BC Hydro Not Smart Meters

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    There goes the neighbourhood...FACTS aboutSmart Meters mandated tobe installed on your home without your consent

    The Clean Energy Act of May 2010mandates that BC Hydro replace everymeter with a Smart Meter by 2012.Section 17 species that installationcan be done without the consent ofthe owner. There has been no normalprocess or public input. The Act stripsthe BC Utilities Commission o the powerto review the project.

    Electromagnetic radiation (EMR) from Smart Meters is 24/7and is a known public health hazard...

    n Smart meters have been installed in several US states and in

    Ontario. Many people are reporting ill health eects soon ater

    these meters appear. Serious problems, including res

    and voltage spikes which destroy appliances, have been

    reported consistently.

    n BC Hydro is misleading the public. They claim that the signals

    will total 1-5 minutes a day. In act, because the transmissions

    are calculated in milliseconds, this actually means your meter

    can transmit 13,000 times or more per day.

    n BC Hydro has stated that 20 years exposure to a Smart Meter

    is the same as 30 minutes on a cellphone. It appears that BC

    Hydro is comparing whole body average exposure rom Smart

    Meter radiation to peak exposure to the ear or the cellphone.

    One needs to compare apples and apples, or whole body

    exposures to whole body exposures. Comparing the peak

    dose to the ear rom a cell phone, when the rest o the body

    gets vastly less radiation, with a whole body exposure where

    all organs get roughly the same dose rom a Smart Meter,

    doesnt seem appropriate. Dr. Daniel Hirsch, UCSC, states: ...thecumulative whole body exposure rom a Smart Meter at 3 eet

    appears to be approximately two orders o magnitude higher

    than that o a cell phone.

    n Collector hubs and Home Area Network transmissions add

    to the electromagnetic pollution in our home, neighbourhood,

    and natural environment. Youll be receiving constant radiation

    not only rom your own meter, but rom all o your neighbours

    meters as well.

    n BC Hydro misleads again. They say ITRON meters must be

    wireless, and you have no option. YET, the makers o ITRON

    clearly state in their patent and elsewhere that there are other

    options to radiorequency, including wired. Watch ITRONs videoat minute 3:05 to see or yoursel - http://ow.ly/5FUrs

    n Smart Meter EMR exposure is non-consensual. Most EMR

    exposures (i.e. rom household or personal wireless devices)

    are optional. BC Hydro is undemocratically mandating a

    recognized Class 2B Carcinogen be added to your house

    through an essential service.

    Together, its British Columbians like youand me who have the power to stop this.

    Work Sae BC, Workers Compensation Act

    Occupational Health and Saety Regulation

    5.57 (1) I a substance identifed as any o theollowing is present in the workplace, theemployer must replace it, i practicable, with amaterial which reduces the risk to workers:

    (a) ACGIH A1 or A2, or IARC 1, 2A or2B carcinogen

    A Mayors Warningthe ambient electromagnetic and radio

    wave felds that will come as a result o

    having these things at every house running

    constantly is an unoreseen health risk. For

    people who are sensitive to electromagnetic

    radiation, its going to be a l iving nightmare.

    Mayor Lew Tremaine, Fairfax, California

    emrabc.ca citizensforsafetechnology.org stopsmartmetersbc.ca

    BC Hydro started installation July 4, 2011

    The World Health Organization/

    International Agency or Research onCancer (IARC) classifes radiorequencyelectromagnetic felds (RF/EMF) as possiblycarcinogenic to humans (Group 2B).

    Health Canada advises reducing ourexposure to RF/EMF rom cellphones,especially children, and that more researchis needed. Oct 2011(BC Hydro likes to

    compare Smart Meters to cellphones)

    MAY

    201

    1

    OCT2011

    The Public Health Act of British Columbia Bill 23-2008, Section 83 (1):

    A municipality must take actionwhen it learns of something thatcould be harmful to its residents.

    The Union o BC Municipalities (UBCM) voted

    in avour oa moratorium on the mandatory

    installation o wireless smart meters until the major

    issues and problems identifed regarding wireless

    smart meters are independently assessed and

    acceptable alternatives can be made available at no

    added cost to the consumer.

    This vote came shortly ater Energy Minister

    Rich Coleman told the municipal government

    representatives that BC Hydro would be

    proceeding with Smart Meter installation in B.C.,

    regardless o a vote o opposition.

    SEPT201

    1

    Check with your local mayor and council to see if theyvoted to protect the public, as more are doing every day.

    1996

    P L E A S E P A S S T H I S F L Y E R O N T O O T H E R S , I N S T E A D O F D I S P O S I N G . . . T H A N K S !

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    (PG&E is the California equivalent of BC Hydro)

    OTHER ISSUES TO CONSIDER:Increased Consumer Hydro Costs.In Ontario, more than 80% o smart metered homes report signicantlyhigher monthly bills, oten more than 50% higher than prior to smart meterinstallation. In Caliornia many report bills doubling and tripling. This iswithout any change in utilization patterns.

