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By SAM SCOTT
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
About 4,400 PG&E Co. customers opted out of the utility’s controversial SmartMeter program in the two weeks after state regulators first gave them the choice.
Santa Cruz, Marin and San Francisco counties accounted for the most withdrawal requests. But Mendocino County virtually tied Santa Cruz for top of the list when adjusted for population.
More than 250 Mendocino households opted out of the program from Feb. 1 to 14, accounting for 0.73 percent of households in the county.
In Sonoma County, 230 households requested the opt out, about 0.11 percent of households.
But Sandi Maurer of Sebastopol said the numbers aren’t a true gauge of PG&E customers’ desire to avoid the wireless meters.
Many of her fellow SmartMeter opponents are declining to opt out because of the cost, which includes a one-time $75 fee and a monthly charge of $10.
“The fees are arbitrary and punitive,” she said, criticizing a plan that charges people to keep what they always have had while charging nothing for having a SmartMeter.
PG&E says the new fees will cover the cost of reinstalling analog meters that had been removed and paying for meter readers.
Of the 4,400 customers in the first wave of opt-outs, 2,800 still have analog meters in place while 1,600 had SmartMeters that need removal, according to PG&E.
Ultimately, PG&E expects as many as 150,000 of its more than 5 million residential customers to opt out.
To do so, customers can go to PG&E’s website, visit one of 74 local offices or call the SmartMeter hotline at 866-743-0263.
“We are really looking forward to having our customers reach out to us and let us know if they are interested in the opt out by May 1,” PG&E spokeswoman Brandi Ehlers said.
Supporters of the high-tech meters tout them as a way to bring more efficiency and accuracy to the nation’s electrical grid while educating users about power usage.
When the state Public Utility Commission approved their use in 2006, members heralded the decision as a “once-in-generation” retrofit that would propel customers into the 21st century.
But critics have been unrelenting in claims the wireless meters cause a host of maladies ranging from migraines to cancer. About 90,000 signed up for a delayed installation list that was created in response to the fury.
Mendocino County’s early emergence among the counties with the most opt-outs is hardly a surprise. The county has been a center of opposition to the meters and had one of the largest percentage of users on the delayed installation list.
About 12.7 percent of PG&E customers in Mendocino signed up for the list, second only to Lake County where the percentage was 13.7 percent. Santa Cruz was third at 11.8 percent.
In Sonoma County, 4.4 percent of customers signed up for the list.
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Truth teller speaks some truth…
and that ‘aint half of it.
The obvious question is why now, and why such a big push all over the world?
Did you know that Smart Meters are being installed in every country now? All over the world.
They can be shut off remotely without your consent.
All new appliances will have a chip in them that allows this. All usage will be monitored and controlled.
Don’t want to do your mandatory volunteering?
Power shut off.
Don’t want to let the city of Santa Rosa do a mandatory inspection of your house (green building mandatory inspections are back)…power shut off.
Don’t go along with your fake neighborhood association? Power shut off.
Don’t like the new $20 million bike bridge?
Power shut off.
Want to park your car to ride the train?
Power shut off.
Like it? Don’t believe it?
Holding your breath for community choice power aggregation. A joke. Solar. Wind. Big money for a few fat cats looking for government subsidies and union contracts.
Object?
Power shut off.
Lights out.
Nobody home.
I truly was surprised that the smart meter had an effect on my router. But I was looking at the meter outside and it has an indicator when it transmits and it did temporarily disconnect my computer from the wireless. I know it’s a different frequency but it’s probably exactly 1/4 frequency or some other exact or fractional multiple or division of the router’s frequency. I’ve logged these effects four times now.
Anyway, as I mentioned in another comment:
http://www.homedepot.com/buy/paint/primers/rust-oleum/magnetic-latex-primer-67783.html
This kind of paint on the wall behind the power meter shields your home from the transmissions. Although they are low power they do interfere with electronics in your home – or they have the potential to do so.
Just paint this stuff on and cover with your wall’s usual color. Or try hanging a picture on the wall behind the meter and put some foil on the back of the frame. I hear a lot of complaints about the meters but I’m offering an actual solution that is a lot cheaper than what PG&E is hitting you up for.
I asked my neighbor who worked at PG&E if I could arrange for the meter to transmit at the time’s I wanted it to. That way I could get it to pop my microwave popcorn just before I watched a movie.
In unrelated news, Comcast representatives denied rumors they were planning to charge a fee to customers who refused their new cable boxes in fear that it contributed to their children’s dislike of all vegetables.
Large opt-outs in Lake and Mendocino counties? Really? I wonder why those particular counties don’t want their meters changed, and being able to monitor peak usage, etc. Those grow lights DO use a lot of power at odd times of the day, don’t they?
Many people across the world are concerned/effected from very diverse backrounds.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JNFr_j6kdI
or
RefuseSmartMeters.com
I did notice that the smart meter temporarily knocks out my wireless internet router when it transmits. It was quite a surprise to me. I fixed the problem by hanging a picture on the wall directly behind the meter with two layers of aluminum foil taped to the back of the frame. No need for the tinfoil hat I often suggest to others complaining about the meters. If that didn’t work, I was planning on painting the wall with the magnetic paint they sell at Home Depot.
Even if you really believe the meters are harmful (impossible) these simple counter-measures are effective. Take it from a total skeptic.
this article leaves out a big group of people who choose not to have the smart meter for another reason entirely.
It’s not all about health concerns, in fact that is the least of my worries. The smart meter now allows pg&e and whoever else to monitor what you are doing. They do not have a right to come into your home, and with the smart meter they come directly into your home violating your right to privacy.
Before you know it they will tell you that you are watching to much tv and shut your power off to that outlet in your house. Or they will say you have your lights on too often and shut your power of there.
Just watch the how it’s made tv show, they just did smart meters and they have the components in them that allow pg&e to turn off your power remotely whenever they think you are using to much power, or just whenever they want to. They will have the ability to turn down the power to your smart appliance such as your fridge when they think it is running to much.
I just wish the press democrat would tell the entire story. For that matter I wish pg&e would tell it’s costumers the true details of what this meter can do.
I went to one of pg&e’s public meetings about these meters and asked about the fact that they can come into my home now and turn off power when they want, the pg&e guy said “why yes yes we can but not to worry we would never just turn off your power unless we had a good reason”. Now whenever have you called an 800 # and the person on the other end said just trust me did you believe them or it came to be true. I would rather be safe than sorry.
Too bad the article didn’t put the number 4,400 in better perspective. PG&E has 5.1 million customers. Or, 0.09% have opted out of Smart Meters, slightly less than 1/100th of 1%.
Lesson: A small number of people can make a awful lot of noise when the news media is a willing megaphone. When it isn’t, it’s like a falling tree that no one hears crashing into the ground.
Why worry about the electricity bills, if they are too high , stop using so much!
PG&e is not out to cheat you.
Have you been cheated before the new meters came out, What makes you think they are going to cheat you now.
If you are worrying about PG&E don’t fall for any of the local green power stuff, because you have no experience with them