{"id":19203,"date":"2017-08-28T02:12:13","date_gmt":"2017-08-28T09:12:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/?p=19203"},"modified":"2023-09-15T02:22:11","modified_gmt":"2023-09-15T09:22:11","slug":"smart-meter-victory-for-maui-utility-consumers-unlike-rest-of-usa-locals-get-to-opt-in-instead-of-having-to-pay-to-opt-out-of-job-killing-privacy-threatening-new-devices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/?p=19203","title":{"rendered":"Smart Meter Victory for Maui Utility Consumers Unlike Rest of USA, Locals Get to Opt in Instead of Having to Pay to Opt Out of Job-Killing Privacy-Threatening New Devices"},"content":{"rendered":"<header class=\"entry-header\">\n<p class=\"entry-title\"><strong><span class=\"meta-prep meta-prep-author\">Original Post \u00a0<\/span><\/strong><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\">\u00a0<\/span><a style=\"font-size: 16px;\" title=\"8:38 pm\" href=\"http:\/\/mauiindependent.org\/smart-meter-victory-maui-utility-consumers\/\" rel=\"bookmark\"><span class=\"entry-date\">August 28, 2017<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\">\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"meta-sep\" style=\"font-size: 16px;\">by \u00a0<\/span> <a class=\"author url fn\" style=\"font-size: 16px;\" title=\"Posts by Jon Woodhouse\" href=\"http:\/\/mauiindependent.org\/author\/jon-woodhouse\/\" rel=\"author\">Jon Woodhouse<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"meta-post-area meta\">\n<div class=\"meta-count\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"post-thumb entry-featured\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" src=\"http:\/\/mauiindependent.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/NO-signs-MONEY3-1024x638.jpg\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" srcset=\"http:\/\/mauiindependent.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/NO-signs-MONEY3-1024x638.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/mauiindependent.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/NO-signs-MONEY3-300x187.jpg 300w, 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class=\"ss-reveal-label-wrap\"><span class=\"ss-network-label\">More<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Maui\u2019s electric utility has taken an extraordinary step in proposing to only provide new smart meters to customers who request them. The decision is likely the first time that a utility anywhere in the nation has adopted such a radical proposal. Across the United States, people have either been forced to accept a smart meter replacement for their analog meter, or pay an \u201copt-out\u201d fee, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sonomawest.com\/sonoma_west_times_and_news\/news\/pg-e-resumes-work-in-sebastopol\/article_0573aaca-8c1a-11e2-a630-0019bb2963f4.html\">in places like California<\/a>, of more than $400, to not take the forced \u201cupgrade.\u201d<\/p>\n<h4>Pitched as a boon to consumers, their deployment seems like one of the biggest cons ever imposed on the American public. They don\u2019t save consumers money, they emit harmful radiation, they are susceptible to hacking, they have caused homes to burn down, and they contribute to unemployment as meter readers are being fired across the nation.<\/h4>\n<p>At a Grid Modernization community meeting on Maui in August, Colton Ching, a Hawaiian Electric vice president, announced the proposed plan would allow customers the choice of getting a smart meter. Maui Electric Co. had previously announced that they would offer an \u201copt out\u201d provision for those who didn\u2019t want them.<\/p>\n<p>Maui environmental health educator Debra Greene hailed the decision as a major victory for consumers who had protested smart meter deployment. \u201cIt\u2019s huge,\u201d she says. \u201cI want to believe we had an impact. Smart meters represent a real hazard and this significant development is the first incident we know of where a state\u2019s major utility has changed policy to opt in. It\u2019s unprecedented in the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe only real purpose of smart meters is to create additional revenue streams for utilities because they collect extraordinary amounts of data about what people are doing inside their homes that the utility can turn around and sell.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Greene explains: \u201cIn Early 2017, several dozen Notices of Liability (and Non-Consent) were sent by customers to the Hawaiian Electric utility heads who were planning on blanket-installing smart meters. Now, Hawaiian Electric has announced their complete shift to an<strong> \u2018opt in\u2019 plan<\/strong>, in which the utility must receive explicit consent from the homeowner in order to install a smart meter.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Greene, the founder of KeepYourPower.org, a Maui-based educational service that provides consumer information about smart meters and smart-grid technologies, says the new decision, \u201caffects all the islands except for Kauai, which has its own utility, and is already blanketed with over 30,000 smart meters.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Last year Hawaiian Electric filed a grid modernization plan with state regulators which involved installing more than 455,000 smart meters on Oahu, Hawai\u2019i Island and in Maui County at a cost of $340 million. Smart meter installation was supposed to begin in 2018 on Hawai\u2019i Island and in Maui County.<\/p>\n<p>Colton Ching said the new meters would be employed for sensing and monitoring purposes for customers with photovoltaic (PV) rooftop solar systems. This would help keep the grid stable when electricity demand may exceed the amount of generation capacity that may fluctuate with variable solar and wind power sources. Ching added that if a customer\u2019s analog meters broke, they would be offered a new digital meter with the radio frequency transmitter turned off.