    Hydro says there are no plans to introduce timeo usage billing but their business plan callsor the inrastructure to be ready or July

    2012. See: http://ow.ly/6WWJe

    Questionable Math. BC Hydroclaims that spending $1 billion on smart meterswill save $500 million in electricity thet (dueto grow-ops) over twenty years a business casethat any grade-schooler would question. We cannotaord a program which has no benets and most likelyno cost recovery potential. The meters will need to be replaced in 20 years,around the same time they have been paid or.

    Conservation. No energy is conserved by the meter this is aalse premise. It merely reports usage, as does an analog meter. Unlessthe user is educated on conservation techniques, no reduction in energyconsumption will occur. A better investment would be to educate energyreduction strategies with the current sae, efcient analog meter. Invest inproducts or technology that will urther result in reduced energy use, eg.better insulation, more efcient windows and urnaces, or solar panels. Theseare investments that will generate sae, permanent jobs in our province. Allwireless systems actually throw away energy, and are not green solutions.

    Invasion o Privacy. Meters keep records o personal daily use,recording what appliance is being used and when. Companies in the US havedeclared these records proprietary inormation and have sold it to marketingcompanies, insurers, police and others. Is this inormation you want shared?See this video on privacy issues: http://ow.ly/5FUpH

    Security.Wireless technology is notoriously insecure and can be easily

    hacked into. Hackers can access private inormation, determine by usagepatterns when homes are unoccupied, or even interere with the delivery oelectricity.

    Harmul intererence. Smart meters interere with householdelectrical appliances, even medical devices (ie. pacemakers) and homesecurity systems, oten causing them to malunction or damaging theappliance itsel.

    Saety. Smart meters have exploded and many smart meter-related reshave been reported, most recently a major re in Santa Rosa, Caliornia whereseveral businesses were severely damaged. Several lawsuits are pending inCaliornia.

    The Hidden Agenda.The key reason or smart meters is hugeprots or the inormation and communications technologies sector - IBM,Cisco, General Electric, Oracle, ITRON, etc. The mass installation o Smartmeters is designed to benet corporations, not you. This has nothing to dowith conservation and everything to do with collusion.

    Removal o our Watchdog. B.C. Utilities Commission(BCUC) is the regulatory body with the responsibility to saeguard ourinterests. Yet the Governments Clean Energy Act (2010) exempts the $1billion smart meter program rom BCUCs oversight. BCUC was not allowed toulll its job o reviewing and approving a business plan. Neither were therepublic hearings. The MLAs were given no opportunity to debate the programor to review a cost benet analysis. There is no oversight, no control o this

    major program. The big question is: Why was this billion dollar project madeexempt? (See the Tyee.ca articles on Smart Meters by McMartin/McMillian)

    Health ConcernsElectrohypersensivity (EHS), originally known as microwavesickness, is receiving international recognition as an emergingpublic health problem. The Canadian Human RightsCommission, the Americans with Disabilities Act and ourCanadian Government now recognize EHS as an EnvironmentalSensitivity.

    Surveys in Canada and Europe show that about 3% o peopleare severely sensitive to EMR, and another 35% experiencemoderate to mild sensitivity. This number is increasing steadilyas more wireless devices prolierate our environment. Peopleare getting sickwhen SmartMeters are connected to theirelectrical systems. Symptoms rom SmartMeters reported inOntario and the U.S. include:

    n difculty sleeping/sleep disturbances n headachen dizziness n ear pressure & tinnitus n brain ognmemory problems n difculty concentratingnweakness & atigue n skin burning n agitationn nausea/vomiting n heart palpitations n seizures

    Increasing scientic evidence shows possible long- termsystemic health eects including: cancers, memory impairment,double-strand DNA damage, blood-brain barrier leakage, andmore. emrabc.ca

    Residents o OUR ownneighbourhoods sufer with EHS

    TAKE ACTION!It is urgent that we, as neighbours and parents, all take

    action to protect ourselves and our amilies.

    1. Send a Non-Consent Letter and hang signs on yourmeter and front door! Find the non-consent letter andCorix No Trespassing sign at stopsmartmetersbc.caunder PRINTABLES. See citizensforsafetechnology.org Smart Meter Action Kit or urther inormation.

    2. Call BC HYDRO(1-800-224-9376), choose Billing &Payment Matters. Be patient until you reach a real person,

    then insist that your account be fagged that you do not

    consent to the Installation o a SmartMeter! Conrm with

    an email to [email protected] .

    3. Go to citizensforsafetechnology.org and sign theon-line Petition, and register to volunteer.

    4. Join Coalition: stopsmartmetersbc.ca or urther updates.

    CitizensforSafeTechnology

    Oct14

    ,2011

    emrabc.ca citizensforsafetechnology.org stopsmartmetersbc.ca

    Premier Christy Clark,[email protected]

    Rich Coleman, BC Energy Minister 250-387-5896 [email protected]

    John Horgan, NDP Energy Critic 250-391-2801 [email protected]

    Your MLAand City council members www.civicinfo.bc.ca/11.asp

    Perry Kendall, Prov. Health Ocer 250-952-1330 [email protected]

    Sharon Noble, Director, Coalition to Stop Smart Meters [email protected]

    P L E A S E P A S S T H I S F L Y E R O N T O O T H E R S , I N S T E A D O F D I S P O S I N G . . . T H A N K S !