Electronic Frontier Foundation: "When Smart Meters Turn into Spy Tools"

"Sacramento’s electric utility turned energy data into a blunt-force tool for unchecked home surveillance."

Smart Meter Surveillance Concerns

Electronic Frontier Foundation is taking legal action regarding smart meter surveillance concerns. (This issue and others were raised by informed activists over a decade ago.)

EFF has filed a lawsuit “to dismantle what they describe as an illegal and biased surveillance operation run by Sacramento’s public electric utility.”

U.S. Utility Metering Infrastructure is a Surveillance Grid

In the U.S. metering technology decisions have enabled time-of-use billing, demand charges, critical peak period surcharges, and widescale surveillance from the onset, with most deployments not even capable of providing any real time data to the consumer.

During the Obama administration, under the guise of sustainability, integrating renewables including solar, and economic growth, stimulus funding was provided to replace electric meters - prior to their planned obsolescence - with new ‘smart’ meters and smart grid infrastructure.

The decision was made to collect all data, ignoring the true costs of transmitting, collecting, analyzing, and storing it. (most of it useless and not actionable.)

In 2025, National Grid is telling customers receiving new meters;

“Smart meter will let you:

• monitor your household energy use, for more information you can use to make energy efficiency decisions: what to turn on and off (and when), what to replace or upgrade, and much more

• get individualized energy saving tips, and usage alerts to help you manage your budget

• integrate smart thermostats and other smart devices, if desired

• discover more tips for saving energy and money, through your My Account portal

Once registered, you should see your usage data in your My Account portal. In some instances, it could take up to 30 days to see your data as the meter registers and as we continue to build out the network in your service area.” - National Grid

The supposed consumer benefit of many of these tips is related to utilities implementing varying rate structures.

Are “sustainability” advocates enabling techno-fascism? In addition to being on the wrong side of the health and safety question?

5 questions for Ryan Calo - POLITICO

EFF: “When Smart Meters Turn Into Spy Tools”

Sacramento’s electric utility turned energy data into a blunt-force tool for unchecked home surveillance

California’s robust privacy protections are facing a critical test as the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and community advocates press forward with a lawsuit to dismantle what they describe as an illegal and biased surveillance operation run by Sacramento’s public electric utility.

In a legal filing submitted last week, the EFF laid out evidence that the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD), which serves more than 650,000 customers, has spent over a decade monitoring detailed home electricity data and funneling it to police without a warrant. The organization calls this an unconstitutional “dragnet surveillance” program that unlawfully invades household privacy on a massive scale.

We obtained a copy of the filing for you here.

“This case is about Sacramento Municipal Utility District’s…dragnet surveillance of SMUD customers’ homes using sensitive and confidential energy usage information,” the brief begins. “The decade-long surveillance violates the California Constitution and a state privacy statute.”

SMUD’s so-called “smart meters,” installed in nearly every home it serves, transmit power usage in 15-minute intervals to the utility multiple times per day. This data, the lawsuit argues, offers a detailed portrait of home life, including sleep patterns, occupancy, and even personal routines. “SMUD analysts can, in effect, use the data to digitally peer into a person’s home,” the brief explains.

EFF alleges that SMUD has routinely handed over customer information to local police departments, including names, addresses, and usage history, without any individualized suspicion or judicial oversight. In many cases, these disclosures were based solely on arbitrary consumption thresholds. “SMUD has turned over…the names, addresses, and electrical consumption information of more than 33,000 customers through a zip code list,” the brief states.

Rather than respond to specific criminal investigations, SMUD analysts proactively generate and send “lists, opinions, and tips” to law enforcement, the lawsuit claims. These lists are sometimes based on entire ZIP codes, resulting in thousands of homes being flagged. In July 2023 alone, SMUD sent data on over 10,000 customers. After police narrowed the list, a SMUD analyst still had “4,800 locations left…to check patterns on,” according to internal records.

Out of that list, just four homes were flagged as having possible “pattern usage” of electricity, raising serious concerns about the indiscriminate scope of the surveillance.

