Are PG&E Smart Meters Smart?

[mweaver]

Please sign the EMF Safety Network Smart Meter Review Petition at www.emfsafetynetwork.org . JOIN US to voice your concerns at the Sebastopol City Council meeting 6 pm on Feb 2 at the Youth Annex, 425 Morris Street, Sebastopol. A PG&E representative will be there to answer questions.

ARE PG&ESMART METERS SMART?



In February 2010 PG&E Smart Meters are slated for installation on every home and business in Sonoma County. These devices will allow PG&E to track and control your gas & electric utility usage.

· TURN, the Utility Reform Network, a statewide 15,000 member coalition callsthese
meters a “dumb idea”. Customers are paying for this - 2.2 billion dollars so far.

• In order to get the purported benefits, customers will also need to buy additional devices and retrofit or buy new appliances.
• TURN, along with State Senator Dean Florez are calling for a moratorium on these meters.
• There is a class action lawsuit filed against the Smart Meters in Bakersfield with numerous complaints about skyrocketing utility bills.
• Wireless meters are vulnerable to hacking, interference, are a security risk and a privacy concern.
• These devices will emit millions of new electromagnetic radiation (RF) wireless signals throughout the day and night. This is electrosmog.
• Exposure to electrosmog has been documented to have major biological effects on living tissue. The exponential increase in the use of wireless technologies presents serious public health risks. Children, pregnant women, seniors, those with medical implants and immune compromised are most vulnerable.
• The Bioinitiative Report, www.bioinitative.org, which is recognized by the European Parliament, demonstrates RF health effects: DNA breaks, free radical production, cell stress, premature aging, memory loss, learning impairment, headaches, fatigue, sleep disturbance, reduction in melatonin secretion and cancers.
• PG&E has not provided critical evidence of health & safety they claim to have commissioned. At this time you cannot opt out.

Please sign the EMF Safety Network Smart Meter Review Petition at www.emfsafetynetwork.org . JOIN US to voice your concerns at the Sebastopol City Council meeting 6 pm on Feb 2 at the Youth Annex, 425 Morris Street, Sebastopol. A PG&E representative will be there to answer questions.

www.emfsafetynetwork.org

[Efren Carrillo]

Our office has been fielding many calls from people who are concerned about the implementation of SmartMeters by PG&E. Concerns ranging to accuracy of the meters to long range health effects of electro magnetic frequency (EMF) have been expressed.

PG&E has established a hotline for individuals concerned about this issue. Please call 1-866-743-0263 if you have questions, or to be added to a “last to install” list. Although the County has no ability to prevent installation, it is important for the public to have good information on the issue. A public forum is being planned to take place in late April, where we will bring in experts who will discuss the issue. We will work with all interested parties to ensure that concerns are heard and responded to in a responsible, informed process.

[packardcarr]

Who are you? Who is your "our office?"

My smart meter wants to know.

Packard

Our office has been fielding many calls from people who are concerned about the implementation of SmartMeters by PG&E. Concerns ranging to accuracy of the meters to long range health effects of electro magnetic frequency (EMF) have been expressed.

PG&E has established a hotline for individuals concerned about this issue. Please call 1-866-743-0263 if you have questions, or to be added to a “last to install” list. Although the County has no ability to prevent installation, it is important for the public to have good information on the issue. A public forum is being planned to take place in late April, where we will bring in experts who will discuss the issue. We will work with all interested parties to ensure that concerns are heard and responded to in a responsible, informed process.

[Barry]

Efren Carillo is the 5th District Supervisor on the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors.

"Sonoma County Board of Supervisors sits as the governing board of Sonoma County and of various special jurisdictions such as the Sonoma County Water Agency, the Northern Sonoma County Air Pollution Control District, the Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District, County Sanitation Districts, and the Community Development Commission. The Board is composed of five supervisors elected from supervisorial districts for four year terms. "

He's a high-energy guy!

Who are you? Who is your "our office?"

My smart meter wants to know.

Packard

[Bobbi]

Efren, thank you for your message and your attention to the meter issue.
from your post...
PG&E has established a hotline for individuals concerned about this issue. Please call ]1-866-743-0263 if you have questions, or to be added to a “last to install” list.

I just called this number to ask to be added to a "last to install" list. I was told there is no such thing as a last to install list. Have others had a different response?
thank you.

