEMR.com, the blog of Joel Moskowitz, School of Public Health at UC Berkeley, who has been covering this issue in depth for some time from a scientific and legal perspective:
On September 21, Federal District Court Judge Edward Chen gave the City of Berkeley a green light to implement the City’s landmark cell phone “right to know” law after deleting one sentence from the safety notification. Cell phone vendors in the City will soon be required to provide customers with a safety warning either by giving the customer a handout or or by posting the following notice in the store:
“The City of Berkeley requires that you be provided the following notice:
To assure safety, the Federal Government requires that cell phones meet radio frequency (RF) exposure guidelines. If you carry or use your phone in a pants or shirt pocket or tucked into a bra when the phone is ON and connected to a wireless network, you may exceed the federal guidelines for exposure to RF radiation. Refer to the instructions in your phone or user manual for information about how to use your phone safely.”
Judge Chen denied the CTIA’s request for a preliminary injunction that would have completely blocked enforcement of the ordinance until the case was fully resolved.
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It’s been five years since StopSmartMeters.org was founded. Our 
