Smart Meters are Coming To Your Neighborhood. What Should You Do?
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Smart meters are being rolled out all over the United States. Sometimes you have a choice about whether to keep one off your house or not, but it's getting more and more difficult to get away from them.
Here are some thoughts about the risks of smart meters as well as what you can do to protect yourself from any side effects that they might cause.
In my post “What the Electric Company Doesn't Want You to Know – Smart Meters EXPOSED”, I told you that I didn't know much about Smart Meters until I got the notices in my mail about their upcoming installation in our city.
I found out that these Smart Meters have some problems:
– Health
– Fire
– Privacy
– No proven energy savings
– Exorbitant Costs associated with opting out
– Personal Safety Issues
– Legal and Constitutional Issues
Sigh.
I started reaching out to others and reading a ton to figure out what my options were.
One of the people whom I turned to is Lloyd Burrell. Lloyd runs the incredibly helpful website called Electric Sense. He himself became very ill due to EMF (electromagnetic frequencies) and so he set out to get healed and to teach others about the dangers.
Should You Be Concerned About Smart Meter Health Effects?
Smart meters are a great ‘polarizer' of opinion. Either you’re totally indifferent about them, which many people are, or you’re dead against them.
A growing number of people fit into the latter category.
Some people are so against them they’re willing to go to what might seem extraordinary lengths to protect their property from the installation of a smart meter.
There are been a few high profile cases.
Notably that of Jennifer Stahl and Malia “Kim” Bendis, two Naperville moms, who refused point blank to have smart meters installed on their homes. Things came to a head when both mothers were arrested in their own homes, in front of their families, for refusing to allow the local electric utility to install the smart meters on their homes.
In another case, Thelma Taormina, a lady from Texas took advantage of her Second Amendment rights when employees from her local utility tried to forcibly install a smart meter on her home in Harris County. The utility employees reportedly physically assaulted Mrs Taormina, which prompted her to brandish a firearm to defend her property.
These are not isolated incidents.
What’s All the Fuss About Smart Meters?
This might all seem like a storm in a teacup but there are some very serious issues behind smart meter installations.
To understand these issues you need to understand how these smart meters work. They work in different ways. That’s to say different utility companies utilize different technologies. But generally speaking smart meters and smart grid systems track and record details of customers’ energy usage, be it water gas or electricity, and transmit this information back to utility companies wirelessly.
In some parts of the world, smart meters are mandatory.
There are various issues at play here.
Problems with Smart Meters
Infringement of privacy is one of them. Smart meters relay detailed information about times and amounts of utility usage. Your utility company will know when you’re home or away and have detailed information on your consumption habits. This raises all sorts of questions about not just privacy, but security, safety and householder health.
It’s this last point which is the most perplexing. Because smart meters are synonymous with electromagnetic field (EMF) pollution.
EMF Pollution
EMFs are these invisible forces that exist in our environment. EMFs have existed since electricity was invented. But concern began to grow with the advent of the wireless revolution.
Cell phones, cordless phones, computer tablets, WiFi, Bluetooth, smart meters, what do all these devices have in common? EMFs. That’s OK because these EMFs are safe, right? It’s not what the studies say.
What Do The Studies Say?
When you buy a cell phone or use a wireless router, it’s probably never occurred to you that you’re exposing yourself to any kind of danger.
Why would you? Everyone's got a cell phone and wireless, right?
Well, wireless smart meters emit pulsed microwave radiation 24/7. The official line is that these low-level non-ionizing EMFs are safe. That’s to say there is so little power involved that there is no thermal effect (i.e. no heating) and therefore you’re OK.
However, there are now thousands of studies that show very clearly that there are potentially very serious adverse biological effects that can arise from these low-level exposures. And I’m talking about serious peer reviewed studies, that’s to say studies that have been replicated by different scientists and scrutinized in depth.