[Barry]

Hi Bobbi,

I just called this number to ask to be added to a "last to install" list. I was told there is no such thing as a last to install list.

From a post on another Smart Meter thread: (emphasis added)

Susan Upchurch (Efren's asst.) said that when people call the Smart Meter Hotline 866-743-0263 to request to be "last to install" they should say that they were instructed to do this by Katy Kerns, our local PG&E government affairs person. Apparently more than one PG&E phone operator is claiming they know nothing about the "Last to Install" List.

[theindependenteye]

I got the same response, "no such list," but hung in there and eventually the guy on the other end sent off an e-mail to somewhere else. Who knows . . .


Elizabeth Fuller

[mweaver]

Dear Efren,

I truly appreciate your recent postings regarding the new PG&E Smart Meter Hotline which encourages concerned citizens to call and request to be placed on PG&E's "Last to Install" list.

The problem is that I am receiving way too many phone calls and emails from people stating that when they call the PG&E number you provided, they reach the Smart Meter hotline, but apparently the PG&E phone operators answering the phone state they know of no such "Last to Install" list. This is wasting a lot of people's valuable time and creating a lot of frustration in the meanwhile.

A few people, who are brave enough to press the issue are being referred by PG&E to call Wellington Energy at 866-671-1001 (the SM installation company contracted out by PG&E). Matt A. at Wellington Energy told me today that if they don't have a specific upcoming order on file for a meter installation there is not much they can do. He did say that orders for Sebastopol and Camp Meeker are on hold due to the letters sent to the CPUC by both cities.

The terms "On hold", and "Last to Install" don't mean much in the long run to the 1000's who are are electrosenvitive or concerned about security, billing, interference or RF environmental effects on the birds and the bees. These words have temporary meaning - jargon designed to quell the masses, and definitely do not address the concerns and will not protect the 1000+ people who have signed the Smart Meter hard copy and online petition at www.emfsafetynetwork.org

What we do need and what we need NOW is a "DO NOT INSTALL LIST". We want a permanent solution. And PG&E needs to step up and take responsibility and compile a complete "Do Not Install" list and forward to Wellington Energy.

I am speaking on behalf of many, many citizens and encourage you to send a letter to the CPUC, as did Sebastopol and Camp Meeker requesting a moratorium or deferment on Smart Meters until all questions and health concerns are addressed to the satisfaction of Council Members, Supes and concerned citizens. This way perhaps all orders for Sonoma County will be put on hold or deferred and this nonsensical round-about of hundreds of phone calls to PG&E, Wellington, the EMF Safety Network and your office will be circumvented.

Thank you for all you are doing to address this matter. I am looking forward to the Smart Meter Community Forum you will be hosting at the Santa Rosa Vet's Building in April.


Sincerely, Melissa Weaver, EMF Safety Network
www.emfsafetynetwork.org

[mweaver]

Thanks to everyone who called Efren's office, but no need now to make further calls! Efren came through for us, YAY! (I am deleting former post)

Instead, you can email your thanks and appreciation to https://supervisors.sonoma-county.org/contactus.aspx?sid=1001

Read the brilliant letter that Sandi Mauer posted earlier:

Supervisor Efren Carillo sent this letter to the CPUC today.

https://emfsafetynetwork.org/wp-conte...er-to-CPUC.pdf


Melissa Weaver,
EMF Safety Network

[Thad]

This is my letter


We just had a smart meter put in.

I have a 4 year old $2,000.00 Toshiba HDTV that was working just fine. KRCB is ~22-1~22-2 and 22-3

Now with channel 22-1 on and coming in fine my TV freezes, turns off, and turns on and and will cycle this way for ever while on 22-1

22-2 works well~22-3 and any of the other digital channels will do the same, the other non hyphen channels available come in.

22-1~22-2~22-3 are all KRCB the tv picks up all the non-channels and I use a rabbits ears.

