Smart Meter Science: If It's a Digital/Electronic Meter, It's a Problem

Please don't walk up to your electricity meter, - take a picture from a distance if needed. Unless a meter reader has been coming to your house over the years, it's an electronic meter.*

12/10 CorrectionThe caption for the meter bank was corrected to read “Bank of wireless meters across from a senior living facility in Massachusetts.” The meters are across the street from, and not on, the senior center. We regret the misunderstanding.

*or it may be sending signals over the wires (Unitil). Both present problems.

Audible Meter transmissions begin at 15 seconds, posted in 2016, an older-style radiating AMR/ERT meter filmed in New York

Watch the video first before reading about your meter.

Some of the historical data on the internet about smart meters shows individuals locking their meters or gates and refusing an AMI. This is only helpful if your meter is an analogue.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT SMART METERS: DO NOT GO RIGHT UP TO ANY UTILITY METER TO TRY TO IDENTIFY IT! To identify a utility meter at your property, stand at least 20 feet away and take a picture of it. Stay away from the meters and instead use the photograph to identify the meter. At this time, the only known safe meter is an analog meter. If it is digital, it is most likely problematic. BACKGROUND: Since the mid-2000s, many utility companies in the US have been removing mechanical analog utility meters and replacing them with digital utility meters, also known as AMR, ERT, PLC, AMI, Smart, non-transmitting digital, etc. Utilities have been doing this without permission from utility consumers and with no proper testing for radiofrequency microwave (RF/MW) radiation emissions or electrical fire safety, with an assumption of safety. Customers were never notified of the health, safety, privacy or security risks associated with digital meters.

Please Don’t Stand in Front of Your Meter

Here we clarified that there is no official pre-market health safety testing or actionable data about injuries associated with new ‘data-collecting’ electricity meters. ‘Citizen scientists” and independent researchers (not financed by governments or industry) provided information that can guide effective decision-making and needs to be viewed accordingly.

Here information was provided about the move away from analogue to the use of electronic electricity meter installations, with a guide to a description of the different types of meters. (We introduced health issues, but there are also concerns with planned obsolescence and green washing, cost, security, privacy, hacking, and fires).

Now, we visit 3 issues:

1. If you are researching your meter, please don’t go up to it and/or spend a lot of time looking for the FCC ID number.

2. If a meter reader has not been coming to your house, you have a transmitting meter or a meter that sends data over the wires. If your area is installing new wireless meters, you do not want to fight to keep your meter, because your meter is probably not an analogue.

3. You do not want an RF meter with the radio off as it does not correct the issues with the electrical contamination of the grid and your living space. (see extra credit at bottom of email for more info).

4. Also, in some areas, the ‘opt out’ electronic electric meter has been found to have defaulted to transmit again because it can be controlled remotely. If you are allowed to opt out, with or without a fee, you want an analogue, non-transmitting meter with no antennas and no electronic components.

5. At the end of the email, we note corrections/clarifications to earlier posts, including English translations from Einer’s resource list. Substack easily enables edits, and this allows us to make corrections so that when the same link is shared later, it is as accurate as possible. Thanks for being along for the ride.

Massachusetts: “Meters were already transmitting thousands of times per day and night”

In Massachusetts, the Green Communities Act was implemented during Duval Patrick’s administration. The Act instructed the three investor-owned utilities to conduct smart meter pilot programs.

In the next few years, a portion of MA residents became aware of some worrisome facts.

• The electric meters already installed on their homes were already transmitting wirelessly.

• Even though a truck drove through town to obtain readings for billing purposes once a month for one electric company, the meters were actually transmitting thousands of times per day and night. This fact was made clearly visible using professional grade detection meters, as shown in the video filmed in NY- above.

• The wireless meters were adversely impacting health for some ratepayers, including interfering with the ability to manage chronic health challenges. Some ratepayers have learned belatedly that they were sleeping with a meter transmitting near their bed and head. (see video above if you didn’t listen yet)

  

  Images and text courtesy NYSUMA

The narratives vary about how MA residents learned about the problems that were unfolding where ‘smart’ meters were being installed elsewhere.

Someone’s parents live in CA, someone from an M.S. group read about the effects on an M.S. patient who immediately began collapsing, nutritionists were talking about leaky gut, chiropractors were noticing that their patients could not hold their adjustments, news of illnesses caused by proximity to cell phone towers and antennas was emerging, and cellphone cancer lawsuits were in the news. Information about health damage caused by utility meters was making its way to communities of chronically ill populations, including those with MCS multiple chemical sensitivity, Lyme, Parkinson’s, diabetes, cancer, and those with heart conditions.

