[ASA Advertising Standards Authority – ASC Advertising Standards Canada – Avangrid (Drury Mackenzie, NYSEG, Profile Clusters) – BC Hydro Bills (Customer Crisis Fund & Opt-out Fees, Record-keeping) – Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise – Claire Trevena – Data for Sale – False Advertising / Misinformation – Incriminating Evidence – Itron Smart Meters (Legality of Active Grid IoT Commercial Uses Without Consent) – Jamal Khashoggi – John Horgan – Michelle Mungall – Ron Ramsey Letter to MLAs re Unacknowledged & Politically Disappeared Public Information Report by Sharon Noble (BCUC & Smart Meter Fires: The Failure to Protect) – Safety – Smart Energy GB (At no extra cost vs. Free, Kirsty Allsopp, Phil Spencer) – Smart Grid – Smart Meter Cone of Silence – Sonia Furstenau – TOU – uSwitch (Richard Neudegg) | BC – UK – California, USA] & (audios) & Report & Websites
(audio 31:45) Smart Meter Concerns Being Ignored by BC Government. Sharon Noble – October 23, 2018 – The Goddard Report with Jim Goddard by talkdigitalnetwork – YouTube – October 23, 2018 – https://stopsmartmetersbc.com/smart-meter-concerns-being-ignored-by-bc-government-sharon-noble-the-goddard-report-with-jim-goddard-by-talkdigitalnetwork-october-23-2018/
(audio 30:34) Smart Meter Maker Plans to Illegally Sell Your Data. Sharon Noble – October 11, 2018 – The Goddard Report with Jim Goddard by talkdigitalnetwork – YouTube – October 11, 2018 – https://stopsmartmetersbc.com/smart-meter-maker-plans-to-illegally-sell-your-data-sharon-noble-the-goddard-report-with-jim-goddard-by-talkdigitalnetwork-october-11-2018/
1) Below is an email that was just sent to me regarding BC Hydro’s Customer “Crisis” Fund. A major point is that the BCUC is approving anything BC Hydro is requesting, whether it is the highest opt-out fees or to have a crisis fund. And who will manage and report on this fund? Or will the BCUC allow BC Hydro to not report on it, as they have with the millions of dollars collected as opt-out fees?
(click on photos to enlarge)
& https://www.bchydro.com/search.html?site=bchydro-com&client=bchydro-com&proxystylesheet=bchydro-com&output=xml_no_dtd&q=smart+metering+program
It seems to me it’s time for the BCUC to be disbanded. It’s not doing, or is not being allowed to do, its job. The Liberal government said it had no authority for oversight of 2 major projects – Site C and the Smeter Project. And when asked to investigate illegal use of BC Hydro’s devices, like ITRON is doing or is planning to do with the smeters, BCUC says “Call Hydro”. It seems to me that BCUC is a waste of money.
[2) – https://stopsmartmetersbc.com/2018-06-19-bc-hydro-mandating-fee-for-a-crisis-fund/)
2) A funny item. In the UK, a utility is being sued for false advertising. But the statement that is being questioned is not nearly as significant or dangerously misleading as many of the statements BC Hydro has made about its smeters. I wonder if BC Hydro could be sued for saying smeters are safe, won’t burn, and no additional data will be gathered…. Is there a Canadian Advertising Standards Association? [http://adstandards.com/en/ConsumerComplaints/howToSubmitAComplaint.aspx]
Smart Energy GB agrees to reword smart meter advertising
“An ASA spokesperson said: “The use of the term ‘free’ in ads can sometimes cause confusion for consumers and should not be used unless something is a genuine free offer. It’s important consumers are not misled so, in this case, the advertiser agreed to amend their ad.”
https://utilityweek.co.uk/smart-energy-gb-agrees-to-reword-smart-meter-advertising/
3) The industry keeps admitting it is looking for ways to use all of our data that is being gathered. Of course, time-of-use billing is one way – and soon, it will be the “default” basis for billing in California. This was one of the main justifications for smeters that BC Hydro put forward. Also, selling to third parties – yet no one seems to be taking action to prevent this. If all of this is happening in the USA, for sure, it will come to BC. It’s just a matter of time.