One of the most serious reviews of this scientific literature that has been carried is the BioInitiative Report, published first in 2007, again in 2012 and updated just a few weeks ago. The BioInitiative Reports are published by an international working group of scientists, researchers and public health policy professionals. The BioInitiative Working Group is sounding the warning alarm.
Microwave Radiation
Wireless smart meters emit radio frequency or microwave radiation. This radio frequency radiation is able to penetrate walls, metal, and concrete. It can also penetrate our bodies. The biological effects linked to these exposures are numerous, DNA damage, disturbed immune system, blood brain barrier damage, oxidative damage, and more.
In 2011 the World Health Organization classified the type of microwave radiation emitted by smart meters as a possible human carcinogen. Brain tumors, cardiovascular disease, ADHAD, Leukemia and a myriad of other diseases are linked to these exposures.
What Should You Do?
Should you opt-out?
Or should she allow the Smart Meter to be installed and then shield it?
Opting out comes at cost. For Adrienne, it's a one-time fee of $69 plus approximately $10 a month.
How does this compare to the cost of shielding? It’s difficult to say exactly.
Shielding is a long involved process, which requires specialist equipment and materials. The starting point is to obtain measurements with a radio frequency meter. There are several RF meters on the market, all of which are not suitable. You need an RF meter with a good degree of accuracy and sensitivity. Ideal choices are the Cornet ED78S or the Acoustimeter AM10. Then you need to take readings. It's important to be methodical and to write down your readings in a logbook.
Every Cloud Has A Silver Lining
You’ll soon realize, as soon as you switch your RF meter on, that the smart meter is not the only problem. Your cordless phone, WiFi, your burglar alarm, many homes have numerous wireless devices all emitting just as much RF radiation as your smart meter, if not more. This is the positive side of the smart meter issue; it encourages you to clean up the electro pollution in your home.
In terms of actual shielding, it’s difficult to shield fully. The only way to shield RF radiation 100% effectively is with a Faraday cage type structure, that’s to say creating a sealed enclosure. It’s often difficult to fully enclose your smart meter because of where it’s installed, against your wall or a neighbor’s wall. So this usually means shielding your home with special shielding paint or wallpaper. The way to proceed with shielding is to shield then take readings with your RF meter, then shield again if necessary and take readings again and so on.
The Real Choice
Even if you do opt-out of having a smart meter installed on your property you will still be zapped to a certain degree by the radiation from your neighbor’s smart meters and by the smart grid. The reality is you don’t have any real choice. Once smart meters are introduced in your neighborhood you will be exposed. This is the injustice of the situation.
What You Can Do
Take Action
The smart meter roll out is jolting people into action. I encourage you to take action.
Minimize Exposure
Minimize your exposure by opting out, but also get wise on this issue.
1. Evaluate
Have a good look round your home. Do you really need all those wireless devices? Can you change a laptop from WiFi to ethernet? Turn off WiFi at night?
For the devices that you can't give up, get EMF protection for as many as you can, or otherwise mitigate the exposure from them.
Defender Shield has solid products at a reasonable cost.
2. Get a Meter
Buy or rent an RF (radio frequency) meter, then you will see what you’re exposing yourself to.
This EMF meter is a good option that you can use to evaluate and mitigate your exposure.
TriField EMF Meter Model TF2
This EMF meter is the one we have in our home. It's a bit more expensive than some, but it's the one most often recommended by EMF specialists.
It measures not only radiation from 4G and 5G, but also from Cell Towers, WiFi routers, Bluetooth, AC Powerlines, and Smart Meters.
3. Get a Smart Meter Shield
Hopefully, you don't have a smart meter, or if you do, you can try to get it removed from your house. If you aren't able to do that, here's a Smart Meter Shield that can help protect you from the EMFs it is emitting.
4. Research
Don’t take my word on all this. Do your own research. You might want to join or form an activist group locally to make others aware of the problem and get the utility company to change its policy.
Get smart about smart meters, use the smart meter roll-out as an opportunity to do something positive.
What do YOU plan to do?