Like an underground railroad, the information spread through unofficial channels. The reality dawned that for some ratepayers and their health, problems had been going on for a very long time with one-way meters installed years before.

Unlike auto or food recalls, reported harm was not covered in the mainstream news, (with few exceptions, for example in CA due to blockades of Wellington installer trucks.) No protective agency, or environmental group promoting smart grids was informing the public about problems and the fact that people were being hurt.

It’s Not Just the Newer Meter, or AMI, or “smart” meter

Around 2012-2013, National Grid was running a heavily publicized smart meter pilot program in Worcester MA. Part of the public relations campaign was that ratepayers were told that they could opt out “for free.”

Several residents not only did not want to be in the pilot for the new AMI meters, but they wanted the transmitting meters that had contributed to their chronic health challenges removed. A small but growing number of residents across the state started the process of asking the legislature to pass opt out legislation (They are still working on it, ten years later).

As the requests began mounting, National Grid went to the Department of Public Utilities in 2013 to request permission to surcharge ratepayers requesting an opt out. The DPU issued the order for the proceeding Petition of Massachusetts Electric Company, Nantucket Electric Company, Boston Gas Company and Colonial Gas Company, each d/b/a National Grid, for approval by the Department of Public Utilities of proposed electric and gas tariffs entitled "Residential Automatic Meter Reading Opt-Out Provision ). (The DPU site is difficult to navigate but you can go to the file room and plug in the proceeding number here: ByNumber (Docket 13-83)

The order enabled National Grid to surcharge health-vulnerable customers, while presenting a public image that it was providing accommodation in the pilot.

But the problem was two-fold:

1. The accommodation that National Grid was offering was to turn the radio off on an existing digital meter, and

2. The radiofrequencies were not the only issue caused by the meters. (More at bottom of email)

In addition, the opt out meter does not protect the ratepayer from neighboring meters, and is not even possible for multi-family dwellings - often affecting lower income groups.

Bank of wireless meters across from a senior living facility in Massachusetts

New York’s NYSUMA: “Intolerable transmitted and conducted RF radiation emissions”

Although there are a number of websites still in operation that chronicled historical issues with meter technology, the New York Safe Utility Meter Association, NYSUMA, dedicated to the continued use of mechanical analog utility meters, is one of the only devoted websites still updated and actively focused on the smart meter issue. (Many sites have transitioned to address all issues associated with wireless, including cell towers, 5G, etc.)

Like many states, New Yorkers are advocating for an analogue opt out.

The 2024 summary states, “In the mid-2000s, the NYSPSC approved the deployment of digital utility meters: In doing so, the NYSPSC relied on testing procedures from the 2003 NYSDPS Operating Manual 92.2 These procedures are specifically designed to test analog utility meters for accuracy. The NYSPSC ignored the importance of performing appropriate safety testing for digital meters. Had testing for fire risks, electrical interference and RF radiation been done, the meters could not have been approved. Proper tests would have revealed that digital meters pose electrical fire risks and intolerable transmitted and conducted RF radiation emissions. Digital meters are not Underwriter’s Laboratories (UL) approved. [] By 2010, utility customers began reporting electromagnetic injuries caused by digital meters: Customers have documented reports of headaches, memory and cognitive problems, intestinal, hormone and eye problems, insomnia, heart arrhythmia and palpitations, ringing in the ears, exhaustion, skin rashes, vertigo, tingling in extremities, nose bleeds, burning sensations and more. As a result, some victims of these injuries are now unable to tolerate RF radiation from transmitting and non-transmitting digital meters and also from other electronic and wireless devices. For them, the ability to choose an analog meter is imperative. []. For over a decade, the NYSPSC and utility companies have continued to ignore health, safety, security and privacy complaints about digital meters: This is documented in NYSPSC proceedings dating back to 2010.3 In 2016, the NYSPSC suddenly refused to post public comments “if they related to health”. This is a dereliction of the NYSPSC’s duty to protect and serve the best interests of New Yorkers. Presently, there is no way to know how many public comments the NYSPSC receives and simply discards.

Read the complete, up-to-date 5-page 2024 Summary here: 2024+Summary.pdf Although specific to New York, it is very accurate and applicable to other jurisdictions.

Regarding health, both the older and the newer electronic meters are problematic; don’t lock your digital meter.

