PG&E offers a SmartMeter opt-out, for a fee.

Thursday, April 12, 2012

On Feb. 1, the state Public Utilities Commission approved Pacific Gas & Electric’s proposal to let residential customers reject the wireless SmartMeters being installed across the company’s territory. 

That same day, PG&E sent letters to the 90,000 customers on its “delay list” – people who postponed their SmartMeter installations pending the PUC decision – outlining the terms of the new opt-out program.  

For a $75 setup charge and a $10 monthly meter-reading fee (lower for low-income customers), they can keep their analog electric and gas meters.  

PG&E spokesman Greg Snapper says 716 of 168,000 Monterey County customers have already asked to opt out. That’s less than half of 1 percent, but it’s still four times the rate for the company’s 16 million Northern and Central California residential customers. 

Among them is Monterey resident Nina Beety. She worries SmartMeters interfere with electronics, introduce cyber-security issues, increase fire risks and pose serious health hazards.  

The opt-out program is better than nothing, she says, but isolated analog meters won’t make much of a difference. “We’re definitely getting radiation from our neighbors’ [SmartMeters],” she says. “Everywhere I go, I’m exposed to this.” 

Snapper says Smart-Meters help lower bills, shorten power-outage response times and integrate renewable energy sources.  

“You have some customers who prefer not to have SmartMeters, and we want to honor that preference,” he says. “On the other hand, we strongly believe in our program and its benefits to our customers.”  

PG&E asks opt-out customers to visit www.pge.com/smartmeteroptout or call 1-866-743-0263 by May 1.

There are thousands of studies which show that “smart” meter radiation harms people, plants and animals. You can call it paranoia, but you’ll feel angry when you realize the damage smart meters are doing to your body and future generations.

Feel lucky that you are not one of the first to become ill like me. I almost died from the installation of smart meters. I can’t live in own home, and am forced to exist in one of the small areas in California that does not yet have smart meters.

Please consider this one fact before you judge the value of the smart meter program… Smart meters have two antenna. The second antenna will be used to control Home Area Network (HAN) appliances. This is so the energy company can turn off HAN appliances (soon to be on the market) such as air conditioners and washing machines during peak energy use hours. The frequency used by this antenna is 2.4 GHz. This is the EXACT same frequency used to cook food in a microwave oven.

I’d like to know who decided it was okay to release microwaves into our living space. We have all been forced into the biggest science-gone-wrong experiment, and our lives are at risk. Be thankful that you have not felt the agony that people like me have experienced. But stand up and fight for your life and join the activists to have smart meters removed!

We would like to believe all of gadgets provide benefits without costs; however, when they prove to bring immediate suffering to those using them, they must be removed.

PG&E has much to gain by slashing their workforce, unfortunately many of their customers experience physical pain from these slashes. I know them. This is not acceptable.

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The Price of Paranoia