Being smart about the smart grid
“Another option for using smart meter data for positive change is analyzing it internally to help the company offer personalized energy solutions (for example, Avangrid has “created profile clusters to show which customers need energy efficiency”), to sell it to third parties or to give it directly to customers.
Decisions made about the use of this new data will have long-lasting effects on utilities such as Avangrid, Mackenzie said: “There’s just been so much transformation, even in the past two years, of the data utilities have, how it can be shared, and how it can be used effectively.””
http://news.cornell.edu/stories/2018/10/being-smart-about-smart-grid
Letters:
This terrific letter was sent to every MLA.
From: Ron Ramsey (name given with permission)
Sent: October 28, 2018
To: sonia.furstenau.MLA@leg.bc.ca; simon.gibson.MLA@leg.bc.ca; rick.glumac.MLA@leg.bc.ca; george.heyman.MLA@leg.bc.ca; john.horgan.MLA@leg.bc.ca; marvin.hunt.MLA@leg.bc.ca; joan.isaacs.MLA@leg.bc.ca; carole.james.MLA@leg.bc.ca; jas.johal.MLA@leg.bc.ca; ravi.kahlon.MLA@leg.bc.ca; anne.kang.MLA@leg.bc.ca; leonard.krog.MLA@leg.bc.ca; greg.kyllo.MLA@leg.bc.ca; linda.larson.MLA@leg.bc.ca; michael.lee.MLA@leg.bc.ca; ronna-rae.leonard.MLA@leg.bc.ca; norm.letnick.MLA@leg.bc.ca; bowinn.ma.MLA@leg.bc.ca; melanie.mark.MLA@leg.bc.ca; john.martin.MLA@leg.bc.ca; peter.milobar.MLA@leg.bc.ca; mike.morris.MLA@leg.bc.ca; michelle.mungall.MLA@leg.bc.ca; coralee.oakes.MLA@leg.bc.ca; adam.olsen.MLA@leg.bc.ca; ian.paton.MLA@leg.bc.ca; darryl.plecas.MLA@leg.bc.ca; mary.polak.MLA@leg.bc.ca; lana.popham.MLA@leg.bc.ca; bruce.ralston.MLA@leg.bc.ca; tracy.redies.MLA@leg.bc.ca; linda.reid.MLA@leg.bc.ca; jennifer.rice.MLA@leg.bc.ca; selina.robinson.MLA@leg.bc.ca; ellis.ross.MLA@leg.bc.ca; janet.routledge.MLA@leg.bc.ca; douglas.routley.MLA@leg.bc.ca; john.rustad.MLA@leg.bc.ca; tom.shypitka.MLA@leg.bc.ca; nicholas.simons.MLA@leg.bc.ca; shane.simpson.MLA@leg.bc.ca; jinny.sims.MLA@leg.bc.ca; rachna.singh.MLA@leg.bc.ca; ben.stewart.MLA@leg.bc.ca; michelle.stilwell.MLA@leg.bc.ca; todd.stone.MLA@leg.bc.ca; jordan.sturdy.MLA@leg.bc.ca; sam.sullivan.MLA@leg.bc.ca; ralph.sultan.MLA@leg.bc.ca; jackie.tegart.MLA@leg.bc.ca; steve.thomson.MLA@leg.bc.ca; jane.thornthwaite.MLA@leg.bc.ca; laurie.throness.MLA@leg.bc.ca; claire.trevena.MLA@leg.bc.ca; teresa.wat.MLA@leg.bc.ca; andrew.weaver.MLA@leg.bc.ca; andrew.wilkinson.MLA@leg.bc.ca; john.yap.MLA@leg.bc.ca
Subject: B.C.’s Jamal Khashoggi Connection
Dear MLA:
Please observe the similar methods and motives for two recent ‘disappearances’.
One occurred internationally, another here in our Province. While the form and degree may vary, the content and motive appear consistent. The consequences of the similarities hold ominous implications for us all.
Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi national journalist who had self-exiled to the USA, entered the Saudi embassy in Istanbul on October 2, 2018 where most now have concluded he was ‘disappeared’. Khashoggi was a critic of the Saudi government and had raised information that was inconvenient to them. It would be hard to disagree that the Saudi government had a motive to silence him. A similar disappearance of public information happened here in British Columbia in 2017.
