1) Attached is the press release that was sent to the media outlets and newspapers around the province today. Please feel free to send anywhere you wish, and please let me know if any of your newspapers pick it up.
2) The $mart grid requires cell antennae in every neighbourhood and more towers to transfer the wireless data to BC Hydro. Many studies have shown the increase in serious disease within 500 meters of cell transmitters, and it is getting harder and harder to get that far away from these constantly transmitting devices. Here is one person’s experience:
3) From a member, re. hacking:
Just was doing a bit of reading, trying to find out how hard it was to hack a smart meter. I have heard many times that they were vulnerable, but I wanted to find out how hard was it really.
I found a programmer in about 5 min. with links to the software. These meters have been hacked!
http://www.zdnet.com/smart-meter-hacking-tool-released-7000001338/
The hardware is for sale on the net, and hackers as a community will (looking at this positively) continue to publish vulnerabilities, showing the smart grid how it is failing to protect our privacy.
These meters can be reprogrammed to have their flow rates changed, my question is how does Measurement Canada certify that these meters are accurate?
So far we have been unable to get information about the tests that MC has performed, and a Freedom of Information request was submitted some time ago asking for copies of reports. It is very possible that interference, whether deliberate or accidental, could cause the $meters to malfunction – run fast, even stop.
4)Something weird is going on in Saskatchewan. After months of the IBEW Union saying that 5 days training isn’t enough to allow these people off the street to exchange meters, now suddenly it’s okay. The problems could not be associated with the cheap unqualified labour. Maybe the Union believes the primary problems are with the meters themselves – the design flaws, the lack of safety testing, etc.
http://www.leaderpost.com/health/Smart+meter+installers+problem+Union/10141322/story.html
5) A very interesting article from 1989 about how analog meters could be used to monitor usage, patterns re. appliances, etc. So the justification for $$meters being needed to do this is bogus.
https://stopsmartmetersbc.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/residential-energy-monitoring.pdf
Letters:
http://www.surreyleader.com/opinion/letters/271728051.htm
August 23, 2014
BC Hydro Customer Service
PO box 9501 Stn Terminal,
Vancouver BC V6B 4N1
Account # XXX
Dear Customer Service,
Re your note of July 25:
I will continue to pay my legitimate power bill as I have done for the past 50 odd years.
However, as stated in my letters of Feb 17th , March 24, June 16th I will not pay your “Legacy Meter Charge “ unless directed to by the court following settlement of the Class Action Lawsuit.
Sincerely,
cc: Sharon Noble, Director, Coalition to stop Smart Meters
From a member, re recent letter from BC Hydro with more threats. (read bottom up)
I’m dropping you a line in relation to BC Hydro latest “Meter Choices Program Update” letter that I’m still trying to fathom. Whatever do these people do…lay awake at night trying to figure out yet another scheme wherein they can either squeeze more money out of customers or threaten them with disconnection while trying to appear brainiac “smart” just like their “smart” meters?
Gawd Almighty!!
The opening paragraph on this most recent letter, dated August 7th, 2014, reads:
As part of the Meter Choices Program, BC Hydro charges customers a monthly fee for retaining an old meter or a radio-off meter. Part of this fee is to recover the cost of manually reading your meter on a bi-monthly basis. However, if BC Hydro is unable to read your meter as scheduled, the portion of the fee to cover the cost of reading your meter will be refunded. This refund will appear on your bill as a Missed Meter Read Credit. This credit adjustment will apply on a bi-monthly basis and is retroactive to the start of the Meter Choices Program. The Missed Meter Read Credit adjustments…then it shows the charges. Carrying on:
Consistent with the Electric Tariff, customers are required to provide BC Hydro staff and contractor’s clear and safe access to read the BC Hydro meter. (in bold) If BC Hydro is unable to safely read the meter for reasons that are not in our control (for example, access is blocked or a gate is locked), the Missed Meter Read Credit will not apply. If access to the meter is blocked two consecutive times when BC Hydro is scheduled to read the meter, your service will be subject to disconnection. (end of bold)
Note that if you have an old meter and your service is disconnected, upon reconnection you must choose either a smart meter or a radio-off meter. A set-up fee of $22.60 applies when choosing a radio-off meter.
To ensure BC Hydro is able to read the meter, your upcoming meter reading schedule is provided…then they give the dates “on or about” when my meter may (?) be read.
Now I’m really ticked off. This is yet another ploy they’ve dreamt up for putting a smart meter on my home. If there is a perceived blocked “access” to my property that they deem insurmountable for some inexplicable reason and it happens twice they will disconnect the hydro. This is not a valid reason for disconnection. Repeat…this is a ploy.
I do have a closed gate into my rural property and, in the past, I would receive a telephone call from a meter reader and I would open the unlocked gate for them. The analogue meter is beautifully enshrined in Red Cedar shake siding…the epitome of country rustic…a pure delight for any meter reader to feast his/her eyes on with no threat of being chomped on by a wayward squirrel, a zinging hummingbird or instantaneous spontaneous combustion. Awwwww
If I’m reading this correctly…should BC Hydro fail to read the meter even after I hang around waiting & watching for them on the approximate date involved…they will credit my account with a “Missed Meter Read Credit”. But, if they don’t have the kahunnas to phone in advance or crawl through my shut but not locked gate cause they are afraid of some imaginary crazed country critter, then I’m nailed but good and if it happens twice, the hydro is disconnected.
Rita Dawson in the Land of NO to $mart meter$ (name given with her permission)
Sharon Noble
Director, Coalition to Stop Smart Meters