Residents Fight to Stop Additional “Smart” Meter Deployment in Their State; Request Letters for Utility Commission

By B.N. Frank

Opposition to utility “smart” meters (electric, gas, and water) has been ongoing in the U.S. and worldwide since companies started deploying them over ten years ago. Reported issues have led to lawsuits (see 1, 2, 3) and inspired a documentary film. Costs associated with these controversial devices are often passed onto customers as well (see 1, 2).

Utilities encourage and/or force consumers to accept “smart” meters in order to remotely control and/or ration energy use (see 1, 2) as well as collect consumer usage data 24/7 to sell and/or share with 3^rd parties including police departments. Proponents maintain that “smart” meters are essential for “energy efficiency” despite reports and studies that have proven otherwise (see 1, 2). They ignore the numerous significant and sometimes life-threatening issues associated with these meters – billing errors, cybersecurity risks, explosions, fires (see 1, 2, 3, 4), harmful radiation emissions, higher bills, installation mishaps, mechanical issues, and short life spans. In New Mexico, residents have renewed their efforts to stop more deployment and are asking people everywhere to submit letters of consideration to the state’s utility commission.

From Arthur Firstenberg with Cell Phone Task Force:

NEW MEXICO’S CITIES HAVE
NO SMART
METERS
HELP US KEEP IT THAT WAY!

In 2017, after two years of proceedings, we kept smart meters out of many of New Mexico’s cities, including Albuquerque, Rio Rancho, Santa Fe, Las Vegas, Silver City, Lordsburg, Deming, Alamogordo, Ruidoso, and Tularosa. In an unusual show of cooperation, all of the public, private, and governmental entities participating in the proceedings listened to and supported one another in fighting for and securing the right of the people to their health and safety in their homes and communities.

The Attorney General of New Mexico; the City of Albuquerque; Western Resource Advocates; New Mexico Industrial Energy Consumers; Coalition for Clean Affordable Energy; Citizens for Fair Rates and the Environment; the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local Union No. 61; New Mexicans for Utility Safety (that’s us); and the staff of the Public Regulation Commission were unanimous in opposing smart meters. As a result, PNM’s application for smart meters was defeated.

Now, five years later, PNM (Public Service Company of New Mexico) is back, reapplying for smart meters in our state. The Gen 5 Itron Riva meters it wants to install this time are designed to be part of a 5G network and a “Distributed Intelligence Web”. New Mexico has passed a new Grid Modernization Statute allowing public utilities to apply for smart meters. But among the criteria for approval is that the application must be “reasonable” and that smart meters must “provide customer protection.” Meters that damage customers’ health and the environment are neither reasonable nor protective.

You can help us defeat PNM’s new application and preserve New Mexico as a refuge and an example to the world of what the people can do to protect our health and environment. 300,000 people worldwide subscribe to my newsletters. If thousands of you write to the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission, that will have an impact. The public is specifically entitled to submit comments in any proceeding under the PRC’s rules.

Smart meters consume energy. Smart meters emit radiation and cause all the wiring in your home to emit radiation. Smart meters cause fires and explosions. Smart meters are hackable. Smart meters invade your privacy. Smart meters are inaccurate and raise your electric bills.

We ask everyone, worldwide, to please email the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission telling them your experience after a smart meter was installed on your home.

Tell them how it has affected your health.
Tell them how it has affected the animal, bird, and insect life on your property and in your community.
Tell them how it has affected your utility bills.
And if your smart meter caused a fire, of course include that.

Or, if you were able to opt out and keep your old meter, tell them your observations of the effect of smart meters on the health of your neighbors and community.

Write to: New Mexico PRC <[email protected]>. Write “Case No. 22-00058-UT” in the Subject line.

Be sure to also send a copy to me at [email protected].

New Mexico is one of the last two states in the US — Connecticut is the other one — where an investor-owned electric utility has not deployed smart meters. We want to keep New Mexico that way — an example to the world of what is possible, and a lower-radiation refuge for those who need one.

Thank you for your help!

Arthur Firstenberg
President, Cellular Phone Task Force
Author, The Invisible Rainbow: A History of Electricity and Life
Administrator, International Appeal to Stop 5G on Earth and in Space
Caretaker, ECHOEarch.org (End Cellphones Here On Earth)

P.O. Box 6216
Santa Fe, NM 87502
USA

[email protected]

The last 50 newsletters, including this one, are available for viewing on the Newsletters page of the Cellular Phone Task Force. To subscribe, go to www.cellphonetaskforce.org/subscribe.

Due to all the complaints about “Smart” Meters, some North American utilities offer “opt out” programs for consumers who don’t them. Of course, there are usually fees associated with opting out.

Activist Post reports regularly about “Smart” Meters and other privacy invasive and unsafe technologies. For more information, visit our archives and the following websites: