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Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2012 | 2:35 p.m.
CARSON CITY — NV Energy has technically complied with the demands that it supply more information on the installation of its smart meters, but the staff of the state Public Utilities Commission says better data is needed.
NV Energy has already installed more than 700,000 of the meters in Clark County, and Sierra Pacific Power Co. is beginning the work in Northern Nevada.
The PUC has held hearings on customer complaints.
Consumer and senior citizen groups want the opportunity to reject the meters at no extra cost.
For those who do not want smart meters, Nevada Power estimated at an earlier hearing it would cost $110 for the utility to make an initial visit and an extra $14 a month for the meter reader to visit the home.
The PUC has not made a decision yet whether customers will have to pay extra for rejecting the smart meter.
The utility was ordered to supply information on the steps it has taken to make a smoother transition.
The utility on Jan. 23 outlined training programs workers have received to deal with questions and complaints from consumers.
The consumer will receive a letter before the installation detailing what to expect and steps to take when the company workers arrive.
Telephone lines have been established to answer consumer questions. In Clark County, the number is 702-402-4273; in Northern Nevada it is 1-888-559-9744.
Workers have been trained to answer the questions to assure consumers that the meters are safe and accurate and that personal information will not be released.
NV Energy is getting a $138 million grant from the federal government and is picking up the remaining $138 million cost of the program.
There are only two reasons NV Energy wants these meters: 1) eliminate staffing, and 2) implement variable rate time-of-day billing.
Point number 2 above is particularly hard on people who telecommute or are otherwise at home 24/7.
SMART METERS REJECTED
Palo Alto, the center of California's Silicon Valley, Rejects Smart Meters.
Smart Meter benefits are overstated and Smart Meter COSTS are greater than benefits.
"and customers (or taxpayers (funding federal grants) are left with $ Billion dollar smart meter programs on their shoulders.
http://paloalto.patch.com/articles/no-sm...
HACKERS SEE OUR ACTIVITIES BETTER THAN WE DO
Utility companies and hackers can access your precise activities in your home, but the utility customer living in the home CANNOT get that information.
The information available to the customer living in the home comes back from the utility company 18-24 hours later with all devices grouped together, so no individual device can be isolated for the customer.
Customers cannot see what the hacker or utility company can see. Without knowing how much each device uses, the customer cannot use the smart meter information to improve or conserve their energy use.
So unless the customer can hack the information spewing from their own wireless smart meter, the smart meter information provided by the utility company for the customer is useless to the customer.
SMART METER HEALTH REPORT
HEALTH DEPARTMENT SANTA CRUZ COUNTY, STATE OF CALIFORNIA JANUARY 2012.
(Statements, not all 11 pages)
- Smart meters expose persons in the home to FULL BODY RADIATION EXPOSURES 50 to 450 times greater radiation than cell phones depending on proximity in the home to the smart meter attached to outside wall (calculated using the inverse square).
- Smart meters emit radiation almost continuously throughout the day 24/7, 365 days per year.
- Increased permeability of the blood-brain barrier in the head, harmful effects on sperm, double strand breaks in DNA which could lead to cancer genesis, stress gene activation indicating exposure to a toxin, and alterations in brain glucose metabolism.
- Electro Hypersensitivity is a real and sometimes debilitating problem for the affected persons. . Above affects are occurring to all persons, not just those who are hypersensitive (added for clarification).
- FCC guidelines are irrelevant and cannot be used for any claims of Smart Meter safety unless heat damage is involved
- Smart meter exposure is Involuntary exposure. Governmental agencies for protecting public health and safety should be much more vigilant towards involuntary environmental exposures because governmental agencies are the only defense against such involuntary exposure.
http://emfsafetynetwork.org/wp-content/u...
There are no plausible reasons for the utility to "make an initial visit and charge an extra $14 a month for the meter readers to visit the home" since consumers are already paying to have their dumb meters read on a routine bases, while those having the smart meters shoved down their throats aren't saving $14 a month for non-employment of meter readers. Noting: power usage as derived by dumb meter readings could easily be forwarded to utilities by consumers emailing meter photos to utility on a routine bases, thwarting the need for routine local reads taken by utility personnel.
There are no plausible reasons for the utility to monitor time-of-day usage unless such usage would be used to impact consumer pricing on a "dynamic" level -- a level of pricing based upon real-time market variables which have been known to be manipulated by the likes of Enron. Noting: grid conditions which challenge stability i.e. high-demand/low-supply should be disseminated to the general public to allow consumers the ability to reduce consumption by voluntarily isolating their non-essential loads during such periods.
There are no plausible reasons for the utility to possess remote disconnect capabilities which could disrupt consumer power solely at the utility's digression. Noting: those which have had smart meters installed have been experiencing significantly more power interruptions relative to periods in which their dumb meters were previously employed.
Unfairly, consumers electing to opt out of smart meter installation aren't being isolated from costs associated with smart meter implementation.
Bottom line: Consumers should not be financially penalized for refusing smart meters, while consumers desiring smart meters should rightfully pay for their employment while reaping savings, if any, directly derived from their implementation.
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Customers are ALREADY PAYING ABOUT $300 each FOR THE SMART METER hidden within their utility bill over many months, so WHY do they have to pay an additional opt-out fee for something they already paid for but aren't getting?
Shouldn't the opt-out customers instead be getting a refund or credit for $300 since the Utility Company saves the $300 not putting a new smart meter on their home.
@airweare: hate to sound dumb but whats your SWAG formula?
Some things you can do in self defense to protect yourself and your family from NV Energy's Smart Meters...
1. Call NV Energy and get your name and property address on the "delay" or "opt out" list.
2. Write a letter to NV Energy stating that you refuse to have a smart meter installed on your property.
3. Barricade your current meter. You can put a metal bar across the front of the meter, using common materials you can get at the hardware store. Lock it in place. Put a note on the barricade that smart meter installation is not allowed.
3. If you can not manage the above, and because your neighbors will get smart meters that will zap you anyway, you can install shielding to prevent the RF (radio frequency energy) from zapping you constantly. This is especially important if your meter is on the wall of your bedroom or an area where you spend a lot of time.
- Metalized mylar (mylar blanket AKA space blanket) works as a shield. On the inside wall where your smart meter is, hang a quilt or some other large hanging and put a mylar blanket behind it. (The quilt is just so it looks nice.)
- If your home has stucco siding, the chicken wire under the stucco shields you. We have had our home stucco'd and we also have Low-E housewrap underneath (made in Moundhouse, NV). This is expensive, but we want to be healthy and have a wi-fi free and cell-phone free wireless free home.
- Metal window screens, aluminum blinds (not plastic), Warm Window material (has mylar inside it) all will add shielding.
- A metal plate behind and on the sides of the smart meter will shield you inside. You can cover up the whole thing with metal (including aluminum foil) but NV Energy won't like that at all because then the smart meter can't communicate with the other meters in your neighborhood and send your data through the network.
- If you work in the yard a lot, your smart meter and your neighbors' will be zapping you there too. Find the "line of sight" of your neighbor's smart meter. Then, you can add chicken wire to a fence if it is on the line of sight (wood fencing and house siding won't shield you, only metal or mesh that has holes smaller than the wavelength of the RF being emitted from the meter.)
- Buy an RF meter and learn to use it. Take measurements before and after shielding. Be careful though and remember that you don't want to be reflecting the RF onto yourself, when you place your shields.
Remember, the meters emit RF several times a minute in a horizontal "donut" shape (not vertically) and that suitable shielding has to be metal.
I hope this helps those who want to protect themselves.
nvsmart