Category: Take Action!
Sebastopol stand up against PG&E Smart Meters! Come to the City Council meeting on Tuesday 2/19
Sebastopol has asked for a moratorium on Smart Meters twice. The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) is currently evaluating a Smart Meter opt-out program that includes communities. However, recently PG&E has been installing Smart Meters in Sebastopol.
Do you want to see the City Council take a stronger stand against PG&E and ban Smart Meters Sebastopol, like they’ve been banned by a dozen other California communities including Fairfax, Santa Cruz, and Ojai?
Come to the Sebastopol city council meeting on Tuesday February 19 at the Teen center. *Arrive around 8 pm. The Sebastopol City Council needs to see new faces and hear from more people on this issue!
The council has been asked to take the following three actions which are recommended by Fairfax councilman Larry Bragman. Fairfax has had more success in keeping PG&E Smart Meters out of Fairfax.
- Have the city attorney send a strong message to CPUC President Michael Peevey, ALJ Amy Yip-Kikugawa, and PG&E regarding stopping Smart Meter installation is Sebastopol.
- Adopt an emergency ordinance, banning Smart Meters.
- Adopt a community opt-out resolution.
Smart Meters are costing us money, privacy and our health and safety!
Smart Meter complaints include: skyrocketing utility bills, privacy invasion, vulnerable to cyber attack, interference with security systems and other wireless devices, burned out appliances, explosions, fires, health problems including headaches, tinnitus, sleep and heart problems, anxiety, nausea, and other health symptoms following installation.
Smart Meters monitor the details of your electric usage and transmit that data from meter to meter in a mesh network, using wireless radiation, classified as a possible carcinogen by the World Health Organization (same as DDT and lead). Smart Meters don’t save energy and they are not good for the environment!
SEBASTOPOL PROTECT YOUR ANALOG METERS!
You have a choice. If you still have analog meters, you can attach this Smart Meter Do Not Consent Sign to your meters. You can also sign up with PG&E to opt-out, however at this time they’re charging extortion fees. The “costs” are under evaluation at the CPUC, and many are calling for a no fees. If you have Smart Meters you can call PG&E 1-866-743-0263 to have them removed.
You can also let others know about Smart Meter problems, by circulating this flyer in Sebastopol: FRONT: SmartMeters flyer BACK: Smart Meter Do Not Consent Sign
Smart Meter installers tend to leave when questioned. They drive white Ford Ranger trucks with a green “Wellington Energy” logo on the driver’s door. It also could be a PG&E truck. Call if you see installers in Sebastopol: 824-0824
* The City council meeting starts at 6pm, so 8pm is an estimated time, based on it’s agenda item #8. It could be later, not likely earlier.
SMUD holds Smart Meter workshop February 21, 6 pm
Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) will host a workshop about the specific concerns and issues related to their Smart Meters, including: health, safety, privacy and billing accuracy.
This is in stark contrast to last year when SMUD directors were caught on tape implementing a smart meter opt-out program that was intentionally designed to intimidate and discourage customers from opting opt. They made fun of people who didn’t want Smart Meters on their property. One director said, “The $166 upfront will convince them they can really afford a lot of tin foil hats” …Another director said, “But they are already wearing them!”
Now SMUD is offering a dialog with staff, outside experts and the Board of Directors themselves. The workshop will be on:
Thursday February 21, 2013 at 6pm.
Location is 6201 S street, Sacramento Ca.
The old SMUD HQ building, first floor.
Eric Windheim, an environmental health educator in Sacramento, encourages SMUD customers-owners to attend this workshop, to write/bring letters, and to speak to the board. He says, “It’s critical for the Board of Directors to hear directly from customers opposed to Smart Meters.” Eric and others have spent nine months speaking at SMUD meetings calling on the directors to be accountable. Here is an example of testimony at SMUD meeting of a Smart Meter victim. SMBleeding – YouTube
Eric is organizing speakers for this workshop. He can be reached at 916-395-7336
Chasing off Smart Meter installers in Sebastopol
Wellington, a company contracted by PG&E, is installing Smart Meters in Sebastopol despite the fact that Sebastopol has asked for a moratorium twice; that Sebastopol council supports a Smart Meter community wide opt out; and that the CPUC has a proceeding pending to investigate the possibility of community opt-out.
This morning residents at Burbank Heights and Orchards (senior housing community) and Sebastopol residents chased off an installer, who admitted he had only two weeks training and was not an electrical contractor, which is a requirement for FCC safety conditions. 83% of the residents there opposed the meters. As he was leaving he said he was going to file a police report, and when I brought the camera out he got in his truck and left. http://youtu.be/nwSlB1y4p9k
Two more Wellington trucks installing gas smart meters were on Murphy Street. When I approached the two men they did not respond or answer any of questions. They eventually packed up their stuff and left, putting the analog gas meter back together.
Smart Meter installers drive small white Wellington Ford Ranger trucks. They are installing throughout Sebastopol now. There were at least three trucks in town today. It appears the installers have been instructed to vacate a scene if they are approached. They also seem to leave town if followed, rather than going to the next house to install.
If you see an installer you can ask these questions: Are you a licensed electrical contractor? Did you know Sebastopol asked for a moratorium on Smart Meters twice? Did you know there’s a CPUC proceeding that’s investigating a community opt- out program? Did you know that the Sebastopol council supports community opt out?
Tomorrow night Tuesday Feb 5 at 6 pm is a council meeting at the Sebastopol teen center. We can bring this issue up at public comments and see if they can take some action to ban the meters after all.
Who should pay the costs of restoring analog meters?
In the CPUC smart meter opt out proceeding, how the utility costs for retaining or restoring analog utility meters will be recovered is a key issue. There are three groups to consider assigning cost allocation: shareholders, socialize them (all customers pay), and/or individuals pay.