I am thinking you should have available from your own staff for us the frequency of the RF waves from the meters that are provided by PG&E so that we can compare to the frequency's of our remote controls

This is new, it just happened after the meter went in

Thanks to everyone who called Efren's office, but no need now to make further calls! Efren came through for us, YAY! (I am deleting former post)

Instead, you can email your thanks and appreciation to https://supervisors.sonoma-county.org/contactus.aspx?sid=1001

Read the brilliant letter that Sandi Mauer posted earlier:

Supervisor Efren Carillo sent this letter to the CPUC today.

https://emfsafetynetwork.org/wp-conte...er-to-CPUC.pdf


Melissa Weaver,
EMF Safety Network

[Runningbare]

First the good news:

Yesterday I called the PG&E Smart Meter Hotline and requested to be put on the "Last to Install List". I spoke with Ryan Halsey. I was likewise informed that no such list exists. However, upon pressing further, I learned we "customers" apparently have more choice around this issue than we have thus far been led to believe. He informed me that what was actually happening is that people are registering their refusal (his word, not mine) to have the meter installed, and that they are forwarding these refusals to the installing contractor (in my case Wellington) who is bound to abide by it. But he insisted we couldn't call this collective register a list, and we ended up agreeing to call it a (binding) policy. In any case, to me the word "Refusal" resonates a lot better and covers way more ground than "Last to Install".

The hitch with the refusal is that it only buys time, probably about 20 months.
Then we're faced with another tough choice. Ryan explained that the refusal would be honored until they otherwise finish installing the meters in this area, which probably wouldn't be until the end of next year. In the meantime, in lieu of having our old meters read, the refuseniks' bills would be based on guestimates based on previous usage. Ultimately, though belatedly, we will be faced with the prospect of termination of service.

I suspect there is a good chance that in the meantime we can amass enough refusals that by the end of next year they would have to rethink terminating so many people. Besides potentially losing a lot of precious "business", it would make really bad PR to turn everyone off at the end of December 2011.
So the good news is, we can refuse now, and don't have to decide whether to continue service until then, if ever.

Now for the bad news:
I also spoke with a PG&E supervisor over in Sacramento, Richard Chavez.
He basically couldn't understand what all the ruckus is about, but I did learn one interesting fact from him. He claims that the gas meters have already been converted over to Smart Meters, in my case a year ago. Sly, aren't they?

Ron Stinnett

[Runningbare]

Update on Smartmeter gas installations:

Turns out PG&E supervisor Richard Chairez was jerking my chain about the smartmeter having been installed on my gas meter a year ago. At best he was relaying some grossly inaccurate records; at worst he was lying. He had asked me if I noticed any adverse health effects or significantly higher bills since then. Today with the help of other PG&E subminions on the hotline, I determined that my gas meter has definitely not been changed.

As for the continuing semantic evolution of the Last to Install List which became the Do Not Install List which became a refusal policy, Richard Chairez now calls it a process. (In a phone message he left me, he was actually kind of groping for the word. You definitely get the impression they're making this stuff up as they go along. Anyone care to wager the next step will be called a moratorium?) The important thing is that whatever they want to call it, it's for real, and simply by calling them you can in fact stop them from changing your meters, at least for now.

Tell everybody you know, let's get the m-word out.

Ron Stinnett

[Barry]

Update on Smartmeter gas installations:

Turns out PG&E supervisor Richard Chairez was jerking my chain about the smartmeter having been installed on my gas meter a year ago.

My gas meter was upgraded to a smart meter about a year ago. I hadn't noticed the clear "smart meter" logo until this controversy started. And I was wondering why my hair has started to fall out . Just kidding about the hair part.

[jbox]

Since PG&E is regulated by the State Public Utilities Commission, wouldn't they be a reasonble place to petition for recourse against "smart meters"?
In all these discussions I've not heard one peep abbout the PUC............

[stuartdole]

Well, anyone on this list still work at Agilent or a similar company, could maybe borrow a spectrum analyzer for the weekend and check out the meters? Might be fun!

If the meters are broadcasting outside their official frequencies, it becomes an FCC issue. Try contacting them - and KRCB. They're certainly not supposed to interfere with (digital) broadcast.

A more serious concern is that the "smart" meters are hackable, and it's been demonstrated that you can write a meter virus that will spread from meter to meter, making a "bot-net" of zombie meters, that could be under the control of foreign hackers, domestic (mafia) hackers, or even a script kiddie.

My two cents here... happy trails!

This is my letter


We just had a smart meter put in.

I have a 4 year old $2,000.00 Toshiba HDTV that was working just fine. KRCB is ~22-1~22-2 and 22-3

Now with channel 22-1 on and coming in fine my TV freezes, turns off, and turns on and and will cycle this way for ever while on 22-1

22-2 works well~22-3 and any of the other digital channels will do the same, the other non hyphen channels available come in.

