Just Say No to Big Brother’s Smart Meters by Orlean Koehle
WHEREAS, Pacific Gas & Electric Company (“PG&E”) is now installing SmartMeters in Central and Northern California and will be installing these meters in the City of Watsonville in the very near future; and WHEREAS, concerns about the impact and accuracy of SmartMeters have been raised nationwide, leading the Maryland Public Service Commission to deny permission on June 21, 2010 for the deployment of SmartMeters 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 SmartMeters until the questions about their accuracy can be evaluated; and WHEREAS, major problems and deficiencies with SmartMeters in California have been brought to the attention of the City of Watsonville City Council, including PG&E’s confirmation that SmartMeters have provided incorrect readings costing ratepayers untold thousands of dollars in overcharges and PG&E’s records outlined “risks” and “issues” including an ongoing inability to recover real-time data because of faulty hardware originating with PG&E vendors; and WHEREAS, the ebb and flow of gas and electricity into homes discloses detailed information about private details of daily life. 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. SmartMeters represent a new form of technology that relays detailed hitherto confidential information reflecting the times and amounts of the use of electrical power Ord No. (CM) Q:\COUNCIL\2010\082410\SmartMeter
Moratorium.docx ri 8/19/2010 2:19:23 PM 3 without adequately protecting that data from being accessed by unauthorized persons or entities and as such pose an unreasonable intrusion of utility customers' privacy rights and security interests. Indeed, the fact that the CPUC has not established safeguards for privacy in its regulatory approvals may violate the principles set forth by the U.S. Supreme Court in Kyllo v. United States (2001), 533 U.S. 27; and WHEREAS, significant
health questions have been raised concerning the increased
electromagnetic frequency radiation (EMF) emitted by the wireless technology in SmartMeters, which will be in every house, apartment and business, thereby adding additional man-made EMF to our environment around the clock to the already existing EMF from utility poles, individual meters and telephone poles; and WHEREAS, FCC safety 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, premature aging, etc.. Because of untested technology, international scientists, environmental agencies, advocacy groups and doctors are calling for the use of caution in wireless technologies; and WHEREAS, the primary justification given for the SmartMeters program is the assertion that it will encourage customers to move some of their electricity usage from daytime to evening hours; however, PG&E has conducted no actual pilot projects 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. Further, some engineers and energy conservation experts believe that the Ord No. (CM) Q:\COUNCIL\2010\082410\SmartMeter
Moratorium.docx ri 8/19/2010 2:19:23 PM 4 SmartMeters program--in totality--could well actually increase total electricity consumption and therefore the carbon footprint; and WHEREAS, because the potential risks to the health, safety and welfare of Watsonville residents are so great, the City Council wishes to adopt a twelve (12) month moratorium on the installation of SmartMeters and related equipment within the Watsonville City limits. The twelve (12) month period will allow the CPUC petition process referenced above to be completed and for additional information to be collected and analyzed regarding potential problems with SmartMeters; and WHEREAS, there is a current and immediate threat to public health, safety and welfare because, without this urgency ordinance, SmartMeters or supporting equipment will be installed or constructed or modified in the City without PG&E’s complying with the CPUC process for 85
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