In California, when utilities began installing smart meters, residents began locking gates, securing yards, and protecting their analogue meters. Unfortunately, in most cases in MA, RI, and other states, the cows are already out of the barn. The analogues were gone years ago, already replaced with digital meters.

Do Your Research, But Don’t Spend Time in Front of a Transmitting Meter

As utilities began offering radio-off meters, informed ratepayers found that it was necessary to make sure that the meters did not default and begin transmitting again.

When the Gigahertz Solutions meter, manufactured in Germany, became available to detect RFR transmissions, in the early days volunteers would go to homes to check meters. Ratepayers and volunteers walked up the meters in search of an FCC ID, which was often hard to find and too tiny to read. Approaching the meter is NOT recommended.

Taking a picture from a distance is recommended.

An alternative approach is to call your utility and ask for the specs for the meter you have on your home now, including how often it transmits and not how often it is read for billing purposes, and when it was installed. You can also contact your utility regulator. If your deployment is imminent, feel free to ask for the studies that verify health and fire safety. Documenting your efforts is encouraged.

In addition, in Massachusetts, several communities have engaged in advocacy to place a radio-transmission detection meter in the local library for loan. Library meters: Ashland (Acoustimeter), Pittsfield & Sunderland (S&S Pro II), Bedford & Wellesley (GQ EMF 390), Watertown (ionizing); Hillsdale, NY! EHT library meter fund

Measure Wireless Radiation Levels in Your Home: EMF Meters Available to U.S. Libraries Through EHT’s EMF Meter Grant Program - Environmental Health Trust

Contacts For Deploying States: MA, NM, NY, RI

December 2024: Massachusetts, Rhode Island, parts of New York, and New Mexico are among the jurisdictions where smart meter deployment will be taking place in the near future.

Massachusetts: Understanding EMFs and join Massachusetts for Safe Technology (Cece Doucette) and sign up for the mailing list. MA4SafeTech holds educational outreach events and monthly meetings. Here is a recent newsletter highlighting 2024 activities: Massachusetts for Safe Technology Also see the Scientific Alliance for Education.

New Mexico: SMART METERS • Cellular Phone Task Force and recent update: The Door Is Slamming – Lawyer Needed Now • Cellular Phone Task Force

New York: The New York Safe Utility Meter Association, NYSUMA, is dedicated to the continued use of mechanical analog utility meters

Rhode Island; Rhode Islanders for Safe Technology merged with 5G Free RI to create RI4SafeTech on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/8114482015327834 Also Wired, Yes! Wireless, No! on facebook, formerly 5GFreeRI. https://www.facebook.com/groups/736031777038655/permalink/1561623004479524 Thanks for Libby Goodwin for her efforts over the years via toxicsinfo.org which is no longer active. Rhode Islanders for Safe Technology created this informational brochure www.ma4safetech.org/s/RI4SafeTech-Smart-Meter-BROCHURE-2024.pdf

Even if your state is deployed, there will be a replacement cycle coming.

It’s never too late to the put the right information in front of the right people.

Extra Credit:

If you want to jump to the issue of polluted power quality. dirty electricity, and high voltage transients riding along the 60 Hz cycle, this is an excellent post. Dr. Samuel Milham: “Smart meters are a public health hazard.” | Smart Grid Awareness including expert testimony submitted in an Arizona Court Case. Epidemiologist Sam Milham was on the front lines of smart meter deployment in California.

Here is an image that conveys part of the problem with the smart grid, provided by a professional mitigation specialist, - the exposure to pulses inside the living quarters, radiating out of unshielded wiring, caused in part by imposing 21st century tech on a 19th century distribution system:

“Microwave pulses in my living room from SMUD smart meter next door 21 feet away”

The utilities and its regulators never tested for this, and the dramatic increases in neurological diseases and death are telling the story.

Updated Article

Welcome to Smart Meter Science An Overturned Cart Ahead Warns the One Behind- Chinese Proverb has been updated to include the English translation for some links that were in Norwegian, including the Lamech study:

Lamech F.: Self-Reporting of Symptom Development From Exposure to Radiofrequency Fields of Wireless Smart Meters in Victoria, Australia: A Case Series, Altern Ther Health Med. 2014 Nov-Dec;20(6):28-39. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25478801 – The study examines 92 residents who reported symptoms to a website, and analyzes and discusses them. It finds that the symptoms most frequently reported to occur after the installation of smart meters were insomnia, headache, tinnitus, fatigue, cognitive impairment, dysesthesia, and brain fog.