Since falling prey to a violent reaction to his cell phone in 2002, Lloyd Burrell has spent over 10 years researching the effects of electromagnetic fields (EMFs) on health.
His website https://www.electricsense.com offers solutions to the growing number of people whose health is being compromised by exposure to wireless and similar technologies.
You can download his EMF protection Free Report from his website.
I had heard about smart meters being bad for you. But, to be honest, didn’t give it much thought, until recently. My power company just announced they are going to start using them. I am disabled with many health problems already and don’t need more. I will refuse one and will not let them put one in. I’m not just going to lay down and rollover like a dog for them. But at the same time I can only do so much with all my health problems. At 68 and in poor shape, I can’t do too much. To quote Charlie Brown, “rats”.
There is a lot more concern going on these days. I’m so sorry you aren’t in good shape. It can be tough, I know! You can make changes little by little. Work on what you can! Good for you for not just rolling over! Happy to help with what I can. I can’t medically advise, but good water, good food, gut health, etc., can do a lot depending.
We just yesterday had a utility person come to change our meter to a smart meter, without prior warning. I told her that I did not want it and she said I had to call to see if we could opt out. Talked to 2 people and was told we have to take the smart meter. In the mean time, they had quickly switched out our meters and we now have two smart meters on opposite sides of our home, one being only 4 feet from our bed. Is there anything I can do now? If everyone in our neighborhood has smart meters, wifi, etc. are we getting all the radiation running through our house anyway? I am sick with worry and really angry!
Hi there. I would see if there is a local group that can help with that. Search “smart meters” and your state. Yes, other smart meters will affect you but not as much as one on the other side of your wall. You can get a meter like the one in the post to see how things affect you and how distance helps. Think of how we are encouraged to keep cell phones away from our heads. Hope that helps.
Thank you for your reply! I am ordering a meter today. I have looked into local groups but have found nothing. The links I did find for WI were not working.
Hi again – does this help? https://www.facebook.com/groups/1424688167558662/
Thank you so much!
According to this article, https://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-h-bailey/smart-meters-dumb-science_b_2768405.html, “It is … instructive to compare the radiation levels of smart meters with those of other wireless devices. Smart meters only transmit data for roughly 1.4 seconds per day, at very low wattage. And even if one stands less than one meter (3 feet) from a smart meter when it broadcasts its data, the resulting microwave exposure is 550 times less than standing in front of an active microwave oven, and 1100 times less than holding an active cell phone to one’s ear.”
I’m guessing those opposed to smart meters are the same unscientific folks who think vaccinations are bad. It’s no wonder the US is falling behind the rest of the world.
Hi there. Yes, that is according to that article, but other articles and other experts say different things.
This article says that it might be 1500 seconds. And you have to think of things not as they stand on their own but as they are accumulated with other radiation exposures and other environmental risks. For example, someone may not react to the small amount of pollution to their indoor air by air fresheners, but when you add to that the chemicals in their personal care products, then add in some candles and fabric softeners, and then the wifi from their laptops and then their OTC medications and then the artificial flavors in their foods, eventually their “bucket” will overflow.
Everyone has a certain tolerance level. Some can tolerate a lot and some can’t. But every one has a limit. You can’t just say “this little bit is fine” without recognizing that it all adds up.
This is a well accepted perspective growing in the natural health community–take a look at the HPA axis research going on and see what I am talking about. Hope that helps.
Ah if it were only true that they transmit only periodically….Many have been monitored with meters and have been found to transmit up to 120,000 times per day…virtually constantly. So do some looking into this issue and reserve your judgement till you learn what others have already learned ..some of them the hard way, that these things are not to be taken lightly.
Hi, great article and you have so much patience for the trolls who don’t provide evidence themselves yet demand it from you and don’t read said evidence when given it.