22-1~22-2~22-3 are all KRCB the tv picks up all the non-channels and I use a rabbits ears.

I am thinking you should have available from your own staff for us the frequency of the RF waves from the meters that are provided by PG&E so that we can compare to the frequency's of our remote controls

This is new, it just happened after the meter went in

[Runningbare]

Since PG&E is regulated by the State Public Utilities Commission, wouldn't they be a reasonble place to petition for recourse against "smart meters"?
In all these discussions I've not heard one peep abbout the PUC............

Hi Jbox,

Not sure where you've been listening/reading, but right here on this very thread, informed communications to the CPUC have indeed been a very important and valuable part of these discussions.
See Melissa Weaver's above cited link to Sonoma County Supervisor Efren Carillo's excellent letter to the CPUC:
https://emfsafetynetwork.org/wp-conte...er-to-CPUC.pdf

[sharingwisdom]

I just received a letter from PG& E telling me that if I don't call within 30 days to make an appointment to install their SmartMeter equipment, that future bills for my service will be estimated because their meter readers will no longer be doing their job in my area. This is most likely in direct recourse to the fact that I called them and Wellington about a week and half ago to say I didn't want them on my property to install the SmartMeter. When I called PG & E, the rep had told me to call Wellington when I asked about the "no install" list. Wellington said that they would take down my address and report it back to PG& E. Is anyone else getting letters like this? Any suggestions around this?

[Runningbare]

I just received a letter from PG& E telling me that if I don't call within 30 days to make an appointment to install their SmartMeter equipment, that future bills for my service will be estimated because their meter readers will no longer be doing their job in my area. This is most likely in direct recourse to the fact that I called them and Wellington about a week and half ago to say I didn't want them on my property to install the SmartMeter. When I called PG & E, the rep had told me to call Wellington when I asked about the "no install" list. Wellington said that they would take down my address and report it back to PG& E. Is anyone else getting letters like this? Any suggestions around this?

Don't understand why you want to get "around this", since your goal is already pretty well accomplished. PG&E has no desire to confront you on your property, nor does Wellington. All they want is for you to keep paying the bills. Since they're about to fire all the meter readers, the only way they can bill you is to estimate your usage based on past readings. Estimated bills will become the default billing "system" in the absence of smartmeters.
Nonetheless, it probably wouldn't hurt to make your requests/demands redundant by calling the schmart meter hotline at 866-743-0263--NOT to make an appointment for installation of schmart meter equipment--but to formally reiterate that you don't want the equipment installed, period. Ask for Ryan Halsey at the hotline; I have found him to be the most helpful, cooperative, and understanding.
He will relay your wishes in writing--or confirm that they've already been sent--to both PG&E and Wellington.
And while you've got him on the line, ask him when they're going to extend the moratorium from Occidental and Sebastopol to the rest of Sonoma County?

Ron

[SageOwl]

This is similar to my experience around this issue, but I have not received a letter yet, saying that PG&E will have to estimate my bills. I did receive a letter about two weeks ago saying that the smart meters were going to be installed within the next few weeks. I immediately did what Melissa Weaver suggested and called PG&E to ask to be placed on the "last to install" list. I told them I actually did not want the smart meter at all because the meter is right outside of my bedroom. The young woman I talked to had never heard of the list, & told me that I could not "opt out," but took my info so that she could let somebody know that I did not want the smart meter. ??? I have no idea what they will do with that info.

I then emailed Melissa with news of my conversation with PG&E; she suggested I call Wellington Energy, which is installing the meters and let them know about my conversation with PG&E. Before I could do that, another person called me from PG&E and tried to reassure me that studies have shown that these meters release a minimal amount of EMFs and RFs so therefore, they're safe. I mentioned how we are all being bombarded with all kinds of energy that we weren't 10 years ago & what is happening in Europe and elsewhere, how many countries and communities are not installing because of real concerns. I also told him that there have been more studies that have shown a problem with this than not, at least in Europe. I don't think he believed me. He sounded like a regular guy who had no PR experience; he was somewhat awkward talking about it.

Right after I talked to the PG&E guy, I called Wellington & talked to a guy; what he told me is that my "order" for the smart meter was returned to PG&E. He had no more info to give me pro or con about the meters. It sounded like he was in a call center because I could hear a lot of people talking in the background. He told me that there is no "official" last to install list, but that whoever asked to be on this list would have their request go back to PG&E and they will "deal with" us, whatever that means.

