A year ago, I sent a complaint to the BCUC charging that they had the responsibility under the BC Utilities Act to take action based upon the evidence I provided showing that these meters cause fires. My complaint, substantiated by evidence, can be found in the update of July 28, 2015.
https://stopsmartmetersbc.com/z/2015-07-28-special-update-some-evidence-of-fires-sent-to-bcuc/
A draft response was sent to me for comments toward the end of February, 2016. On March 3, I provided comments and additional documentation. To date, the final response has not been made public and BCUC cannot/will not confirm if/when the final report will be released. Neither has BCUC taken action, as required by the BC Utility Act, to prevent further harm. Lives and property are at risk, and I believe you have the right to know how broken the system is. Starting tomorrow, I will be providing the draft report (with comments) in segments.
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1) There is a lot of industry hype about 5G being used to accommodate the billions of wireless devices being used. This is all brand new technology and it sounds as if the frequencies will be so high that there will have to be transmitters in every home, yard, school, etc. No research has been done to show that this level of radiation is safe — we are still battling the frequencies where research does show they are harmful.
http://www.lightreading.com/mobile/5g/could-the-5g-future-pose-a-health-risk-/d/d-id/723324
2) Excellent advice from a member regarding the possible postal strike. BC Hydro will look for any excuse….
‘Hopefully the looming lockout/strike at Canada Post won’t happen, but if it does, please alert everybody to the fact that BC Hydro bills still have to be paid on time – even if the bill can’t get delivered or the cheque covering the bill gets stuck in limbo. And if that happens and the lockout/strike drags on, BC Hydro can say you’re in arrears on your account and slap a smart meter on your home.
Other utility bills are also due on time regardless of bill or payment non-delivery. Of course all utility bills can be paid online or at an ATM [as well as by telephone banking] if you have things set up that way, but if you don’t (or are not comfortable with doing so), they can be paid at your bank or at any BC Access Centre. In the case of a payment being stuck in the mail, I would suggest cancelling that cheque and writing another one (payable to BC Hydro on account #______) at your bank or Access Centre. Or, if you can afford it, make an extra payment and be that much ahead. I would NOT suggest setting up automatic payments from your account, because if BC Hydro should send a wildly high bill through some error, they could simply take that amount from your account as they have done many times in Ontario.’
To find out how much you owe, you can go to www.bchydro.com and look at your bill. And I couldn’t agree more that you not allow BC Hydro to automatically access your account. One member had a very large amount taken out due to an error on her bill – the meter hadn’t been read for months and when it was, the adjustments were impossible to understand. It took her months to get the excess amount refunded.
3) As a followup to the member’s wife having suffered elevated BP [blood pressure] due to Wi-Fi at a hospital, the same problem exists in some hospitals in Sweden even though EHS is recognized officially as a functional impairment.
“If one wants to “promote care” of handicapped persons at HUG, places free of electromagnetic (EM) waves should be created to treat electrosensitive persons (estimated to be 5% of the population). These persons, sensitive to the radiation emitted by Wi-Fi and other wireless technologies, cannot be treated at hospitals because this type of radiation saturates treatment rooms and even patient rooms. Everyone could become electrosensitive.”
http://emfrefugee.blogspot.ca/2016/05/geneva-electrosensitive-persons-at.html
Some hospitals do have special facilities to allow sensitive patients to be treated as safely as possible.
“Some hospitals in Sweden (eg in Umeå, Skellefteå and Karlskoga) also have built special rooms with very low EMFs so that persons who are hypersensitive can get medical care.”
http://www.hese-project.org/hese-uk/en/niemr/ehs.php
4) The Ombudsperson is visiting some communities according to this Williams Lake newspaper. This is the first I’ve heard of this. Please let me know if you learn of similar meetings in other areas so I can share. May I suggest you request a meeting to discuss the fact that no agency is taking action to stop these dangerous $$meters? Not BCUC (no response to my complaint after a year), not Bennett, no one. Is it the Ombudsman’s responsibility to address BCUC’s failure to produce the report on the smeter fire complaints? If this is like the BCUC meetings a month or so ago, you will have to search to see if there are meetings in your area.