We have asserted in our legal filings that shareholders should pay, but we want to know how you feel about socializing the cost and/or splitting it between shareholders and socializing. Please take a minute to answer this quick survey. Thank you!
Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey, the world’s leading questionnaire tool.
Public Hearings on Smart Meters December 13- 20, 2012
CPUC Holds Public Hearings on Smart Meters
The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) will hold a series of five “public participation hearings” from Dec 13-20, 2012 to gather public input on the Smart Meter opt out program. Currently customers who want to retain or restore the analog meters are charged “interim fees” to not have Smart Meters.
The CPUC judge Amy Yip-Kikugawa will preside over the hearings. This is an opportunity for customers to comment on cost and cost allocation issues: costs include customer impact; fees; billing overcharges; health costs; environmental costs; interference; fires or burnt out appliances following installation; banks of Smart Meters; and the need for community Smart Meter free zones, etc.
In your comments be sure to address cost allocation: Do you think it’s unfair that individuals should have to pay to protect themselves from Smart Meter radiation? Should shareholders, everyone, or individuals pay?
- Hearings are free and open to the pubic.
- They are scheduled to be 2 hours long.
- Encourage politicians to attend. They will be allowed to speak first.
- The length of time to speak will depend on how many people show up: The more people, the less time, for example 1-2 minutes. If hundreds show up the ALJ may ask for one person to represent and speak on behalf of a group of customers…”I represent #’s of customers.”
- There will be a court reporter and the public comments will become a part of the record in the Smart Meter consolidated proceeding (A.11-03-014)
BAKERSFIELD December 13, 2012 at 6:00 p.m. Bakersfield City Hall Council Chambers 1501 Truxtun Avenue Bakersfield, CA 93301
SANTA BARBARA December 14, 2012 at 3:00 p.m. County Administration Building Board Hearing Room, 4th Floor 105 East Anapamu Street Santa Barbara, CA 93101
LOS ANGELES December 17, 2012 at 6:00 p.m. Junipero Serra State Office Building Carmel Room – Auditorium, 1st Floor 320 West 4th Street Los Angeles, CA 90013
SAN CLEMENTE December 18, 2012 at 6:00 p.m. San Clemente Community Center –– Ole Hanson Fireside Room 100 N. Calle Seville San Clemente, CA 92672
SANTA ROSA December 20, 2012 at 2:00 p.m. Steel Lane Community Center –– Dohn Room 415 Steele Lane Santa Rosa, CA 95403
Criminal Investigation of Smart Meter Opt-Out Fees Requested in Maine!
The Maine Coalition to Stop Smart Meters filed a complaint this week requesting Maine’s Attorney General, William Schneider, open a criminal investigation into smart meter opt out fees.
The complaint alleges in order to avoid health and privacy harms from the detailed information gathering and radiation emitting meters, citizens are forced to pay extortionate fees. They request the Attorney General target Central Maine Power and the Maine Public Utilities Commission (PUC) in the extortion investigation.
Ed Friedman stated, “If I must pay to avoid actual harm or even the threat of harm, to myself, my family or my property that is extortion. The federal Hobbs Act defines it as: “…the crime of obtaining property from another induced by wrongful use of actual or threatened force, violence or fear, or under color of official right.”
Maine has a similar definition for theft by extortion. With smart meters, the harm and threat of harm come from:
- The emission of RF radiation known to create adverse biological effects;
- The invasion of privacy facilitating warrant-less search and seizure of individual data by an agent of the government (utility acting under specific orders of the PUC);
- The compromising of personal cybersecurity, and;
- A taking of real property without due process of law or just compensation.
“In order to avoid these and other harms, we are forced to pay a coercive fee which if not paid leads to disconnection of electrical service by the monopolistic utility as well as adversely impacting credit ratings.”
The photos are from the Maine Coalition Day of Action protest this week.
National Day of Action: Health and Safety Advocates Say ‘Smart Meters’ – Not So Smart
From Maine to Maui, a growing wave of health and safety advocates are questioning the rush to install so-called “smart meters.” The wireless devices to track electricity use down to each appliance have been associated with health problems and house fires.
Today, nearly three dozen demonstrations were held across the country – including Washington, D.C., and Detroit – all to coincide with Grid Week, a conference of industry and government proponents of the “smart” grid.
Organizer Joshua Hart, with the National Campaign to Stop Smart Meters!, goes further – saying the devices are defective and should be recalled.
“The utilities are demanding that people pay a fee to keep their safe, analog meters, and we call that extortion. That’s unacceptable, and people have a right to be safe and secure in their homes – and that’s what today’s protests are about.”
Hart says problems with internal wiring and shoddy installations have been identified as the potential culprits in hundreds of fires caused by smart meters.
Smart meters emit strong bursts of microwave RF radiation that the World Health Organization has labeled as a Class 2B carcinogen. At the University of California-Berkeley School of Public Health, Joel Moskowitz, Ph.D., says studies have shown that the meters expose people to significantly higher radiation levels than cell phones and WiFi.
“So, it seems to be highly problematic from a public health standpoint that we’re just rolling out millions and millions of these wireless meters, without fully understanding what are the potential health risks and figuring out how to reduce any potential harm.”
Utilities worldwide are moving quickly to install the wireless monitoring devices, saying the new technology will allow energy savings. However opponents question whether the data privacy and security concerns, as well as potential health hazards, make the technology as beneficial as claimed.
In solidarity with Stop Smart Meter groups across the US, health and safety advocates from the EMF Safety Network and Refuse Smart Meters, held signs, passed out flyers and waved to passers by on the four corners of downtown Sebastopol today. People responded with honks, beeps, and even a couple thumbs up were given as encouragement!
More information on all the demonstrations at www.actiondaytostopsmartmeters.org