We are too smart to allow these not-so-smart meters
By Margie Miller, RN, ARNP
Depending upon which State and county you live in and which utility company you have, you may or may not be familiar with smart meters. And because of the ten-year-long public backlash from those who have investigated the consequences of smart meters, the name “Smart Meter” is frequently veiled with a different title such as “Meter Enhancement,” “Meter Refresh,” or “Meter Upgrade.” Installation is occurring across the United States as the transition is being made from analogue meters to these digital, microwave, and radiation-producing meters. This is part of the smart-grid effort represented by HR 2685, aka “The Smart Grid Advancement Act of 2013.” (See more in the video links below.)
In contrast to the traditional analogue meters, smart meters are digital, wireless devices that emit intense, pulsed bursts of non-ionizing RF microwave radiation at much higher levels than cellphones. Unlike cellphones, they are running every second, continuously.
Negative Health Impacts
Over 5,000 studies have found that non-ionizing microwave radiation/RF-EMF (Radio Frequency/Electromagnetic Field) is harmful to humans, animals, and plants. Tree deaths, plant die-offs, and bee colony collapse disorders have regularly been reported shortly after the installation of smart meters. The World Health Organization (WHO), incidentally, has rated these meters as Class 2B carcinogens (the same rating given to DDT, lead, chloroform, and methylmercury). Lives are being destroyed by smart meters. In one video linked below, testimonials from victims of smart meters include the following health impacts: cancer, headaches, sleep disturbances, Parkinson’s, migraines, nausea, vomiting, muscle spasms, heart palpitations, dizziness, memory problems, cognitive disturbances, flu-like symptoms, worsening of existing health conditions, abrupt depression, reproductive effects and a variety of effects on other organ systems, agitation, hearing problems, and malfunctioning of medical equipment such as pacemakers and wireless insulin pumps.
Depending upon where you live, you should have the choice of opting out and keeping your analogue meter but not without paying an extra monthly fee, typically $50 a month (paying extra fees to avoid harm is extortion). In some areas, people cannot get these meters removed and others have seen them installed despite notification to company representatives that they were not wanted. And once these meters are installed, the utility company remotely controls all of your utilities (electricity, gas, water) in the new “Smart Grid” (refer to video link below, “What Is A Smart Grid?”).
Emit Far More Radiation Than Cellphones
Utility companies typically tell us that smart meters emit less radiation than cellphones and microwave ovens. In fact, smart meters emit far more radiation than cellphones and microwave ovens – these meters emit a pulsed, radio microwave frequency radiation. And, yet, we also have a choice of whether we want cellphones or microwave ovens in our homes and, when they are, we can control their usage. We cannot control smart meters.
A European survey revealed that at least 1 in 20 people suffer debilitating effects from exposure to RF radiation. According to Daniel Hirsch, a Senior Environmental and Nuclear Policy Lecturer at the University of California at Santa Cruz, smart meters can expose the body to 160 to 800 times as much microwave radiation as mobile phones (link below). They can emit pulses of radiation in excess of 190,000 times every day, 24 hours a day. An Engineer’s Report to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania stated: “There is no doubt that smart and digital meters create pulsed RF emissions. These emissions from the smart meter antennas, and the RF created by the smart meters, enter the house’s electrical system. The result is that the entire house is transformed into a ‘radiating RF antenna.’”
Incendiary Devices
Smart meters are incendiary devices with no ground and surge protection that would provide safety against fires. This is a high-risk liability due to design omissions. Because of their design, these meters can easily overheat, resulting in meter fires, hot sockets, damaged internal wiring, and arcing/sparking when in use without the customer’s knowledge. Yet, customers are penalized and sometimes threatened if they refuse to accept one of these dangerous substandard meters.
These meters are not smart. They use an obsolete energy technology with insufficient relay communications, too much power, and are too expensive. The transition to smart meters removed all of the protection devices that the analogue meters had.
Short Life Span
Smart Meters also have limited lifespans. They have to be replaced every 5-7 years, which is 3-4 more times than the replacement lifespan of an analogue meter. Analogue meters typically last 20 years.