On September 4, 2017, public information in the form of a 600+ page ‘Smart Meter Fire Report’ supplied by BC citizen Sharon Noble entered not one, but for safety, four separate BC Government offices. Noble has reason to believe that ‘smart’ meters are not safe, and have been causing fires. Arriving as registered mail, the report was walked into the offices of MLA Michelle Mungall, MLA Claire Trevena, MLA Sonia Furstenau, and Premier John Horgan. Three hundred and eighty nine days later, the report is still unacknowledged, and inquiries as to its whereabouts are unanswered. It has been politically ‘disappeared’.
Like Khashoggi, the report contained information that could be considered at best ‘inconvenient’ to the current government and its predecessor, and at worst, potentially ‘incriminating’. The information was both anecdotal and scientific fact regarding the inflammatory dangers of smart meters, and the suppression of information regarding such. Like the thoughts and words of Jamal Khashoggi… it was an inconvenient message that certain parties would prefer go away.”
Are the similarities not ironic? While the cultures, dictates, and norms of the players may vary substantially, the behavior and intent appears identical. A package containing undesirable information enters the domain of the current reigning power brokers to whom it is judged toxic, embarrassing, politically damaging, and is summarily ‘killed’. To kill means to “destroy, do away with, extinguish”. Like Khashoggi’s body into the Belgrad Forest, The ‘Smart Meter Fire Report’ has simply disappeared into the official BC Government smart meter ‘cone of silence’… an informational black hole that prevents any word of this misguided and unfortunate program from leaking out. The modus operandi of Crown Princes in Riyadh and Crown Princes in Victoria appear thuggishly similar.
Have we granted BC Government ministers the right to summarily destroy public information for political purposes? How far does this right extend?
The Smart Meter Fire Report, more than three years in the making, was produced free of charge by a citizen exhibiting far above average civic concern, at substantial personal and financial cost, and presented with no thought of personal gain, but rather as a public service. The report was intended for and is effectively the property of the People of British Columbia, potentially containing information of vital consequence to themselves and their families. I, and many other citizens, want that report properly evaluated in the light of day. Even if the report is ultimately judged as misguided or in error, the citizens of this province have the right to know what’s in it and the author deserves more than a slap to the face and the sound of doors slamming shut.
The purpose of a government is to enact the will of the people. When a government has lost the will to do that, it has lost the right to govern. We establish a very dangerous precedent when we let the brazen daylight destruction of inconvenient public information become a standard government operating procedure. The ‘Smart Meter Fire Report’ needs to be un-disappeared and examined in detail in public.
Thank you.
Ron Ramsey
“Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you will have the exact measure of the injustice and wrong which will be imposed on them.” Frederick Douglass, Ex-slave
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August 22 at 12:34 PM
I would not normally post anything political on my site but I think it is time the people of British Columbia stand up and say enough is enough. Please check your Hydro bills! We received ours and I noted there was a new charge on it called “Customer Crisis Fund”. Apparently this charge goes into a fund to assist customers that are having difficulty paying their hydro bill. I called BC Hydro (1-800-224-9376) and told them I would like that charge removed from my bill as I did not authorize it. I was informed that it could not be taken off, it was a mandatory charge. I was also told that the BC Utilities Commission passed a ruling that BC Hydro could implement this charge on all customers’ bills.
A friend of mine actually took it one step further and called BC Utilities Commission (604-660-4700) and was told that BC Hydro had actually petitioned the Utilities Commission to have this charge passed. BC Hydro applied to BC Utilities Commission in 2015 to be able to assess a charge of varying amounts based on a percentage of your monthly consumption.
BC Hydro is blaming the Utilities Commission and the Utilities Commission is saying it is actually BC Hydro, they requested this additional fee be passed. Our friend asked who administered, controlled and audited this fund and did not receive an answer. Our friend also stated that he knows of no other company that is allowed to implement a fee to insure their accounts receivable.
BC Hydro told me that this is a pilot program, to me that means they want to see if they were able to slip it in without people noticing and protesting against it. To add insult to injury, you are charged 5% GST on whatever the charge is. At present, the average Canadian is paying 42.5% in taxes on their annual income! Pick up your phone and protest this charge!
Sharon Noble
Director, Coalition to Stop Smart Meters
“Truth is incontrovertible. Panic may resent it. Ignorance may deride it. Malice may distort it. But there it is.”
~ Winston Churchill