Are Smart Meters a Dumb Idea?
Citizens are gathering in Tallahassee next week to address placing smart meters in homes and rental properties across Florida. There is growing citizen concern about smart meters. Some have called smart meters “the 21st Century version of lead paint” and liken the radio waves emmitting from them as dangerous secondary smoke.
The Florida Public Service Commission (FPSC) is holding a workshop on Smart Meters on September 20, 2012 from 9:30am – 5pm in the Betty Easley Conference Center, Commission Hearing Room 148, 4075 Esplanade Way, Tallahassee, FL.
Pat Wayman from Sarasota, FL states, “I have personally been contacted by people who are becoming ill after a smart meter(s) was installed on their home. You can be assured we will pay for these both monetarily and physically. And meter readers will lose their jobs. For those who live in multiple units, you will receive continuous pulsed radiation from multiple smart meters – unless you can get them to stop installing these devices.”
The Smart Grid Consumer Collaborative (SGCC), an industry group, has released the below video titled “Separating the Facts from the Fiction about Smart Meter”. PG&E, SCE, SDG&E, BC Hydro, PEPCO, BGE, FPL, as well as other utility companies and Smart Meter manufacturers like Landis and Gyr, Itron, Silver Springs Networks, GE, Aclara, are SGCC members. Affiliate members are utility regulators like Public Utility Commissions from California, Colorado, Texas, and environmental groups like EDF and NRDC.
According to the Stop Smart Meters website:
This video attempts to counter legitimate Smart Meter complaints and serious problems. They start by saying there’s misinformation about Smart Meters floating about the internet (displaying a panic button) and they plan to set the record straight. “Let’s get down to business” is a key introductory phrase.
Promoting Smart Meters IS their business.
Industry fiction: Smart Meters don’t know how you’re using power
FACT: Smart Meters “…can be used to pinpoint the use of most major household appliances. Such detailed information about the in-home activities of electricity customers can thus be used to piece together a fairly detailed picture of an individual’s daily life or routine.” SmartGridPrivacy See also: Privacy-Problems-Inherent-in-the-Smart-Grid
Industry fiction: “Most of the time your meter is idle”
FACT: One PG&E Smart Meter can transmit up to 190,000 pulses a day. PG&E’s Big Confession
Industry fiction: “Your power company has kept your data private for decades.”
FACT: PG&E released names, email addresses and private online conversations they gathered by deception to the media. They redacted PG&E and third party names, and emails and left open customer data, at the same time claiming privacy was a great value to them. PG&E’s spying may cost them
Industry fiction:”Smart Meters allow you to make choices that limit your bills.”
FACT: Over-billing complaints have been reported widely after Smart Meters are installed. Customers in Bakersfield CA were so outraged about overcharging they filed a class action lawsuit against PG&E. See complaints. See also:PG&E admits billing errors, offers scanty refund
Industry fiction: Science doesn’t support the claim that RF causes cancer
FACT: The World Health Organization classified RF radiation as a 2b Carcinogen, same as DDT and lead.
Industry fiction: A household radio transmits RF
FACT: A household radio receives RF, it is not an RF transmitter.
Industry fiction: Smart Meters create less exposure to RF radiation than a microwave, cell phone, wi-fi.
FACT: Daniel Hirsch, a UC researcher, has calculated that smart meters expose you to more than 100 times the full body, cumulative exposure as a cell phone. Daniel Hirsch report
Industry fiction: “Even if you cozied up to a Smart Meter all day, it would require you to snuggle up to one for 375 years before it would equal the exposure of having a daily 15 minute cell phone call over the course of one year.”
FACT: Smart Meters can exceed FCC safety guidelines (Sage reports)
FACT: Smart Meters can violate FCC conditions for installment
Industry fiction: Read the Hobbit instead of worrying that the” Smart Meter is the fourth horseman of the apocalypse that will wreak havoc on your life”
FACT: Lawsuits are being filed against Smart Meters in several states, California, Maine, Hawaii, Texas, Illinois and more. Utility Regulators in Maryland, Illinois and Pennsylvania are investigating Smart Meter related fires.
Smart Meters are designed to work in a mesh network, transmitting radio frequency (RF) radiation pulses from home to home. If too many customers refuse, the mesh system can fail. Having to provide customers a choice has become a serious problem for the industry. The industry, with support from regulators, are penalizing customers for non-compliance by charging them to opt out. The Smart Grid program which was initiated by the federal government, was designed to be offered, but not forced on customers.
Click here to read a Stop Smart Meters flyer.
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