Invade Our Privacy
Not only are smart meters a health threat, but they allow electrical companies to track and control the energy usage of each individual household. The video link below (“What Is A Smart Grid?”) openly states that because these meters connect to the Home Area Network (HAN), the use of all Smart appliances is monitored separately, which “allows us” to adjust their run schedule to reduce electricity demand on the grid. This fact alone should concern all of us who value privacy guaranteed under our Constitution.
They are also a threat to our privacy with regard to personal and financial information. Data about the occupants’ daily activities is collected, recorded, and stored in permanent databases that can be accessed by unauthorized parties. In the United States, this private and personal data has been sold by energy companies to 3rd parties – the police, corporate marketing departments, and insurance companies, amongst others.
Utility companies are not competent, nor do they have experience to protect us from wireless hackers. Even home security systems, wireless locks, and baby monitors are hackable. They transmit wireless signals that may be intercepted by unauthorized and unknown parties and aid in criminal activity against the occupants.
Costly and Undependable
Smart meters were installed in many California homes; and, as a result, TURN (The Utility Reform Network) was formed to investigate PG&E SmartMeterTM. They failed to satisfactorily answer any questions or resolve any customer complaints. The documentary film Take Back Your Power (link below) shows utility customers giving testimonials of how smart meters have negatively impacted their lives. Several customers share how their electrical bills doubled, sometimes tripled, with no increase in energy usage.
In January 2011, the American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM) called for the complete removal of smart meters and a return to safe analogue meters due to scientific and medical studies repeatedly demonstrating health risks from exposure to wireless devices. Sadly, this call for safety has largely been ignored.
Act Now!
Smart meters have not been scientifically tested, they cause numerous health issues, they are not UL-certified, they are not protected from EMP (Electromagnetic Pulse) attacks, they put the consumer at high risk for being hacked, they are a fire risk, and they result in higher rates for consumers – doubling or tripling of bills, in some cases (a one-year study in Toronto, Canada, showed energy/utility bills increased by 50 to 80%). In addition, there are problems of accuracy. In California, thousands of PG&E smart meters failed to work at all, thousands more were installed improperly.
It is not too late to stop this intrusion into our health and lives but we need to start by contacting our State legislative representatives and Congress and letting them know we are opposed to any smart-meter placements. Please act now by going to https://national-health-federation.rallycongress.net/ctas/demand-safe-non-wireless-utility-meters?iframe=1.
Links
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwRTpWZReJk (“What Is A Smart Grid?”)
https://rumble.com/v38adwa-take-back-your-power-smart-meter-documentary-2017.html (Take Back Your Power, Documentary)
https://rumble.com/v388043-smart-meters-what-they-dont-want-you-to-know.html (“Smart Meters: What They Don’t Want You To Know”)
https://rumble.com/vta4y9-smart-attack.html (“Smart Attack!”)
https://stopsmartmeters.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Notice-of-Non-Consent-Liability.pdf (“Notice of Non-Consent for “Smart” Meter Installation, Notice of Liability”)
https://barbaracharis.substack.com/p/smart-meters-dirty-electricity (“Smart Meters: Dirty Electricity – A Deadly Business”) https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/113/hr2685 (H.R.2685 (113th Congress), the “Smart Grid Advancement Act of 2013”) (Not enacted into law)
I am opposed to any smart meters placement
Most of informed about the hazards of smart meters are also opposed to them. Simply telling your local utility company you don’t want one is not enough. Opting out is also not a solution because it does not allow you to keep your analog meter. I suggest you go to InPowermovement.org and look into how to create a Notice of Liability (NoL). Here are a couple of introductory videos you can watch for free:
Episode #1 https://youtu.be/Y7-p63o3zfQ
Episode #2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkTslkoHVG4
In multi-unit complexes Smart Meters are grouped together usually just under the roof of each multi-unit building. So removing mine and switching to an analogue meter wouldn’t have done any good to protect me.
So this is a warning to single family homeowners that our government has been moving under Agenda 21 to move all Americans into multi-unit buildings under a plan called Smart Growth that has been moving in the beginning to mandate human enclaves with everyone living on 10% of the land. As more and more people are relocated to multi-units under the current Agenda 30 plan that share of land will be 30%, then later under 2040 that share will increase to 40% and lastly will cap at 50%..