I don't think PG&E was at all prepared for resistance to the smart meters, or, as my cynical side thinks-they figured they would just do whatever they wanted regardless of what the people want. They have done this ever since the beginning so this idea is not far-fetched.

I'm wondering what's so hard about estimating bills? Why can't we be taught how to read our own meters and report that to PG&E? The city of Santa Rosa has had me do that a couple of times when we had problems, which turned out to be a leak in our irrigation system. And isn't it obvious that a bunch of meter-readers are going to lose their jobs? What's so hard about keeping some of them on the job to read the meters that haven't been "updated" (their words) to a smart meter? I sure don't want to contribute to people losing their jobs yet every household that allows these meters to be installed will be doing just that. Just what our local economy needs right now--more people on unemployment.

I don't know what my next steps will be, but I'm good at speaking truth to power and asking uncomfortable questions of people who work at companies like PG&E. I have often gotten what I wanted or needed just by stating my preferences and asking for it. Ahh.....the power of no, thank you!

I just received a letter from PG& E telling me that if I don't call within 30 days to make an appointment to install their SmartMeter equipment, that future bills for my service will be estimated because their meter readers will no longer be doing their job in my area. This is most likely in direct recourse to the fact that I called them and Wellington about a week and half ago to say I didn't want them on my property to install the SmartMeter. When I called PG & E, the rep had told me to call Wellington when I asked about the "no install" list. Wellington said that they would take down my address and report it back to PG& E. Is anyone else getting letters like this? Any suggestions around this?

[mweaver]

The EMF Safety Network was at the S. Rosa Farm Market on Saturday educating people about Smart Meters and asking people to sign the petition at www.emfsafetynetwork.org requesting a moratorium on Smart Meters in Sonoma County and fwd petition to everyone you know. (If you haven't already signed the petition, please do so and forward to your friends-any visitor, worker or resident of So. Cty. can sign).

A woman walked up to our booth who was already passionate about the SM issue and stated that her father was a retired PG&E employee (who developed a distaste for the utility over the years). She and he wanted to bring to everyone's attention that it's not only the meter readers who are losing their jobs. It's also the 100's and 1000's of other folks who work in:

Vehicle maintenance, Equipment Maintenance and Purchase, Uniforms, Technicians who show up to shut off/on power when you move out or upgrade service. She also rattled off a few other positions - these are the ones I remember.

On another note, PG&E finally responded to 38 questions the EMF Network presented to them over 2 months ago which we were expecting them to answer at the Sebastopol City Council meeting last month. One portion at the beginning of their report states:

"customers are already benefitting from the cost savings realized from the reduced cost of reading meters even before the full network has been installed".

Several pages later when asked how many meter readers will be on State Unemployment, they state:

"We anticipate none. We have been successful in placing 80% of these PG&E employees in new positions and helping others to retire after decades of service. We value our employees and have been working closely with them to keep them with the company in other positions."

!!!!! Please someone, educate me, where are the cost savings here?

This last statement is also a blatant lie - many people I have talked to have told me that they have learned first-hand from their meter reader that they will be losing their job when the system is complete in their work zones. My single mother meter reader told me she will be receiving $428/week if Sebastopol meters eventually get deployed, and doesn't know how she and her son will continue to survive. After I questioned her she told me that other meter readers she personally knows will also be losing their jobs after meters are installed in their respective work areas. She (and most probably her co-workers) also want a moratorium on Smart Meters in Sonoma County!

Has anyone else talked to their meter reader about future employment?

[Sasu]

If anyone is interested in reading the questions we sent to PG&E here they are:

EMF Safety Network Smart Meter Questions

and they finally sent their answers:

PG&E Answers to EMF Safety Network’s Smart Meter Questions
https://emfsafetynetwork.org/wp-cont...nsanswered.pdf

We plan to compile a list of response questions soon.

Sandi
EMF Safety Network

[2Bwacco]

It has been my understanding that the meters with dials CAN be read by the homeowner/renter, you just have to ask PG&E. I think they periodically come out to make sure the readings are accurate.

I'm considering writing to a high-ranked PG&E official to ask them to come to Sonoma County and talk to us all about this.