“The Ombudsperson is independent of government and has jurisdiction over all provincial ministries and boards, Crown corporations, colleges and universities, schools and school boards, health authorities, local governments and self-governing professions.”
http://www.wltribune.com/news/385578551.html?mobile=true
5) The BCUC representatives did a tour of the province a short time ago and held some meetings which most people knew nothing about – and few attended. At Williams Lake, a couple of people attended and spoke. Here is the transcript, with the comments by those attending starting on page 26 out of 38. Many people have complained to the BCUC about the lack of advance notice and the poor timing – many meetings were held mid-day of a week day, during work hours, and in very few places.
http://www.bcuc.com/Documents/Transcripts/2016/DOC_46564_06-13-2016-Transcript-CIS-PG-Vol-3.pdf
Letters:
From: X
Sent: July 8, 2016
To: jessica.mcdonald@bchydro.com
Subject: Fwd: BC Hydro “Legacy Digital Meter”
Dear Jessica,
The BC Hydro “Smart Meter Program” and resulting fascist behaviour has destroyed the trust most electricity consumers once had in our Crown Corporation of which you are now CEO. Allowing Accenture to infiltrate the ranks after the Enron fraud and name change does little to help the situation. Paying IPP’s taxpayer monies just worsens the future debt burden, as do the many other financial shenanigans now occurring. Legislation such as the Clean Energy Act and Directive 4 are used to justify some of the actions which have resulted in rate increases to the consumer, not the savings or benefits as originally advertised.
Today’s Supreme Court of Canada ruling (Case Number 36112) may have some bearing regarding the Nomi Davis vs. BC Hydro Class Action lawsuit registered in the BC Supreme Court July 2013, almost 3 years ago. Canada’s Charter of Rights s. 11(b) is the key whereby “reasonable time” is the topic. In a true democracy, the Class Action suit should have been certified to proceed years ago. Were it not for the intervention of BC Hydro’s legal team, in reality paid for by the BC Taxpayers, there is no reason to expect that BC Hydro would not by now have been severely admonished for even contemplating such a hazardous, unsafe and expensive waste of money the “Smart Meter Program” exemplifies.
As the BCUC have been excluded regarding oversight and investigation of the AMI Program and Site C Project, the responsibility and liability fall directly to the provincial government and BC Hydro. The blatant propaganda and other misleading and erratic information about the Smart Meters vs. Analogue meters provided by your organization to electricity consumers is truly astounding. Much like Orwell’s term “doublespeak” in action.
Perhaps you will somehow manage to return BC Hydro to it’s former glory and more ethical and honest behaviour. One can only hope.
As a courtesy my recent email to the BCUC is shown below.
Sincerely,
X
——– Forwarded Message ——–
| Subject: | BC Hydro “Legacy Digital Meter” |
| Date: | 7 Jul 2016 09:17:37 -0700 |
| From: | X |
| To: | complaints@bcuc.com |
Dear BCUC,
Once again BC Hydro is misleading the public by their classification of a digital electricity meter as a “Legacy meter”. The only true Legacy meter is the tried and very reliable standard Analogue electricity meter which contains absolutely NO ELECTRONIC CIRCUITRY. Classifying a Digital meter containing a switching mode power supply and electronic circuitry as a “Legacy Meter” just confuses the real issues.
According to my present understanding BC Hydro has “recycled” (i.e. DESTROYED) the more than 1.9 million working and reliable analogue meters. These safe and non-hazardous meters have been replaced, mostly under load, with so-called Smart Meters. Instead of “Smart”, a more accurate description would seem to be “SHIT” (Severely Hazardous Invasive Technology).
In light of the many documented property fires and health hazards directly caused by the Smart Meter Program, the lack of any BCUC oversight or real cost/benefit analysis due to the BC Liberal actions excluding your oversight, and the many thousands of complaints from unsatisfied BC Hydro customers, one would have expected the BCUC to investigate and act appropriately wherever possible to protect the electricity consumer from the safety hazards created by the Smart Meter Program. Instead, you just “pass the buck” advising complainants to seek assistance elsewhere. Very disappointing.
Many of us paying the $32.40 monthly “extortion” fee to retain our analogue electricity meters are still trying to get justice and common sense to prevail. Although the Davis vs. BC Hydro Class Action Suit initiated years ago went before a judge for certification last year, more than 6 months later the judge has yet to issue a decision as to whether the action may proceed. I imagine this route to justice is also being delayed by the powers that be until BC Hydro has removed all existing analogue meters on or before the end of this year. If so I and everyone else paying the “Legacy Meter Fee” approved by the BCUC would request a full refund plus interest of such fees paid.
Please advise what action the BCUC will take after December 31, 2016, to ensure the return of the unjust “Legacy Meter Fee” plus interest to all who have been misled by BC Hydro into believing the “Meter Choices” Opt-Out would continue into the future past year end.
Sincerely,
X
Sharon Noble
Director, Coalition to Stop Smart Meters
