Supervisor Efren Carillo's letter to CPUC re: Smart Meters

[Sasu]

Supervisor Efren Carillo sent this letter to the CPUC today.





Sandi Maurer
EMF Safety Network

[Barry]

Supervisor Efren Carillo sent this letter to the CPUC today.

Sandi Maurer
EMF Safety Network

Thanks for sharing this with us, Sandi!

And thank you, Efren, for representing the concerns of our community and for organizing the meeting with PG&E.

Barry

[feltonius]

Someone needs to speak up FOR saving energy. We are using up our children's inheritance of stored fuel resources. Smart meters are one way to get people to be aware that they left lights on, their fridge is too old, etc.

I wish this EMF lobby would only have power in proportion to their population. This is too populated an area for someone who is alleging they are sensitive to this stuff. We are only 1 hour from SF. Why anyone would choose to live near all these automatic garage doors and everyone's home wifi hotpots and cell phone towers if they have themselves convinced this stuff is causing their health problems? There is so much EMF free countryside out there. It seems to me choosing to live in the middle of the "danger zone" and trying to sanitize it of EMF against the wills of those of us who do just fine here is unfair considering there IS an alternative. I know moving is expensive and inconvenient, but what is more important than your health, right? If this really was hurting, living here shouldn't really be an option. hmm.

I'm not making fun of anyone. I know a few folks really believe this stuff causes their health problems. I feel it is my right to politely state that I for one do not believe that EMF causes ANY health problems. The proof was in Australia and posted on this bb weeks ago, folks continued to complain for weeks or months after a tower was turned off, they just didn't know that. The "residual effects" argument is a streeeeeetch to fit an existing belief if ever there was one. No scientific mind could accept it. Placebo effect.

I wish good things like free wifi (which would ironically have decreased EMF signal by reducing the number of individually created hotspots) and smart meters (so that all-humanity can begin to turn climate change around) weren't stolen from the majority by this increadibly vociferous and tenacious _handful_ of people.

Efren, you are my representative also. Please count us and decide. You are supposed to have environmental creds. EMF is NOT an environmental issue. Stopping smart meters is not good for conservation. This overcharging stuff sounded like simple paranoia to me. Your letter only objected to the fact that the last to install list is not being used as advertised, so I hold out hope that you don't really believe in these other issues and you didn't "come through" for the EMF safety network as advertised here.

my $0.02 cause I'm still bummed about wifi. what a drag.

[Karl Frederick]

Feltonius, I appreciate your (mostly) considerate tone, though I disagree with much of what you said. A thoughtful community dialogue is not just helpful -- it's essential.

The following link to a previous post of mine describes why the story about the Australian tower does not prove a placebo effect. https://www.waccobb.net/forums/wacco...six-weeks.html

Essentially, a metal tower can act as an antenna to increase the local field strength of electromagnetic energy from other sources, whether its own signal sources are on or off.

While the jury of public opinion is still out, I'll continue to limit my intentional exposure to electromagnetic energy in ways that seem practical. There is an increasing number of research studies showing cause for not taking the health effects issue lightly. Sandi Maurer (Sasu) has posted many of them. Sometimes it just makes sense to be cautious.

I respect your desire to lower energy consumption, and believe that centralized (PG&E) instantaneous monitoring and control of household energy usage is not a desirable way to do that.

I'm not making fun of anyone. I know a few folks really believe this stuff causes their health problems. I feel it is my right to politely state that I for one do not believe that EMF causes ANY health problems. The proof was in Australia and posted on this bb weeks ago, folks continued to complain for weeks or months after a tower was turned off, they just didn't know that. The "residual effects" argument is a streeeeeetch to fit an existing belief if ever there was one. No scientific mind could accept it. Placebo effect.

I wish good things like free wifi (which would ironically have decreased EMF signal by reducing the number of individually created hotspots) and smart meters (so that all-humanity can begin to turn climate change around) weren't stolen from the majority by this increadibly vociferous and tenacious _handful_ of people.
. . . .

[jbox]

Thanks for sharing this with us, Sandi!

And thank you, Efren, for representing the concerns of our community and for organizing the meeting with PG&E.

Barry

OK evidently my previous post was premature, Efren knows about the PUC and acted accordingly. Smart guy!

[2Bwacco]

My home has had a variable time-of-day rate meter in place for at least 20 years...I opt to be aware of my energy usage since it will cost me more under certain circumstances. I do not need PG&E tapping on my shoulder to inform me of that.

Over seven years ago I wondered why they didn't try reading the meters every other month: that would save 50% in wages, fuel for their truck, etc.

Did you-all know that you can read your OWN meter? Yes, it's true! Although with a SmartMeter, methinks that option will be moot.

"Overcharging stuff" is NOT paranoia -- see CBS (KPIX) channel 5's story by investigative reporter. The concerned ratepayer was told by PG&E he was using too much energy (as you just concurred) and it wasn't until someone came to his residence and checked the meter did they find it was installed incorrectly.

These SmartMeters have been installed in other areas around California and the nation. We don't need to reinvent the wheel. Other California ratepayers are suing PG&E. We can learn from those mistakes and not follow in their footsteps.

The seriousness of fire caused by voltage spikes is not an RF or EMF issue; it sounds like an internal control issue which should be taken seriously by PG&E who must guarantee the safety of this technology for ALL HOMES prior to California-wide installations!

From time to time there are fires in transformer vaults - one in San Francisco's downtown where a woman was seriously injured (nearly killed). In my mind there is no excuse for that!

Now PG&E wants to completely modify and "upgrade" the electrical delivery system to a home without informative research or safety review and then stand by and say, hey, it wasn't our fault your house burned down!

...Someone needs to speak up FOR saving energy.
...This overcharging stuff sounded like simple paranoia to me...you don't really believe in these other issues...