Ratepayers in the Bakersfield area are suing PG&E over these meters. It seems as though PG&E may want to proceed more carefully as they expand with this technology lest they incur additional lawsuits.

[Runningbare]

Overview on Schmart Grid:

Smart Grid: The Implementation of Technocracy?

[2Bwacco]

This morning NBC's Today Show did a story on a family who decided to try implementing the "Smart Home" concept (the SmartMeter is only one part of this idea -- the electrical component).

For upwards of $1,000 they had a security system installed with cameras -- so they could see by video their children entering the home -- and be texted an announcement of this entry (probably anyone entering the home expected or not similar notification) -- they could ARM/DISARM the security system remotely -- a hacker probably could do that too -- they had a keyless Schlage lock installed on the front door.

The electrical usage could be monitored/changed remotely (again, hackers love to tinker!).

What the family reported after these changes and "upgrades" that they did not use the technology very much. The only thing they appreciated was the monitoring of their children. [Seems to me loving, obedient children could take the time to contact (or text) their parents to say, "Hi mom/dad! I'm home!]

[spam1]

T [Seems to me loving, obedient children could take the time to contact (or text) their parents to say, "Hi mom/dad! I'm home!]

From the age of 13 on children are biologically programmed to ignore their parents. Sometime around the child's age of 17 or 18, parents are biologically programmed to be fed up and kick them out (or hope they go away from college). As with any biological organism the standard deviation is large and anecdotal stories to the contrary typically reflect the 3 sigma points.

[2Bwacco]

March 11, 2010, 11 p.m., tune your TVs to channel 5 for Anna Werner's investigative report:

"SmartMeter rebels" - Vallejo - a man is taking a stand to not have "one of those" things / meters installed on his house!

The website cbs5.com has some other stories on SmartMeters by Anna Werner, investigative reporter.

More Bay Area Complaints About PG&E Smart Meters - cbs5.com

* * * * *

When PG&E contaminated the groundwater supply in Hinkley with hexachromium ... and hundreds of customers were poisoned, their bodies overrun with cancerous tumors, PG&E did its best to cover up their acts and deny the events.

Let's not allow PG&E to do the same here: the SmartMeters have been demonstrated to overcharge customers, sometimes the contractors install the meters improperly, house fires occurred that could be attributed to the SmartMeters. All real events that can be studied.

Don't let PG&E say, oh, you're just afraid of the EMFs and that's not real, it doesn't really hurt you.

PG&E needs to do further work to guarantee the accuracy of the meters, safety in their implementation in homes, and honor customers' wishes.

We are the customers here: we don't have to buy PG&E's electricity. We can opt out.

[sharingwisdom]

This morning, though I could not be connected to Ryan Halsey as suggested, I did speak with a very nice rep, Brigette. She heard my concerns, that I'm basically being threatened with estimated increased bills if I don't allow PG& E to install their privacy invasion meters. I told her that our county supervisor, Efren, had told us to ask to be on the "last to install list" and the protocol that I went through between calling PG &E and Wellington with the letter I received from PG & E after. She agreed that I had gone through the proper protocal and there was no Opt Out. I told Brigette that I was willing to read my own meters until this issue was resolved. She wrote up what I said to be able to give this to another rep who deals more specifically with my concerns on Monday. She also put on her note about the question of extending the moratorium to Santa Rosa. If you or anyone else has suggestions in what else to put forth in talking on Monday to PG&E again, please let me know.

Don't understand why you want to get "around this", since your goal is already pretty well accomplished. PG&E has no desire to confront you on your property, nor does Wellington. All they want is for you to keep paying the bills. Since they're about to fire all the meter readers, the only way they can bill you is to estimate your usage based on past readings. Estimated bills will become the default billing "system" in the absence of smartmeters.
Nonetheless, it probably wouldn't hurt to make your requests/demands redundant by calling the schmart meter hotline at 866-743-0263--NOT to make an appointment for installation of schmart meter equipment--but to formally reiterate that you don't want the equipment installed, period. Ask for Ryan Halsey at the hotline; I have found him to be the most helpful, cooperative, and understanding.
He will relay your wishes in writing--or confirm that they've already been sent--to both PG&E and Wellington.
And while you've got him on the line, ask him when they're going to extend the moratorium from Occidental and Sebastopol to the rest of Sonoma County?

