What is a Smart Meter?
A smart meter is an advanced meter that can identify consumption of a utility product and communicates this information to a utility for monitoring and billing.
Transmitting smart meters are being installed nationwide on gas, water, and electrical services, driven in part by funding for the Smart Grid Program approved as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Smart meters enable consumers to go online and see how their energy consumption changes as they turn off lights, turn down their heat or make other energy saving measures. They can operate with wireless microwave radiation, broadband over powerlines, or wired communications. Most smart meters deployed in the United States are wireless.
These meters are attached to a home or office just like your current electric meter. A stand alone smart meter complies with Federal Communications Commission (FCC) safety standards, but tests have shown that multiple smart meters operating under certain circumstances exceed FCC guidelines, according to a report by Sage Associates. Smart meters operate at 900 MHz frequency, at microwave radiation levels, which adds to your exposure of radiofrequency radiation in your home. Pacific Gas and Electric reported that smart meters in their system sent as many as 190,000 messages within 24 hours. San Diego Gas and Electric Company (SDGE) reported in response to a request from an Administrative Judge that smart meters installed by SDGE transmit messages on average 1270 times per day and at a maximum 25,920 times each day.[1]
If You Don't Want a Smart Meter
Watch these videos about smart meters.
| 30 minute video describing Pacific Gas and Electric's smart meter program and the Home Area Network | 2 minute demonstration of the microwave readings of a smart meter. | 5 minute video of Daniel Hirsch, senior lecturer of Nuclear Policy at UCSC, who explains that RF whole-body exposure to a smart meter is 100 times higher than exposure to a cell phone. |
|---|---|---|
| Kim Bendis of Naperville Smart Meter Awareness demonstrates that a Naperville resident who changed her mind about allowing a smart meter on her home can be bullied. The police were called in to enforce that the meter cannot be switched back. 6 minutes March 8, 2012. |
1 Trial, Allen, Attorney San Diego Gas and Electric Company, Response of San Diego Gas and Electric Company on the Administrative Law Judge’s Ruling Seeking Clarification Before the Public Utilities Commission, November 1, 2011, pg. 6.
.
Smart Meters in Virginia
June 1, 2014
For many Virginia residents the installation of smart meters on your home is your decision. Currently the electric company will notify you that they are upgrading your analogue meter to an advanced meter (radiation emitting smart meter). These meters when installed transmit radiation every few seconds all day long transmitting information to a utility data collection unit on a telephone pole (maybe near your home) where it is sent onto a data collection company - creating a microwave radiation spider web throughout your community. This adds up to hundreds of times more radiation exposure, even at many feet away, than that of cell phones.
Utilities and governments realize that smart meters and their networks can be attacked by hackers and terrorists.
Smart meters have caused fires. Fires and explosions associated with smart meters have been reported in California, Vancouver, British Columbia, Texas, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Illinois, Georgia, Nevada, Oregon, Maine, Virginia, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Florida.
Smart meters don’t save money. When considering the cost of replacing the our current Automatic Meter Reading(AMR) meters before the end of their useful lives the residential customer savings per ratepayer are projected to be $11 over 20 years by the Connecticut Attorney General, George Jepsen. With inflation factored, there are no savings. The smart meter useful life is at best half of the current AMR meter. Some residents have complained about much higher bills after their smart meter was installed. If you want to monitor your energy usage you don’t need a smart meter. Just purchase a home monitor that identifies the electricity usage by location and appliance. Why give utilities the control of identifying your real-time usage?
The World Health Organization and the International Agency for Research on Cancer state that Radio Frequency (RF) electromagnetic fields (EMF) from non-ionizing radiation-emitting devices such as smart meters are a Class 2-B carcinogen, which means they may cause cancer - the pesticide DDT, leaded gas, and chloroform are also in this category. Documented EMF studies also show: single and double strand DNA breakage which is associated with cancer, endocrine disruption, heart arrhythmia, ADD/ADHD and more. After smart meters have been installed some people experience:
Headaches muscle spasms breathing problems
insomnia heart problems nausea
cognitive problems ringing in the ears even seizures
memory loss dizziness
Some have had to leave their homes to alleviate these health problems.
People with various physiological conditions such as children, elderly people, having medical implants, pregnant women, and babies are particularly at risk.
Thousands of studies, not industry funded, confirm that this radiation is harmful. Visit www.smartmeterdangers.org (click research) to read many unbiased studies. Many illnesses like cancer take years to develop. Smoking cigarettes, asbestos exposure and radon were not considered hazardous until the link with cancer was established. Are you willing to risk your own health and your family’s health when we can demand an opt out of smart meters?
Wireless meters should not be installed. Notify your electric utility company that you want to opt out. Dominion Power and some other electric companies in Virginia will replace the "smart" meter with a non-transmitting meter.
Opt out of Dominion Power information here
Smart Meters in Maryland
How to Opt Out of your Smart Meter installation in Maryland ~ BGE, Pepco, & Delmarva Power Customers
The Maryland Public Service Commission issued Order No. 84926 on May 24, 2012 following a nearly 12-hour public hearing on whether to allow customers to opt out of the Smart Meter program. The Maryland Public Service ordered that customers can defer installation until it makes its decision on opting out.
Inform Your Utility Company Today
In order to defer the installation of a Smart Meter on your home or business, the PSC’s order indicates that you must do so in writing.
We recommend that you send your notice via certified letter to:
Baltimore Gas and Electric Smart Grid Opt Out
P.O. Box 1475
Baltimore, MD 21203
smartmeterdeferral@bge.com
………………………………………
PEPCO – MD Opt Out
701 9th Street NW
Mail Stop EP7642
Washington, DC 20068
………………………………………
Delmarva Power
MD Opt-Out
Mailstop 29SC59
PO Box 1739
Salisbury, MD 21802-1739
………………………………………
SMECO Opt Out
PO Box 1937
Hughesville, MD 20637
What Your Opt Out Letter Should Say
NOTICE OF DEFERRAL OF INSTALLATION OF SMART METERS PER PSC’S ORDER NO. 84926 DATED MAY 24, 2012
I am hereby notifying {name of utility here} and its agents that you are not to install a Smart Meter anywhere on my property pursuant to Order No. 84926 issued by the Maryland Public Service Commission on May 24, 2012.
Sign your name, include your account number, and address. In addition, we recommend sending a copy to:
Public Service Commission
Attn: David J. Collins, Executive Secretary
William Donald Schaefer Tower
6 St. Paul Street, 16th Floor
Baltimore, MD 21202-6806
To simplify things, we have a PDF OPT OUT FORM you can print, fill out, and mail. However, please keep in mind that a more thorough approach would be to send one copy to your utility and another to the Public Service Commission address.
If you already have a smart meter installed
The PSC orders that you can write a letter similar that above and state that you do not want the Smart Meter that has already been installed. The utility will refrain from activating the radiation or they will replace it with an analog meter.
Download and print a sign to post on your existing analog meter
Post a Notice on Your Existing Meter
We also recommend posting a sign on your existing meter. We have created one you can use. Download and print a sign now
Follow Up with your Utility Company
The utilities say their policy is to send a postcard a few weeks prior to installation, however, on a number of occasions, no such notice was received and residents came home and discovered that a new Smart Meter has been installed.
Tell Your Friends and Neighbors!
Print informational pamphlets to share and send them the following link: http://bit.ly/PbtkiS
- You are here:
-
Home
-
Why Wireless Safety
- Smart Meters
