From East County Magazine / September 26, 2011
The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) president Michael Peevey has issued a ruling ordering San Diego Gas & Electric Company and two other utility companies to allow consumers who don’t want a “smart meter” installed to place their names on a delay list, pending the outcome of upcoming workshops on the issue.
The order applies only to homes that do not yet have a smart meter, and does not provide an option for people who want to have a smart meter removed.
The order came in response to complaints from numerous consumers alleging health problems that they believe are related to electromagnetic radiation emitted by smart meters at their homes, as well as to numerous communities that have taken formal actions to restrict or ban smart meters. The rule applies to Pacific Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison as well as San Diego Gas & Electric.
Susan Brinchman, a La Mesa resident and director of the center for Electrosmog Prevention, believes the order doesn’t go far enough. A doctor has issued an opinion that Brinchman’s recent health problems may be linked to installation of a smart meter at her home. SDG&E has insisted that the meters are safe.
“My choice is no smart meter. Can I get that? They still say no,” she has stated. Brinchman says an SDG&E representative has told her that her smart meter still cannot be removed, despite numerous requests. She added that the representative informed her that “it is only a delay as everybody is getting the smart meters in SDG&E territory in CA and other states.”
According to Brinchman, the vast majority of smart meters have already been installed in San Diego County, making the ruling’s impact minimal.
Peevey has drawn criticism for overly cozy relationships with the utiltiy industry he is assigned to regulate, as the San Francisco Bay Guardian detailed in a May 24, 2011 article titled The secret life of Michael Peevey:California’s top energy regulator rolls with power company executives behind the scenes.
Brinchman also takes issue with SDG&E for making it hard for consumers who still have analog meters to learn of the delay list option. The CPUC ruling required that this information be displayed on the utility companies’ websites. The information is nowhere to be seen on SDG&E’s homepage, but appears instead on an inside section touting benefits of smart meters. A link on the smart meter page titled “delay list” leads to information on how to opt off, though it seems unlikely that many utility consumers not already aware of the option would find it in this inconspicuous location.
If you do not yet have a smart meter installed at your home and would like to be placed on the temporary installation delay list, e-mail info@sdge.com or call 1-(800)411-7344.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
How do I get my OLD electric meter back again? Our wi-fi ceased functioning and the garage door opener has a range of about six feet with the “smart meter” installed.
Must-See 4-minute youtube video on Smart meters.
For those truly concerned about the EM waves, you can protect your sleeping quarters by spending some money. First you buy lead foil; you can get it rubberized or coated in vinyl. Staple the foil to the walls & ceiling of your bedroom, office, den, whatever. Then you cover it w/ 1/4″ drywall, sand, texture, prime & paint. Neither your cell phone nor any wireless device would work in that room , but you could sleep, work, relax w/ little worries. You could do the whole house, but it would be expensive.
Maybe there is a small shield you could buy to deflect the EM waves away, sort of like those Elizabethan dog/cat collars vets install around the necks of animals.
I’ll hold back on the tinfoil hat commentary. It’s amazing how hard it is to truly isolate yourself from the whole spectrum, RF energy has a tendancy to bounce and concentrate in unexpected ways, if you’re not thorough (as in an actual faraday cage) and analytical about it (taking measurements with a spectrum analyzer) many people only end up with their protective measures backfiring, as RF waves don’t always behave like you’d think they should.
This is going to be an ongoing problem of increasing concernm whether it’s the benign issue of people with RF/EMF sensitivity, the issues of wildlife disturbance believed to be related to this (strange behaviour and die offs of birds and insects, especially bees) or the more controversial and murky issue of the probable use of various parts of the EM spectrum by gov’t and other possible entites for experimentation of weaponry and population control. Roll your eyes if you like but just what is verifiable and unclassified is scary- but wait, the government can’t do that, can they?
