- In New Zealand, bills increase dramatically after installation of smart meter. This is common in every country.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/news/71502841/nelson-woman-faces-hefty-power-bill
- There are some areas of BC where an AMR (one way communicating) smart meter is used. The meter emits signals (some every 13 seconds) but does not receive signals. The usage data is obtained with a meter reader drives by and connects wirelessly. According to this article, these AMR smart meters can be easily changed to an AMI (2-way) full blown smart meter. This probably can be done without customers being aware of the change. I would suggest if you have an AMR smart meter, keep informed about what your utility provider is planning and doing.
- The radiation from cell towers could be reduced dramatically, even to levels which are believed to be much safer, and there are ways this can be achieved while still allowing people to use their convenient gadgets.
A properly functioning mobile network is feasible with much lower radiation levels in homes. The levels could be lowered to such an extent that no-one living in the vicinity of mobile phone masts needs to suffer from neurological effects such as headaches and migraine. This is (probably) also true for the higher cancer incidence around mobile phone masts, which has been found in several studies. In the present – polarised – public debate regarding the public health effects of phone masts, this fact is largely ignored. We propose here to adopt such a more modern mobile phone network (see safe network), as is already functioning in a number of regions in Europe.
Introduction:
Mobile telecommunications based on radiation in the Gigahertz region have increased dramatically since their introduction in the 1990s. However, this has taken place without regard to the biological effects. It was, and still is, assumed by the operators that it can do no damage provided that the absorbed radiation does not heat the brain by more than one degree Celsius in 30 minutes. Unfortunately, today’s exposure standards in the Netherlands are still based on this, despite mounting evidence that biological effects, some of which are deleterious to health, occur at levels well below this.
http://www.safemobilenetwork.info/1578592.htm
“Most mobile devices will work with signal strengths of the order of 0.001 microwatt/m2 . Given a loss of 90% due to reflection and absorption by the building (the building penetration loss) an external signal strength of 0.01 microwatt/m2 is needed. Where the penetration loss is more like 99%, such as in deep basements or reinforced concrete structures with radiation reflecting windows, signal strengths of around 0.1 microwatt/m2 per provider may be needed. It is technically difficult to achieve uniform signal strengths of 0.01-0.1 microwatt/m2, but with today’s technology, a variation in signal strength at street level by a factor 100 should be feasible.”
“Radiation levels of 10,000-20,000 microwatt/m2 are commonly found in homes around antennas on low masts
(see www.antennebureau.nl). Figure 1 gives the reason for these high radiation levels. The closest homes are in the main beam of the antenna, which has to be powerful enough (typically 20 watt per transmitter) to reach the basements of houses 10 blocks away. Only a very small proportion of the radiation will reach these basements because the masts are too low and much of the signal is lost by having to pass through the walls of many houses where it may be absorbed or reflected.”
http://www.safemobilenetwork.info/1607198.htm
- Some other countries are offering major incentives to people who want to go off the grid and use solar panels.
BC Hydro supposedly has an incentive for installing solar panels – the details are not provided. (there aren’t any on their website https://www.bchydro.com/content/dam/BCHydro/customer-portal/documents/corporate/regulatory-planning-documents/integrated-resource-plans/current-plan/net-metering-info-sheet.pdf ). It looks as if the incentive is that excess power can be sold back to Hydro at a rate less than any you might have to buy back. And to do that, they insist you take a $$meter even though (according to some who have done it) analogs can be used – they can run backwards.
- In Michigan, a person was told by her insurance agent that if smart meters are installed, they must be certified to be safe.
““Our insurance agent told me yesterday that if a city is allowing DTE to install their advanced meters (smart meters) on the homes and businesses of their residents, the city must have documentation from DTE attesting to the safety of those meters,” Steiger said in an email.”
http://www.candgnews.com/news/forum-focus-smart-meters-85766
- In Ontario electricity bills keep increasing that they’ve had smart meters for close to 10 years now. When does the payback begin?
http://www.theifp.ca/opinion-story/5817213-why-do-our-hydro-bills-keep-going-up-/
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Letters:
Comments are needed as are “thumbs”.
BC Hydro should offer warranties
http://www.kelownadailycourier.ca/opinion/article_27ea6132-4dd5-11e5-a4ce-47db44529c99.html
Residents write to Fortis protesting smart meters
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Sharon
“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” Martin Luther King, Jr.