The EFF brief makes clear that even SMUD employees have expressed doubts about the validity of the program. One analyst admitted, “I used 3500 [kWh] last month” himself; well above the current 2,800 kWh threshold for suspicion. Another wrote in an internal email that the threshold being used was “scraping the bottom of the barrel.”

The racial implications are equally disturbing. Internal messages cited in the lawsuit reveal SMUD analysts directing law enforcement attention to homes based not only on electricity usage but also on racial cues. “Send me a request for [two particular addresses]. One is 10k plus, and the other is 4k, Asian,” read one SMUD analyst’s text to police. Another stated, “interesting thing about the [address] is the multiple Asians that have reported there through Experian in 2017.”

EFF and co-counsel are representing the Asian American Liberation Network and individual plaintiffs like Alfonso Nguyen, a Vietnamese immigrant who was wrongly targeted by law enforcement based on his power usage.

Nguyen, who uses electric medical equipment due to a spinal injury, was visited by sheriff’s deputies who accused him of illegally growing cannabis, due to high energy use. When he denied it and refused a search, he was called a liar. “As a result of the encounter, Nguyen feared for his physical safety and felt that his privacy had been invaded,” the brief notes.

Another individual, Brian Decker, was forcibly removed from his home at gunpoint, in his underwear, after SMUD flagged his overnight usage pattern. He was not growing marijuana; he was mining cryptocurrency.

EFF argues that the entire data-sharing system operates without valid consent. SMUD’s so-called “Privacy Policy,” buried in a website footer, does not provide customers any genuine opportunity to approve or reject surveillance. “There is no mechanism by which a customer can give or refuse consent…it is a non-conspicuous link at the bottom of SMUD’s website,” the brief says.

This program, EFF insists, not only violates Californians’ constitutional protections against unreasonable searches but also directly contravenes the state’s Public Utilities Code. That law clearly states: “A local publicly owned electric utility shall not share, disclose, or otherwise make accessible to any third party a customer’s electrical consumption data…except as provided…or upon consent of the customer.”

EFF is now asking the court to permanently bar SMUD and Sacramento Police from engaging in this mass data mining. “The whole exercise is the digital equivalent of a door-to-door search of an entire city,” the brief states. “The Court should stop this rogue and unreasonable dragnet.”

https://reclaimthenet.org/when-smart-meters-turn-into-spy-tools
Courtesy W. Woodward

(Warren was instrumental in addressing smart meter issues in Arizona, read more here: Dr. Samuel Milham: “Smart meters are a public health hazard.” | Smart Grid Awareness and here: Pre-Filed Testimony by Samuel Milham, M.D., M.P.H on behalf of Warren Woodward, April 3, 2017; available at http://docket.images.azcc.gov/0000178631.pdf
Courtesy Smart Grid Awareness/Sky Visions Solutions

Historical Record: 11-second audio of SMUD making fun of concerned customers:

Industry/Regulators: SMUD "Smart" Meter Opt-Out Discussion 2-29-12

This is an excerpt of the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) Integrated Resources & Customer Services Committee Special Meeting Feb. 29, 2012 in which a proposed 'smart' meter opt-out policy was discussed. This excerpt begins at 00:53:30 of the full meeting audio recording which is currently on-line at http://smud.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.... . The board members and staff attempt to formulate policy for those customers who, 'for some unknown reason' (as the chair puts it) want to opt-out of wireless meters. It makes you wonder what part of the words 'privacy,' 'safety.' 'security,' 'over-billing,' 'hackability,' 'electro-magnetic pollution' and 'democratic choice' they don't understand. As Sandi Maurer, formerly of the EMFSafety Network puts it: http://emfsafetynetwork.org/?p=7284 In closing Director Posner says, "The less that's said about this, the better off we are." The last thing they want is a social media campaign that exposes them as unfriendly to their customers. Are you a SMUD customer? Do you know people who are? Please let them know about this.

How Often Does the Meter Transmit? How Strong are the Pulses? How Far Does It Transmit? What is it Transmitting to? What Frequencies is it Using? What Data is it Carrying?

