COALITION TO STOP SMART METERS QUESTIONS FIRE CHIEF’S REPORT ON SMART METER SAFETY.
Last week Surrey Fire Chief Len Garis and Dr. Joseph Clare, strategic planning analyst for the Surrey Fire Service, released a 7 page report substantiating BC Hydro’s claim that smart meters do not pose a fire hazard. This report was commissioned by BC Hydro. It was written to address a rash of suspicious fires reported all over the province, most recently in Nanaimo, Port Alberni, Comox, Mission, Coquitlam and Sparwood. These fires occurred shortly after smart meters had been installed.
The authors of the report claim statistics from the Provincial Fire Commissioner’s office support their conclusion that there is no fire hazard.
Sharon Noble, Director of the Coalition to Stop Smart Meters, questions the accuracy of this claim.
“The Fire Commissioner’s office is not able to track smart meter caused fires because there is no code for smart meters.” Noble received an email from The Fire Reporting Systems Officer, Emergency Management British Columbia, saying “there is not an applicable fire code to attach to a smart meter related fire.”
In April, the Coalition circulated a study to every fire chief summarizing fires reported all over the US associated with smart meters. Reports in every jurisdiction identified 2 consistent factors contributing to these fires, both of which exist in BC:
1) Meters are being installed by inexperienced, unqualified persons after having received only 10 days of training. Normally only certified electricians work on electrical meters.
2) According to a number of electrical experts, the meters themselves are inherently dangerous. Components of Smart Meters trip Ground Fault Interrupters and Arc Fault Interrupters, creating a fire hazard. Also, typical home wiring (60 Hz) is not constructed or intended to carry high frequency surges that smart meters produce to signal the usage data to Hydro.
The Coalition calls for a moratorium on installations until there is an independent investigation of the smart meters, one done by experts in electrical engineering who have no affiliation with any agency or company that benefit from this program.
Here is a message received on January 28, 2013, from Gordon Hogg's office, Liberal MLA and Caucus Chair.
"I hope this will help to clarify the confusion regarding the refusal of a smart meter.
Last Wednesday, Minister Coleman advised Gordon that individual home owners, who had NOT YET had a smart meter installed on their home, would not have to have one. BC Hydro may be contacting those "hold outs" one last time, and if you say "no" and do not consent - that is the end of it. You will not be "forced" into having one or be in fear of it being installed when you are not home.
We are still seeking clarification with respect to strata units and multi family buildings as these present a bigger challenge as some may or may not have been installed in the building or complex.
For those home owners who have had a smart meter installed and have an existing medical condition, we are suggesting that they contact BC Hydro smartmeters@bchydro.com (cc to Honorouable Rich Coleman ) and ask that consideration be given to have their smart meter removed. They may also want to copy their MLA on the request.
I hope this provides you with some clarity. Please do not hesitate to contact our office should you have any further questions or concerns or if you continue to have BC Hydro or Corix calling you or coming to your door.
Hydro: B.C. residents who choose to opt out of the conversion OK to do so, but will be subject to new fees
British Columbians opposed to hydro smart meters will be allowed to opt out of the conversion after all, but it will cost them.
Energy Minister Bill Bennett said Thursday that the 60,000 people, or about four per cent of the population, who refused to have the smart meters
installed in their homes because of concerns about possible dangers of high-frequency radio waves can choose to keep their analog readers or have the radio transmitter turned off on their smart meter.
In both, cases there will be monthly fees to read the meters and a onetime installation fee to modify the smart meter to disable the radio frequency.
The fees are subject to review by the B.C. Utilities Commission and haven't been set yet, said ministry spokesman Jake Jacobs.
But a spokeswoman for an antismart meter group called it blackmail.
"It's really coercive," said Una St. Clair of the Citizens for Safe Technology Society. "I will put a smart meter on your home unless you pay
me not to. It's just a ploy to get the remaining smart meters rolled out."
St. Clair, who said she suffers from "electro-sensitivity" that causes her constant headaches and migraines, irregular heartbeat, dizziness, digestive disorders and sleep disturbances, said she's being forced to move to a 40-hectare acreage outside of Metro Vancouver to escape the radio waves from her neighbours' homes.
Bennet t said he made the announcement in response to public concerns about the radio waves, which transmit data to B.C. Hydro computers.
St. Clair said her group is launching a class-action lawsuit against the B.C. government and B.C. Hydro next week.
Smart Meter Class Action Lawsuit Against BC Hydro
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If you have a smart meter and don't want it, if you have an analogue and want to keep it, if you don't want to be charged an extortion fee to keep the meter of your choice, you are eligible to participate in the Smart Meter Class Action Lawsuit. This lawsuit filed against BC Hydro aims to protect the democratic right of each and every person to opt out of the smart meter/smart grid program without any additional fees or charges. In fact, as BC Hydro is including the cost of the smart grid program in their billings, their attempts to charge a fee for people who refuse to participate amounts to double billing, and should be rectified by the issuance of a BC Hydro rebate cheque which returns to the resident the savings realized by refusing the smart meter.
Download the Class Action form, fill it in, then send by regular mail to the address at the bottom of the form along with your donation to cover legal fees. We have already been winning opt out choices for people most notably from our legal intervention and expert testimony at the Fortis Smart Grid Hearing. Let's continue our winning streak and all join together insisting on democratic choice for each and every person, free of any charges for that right.
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