<\/p>\n<p>Greene says it looks like new utility customers and PV system owners connecting to the grid will have to have mandatory smart meters installed. \u201cSo they are making people opt in, because they know liability is going to be an issue. Colton Ching said they are also counting on analog meters becoming obsolete so that soon they won\u2019t be able to buy anything except for a smart meter, but I don\u2019t know that\u2019s true. The more we learn about smart meters the less desirable they become. \u201d<\/p>\n<p>Governments across the world have become obsessed with smart meters (also called AMI or AMR meters). The global smart meter market is anticipated to reach $49.9 billion by 2025, according to a report by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.grandviewresearch.com\/industry-analysis\/smart-meters-market\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Grand View Research, Inc.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Consumers Digest in a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.consumersdigest.com\/special-reports\/why-smart-meters-might-be-a-dumb-idea\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2011 review<\/a> declared, \u201csmart-meter conversion represents little more than a boondoggle that is being foisted on consumers by the politically influential companies that make the hardware and software that are required for the smart-meter conversion.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Smart meters emit electromagnetic radio waves similar to cell phones or Wi-Fi routers to communicate with centralized computers that keep real-time tabs on customers\u2019 power use. Some consumers and health practitioners claim these repeated pulses cause serious symptoms such as headaches, insomnia, imbalance, tinnitus and heart problems. A number of <a href=\"https:\/\/sites.google.com\/site\/nocelltowerinourneighborhood\/home\/wireless-smart-meter-concerns\/health-concerns-grow-consumers-are-getting-sick-from-wireless-smart-meters\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">web sites<\/a> feature reports by many people whose health has suffered.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aaemonline.org\/emf_rf_position.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">American Academy of Environmental Medicine<\/a> has called for a halt to smart meter deployment.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cChronic exposure to wireless radiofrequency radiation is a preventable environmental hazard that is sufficiently well documented to warrant immediate preventative public health action,\u201d the AAEM announced in a statement. \u201cMultiple studies correlate RF exposure with diseases such as cancer, neurological disease, reproductive disorders, immune dysfunction, and electromagnetic hypersensitivity. Many in vitro, in vivo and epidemiological studies demonstrate that significant harmful biological effects occur from non-thermal RF exposure.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Utilities claim their meters are safe as they only transmit a few times per day and at very low frequencies. However a study by <a href=\"http:\/\/sagereports.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sage Associates <\/a>showed that in California, Pacific Gas &amp; Electric\u2019s smart meter RF emissions are significantly more powerful than previously thought. The study predicted significantly higher radiofrequency radiation levels and more FCC public safety limit violations in some smart meters.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe emissions from one meter are strong enough that the public is put at risk from exposures outward from the meter from approximately one foot to over six feet, depending on the reflection factor,\u201d said Cindy Sage, Sage Associates. \u201cFor multiple meters at the same location, the zone of impact where FCC limits may be violated is somewhere between three feet and 19 feet, depending on the reflection factor.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople have no idea how high their chronic RF exposure might be,\u201d noted Barry A. Smith of the Environmental Health Coalition of West Marin. \u201cIn reality, each smart meter functions like a cell antenna, relaying signals from other meters, and adds significantly to the existing radiation exposure already in the environment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Michigan-based electrical engineer <a href=\"https:\/\/michiganstopsmartmeters.com\/2016\/10\/12\/the-meter-itself-is-the-hazardous-condition\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">William Bathgate<\/a> reported in public testimony: \u201cI have personally tested the RF emissions from the AMI meter and measured that the meter does not send data just a few times a day as the utilities publish. It actually sends an RF pulse about every 4-5 seconds constantly and a longer duration RF emission after midnight running about 3-5 minutes. The meters themselves are \u201cdangerous or hazardous\u201d due to their lightning vulnerabilities, EMI and RF emissions. There has been a disregard for the health and safety effects of these AMI meters on the general population by the utilities.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cIt\u2019s one thing to be on a cell phone for one hour per day, but if you are exposed to smart meter or a cell tower, you are exposed 24\/7 so the effect is cumulative,\u201d<\/em> noted Professor <a href=\"http:\/\/eon3emfblog.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Lais-Vienna-Report-re-RF-DNA-damage.