Smart meters are smart but they are not private

Smart Meters are digital meters that the utilities (electric, gas, water) are using to replace our current mechanical meters. Both types of meters look almost identical. In a mechanical meter, a rotating wheel calculates energy usage and a smart meter uses a digital read out. That’s where the similarity ends. The difference is that the smart meter is an invasion of our privacy.

Smart meters are sometimes referred to as interval or time-of-use meters. That’s because they transmit how much energy you are using and at what time of day. With a smart meter on your home or property, your kilowatt hours can be billed at different rates during different times of the day. With some utility companies, the three main time categories are on-peak, mid-peak and off-peak and the cost per KW hour varies accordingly. Also, holidays and weekends get the lowest rates all of the time and that peak time is almost twice as expensive as off-peak.

The Federal Communication Commission has ruled that smart meters are safe based on their studies of “thermal” exposure. However, smart meters emit “non-thermal” radiation which is much higher in power density and more harmful than thermal emissions. Because of the risks they pose, the American Academy of Environmental Medicine has called for a “moratorium on smart meter installation until the serious public health issues can be resolved.”

Once a smart meter is attached to a home, It can help the utility company(s) collect data that can be used to extrapolate how many people live in the house, when they get up, when they go to bed and when they aren’t home. Also how many showers they take and loads of laundry they do, how often they use the microwave. With smart chipped appliances they can even tell things like how much and what kind of TV you watch. The information gathered from your house is sent to a neighborhood smart meter which then wirelessly transmits your information to a municipal network and in most cases to the national network which is the Smart Grid.
“Privacy and cyber security are among the greatest challenges in implementing the smart grid,“ said Nick Sinai, energy and environment director at the FCC.  Eventually the utilities will control how much energy you use and when and be able to shut off “smart chip”-equipped appliances remotely.

Smart meters are also a tool assist in the implementation of UN Agenda 21. What is UN Agenda 21? UN Agenda 21 is a UN game plan for radical transformation of the global society. Think “Sustainable Development” which will allow the government to have a vice-like grip on how and where we live. As part of this, the electrical companies are installing “smart monitoring systems” to track usage of energy by residents. This represents only one area of control, but a critical one, as the government attempts to restrict individual and property rights. For those of you not familiar with "UN Agenda 21"- simply Google it. It's a program, which would eventually take away private property and tell us how to live our lives, where to live our lives, what foods we will eat and what mode of transportation we can use.

Do your own research on both "Smart Meters" and "UN Agenda 21," then make your own decisions. But you have the right to know what is happening in our community and in our country and the biased media no longer can be trusted to keep us informed. Agenda 21 with all its tentacles is real and it's here now. Incorporation of technologies such as Smart Meters are part of the infrastructure to implement UN Agenda 21.

Technology is neutral, neither good or bad. It can be used for good or otherwise. Smart Meters have some attractive features. They allow remote reading of meters which can save the distributor on having to send a person to record power usage. They also allow the distributor to shut power off remotely when someone does not pay their electric bills. Smart Meters also offer tamper resistance and eliminate many traditional means of stealing power. These are all good. When used to record your power usage, usually monthly, to ensure proper billing, Smart Meters seem like a good thing. However, this technology can easily be set up to record and monitor electrical usage on a more frequent basis, such as hourly. In today's world of computers and databases, it's easy to comprehend this would not be a difficult task. If you know someones electrical demand on an hourly basis, it’s possible to correlate that information to know when residents are home, what their usage habits are or even if they have guests.

There is a lot you can do to stop smart meters:

• First of all, call your utility company and refuse to have one installed on your residence or property. Your utility may tell you that smart meters are mandated by the federal government but in fact, they are not. According to the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the utilities may “offer” them and install them “upon customer request” but not force them on you are they’re already doing.
  
• Inform your utility in writing of your refusal for health and/or privacy concerns.
  
• Put a weather-proofed do not install smart meter sign next to your mechanical meter.
  
• Become educated and aware of smart meters.
  

(PS…Smart meters are not UL approved which are required of other appliances. This is because the federal government has waived that requirement for the utilities.)