Do you know how much i’ll be affected if my neighbor (who is 20 ft from my house) gets a smart meter? they are coming this spring.
to those who want to debate facts and evidence (see my first comment – actually read the sources she has provided), but debating “evidence” is even a smokescreen to a greater issue. one of freedom and corporate tyranny. Why am i forced to use a product that is bad for me or pay the corporation to not get sicker? This is nothing short of a police state to enforce others to do HAVE to use a product that harms them. We should be able to opt-out without penalty in a free country. We have totally lost perspective here as we allow our rights to be chipped away under the guise of “good”.
Many people, like myself are struggling immensely with toxicity illnesses and are hugely affected by wifi and RF radiation. This mandated (or pay!) requirement is adding undue struggle and suffering to many who are struggling too much in this toxic world.
At minimum, we need to be able to opt out without payment!!
Hi there. I know that this is all hard. I think you have to just get a meter like the one in the post and see how you are being affected and go from there. Sleeping farther away from the wall near that meter would probably be a good idea. There are other things you can do as well. I’m looking into supplements and devices that might help as well!
I just got a notice that these are going to be installed in Oregon 🙁 I looked up how to opt out and it says that you have to pay a one time fee of $137, and then $36 a month to opt out. There is no way I can afford that. My meter is right on the other side of my office wall, which will become part of my kitchen eventually. Luckily the bedrooms are upstairs/on the other side of the house. I am still not happy about it, but I’m not sure what I can do at this point.
It’s robbery. I would see if there is a group in your state that is fighting this. I hope you can find some way to get it taken care of!
Well, we don’t have an ‘opt out’ option. In fact, when I protested and said I would not allow the installation the so and so’s had a deputy accompany them to our home and threaten us. My husband was home and told the electric co employees to step out. He was 60 at the time, and said straight out if he couldn’t whip their a$$ he’d shoot ’em. We belong to an electric co-op which is the biggest joke in the world! Every year in Jan and Feb my bill doubles or triples. I call them. Oh, we had all that cold weather. Biotch, I heat with WOOD! Well, your holiday decorations cost more than you think. Honey, I have multiple small dogs. I don’t even put up a TREE! And when I got a little table top tree it was never lit up. Not once. Tell me again how my bill can multiply without me changing a thing. Sorry about the rant, but this continues to rankle. We can’t even install solar or wind cos we’re required (by the by laws) to sell any power generated to them and then buy it back. Right. FN crooks. Soon as I can find a way to hide the solar panels I’m getting away from those so and so’s.
I am so sorry. I heard that about the solar panels. I guess that all depends where you are located as to how that works?
Can you join with others in your area to press for opt outs? Maybe you can find other states that do something like this? https://www.smartmetereducationnetwork.com/
Just called our electric company here in Michigan and the fee opt out is one time $69.39 and 9.72 each month starting within the next year when they come to our neighborhood. Do you have to pay them to opt out? Seems very unreasonable to be charged for them to do nothing.
It doesn’t seem reasonable to me either. They say it’s to check the meters, but they were doing that already. And to keep parts and products in stock. But they have to do that anyway. Get others together and complain and let’s try to do something about this.
I think it’s called blackmail, or “protection money”.
the main reason they’re pushing smart meters on everyone is that utility companies can charge peak pricing or better known as time of use rates. you’ll be charged more for the same power when ever the utility company deems its your peak use time . every household could be different, if you work nights and your peak use times are in the early morning and if your neighbor works 9-5 and their peak use hours are early evening, the peak use times are adjusted for when the the most power is used,for example.
That’s part of what I am concerned about. Then they can force brown outs or black outs when they want them too.
Every thing that uses electricity gives off emfs it’s a result of current flowing. smart meters are to help take load off the system which drops prices when paired with smart appliances. Prices go up when to many people use electricity at the same time because extra substations have to be used. Smart meters aren’t the problem.
So can you please address the concerns I have? I don’t think the smart appliances help at all w/ pricing, mainly b/c they are made so much more cheaply than old appliances. If we could have appliances that would last 20 years like they used to we could then really save money compared to the minor energy savings that these appliances are giving us. Thanks.