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Dr. Henry Lai<\/a>, University of Washington\u2019s Bioelectromagnetics Research Laboratory.<\/p>\n<p>While utilities have promoted them as a way for consumers to save money by closely monitoring their usage \u2013 as if we don\u2019t know a light bulb uses less electricity than a fridge \u2013 independent studies have found the claims are marginal at best.<\/p>\n<p>In<strong> Ontario, Canada<\/strong>, where smart meters were introduced at a cost of about $1 billion, <a href=\"https:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2017-05-big-smart-meter-investment-yielded.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">researchers compared data<\/a> after time-of-use rates were introduced in 2011 with more than 20,000 household customers. Residential demand for electricity just dropped 2.6 percent during on-peak periods and 2.4 percent during mid-peak periods following the change.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/articles.chicagotribune.com\/2011-06-21\/opinion\/ct-oped-0621-madigan-20110621_1_smart-grid-ameren-comed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan<\/a> reported, \u201cConsumers don\u2019t need to be forced to pay billions for so-called smart technology to know how to reduce their utility bills. We know to turn down the heat or air conditioning and shut off the lights. The utilities have shown no evidence of billions of dollars in benefits to consumers from these new meters, but they have shown they know how to profit. The only real question is: How dumb do they think we are?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Community resistance to smart meter deployment in California led to the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pressdemocrat.com\/news\/2217121-181\/sebastopol-pgampe-face-off-over%20http:\/www.pressdemocrat.com\/news\/2217121-181\/sebastopol-pgampe-face-off-over\">Sebastopol City Council voting to ban the wireless meters in 2013<\/a>. Fairfax City Council also passed a ban on meter installation. The California Public Utility Commission called the city bans illegal and a violation of federal law.<\/p>\n<p>Other smart meter issues include inflated bills. A <a href=\"http:\/\/www.powerengineeringint.com\/articles\/2017\/03\/dutch-study-sparks-smart-meter-design-flaw-controversy.html.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Dutch study<\/a> found some meters can give false readings up to 582% higher than actual energy consumption. There\u2019s a worrying issue of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/news\/nation\/2014\/09\/16\/fire-chiefs-call-for-smart-meter-probe-after-blazes\/15751373\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">fire hazards<\/a>. They are extremely vulnerable to hacking. \u201cImagine you woke up to find you\u2019d been robbed by a burglar who didn\u2019t have to break in,\u201d noted <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/2016\/dec\/29\/smart-electricity-meters-dangerously-insecure-hackers.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Netanel Rubin<\/a> of the Vaultra security firm. And they are a <a href=\"https:\/\/takebackyourpower.net\/comprehensive-report-how-smart-meters-invade-privacy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">major invasion of privacy<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In conclusion Debra Greene says, \u201cas much as I see this as a victory and cause for celebration, I\u2019m a little skeptical. I\u2019m concerned it\u2019s a strategy. The original proposal to blanket rollout smart meters was rejected by the PUC, so now they will go piecemeal. The PUC suggested an \u2018opt in\u2019 policy. Hawaii is unique in that people from all over the world come to these islands to heal and escape, and if the islands are blanketed with smart meters there\u2019s a significant number of people who would be affected, especially those who are electro-sensitive.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>More information about smart meters in Hawaii is available at<\/p>\n<h2><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/stopsmartmetershawaii.com\/\">http:\/\/stopsmartmetershawaii.com\/<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>More information about the health issues associated with smart meters is available at<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/healthimpactnews.com\/2017\/smart-meters-countdown-to-a-national-crisis-of-illness-and-death\/\">http:\/\/healthimpactnews.com\/2017\/smart-meters-countdown-to-a-national-crisis-of-illness-and-death\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/GDUWoJEBBzg?feature=oembed\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Original Post \u00a0\u00a0August 28, 2017\u00a0\u00a0by \u00a0 Jon Woodhouse 25Shares Facebook17 Twitter3 LinkedIn1 Email3 More Maui\u2019s electric utility has taken an extraordinary step in proposing to only provide new smart meters to customers who request them. The decision is likely the first time that a utility anywhere in the nation has adopted such a radical proposal. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[381,390,209,817,210,378,702,488,18,289],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-anxiety","category-balance-problems","category-dizziness","category-hawaii","category-headaches","category-insomnia","category-smart-city-wireless_devices","category-smart-home","category-smart-meter","category-usa-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19203","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=19203"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19203\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19204,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19203\/revisions\/19204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}