Meanwhile the Insiders who run this cabal will live in grand homes on the scale of Obama’s home in Martha’s Vineyard where they will be able to grow organic crops and grass fed animals that will be bred not to give off methane, which will be expensive and only reserved for the top 1%. The rest of us will own nothing and be happy.
Yes, these smart meters are part of a world-wide agenda to get us all on the smart grid. Their main purpose is for data collection that can be bought and sold to corporations and the federal government. The hazards of fires and radiation exposure are but two by-products of smart meters. We can fight this deployment by joining the InPowermovement.org organization headed by Cal Washington. By joining, you will be guided through how to create a Notice of Liability (NoL) to send to your local utility company. Myself and others have done this and it has been successful in Seattle neighborhoods and in Maui. I advise you to watch their two introductory videos that are online and free.
Episode #1 https://youtu.be/Y7-p63o3zfQ
Episode #2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkTslkoHVG4
Yet another one of their ideas to control us !
What a bunch of controlling idiots. Never will have one.
If you don’t want one, take action asap. Telling them you don’t want one is not enough.
This was installed on my house last week without my permission
How do I have this reversed??
Hi Alana, file written protests and objections with your electricity provider and/or public utilities district, consider filing a criminal trespass complaint with your local police or sheriff’s department, contact your local congressman’s office and ask for their help as they have specific sections in their office to help constituents, and in general raise a holy stink through the media and public meetings (which will serve the purpose of educating others and encouraging them to join the fight. Finally, there are a number of devices out there — such as the Iron Maiden (not an endorsement, just an example) — that you can buy to contain the smart meter’s emissions. Finally, you can usually buy your way out of a smart meter by paying anywhere from $7-$50/month extra just to keep your analogue meter. There’s more, but this can be a quick overview. What the company did to you was, in our opinion, illegal and even criminal.
In San Diego the public was notified when Smart Meters were initially installed that for a one time fee of $75 and a monthly fee of $10 for reading an analog meter, the Smart Meter could be removed and a meter reader would read my analog meter each month. My Smart Meter, which is clustered at the top of my multi unit condo building with all the other meters, can’t take advantage of this because removing one meter and leaving 42 Smart Meters wouldn’t help protect me. And so far in the few years we’ve had these meters, the city has replaced a few of them, meaning I had to endure power outages of about 30 minutes each time. Apparently these Smart Meters are not well made and break down occasionally.
Yes, it is criminal trespass but, unfortunately, opting out does not allow you to keep your analog meter. Opting out (allegedly) stops the 2-way transmission back to the utility company but it does not stop the dirty electricity that will be flooding your home. It also does not negate the fire hazard that comes with these meters. You might be interested in going to the InPowermovement.org website and checking out their solution–a Notice of Liability. You can start by watching these 2 introductory videos.
Episode #1 https://youtu.be/Y7-p63o3zfQ
Episode #2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkTslkoHVG4
Go to the website InPowermovement.org and look into submitting a Notification of Liability to your public utility company. It has been successful in Seattle neighborhoods and in Maui. For starters, watch the 2 introductory videos:
Episode #1 https://youtu.be/Y7-p63o3zfQ
Episode #2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkTslkoHVG4
It would cost me $20 mo. to have an analogue meter. Someone mentioned that everyone in surrounding homes have them (smart meters) so would it really make a difference for just me to change it out? I recently got Wi-Fi and don’t have it turned on all day, only at night for my doorbell alarm.
Don’t be fooled into thinking that opting out allows you to keep your analog meters. The plan is to install these meters into 100% of all homes, businesses and schools. By opting out and paying that extra monthly fee, we are told we will still have smart meters but that radio communication will be turned off; the extra fee is for a reader to come out and read your meter. Having the 2-wawy radio turned off does not stop dirty electricity from infiltrating our homes, businesses and schools.
I learned today that PG&E the utility company that serves all of northern and central California, now allows its customers to keep their analog meters due to public push-back and lawsuits.. We must keep up the pressure on our local utility companies so that we, too, can keep our analog meters. This is no time to give up!
Thank you Marjorie for sharing your tips and experience. I am in Northern California and requested an opt-out after PGE had already swapped the meter to the digital model. For my opt-out, they changed the meter but it is still digital. I contacted PGE but the person stated they are not able to install an analog meter. Has anyone had success getting their digital meter changed back to analog with PGE in Northern California?