Well since SCOTUS ruling in 2000, they aren’t supposed to scan any residences with FLIR technology, but Americans are so stupid about letting them make a joke of this they watch SDPD and LAPD fly over their whole city looking for a bad guy on the 11 oclock news, using what? FLIR. It gets much, much worse though:
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101025/11370211578/x-ray-scanner-vans-not-just-being-sold-to-law-enforcement.shtml
did you know? do you care? are you outraged? more tech details:
http://www.homelandsecuritynewswire.com/drive-x-ray-vans-raise-privacy-health-worries
1500 ft stand off range, and I understand resolution is good enough to count the change in your pocket.
So forget smart meters, it’s on the wall outside your garage, a sheet of aluminum on the backside will ensure only your neighbor’s popcorn gets popped. Take a look at some of the stuff we can only get little leaks about, and it’s frightening.
Visit lessemf.com for some info.
SMART METER HEALTH PROBLEMS AND CANCER.
2. The WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION on May 31 2011 placed the Non-ionizing radiation coming from Wireless smart meters (and some other wireless devices) on the Class 2-B Carcinogen List.
?http://www.iarc.fr/en/media-centre/pr/2011/pdfs/pr208_E.pdf
3. The NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF HEALTH months ago (Feb 2011) found biological changes in the brain after only minutes of exposure to non-ionizing radiation.
?http://jama.ama-assn.org/content/305/8/808.abstract
4. LABORATORY SCIENTISTS have observed?(1) Human Cell Damage?(2) DNA Chain Breaks?(3) Breaches in the Blood-Brain Barrier? from levels of non-ionizing radiation lower than emitted by WIRELESS Smart meters.
?http://electromagnetichealth.org/electromagnetic-health-blog/cc-video/
5. INSURANCE COMPANIES Hired Independent Laboratory Scientists and these scientists also observed Cell Damage and DNA Chain Breaks and now the Insurance Companies will NOT Insure Liability damage from Wireless Smart meters and other wireless devices.? TV Video (3 minutes)
http://eon3emfblog.net/?p=382
?So shouldn’t installation of Wireless smart meters on people’s homes Stop?
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Cell Phone use and other devices are Voluntary and can be shut off at the user’s discretion, but Smart meters are emitting radiation 24/7 and can not be shut off.
?6. WIRELESS SMART METERS – 100 TIMES MORE RADIATION THAN CELL PHONES.? Video Interview: Nuclear Scientist, Daniel Hirsch, (5 minutes)
http://stopsmartmeters.org/2011/04/20/daniel-hirsch-on-ccsts-fuzzy-math/?
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7. WIRELESS SMART METERS – CANCER, NERVOUS SYSTEM DAMAGE, ADVERSE REPRODUCTION AFFECTS. ?Video Interview: Dr. Carpenter, New York Public Health Department, Dean of Public Health, (2 minutes)
? http://emfsafetynetwork.org/?p=3946
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8. THE KAROLINSKA INSTITUTE IN STOCKHOLM (the University that gives the Nobel Prizes) ISSUES GLOBAL HEALTH WARNING AGAINST WIRELESS SMART METERS.? 2-page Press Release
?http://www.scribd.com/doc/48148346/Karolinska-Institute-Press-Release
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9. RADIATION MEASURED FROM SMART METER MOUNTED ON A HOME (once active in the utility system) SHOWS RADIATION TRANSMISSION PULSES APPROXIMATELY ONCE EVERY FOUR SECONDS 24 HOURS PER DAY traveling through the bodies and brains of the inhabitants of that home. ?Youtube Video (6 minutes, 1st minute is sufficient)
? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRejDxBE6OE
NOTE: many of the tests on non-ionizing radiation (the type of radiation emitted by smart meters) have been done using instruments other than smart meters because smart meters have only been in people’s homes for a very short time.
But as a Wireless smart meter emits 100 times more radiation than a cell phone, it is not difficult to project. If a machine gun (smart meter) fires 100 bullets in the same time that a pistol (cell phone) fires one bullet, it is not difficult to project the harm that the machine gun can inflict, even if the tests were done with the pistol.