Consumers can opt-out of Hydro-Québec’s smart-meter program – at a price
SO, Hydro-Quebec is to go ahead with its controversial smart meter roll-out and simply dismiss the health effects issue even though their pseodo-science can easily be shown to be false. See the previous message on this list
The only good news here is that at least Hydro-Quebec has provided an opt-out option. Smart move on the part of Hydro-Quebec. They hope that by providing an opt-out, the opposition will vanish as these concerned people cough up the extra money in order to avoid a smart meter on their homes – and then shut up.
However, at the very least, how will Hydro-Quebec handle the very real possibility of illness from thousands of consumers who will have a smart meter mounted close to their bedheads? (See slide 22 of Tom Wilson’s powerpoint in last message). In Victoria, Australia, this situation is now becoming a reality for many Victorians with a new shiny smart meter mounted externally on a bedroom wall.
In my opinion this is shaping up to be a “perfect storm” for an avalanche of EMF illness that will soon be at plague proportions with the roll-out of smart meters.
Don Maisch
**************************************************************************************************************************
From André Fauteux:
Consumers can opt-out of Hydro-Québec’s smart-meter program – at a price
http://www.montrealgazette.com/business/Consumers+Hydro+Québec+smart+meter+program+price/7352338/story.html
MONTREAL – Hydro-Québec can go ahead with its controversial smart-meter program but consumers can opt-out “” if they pay for the privilege “” the province’s energy board said in rulings released Friday.
The Régie de l’énergie said it carefully considered “voluminous evidence” tendered during 20 days of hearings before allowing the utility to proceed with the first phase of a $1-billion venture. The project is “not without risk, particularly in terms of project costs, efficiencies and anticipated technologies” so the board asked Hydro-Québec to produce regular reports on the subject. As to health risks, the board concluded that the radio-frequency emissions generated by the wireless meters is “much less intense than those emitted by a cellphone.”
That finding, along with a review of evidence tendered during the hearings and material from public health authorities about the impact of RF emissions on health, led the board to conclude the meters do not post a health danger.
Various public interest groups opposed to the project participated in the hearings and submitted reports, testimony from experts and written arguments to the board. Key issues were cost, health issues and privacy concerns. Hydro-Québec customers who wish to opt-out of the smart-meter program have to notify the utility in writing, pay $137 to have a mechanical meter installed and pay a monthly fee of $17 to cover the cost of meter-reading. The first phase of the project involves the replacement of 1.7 million meters and the installation of new infrastructure in the greater Montreal region between 2012 and 2014. The cost of Phase 1 is $440.5 million, the board said. Immediate advantages of the wireless meter system include having fast and precise information about power outages and billing information based on real consumption not estimated consumption. And meters will no longer have to be read manually by meter-readers.
The board’s decisions can be accessed on its website: www.regie-energie.qc.ca.
Among the suppliers participating in Hydro-Québec’s move to a wireless metering system are Landis+Gyr and the German-based Elster, along with Rogers Communications Inc.