12 reasons to say No to Smart Meters
Points of Information
Although this talks about Nevada, the same is true in every state.
We must push for an Opt In option..This is the only option that gives us protection of the US Constitution. See Article “Opt Out is not a win!”
1- The people of Las Vegas were not asked nor was anybody told the facts about smart meters. NVE did a very low profile introduction campaign bringing the smart meters into the neighborhoods of Las Vegas very quickly and without prior installation orientation or allowing choices whether to receive them or not. On Jan 11, 2012 the PUCN issued an Interim Order for Docket #11-10007 instructing NVE to “enhance its customer outreach efforts and provide better training to is installation vendor, Scope Services and NVE employees within 10 days or face administrative fines pursuant to NRS 703.380
2- The contract DE-OE0000205 for the 138 million NVE received is both from the DOE (31 USC 6304) and DOD (10 USC 2358) department of defense. Even though public comments in the form of a properly arranged exhibit was accepted by the PUCN, no response to why the DOD is a part of this contract has been received by the public to date.
3- NVE admits the meters do emit RF (Radio Frequency) radiation but they only claim for 5 seconds a day maximum. Using an RF detection meter the RF 35C-W I found that they are emitting a much higher frequency of emissions and at least 5 times a minute. That is 7,200 times a day your DNA is being hit by blasts of RF emissions. As consumers we have a choice whether to use a hands free telephone, a microwave, a dish TV antenna or Wi-Fi in our homes or businesses. However, we do not have a choice when it comes to the smart meters and this is an invasion of privacy, creating a vulnerability to adverse hacking and exposing us to health risks that we can not protect ourselves against.
4- The National Toxicity report to see if these metes are even safe for humans will not be complete until 2014 and yet NVE has already installed 650, 000 of these meters in Southern Nevada and is implementing their rollout in northern Nevada even as I write this. FCC standards do not exist for chronic long-term exposure to EMF or from multiple sources, and reported adverse health effects from electromagnetic pollution include sleep disorders, irritability, short term memory loss, headaches, anxiety, nausea, DNA breaks, abnormal cell growth, cancer, early fatigue, etc. Because of untested technology, international scientists, environmental agencies, advocacy groups and doctors are calling for the use of caution in wireless technologies.
5- Concerns about the accuracy of smart meters have been raised nationwide, leading the Maryland Public Service Commission to deny permission on June 21, 2010 for the deployment of smart meters in that state. The state of Hawaii Public Utility commission also recently declined to adopt a smart grid system in that state. The CPUC currently has pending before it a petition from the City and County of San Francisco, and other municipalities, seeking to delay the implementation of smart meters until questions about their accuracy can be evaluated. There are 46 counties and cities in Ca that have placed a moratorium on the installation of smart meters until more research and accurate information about them can be obtained.
6 – NVE claims that smart meters will save money for NVE customers but in actuality will raise their monthly utility rate; some customers already reporting twice the amount of normal billing amounts. We know personally, 5 NVE customers whose utility bills were so high after smart meter replaced their old analog meter that they requested an immediate change out back to the analog meter. At the last PUCN workshop I personally witnessed one customer who was billed over $12,000 after his smart meter was installed.
7- Smart meters that monitor the ebb and flow of electrical usage into our homes discloses detailed information about private details of our daily lives. Energy usage data, measured moment by moment, allows the reconstruction of a household’s activities; when people wake up, when they come home, when they go on vacation, and even when they take a hot bath. Smart meters represent a new form of technology that relays detailed hitherto confidential information reflecting the times and amounts of the use of electrical power without adequately protecting that data from being accessed by unauthorized persons or entities and as such pose an unreasonable intrusion of utility customer’s privacy rights and security interests.
8-The Attorney Generals office BCP (Bureau of Consumer Protection) filed a docket 2 Years ago # 10-02009 (July 28th, 2010) that stated the smart meter was intrusive and violated the 4th amendment of the constitution the Nevada Constitution and obliterated a persons right to privacy. The BCP also filed 7 other concerns about the deployment of smart meters. They included: Technological risks, Deployment and customer acceptance risks, customer behavior study risks, cyber security risks, consumer protection, cost and budget risks and benefit risks.
9- The citizens of NV have not been told the truth about the meters. The PUCN has NOT protected its citizens by forcing NVE to tell the truth. It appears no due diligence was done on the impact in the health, welfare or economics of the smart meter roll out. The primary justification given for the smart meters program is the assertion that I will encourage customers to move some of their electricity usage from daytime to evening hours; however, NVE has conducted no actual pilot projects with smart meters to determine whether this assumption is in fact correct. Non-transmitting time-of day meters are already available for customers who desire them, and enhanced customer education is a viable non-technological alternative to encourage electricity use time shifting. These meters give total control of your electrical use to NVE so they can turn off our appliances (including heat and cooling) remotely without our permission at anytime. NVE wants to do this through Home Area Network (HAN) so they can implement time of use pricing and energy use behavior modification from consumers through a program call O-Power. Some engineers and energy conservation experts believe that the smart meters program—in totality—could well actually increase total electricity consumption and therefore the carbon footprint as well.
10- The FCC guidelines for RF emissions states that no one can have a device on there home that has more than one antenna. The Sensus smart meters deployed by NVE have 2 antennas and are a transmitting surveillance device. NVE has been exempt from the rule. FCC says that in order to transmit the two way communication of customer’s personal energy information, NVE must first obtain the customer’s written permission especially when it comes to the collection and possible resale of private information. NVE did not get anyone’s permission.
11- On December 28th in response to PUCN’s request NVE made 4 proposals for those customers who wished to “opt out” of the NVE smart meter program. Unfortunately, all of the options will cost the customer big bucks to keep their analog or non-transmitting meter. There will be an initial re-install fee of over $100 and an additional $15 monthly fee into perpetuity. Two of the options will either be an analog or digital non-transmitting meter and the other two options will still be collecting and transmitting our personal information. This needs to be an OPT IN situation for those who want the smart meter and those who don’t should be allowed to keep their old analog as the standard meter. NVE wants the PUCN to change rule 16 allowing the Smart Meter to be the standard. This would be disastrous for consumers from both an economic and personal privacy/security standpoint.
12 – These meters give total control of your electrical use to NVE – they can turn off your appliances including your heat and cooling remotely without your permission at anytime. NVE wants (HAN) Home area network so they can implement time of use pricing and implement . NVE wants behavior modification from consumers.