{"id":13718,"date":"2018-07-28T02:59:20","date_gmt":"2018-07-28T09:59:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/?p=13718"},"modified":"2018-07-28T02:59:20","modified_gmt":"2018-07-28T09:59:20","slug":"california-smart-meters-are-coming-to-siskiyou-county","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/?p=13718","title":{"rendered":"California : Smart meters are coming to Siskiyou County"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Tim Holt<\/p>\n

Posted\u00a0Jul\u00a024,\u00a02018<\/strong>\u00a0at\u00a012:01\u00a0AM<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Installation of \u201cSmart\u201d meters began this week in Siskiyou County.<\/p>\n

The new meters will replace existing \u201canalog\u201d meters that require on-site readings to determine a customer\u2019s energy use. With the new meters, a customer\u2019s energy use can be monitored daily, even hourly, from a remote location by the utility.<\/p>\n

While saving labor costs, the utility also touts the new meters as a boon to customers who will be able to keep closer tabs on their energy use. Pacific Power representative Monte Mendenhall says it will cost the utility, and the customer, less to start new service, since that can now be done remotely and not by having to send out a service representative.<\/p>\n

Siskiyou County is one of the last counties in the state to get smart meters. Already about\u00a070 million<\/strong>\u00a0of them have been installed throughout the US.<\/p>\n

Some local Pacific Power customers who\u2019ve studied the new technology say there\u2019s a downside to the new meters, and they are urging fellow customers to\u00a0exercise an \u201copt out\u201d option<\/strong>\u00a0before the new meters are installed.<\/p>\n

There is a concern, among other things, about a potential fire hazard. John Hill, a retired electrical engineer who recently moved to Dunsmuir, notes that the new meters lack the surge protection that the older, analog meters have. The older meters have small surge suppression tabs embedded in them which route power surges to grounding equipment and prevent the\u00a0overheating of meters that can cause fires.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The fire-prevention tabs are not present in smart meters, according to a detailed report published recently by William Bathgate, an electrical engineer with 40 years\u2019 experience working with high-tech power systems.\u00a0Home fires attributed to smart meters have been reported in California, Florida, Pennsylvania, Oregon, and Nevada.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cory Estlund is supervising installation of the new meters in our area. He acknowledges that there have been fires in the past associated with smart meters, but says those involved early, \u201cfirst generation\u201d devices and that the latest \u201cfourth and fifth\u201d generation smart meters won\u2019t have the problems associated with the older ones, that the new ones meet safety standards set by the Federal Communications Commission and Underwriter Laboratories, an independent testing facility.<\/p>\n

There are also concerns about potential health impacts. Smart meters, like cell phones and microwave ovens, emit radio frequencies that are a form of radiation. A recent study sponsored by the National Institutes of Health has linked exposure to this type of radio emission with two forms of cancer. The emissions have also been linked to less serious disorders that include insomnia and headaches. Because of these health concerns, the American Academy of Environmental Medicine has called for a moratorium on the installation of smart meters.<\/p>\n

Much has been published on this subject, both pro and con, in recent years. One industry-sponsored white paper assures smart meter customers that \u201cactual Radio Frequency emissions from smart meters are significantly lower than commonly used devices such as cell phones, laptop computers, microwave ovens and baby monitors.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pacific Power\u2019s Estlund says that exposure to radiation is minimized by pointing the meter\u2019s antenna away from buildings.<\/p>\n

Customers who choose not to have smart meters installed will face a\u00a0monthly charge for a manual reading\u00a0of their analog meters<\/strong>. That fee will likely be $20 a month, according to a preliminary decision by an administrative law judge at the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC).<\/p>\n

That decision is subject to the formal approval of the state utilities commission sometime this summer or fall. The judge also approved a one-time $75 opt-out fee for those who choose not to have smart meters, but, according to the commission\u2019s Ratepayer Advocate, Brian Goldman, customers opting out before the smart meter rollout begins will not have to pay that one-time fee<\/strong>. A final decision on the opt-out fees will also be made by the commission later this year.<\/p>\n

Vicki Gold<\/strong>\u00a0of Mount Shasta is another concerned utility customer who\u2019s studied numerous reports on the new meters.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook at all the products and technologies we were told were safe: tobacco, asbestos, nuclear power, DDT, until it was proved otherwise,\u201d she says.\u00a0\u201cWe are hearing from many neuroscientists and physicians about the biological effects of wireless radiation<\/strong>.\u00a0They are alarmed about the health impacts of that radiation.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gold feels there are enough serious questions about the health impacts of radiation from smart meters to require, at least, a moratorium on their further installation.<\/p>\n

\u2012 There\u2019s lots of information out there on smart meters, but here\u2019s a start: You can go to Pacific Power\u2019s information site at\u00a0www.pacificpower.net\/smartmeter<\/a>\u00a0or call them at 866-869-8520. That\u2019s also the number to call for customers who want to opt out of smart meter installation. Dr. Debra Greene provides a 20-minute introduction to opposition research and arguments in her 20-minute YouTube video, \u201cSmart Meters \u2013 What They Don\u2019t Want You To Know.\u201d Also there\u2019s \u201cTed Talk: Wireless Wake-up Call\u201d by Jeromy Johnson, also on YouTube.<\/em><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.mtshastanews.com\/news\/20180724\/smart-meters-are-coming-to-siskiyou-county<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Tim Holt Posted\u00a0Jul\u00a024,\u00a02018\u00a0at\u00a012:01\u00a0AM Installation of \u201cSmart\u201d meters began this week in Siskiyou County. The new meters will replace existing \u201canalog\u201d meters that require on-site readings to determine a customer\u2019s energy use. With the new meters, a customer\u2019s energy use can be monitored daily, even hourly, from a remote location by the utility. While saving […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[291,3,142,590,18,289],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-california-usa-2","category-health_and_safety","category-opt-out-options","category-siskiyou-county","category-smart-meter","category-usa-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13718"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13718\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13719,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13718\/revisions\/13719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}