Call to Skip Smart Meters

All investor owned utilities in California have been ordered by the CPUC to provide a delay list. Call your utility to skip Smart Meters.

  • PG&E 877-743-7378
  • SCE 1-800-810-2369
  • SDG&E 1-800-411-7343
  • So Cal Gas 877-238-0090

You can counter their Smart Meter propaganda by insisting that you want to have the analog meter retained or restored at no cost!

11 thoughts on “Call to Skip Smart Meters”

  3. yes,I called the PG&E opt out line in Sacramento yesterday. When I had called originally a few weeks ago to opt out, I did not have my bill in front of me so they would not even speak with me. They wanted the account number on the bill as if they don’t have us in the computer.

    The person I spoke with yesterday was very insistent about how we were going to get a SmartMeter no matter what but if the CPUC approved PG&E’s Opt Out Plan, they would turn only off the radio transmitter.

    She said everyone gets one and asked why I did not want a SmartMeter. I went thru explanations including health and safety, huge spike in bills, the privacy issue like PG&E knowing when we got up or turned a TV on. She said they already know when all those things occur and that is without a SM. She repeated we will get a SM.

  6. Unfortunately this seems to be a typical experience for people calling the PG&E delay list. The opt out is in process at the CPUC, and there has been no decision on how it will happen. Several parties, including the EMF Safety Network are fighting for the right to keep the analog meters are no additional cost. It likely will not be decided till next year (2012)
    These meters constantly transmit microwaves in millisecond pulses- 24/7. A second is 1,000 milliseconds. If it is 45 seconds, that’s 45,000 milliseconds, so depending on how long the pulse is (PG&E stated between two and twenty milliseconds in length)
    that could be up to 22,500 pulses a day.

    Sandi

  7. the latest on what PG&E is telling people:

    ———- Forwarded message ———-

    I did call the hot line yesterday, and this is what I was told:
    They’re anticipating that people with have the option to opt out of the SM service by mid-September, but he did say that it would cost $10 a month for the gas meter reading. He said that with solar, I was “safe,” but that for others who already have electric SM, if they chose to not have the SM readings, they would have to pay something like $275 to have some retro fitting done, plus a monthly fee. I’m glad that’s not my case. . .
    He also deplored the “alarmist” folks who claim that the signal is being sent/received “24/7,” claiming that in fact the signal sends intermittently a few seconds at a time totaling “about 45 seconds” a day. Is he just misinformed? Lying? It’s so hard for a consumer to know what’s true and what’s not. . .
    Any light you can shed on this would be most appreciated.

  8. I just called and had a frustrating discussion with a pg&e rep who’d clearly drunk the smart kool-aid. She tried to argue with me about the safety issue, even citing the recent WHO findings on cell phones saying that the study concluded that cell phones are perfectly safe. Thankfully, I’d read about the study and was able to say that that’s simply not true, that that study ONLY considered one type of brain tumor AND that, far from determining that cell phones are “safe,” had cautioned that they’re a potential cause of brain cancer.

    All this surprised me — I did’t expect to find a rep who’d argue with me. Given that she clearly was misrepresenting the WHO study, heaven only knows whether other things she said were even remotely true (like that the Smart meter would only be sending signals for a total of about 45 seconds per day, that the signal would be aimed away from the house (so, I said, I need to worry about my nextdoor neighbor’s smart meter as was well, then), etc. She said that the public has just been misinformed, and she said it in a way that would suggest that anyone who doesn’t want a Smart meter is an ignoramus.

    She also repeatedly said that keeping my analog meter is not an option, that the only thing I was opting for was delaying the installing of the smart meter and that the radio antenna would be turned off once it’s installed. I pointed out that I’d have no way of knowing that (short of buying a pricey type of EMF detector).

    We really need to work on stopping these things from being installed. Thank you all for the work you’re doing.

    Jude

  9. Frank,
    thanks for telling us what happens when a customer calls PG&E to opt out.
    It is your property, so you should do what I did.
    A few years ago I was doing some construction and asked PG&E for a card so I could read my own meter and put the card out on the front gate for the meter reader.
    I could not accept the liability of having a meter reader getting hurt by going on to my property to read the meter during construction.
    This has been working fine for me, and now nobody can access my property unless they are invited or make an appointment with me. You could also put out a sign on your front gate that reads “NO SOLICITORS, PEDDLERS OR AGENTS”, and keep the gate locked at all times.
    I will never anyone to install one of those pinche new meters on my property, period.

  10. I called the PG&E opt out line in Sacramento yesterday. When I had called originally a few weeks ago to opt out, I did not have my bill in front of me so they would not even speak with me. They wanted the account number on the bill as if they don’t have us in the computer.

    The person I spoke with yesterday was very insistent about how we were going to get a SmartMeter no matter what but if the CPUC approved PG&E’s Opt Out Plan, they would turn only off the radio transmitter.

    She said everyone gets one and asked why I did not want a SmartMeter. I went thru explanations including health and safety, huge spike in bills, the privacy issue like PG&E knowing when we got up or turned a TV on. She said they already know when all those things occur and that is without a SM. She repeated we will get a SM.

    I said we have a cancer patient undergoing treatment (Ronita starts Chemo for breast cancer next week) and we don’t want a SmartMeter. She continued insisting SmartMeters wil be installed on our home no matter what.

    I said we will litigate to stop the installation and she said it will do no good as all lawsuits against PG&E have been dismissed by the courts. The CPUC has mandated installation of SMs and we have no choice. All in all, this mirrored the typical response I have received from PG&E every time I called.

    This is the perfect example as to how an out of control corporation, with very little public regulatory oversight, runs roughshod over their customers and consumers.

    Thanks, Frank

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