Month: February 2011

INVESTORS AND UTILITIES WARNED, SMART GRID MAY FAIL

International News details consumer health and privacy pushback

Recent news articles warn both the utility industry and investors over the consumer pushback against Smart Meters.

Posted Today in the “National”, an English-language news journal from the middle east-located in Abu Dhabi is a report titled, “ Health risks could switch off home energy meters”

Excerpts from the article include: “Investors in this new sector should be aware that, despite its green-energy saving credentials, the smart-metering industry could become the focus of international concern regarding the levels of radiation generated by the new digital devices.”

The report suggests that the announced sale of Landis & Gyr, who make PG&E Smart Meters, coincided with the US Smart Meter protests where women opposing the meters over radiation concerns were arrested.

The article warns, “Should the US health and privacy fears continue to spread internationally, there could be global consequences.”
Another Smart Grid article warns the industry, “A new study by Ovum warns that most ongoing efforts by utilities to gain early customer acceptance of smart meters have been inadequate. The report concludes that unless utilities do better jobs educating consumers about the long-term benefits of smart meters, it’s likely they will fall back on old power consumption habits and entire grid projects could ultimately fail.”

FCC’s Inadequate Response to Smart Meter Complaint

On November 4, 2010, I filed a complaint with the FCC, and yesterday received the following response.

You are receiving this email in response to your inquiry to the FCC.

Dear Ms. Maurer,

Thank you for contacting the Federal Communications Commission.

This letter is in response to your complaint, 10-C00258888, filed with the FCC.

PG&E’s SmartMeter program is part of a statewide effort driven by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to upgrade California’s energy infrastructure with automated metering technology. This technology will enable new programs that help California energy customers use less energy and save money.

The SmartMeter system uses programmable solid-state meter technology that provides two-way communication between the meter at your home or business and the utility, using secure wireless network technology records hourly meter reads and periodically transmits the reads via a dedicated radio frequency (RF) network back to PG&E.

Please reference PG&E’s web site concerning questions about potential health effects related to radio frequency (RF) emissions from the meters,http://www.pge.com/myhome/edusafety/systemworks/rf/.

The California Council on Science and Technology released a preliminary study entitled “Health Impacts of Radio Frequency from Smart Meters”. You may view this study at: http://www.ccst.us/publications/2011/2011smartA.pdf.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has adopted Maximum Permissible Exposure (MPE) limits for radio transmitters of all types, including SmartMeters. The FCC standard provides a currently accepted factor of safety against known thermally induced health impacts of smart meters and other electronic devices in the same range of RF emissions. Exposure levels from smart meters are well below the thresholds for such effects.

There is no evidence that additional standards are needed to protect the public from smart meters.

For questions concerning this study, you may wish to contact the California Council on Science and Technology, 1130 K Street, Suite 280, Sacramento, California 95814. Phone: (916) 492 0996. E-mail: ccst@ccst.us

Thank you for your inquiry.

Brenda Althoff

Consumer Advocate and Mediation Specialist

Federal Communications Commission

Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau

Representative Number : TSR22

Complaint Sent:

“PG&E is deploying radio frequency radiation (RF) smart

meters throughout its service territory in California. PG&E

claims there are no health impacts and states they are safe

because they comply with FCC Safety Standards. PG&E has

not provided realistic RF specifications like the peak RF power

at one foot. We need accurate RF emissions information for

their Smart Meters.

“People are reporting health impacts from RF smart meters,

including sleep problems, headaches, anxiety, tinnitus, ear pain

and more. There are people who are EHS and immune

compromised and this is a huge threat to their homes and

health. See stories here:

http://emfsafetynetwork.org/?page_id=2292

“Since the FCC is the jurisdictional body that regulates RF

emissions we call on you to impose an immediate moratorium

on PG&E Smart Meters.”