Victorian Energy Minister to commission a “safety audit” to “show once and for all that smart meters are safe”
Watch the almighty spin on this one! Note that the supposed safety audit is being done “to show once and for all that smart meters are safe”. So, the ‘brief’ given to the supposed independent third party is set. Show that smart meters are safe. FULL STOP. This is how science works in Victoria nowadays. Who can safely be relied upon to do this preordained white washed research for the government? Obviously the folks at ACEBR or the Bioelectromagnetics group at Swinbourne University, both with a proven track record, assisted by Telstra of course.
I certainly will be following this one closely…….
Don
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From Stop Smart Meters Australia:
3AW News Talk radio
Minister signals energy overhaul
Posted by: 3AW Radio | 29 January, 2014 – 12:24 PM
Nick Kotsiras, Victoria’s Energy Minister, is making sweeping changes to the billing system that will likely spark some tension with the power industry. He also told Neil Mitchell that he plans to commission a top-to-bottom, independent safety audit to determine whether smart meters pose any health risks to the public.
Mr Kotsiras says the situation surrounding power bills is a “mess” and he is going to take drastic steps to fix it. Under the current system, if energy companies fail to send you a power bill for 12 months the retailer can only charge you for nine months’ worth of energy. But in a radical shake up of the system, Mr Kotsiras is going to change that figure to three months. “If retailers can’t get their act together, then they can only charge three months of payments.””Hopefully that will [bring about] change.”
Mr Kotsiras also wants to tackle the definition of “fixed-term” contracts to ensure customers aren’t stung by unexpected price increases. “The term ‘fixed contract’ to you and I would mean that the price and retail tariff does not change during the life of the contract. “But there’s small print that says the price can change. So I am going to make sure that the term ‘fixed’ contract is only for those contracts that does not allow the price or retail tariff to increase during the term of the contract.”
Meanwhile, the minister said many people remained unconvinced about the safety of smart meters.In a recent review, 69 per cent of the public’s concerns with smart metres were health related, prompting the department to call for a third-party safety audit. “I’ve asked the department to commission a safety audit on smart meters and I’ll make that report publicly available.”We are getting a third party – not government – to work out whether there are any health risks associated with smart meters. “This has been done before by ESV [Energy Safe Victoria],” he added, “but people are still not convinced. “I think the best way forward is to get a third party to do the audit and show once and for all that smart meters are safe.”
LISTEN: Nick Kotsiras says people don’t trust politicians so a third-party audit into smart meters is needed.
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