This website has cataloged an assortment of societal risks involved with the deployment of utility smart meters and reasons why they should either be rolled back or curtailed. The purpose of electric usage meters is to support the delivery of electric utility service to customers. This involves the operation of an infrastructure necessary to transmit electricity from the generation facility to the customer. Period.
Last summer it was reported from various sources that Commonwealth Edison (ComEd) was patrolling Chicago area neighborhoods handing out free ice cream and other treats in order to “start a two-way conversation with customers about smart meters and the benefits they offer.”
More recently it has become apparent that ComEd has begun targeting young children in the marketing of its smart meter products. What is even more surprising is that school officials are evidently allowing ComEd representatives to enter school grounds to play games with the children to help them learn about smart meters and how they purportedly can be used to help save energy and money.
A Wall Street Journal (WSJ) article, “Smart Cities Will Know Everything About You,” published late yesterday exemplifies the epitome of what is wrong with the direction we are headed in terms of implementation of ‘smart grid’ and ‘smart city’ initiatives.
Grid security is at risk according to an article today at GCN which provides information, insight and analysis to the Government IT and Education IT sectors.
“The technical issues that interrupted service for the Wall Street Journal, the New York Stock Exchange and United Airlines on July 8 illustrate how dependent the economy is on technology. As IT staff worked to fix the problems, at least their computers and phones worked, and the lights and AC were on. A failure of the electrical grid, on the other hand, would make the problems at the NYSE look like, well, just glitches.”
On July 7th, 2015, a Federal Judge denied an unreasonable search and invasion of privacy claim in the case of Naperville Smart Meter Awareness (NSMA) v. City of Naperville, thereby condoning Fourth Amendment violations of the U. S. Constitution.
Since 2011, the NSMA group has been attempting to get injunctive relief from the mandatory installation of digital electric smart meters that collect granular energy usage data well in excess of that required for customer billing purposes.
A new study finds that even when accounting for the broader societal benefits of energy efficiency investments, the costs still substantially outweigh the benefits. [1][2]
From the abstract of the study:
“Conventional wisdom suggests that energy efficiency (EE) policies are beneficial because they induce investments that pay for themselves and lead to emissions reductions. However, this belief is primarily based on projections from engineering models.”
According to SmartEnergy GB: “Smart meters will help us get Gaz & Leccy under control.”
Unfortunately, SmartEnergy GB, the organization responsible for promoting the rollout of smart meters in Great Britain has lost its chairperson just weeks after she raised questions on how the government-led program was being run.
In the original story from 2015, I indicated that Oncor was in the process of appealing the ALJ decision. Based upon a Decision and Order dated July 29, 2016, Oncor lost its appeal to a 3-member panel of the NLRB.
“We … find that Reed’s senate testimony concerning smart meters and meter bases heating up and burning more frequently related to (and was spurred by) an ongoing and legitimate concern of the Union about the safety of represented bargaining unit employees working with the meters, particularly given the hazard of electrical arcs. It is not disputed that safety of the new devices to workers was one of the reasons the Union’s attorney informed Reed of the upcoming senate hearing. …
… it is not disputed that during deployment of smart meters, troublemen reported an increase in reported incidents of burned up meter bases because of installation issues, including those resulting from the narrower blades of the smart meters not fitting as well into the meter bases. …
The Board has considered the decision and the record in light of the exceptions and briefs and has decided to affirm the judge’s rulings, findings, and conclusions …”
NLRB July 2016 Decision and Order
Oncor Worker Wrongly Axed For Texas Testimony, NLRB Says
“Law360, Dallas (August 1, 2016, 8:06 PM ET) — Texas utility Oncor must rehire and pay back-salary to a former employee and union member who had testified before state lawmakers about potential safety hazards of advanced utility meters, because that testimony was protected union activity, the National Labor Relations Board held Friday.”
More at: http://www.law360.com/articles/823590/oncor-worker-wrongly-axed-for-texas-testimony-nlrb-says
Original Story at this Website
In November 2014, an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a decision for a case involving Oncor Electric Delivery Company, L.L.C. of Dallas, Texas.
This case involves an Oncor employee who was discharged (including layoff and refusal to hire) for allegedly making untruthful remarks about smart meters causing fires or damage to customers’ homes.
The ALJ decision concluded that Oncor had engaged in unfair labor practices. Oncor was ordered to reinstate the discharged employee and “make him whole for any loss of earnings and other benefits that he suffered as a result of his unlawful discharge.” Oncor is currently in the process of appealing the ALJ decision.
In reviewing an electric utility industry document from 2010, it is quite clear that the industry knew of safety and accuracy issues with smart meters before they were ever manufactured and deployed. The title of the document is “Accuracy of Digital Electricity Meters,” published by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI).
What is so incredible about the document is how strongly it was acknowledged that traditional analog meters were “an amazing of piece of engineering work.”
In a new publication just released from Harvard University, Norm Alster examines how the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is dominated by the industries it presumably regulates. What follows are selected quotations which are organized in a way to effectively create a synopsis version of the original 59-page document. [1]
“Consumer safety, health, and privacy, along with consumer wallets, have all been overlooked, sacrificed, or raided due to unchecked industry influence.” [2]
“The Federal Communications Commission sits at the heart of a bipartisan Washington web of institutional corruption that has for many years championed corporate interests, typically at public expense. Echoing industry, the FCC has ignored the growing evidence that wireless technologies pose serious health risks.” [3]
Smart Grid Awareness 