Smart Meters - Public Service Commission

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PG&E Installation
” Wow. I just had a hugely unpleasant encounter with a couple of guys from PG&E who wanted to install a
smart meter at my house.
Our family lives just north of the Ukiah city line. These guys showed up at 4 PM, when nobody is home…
usually, but today was an exception.
First, I want to be clear that I have not formed an opinion about smart meters. Part of me suspects that the
“tinfoil hat crowd” here in Mendocino County — known for its tinfoil hat crowd and other local colorful
radicals — has overstated the dangers of smart meters. Don’t get me wrong. I love our old hippies. They our the
county’s historical memory and conscience in many ways. In the past, they’ve led the movements to save our
redwoods, our headwaters, our coasts, our rivers and streams, our open spaces, our family farms, our salmon,
our spotted owls, etc. However, I have wondered does saying no to smart meters fall into the same category as
saving endangered places, plants, and animals?
That’s one part. Another part of me also believes that our environment is already saturated with microwaves,
radio waves, etc., and we don’t know the cumulative effect of so much background radiation on our health.
Medical researchers simply haven’t adequately studied the problem. It would not surprise me in the least, if, 50
years from now, we had an epidemic of brain cancer.
Let’s face it: Smart meters are transmitters, plain and simple. Smart meters are 1-watt transmitters that
transmit energy data over wireless networks. At public hearings conducted by the California Public Utilities
Commission (CPUC), witnesses have testified about serious symptoms, including ringing in the ears, nausea,
and fatigue, after smart meters were installed at their homes. Doctors and a UCSF researcher have also
testified at CPUC hearings about smart meters and their effect on “electrically-sensitive” people. One witness
estimated there are 120,000 electrically-sensitive people living in California alone.
So, call me undecided. That said, the two guys from PG&E sort of snuck up on my property. They parked their
truck at the end of my driveway, instead of parking near the front door. They didn’t ring my doorbell. They
didn’t knock. I did not even know they were on the property, until my dogs started barking.
When I confronted them, I asked who they were. They said they were from PG&E and were installing a smart
meter. In fact, in the minute it took me to react to their presence, they had already started installing it. The
smart reader device was already out of its box.
I told them to stop. I told them that the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors had voted to declare a
moratorium on installing smart meters. They said the moratorium didn’t matter, and that, “Everyone would
end up getting a smart meter whether they wanted one or not.”
I told them to immediately leave my property. They reiterated, “Everyone will get a smart meter whether they
want one or not.” When I then told these two guys, who, incidentally were dressed in matching light brown
uniforms, that my answer was still no, at least for the present time, they told me that our family would be “put
on a list.”
I asked what list? They said, “You know what list…the list of people who are causing us trouble.”
With that statement, I informed these two knuckleheads that I was calling 911 in exactly one minute, and for
good measure I was getting my baseball bat. I told them to scram. They put the smart meter device back in its
box. They threw a pamphlet on my doorstep, and they made haste for their truck.
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4/20