Ron

[mweaver]

for all you frustrated people trying to contact PG&E about being put on a "DO NOT INSTALL" or "LAST TO INSTALL" list, this phone number/contact was fwded to me from Sabrina Krauss on 03-11-10:

For your info and records, I just got a phone call from a local PG&E rep, Craig Kennedy, who can be reached at 707-577-7097. He confirmed with me that he'd put me on a list of last to install, like about a year from now, till everything shakes out with supervisor meetings, etc. He's very aware of all the controversy, as he lives here locally and has worked for PG & E for about 35 years. He was approachable and friendly sounding. ~ Sabrina

[2Bwacco]

March 11, 2010, CBS channel 5, 11 pm news, Anna Werner is doing a story on "SmartMeter Rebels" a man from Vallejo is refusing to let the meter be installed...

In the meantime, the cbs5.com web site has Anna Werner's past stories on the SmartMeter. One customer's bill went from $80 to over $300. Another's bill was $1100.

Since these meters are automated, we do not know what they are doing. Let's say the meter transmitted usage at 11:56 p.m., then again at 11:58 p.m. because it didn't get a "proper" read back that the transmitted data was received... who really knows???

[sharingwisdom]

I spoke with Craig Kennedy this morning. He's just doing his job to espouse company rhetoric, philosophy and policies...typical of representing a monopoly or any big corporation. When I explained my position (electro-magnetic radiation, privacy invasion, possible hacking, forced appliance coordination with Smart meters, price increases, job layoffs and defected meters) as well as the information about Sebastopol and Occidental having a moritorium on smart meters, he said:


1. There is no moritorium...that Sebastopol and Occidental are being installed now.
2. The employees knew two years ago and were offered better positions because meter readers are entry level. There were no layoffs.They have had temporary meter readers now and that they were going to either progress them or help them find other suitable employment through referrals. (*Basically this is a company line that they would give recommendation letters.) That this whole program is about not using so many trucks to read all the millions of meters so this is how they are being "green".
3. No comment about negative effects of electro-magnetic radiation or privacy invasion in having RFID chips reading our personal information through the meters. Rather it was emphasized that if there were outages, PG & E could service better and that customers have been wanting a way to monitor their applicances and use of electricity, and they are complying with those requests.
4. There is and will be no forced or mandatory smart appliance regulations to be connected to the smart meter. [do I believe this...NO!...how many times do monopolies tell you one thing and do another?!]
5. They have had their company and independent 3rd party research companies test the meters where there was problems of unexpected increased usage hikes/price. They found that there wasn't any problems with the smart meters...they ran fine. [I asked if the consumer picked the "independent research company" or PG & E did? Guess who picked it? Not the consumer.]
6. He wouldn't comment on me reading my own meter.
7. I mentioned about the CPUC and he said that they are on good terms and are following within guidelines. CPUC give PG& E the right to come onto our property. Attorney Lee Tien with the Electronic Frontier Foundation says, though, "It's really very clear, both under the Constitution, the 4th Amendment, the privacy of the home is really the most important value."And Tien said those meters could tell the government, even the police, what's going on in your home. "Inside your home is where the government isn't supposed to intrude without some kind of a warrant usually. And yet when this data is flowing freely outside your home, then the information gets outside that protected boundary and you start to have a problem."


So with all this, I was able to get on a deferral list which means that in 6- 12 months, I'll get another notice about installing it with little recourse unless more congress people get involved (My surmissing of the situation). Sen. Dean Florez, D-Shafter, who has been complaining about the SmartMeters since last summer when he began hearing complaints from constituents from Fresno to Bakersfield, said PG&E has not been honest with its customers about SmartMeters. https://fresnobeehive.com/opinion/2010/02/bay_area_now_complaining_about.html
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for all you frustrated people trying to contact PG&E about being put on a "DO NOT INSTALL" or "LAST TO INSTALL" list, this phone number/contact was fwded to me from Sabrina Krauss on 03-11-10:

For your info and records, I just got a phone call from a local PG&E rep, Craig Kennedy, who can be reached at 707-577-7097. He confirmed with me that he'd put me on a list of last to install, like about a year from now, till everything shakes out with supervisor meetings, etc. He's very aware of all the controversy, as he lives here locally and has worked for PG & E for about 35 years. He was approachable and friendly sounding. ~ Sabrina