Just Say No to Big Brother’s Smart Meters by Orlean Koehle
Positive Newspaper and Media Attention: More and the Press Democrat Newspaper, the San Francisco Chronicle and the Marin Independent began to run more positive articles about those who were speaking out against the meters. Here are excerpts from the December, 2010, issue of the magazine North Bay Biz, in an article called “Smart Decisions” by Ray Holley:
Under a mandate from the CPUC, PG&E is installing wireless Smart Meters all over the state. Of approximately 9.8 million Smart Meters to be installed (5.5 million electric, 4.3 million gas) PG&E reports it’s already at 70 percent deployment, meaning around 7 million have been installed. Skepticism growing: There are those who believe Smart Meters aren’t that smart. Anecdotal evidence of over-billing abounds, with many ratepayers assailing PG&E and local government officials when bills increased after installation of Smart Meters. PG&E officials say that a small number of older analog meters might have been running too slowly, under billing customers who are now paying the correct charges. A study commissioned by the CPUC found that Smart Meters tend to be accurate but that PG&E is doing a poor job of following up on customer complaints and concerns. The utility says it’s taking steps to address customer service issues and is providing customer outreach ahead of meter deployment. But there are also prevalent concerns about Smart Meters that center around negative
impacts on our health, privacy and personal freedom. Smart Meter doubters are an unusual alliance of those concerned about technology’s impacts on our lives, property rights advocates and government skeptics. Claims of health risks: Sandi Maurer, founder of the Sebastopol-based EMF Safety
Network, suffered from health problems that, she says, were caused by electromagnetic fields (EMFs) from indoor and faulty wiring in her home. “This [potential for sensitivity to EMFs] has been suppressed and downplayed by the industry for years,” she says. According to Maurer’s website, “Electrical Sensitivity (ES) is also known as Electrosensitivity, Electromagnetic Sensitivity (EMS), EMF Sensitivity,
Electrical
Hypersensitivity (EHS), Microwave Sickness, Radio Wave Sickness, Wireless Stress Syndrome and Rapid Aging Syndrome,” all terms for individuals who may have adverse reactions to exposure to Smart Meters and other appliances and devices, including cellular phones, cordless (DECT) phones and Wi-Fi, that emit EMF and radiofrequency radiation (RF). “Radiofrequency radiation travels through walls and there are biological impacts,”
says Maurer. “Short-term risks include headaches, sleep problems, nausea, memory loss and body pain. Long-term impacts can include cancer and genotoxic affects.” Maurer says the Smart Meter deployment is “the largest technology rollout in PG&E
history; the use of wireless radiation is a billion-dollar, blossoming industry, but it hasn’t been proven safe. Neither health nor environmental impacts were considered in the process of approving Smart Meters. The CPUC approved this without a study and without scientific consensus.” Privacy and lawsuits: Deborah Tavares has a different take on Smart Meters: She believes they might ruin her financially. Tavares and her husband are housing developers and own apartment buildings in Sonoma County and Southern California, where Southern California Edison is installing Smart Meters as well. While Smart Meters were being installed on her Southern California buildings, Tavares was contacted by tenants who were concerned about health risks from the radiation. “I went to Southern California Edison to look at the environmental impact reports so I could copy the pages and show my tenants they were safe,” Tavares says. She was surprised when she was unable to obtain an environmental study. PG&E confirms an EIR wasn’t required by the CPUC.
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