NIST chart displays signature of appliance (momentary draw of appliance motor start-up combined with ongoing run rate of power consumption). Courtesy Diana

Reminder: Instead of accurately regulating for the biologically active pulses, - the industry and regulators average the readings. Courtesy Diana

From Dec. 2010 EPRI Report. Blue shows the peak transmissions. Courtesy Diana

Would we accept this premise of averaging for a jack hammer or a strobe light?

“Microwave pulses in my living room from SMUD (Sacramento) smart meter next door 21 feet away” - Image courtesy Eric Windheim

Simultaneous transmissions overlap, creating a cloud of radiation, sometimes called ‘electrosmog’. The houses closest to the collector are relaying almost constantly, generating the most radiation. Courtesy Diana

In Comparison, Germany’s Intelligent Metering Has No Widespread Data Collection/Surveillance Capabilities

In Germany and other countries, consumers can view real time data about their usage, because intelligent metering was presumed to require that consumers would need real time access to their usage data.

Germany’s intelligent meters are a de-facto real-time home energy monitor, with no surveillance capability for homes with low consumption and lack of reasonable load shifting capabilities.

“In contrast to analogue systems, digital electricity meters measure consumption in great detail. They give you a precise insight into the energy consumption of your household appliances and help you save electricity. From 2025, the installation of intelligent metering systems, often referred to as (remote) smart meters, will be mandatory.

In the coming years, every household will be obliged to change its electricity meter. Households with an average consumption of less than 6000 kilowatt hours per year will be required to receive a digital electricity meter without a data connection via a communication module by 2025. The grid operator or electricity provider arranges for the replacement.

A digital electricity meter measures the consumption in your household and breaks down the data in detail. A display replaces the classic counting disc. The digital meter can neither receive data from the outside nor pass on information to third parties. You still have to read your electricity consumption manually. For classic households with average consumption, these meters are sufficient. - SOURCE Digital electricity meters: How to benefit from the installation obligation

Understanding Smart Meters, Brain Symptoms & Solutions: Functional & Environmental Psychiatry

Learn more about the health issues here: (August 2024 interview)

Understanding Smart Meters, Brain Symptoms & Solutions: Functional & Environmental Psychiatry

Courtney Snyder, MD Holistic Child & Adult Psychiatry Functional & Environmental Psychiatry WWW.COURTNEYSNYDERMD.COM AUG 12, 2024

Eric Windheim, BA, BBEC, EMRS, RFSO is a Certified Electromagnetic Radiation Specialist and Certified Building Biology Environmental Consultant. He is the founder of Windheim Solutions, which provides inspection, testing, and remediation of problematic EMFs. In this episode, we discuss smart meters, which are digital devices that measure electricity usage in real-time, and wirelessly send that information to the utility company. Smart meters are sometimes used for gas and water. Though there are four harmful types of electromagnetic fields—radiofrequency (wireless), electric fields, magnetic fields, and dirty electricity—smart meters use radio frequencies. Brain symptoms associated with EMF exposure include insomnia, memory problems, irritability, depression, personality changes, inattention, fatigue, confusion, headache, ringing in the ears, dizziness, numbness, and tingling. Problematic EMF can impact the brain in many ways. It causes oxidative stress and neurotoxicity. It disrupts our immune system, innate electricity, hormones, microbiome, limbic and autonomic nervous systems, and the blood-brain barrier. EMF can also contribute to elevated blood sugar. The good news is that there are many ways we can lower our exposure.

Eric shares: How he became an electromagnetic radiation specialist. The story of smart meters His role in a national victory with Sacramento Municipal Utility District, the first municipal electric utility to allow customers to regain the use of analog meters. We discuss the following questions: How do you “opt-out” and return to an analog meter? What can you do if you have to have a smart meter? What can you do if you’re getting radio frequency exposure from your neighbor’s smart meters or other wireless devices? What meter can measure radio frequencies in and around your home? How can you find an electromagnetic radiation specialist? If you’d like to join the conversations, consider sharing your experience or questions.

Visit Eric’s website here: Eric Windheim BA, EMRS, BBEC, RFSO
EMF Consultant | My EMF Story | Sacramento, CA

Follow the Electronic Freedom Foundation here: Electronic Frontier Foundation | Defending your rights in the digital world