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Additional Titles

'SMART' METER OPT OUT FOR TEXAS: UNACCEPTABLE

 

 

By: Devvy
December 25, 2012
NewsWithViews.com

Regular readers of my column know my husband and I and a large group of Texans have been fighting installation of 'smart' meters for more than a year. If you haven't read my columns on this fight, they are at this link along with other important information.

Here in Texas, intellectually lazy "reporters" have covered our battle using clever word smithing. In the column below it's to build a consensus that those who want to keep their analog meter aren't very smart:

Houston Chronicle: State may let some folks keep their dumb old meters.

See what I mean? Well, I don't want a meter that's dumb! I'm keeping my 'smart' meter even though I don't even know what the heck one is, I'll follow the herds!

On Thursday, Dec. 13, 2012, the Texas PUC held another one of their conferences.

Those oh-so-benevolent PUC commissioners apparently are committed (due to the massive pressure from we the people) to formulate rules for a buy out for the power companies and TDSPs called an opt out. Even though they would never admit it, an opt out is actually music to the ears of the power companies and TDSPs (Transmission Distribution Service Providers who install the meters). The only thing companies like ONCOR and CenterPoint care about is money.

More than six million of those dangerous meters have now been installed in the State of Texas. The push is on to complete full "deployment" because the power companies and TDSPs know what's coming as far as an opt out. They're banking on the fact that most Texans have no idea what a 'smart' meter is other than being given some door hanger informing them this great new meter they just installed is going to do wonders and save them all kinds of money. Because the majority of people in this state have no information about how dangerous they are to humans, animals and the environment, as well as privacy issues, the TDSPs and power companies are betting the number of people requesting an opt out will be tiny.

In February and March of this year, the author of HB 2129, Rep. Dennis Bonnen, wrote a letter to the Texas PUC Commissioners. He is a mighty unhappy camper. In his letter he specifically says it was never the intention of the legislation to force those meters on anyone.

Think that made any difference to ONCOR, CenterPoint and the other TDSPs? Not a chance. As they have been doing for years, their employees climb over people's fences, cut locks on gates and sneak onto people's property who have notified them by certified mail they do not want a 'smart' meter. The three PUC commissioners have allowed it to continue, as well as the corporate thuggery by the TDSPs. You can see in response to our first petition from CenterPoint, page 5, they bring up HB 2129:

"The legislature has clearly expressed its intent that digital metering networks should be implemented as rapidly as possible. In 2005, the legislature passed HB 2129, urging the adoption of digital meter technology throughout Texas as a means to increase reliability, promote energy conservation, and enable customer choice...

"The 2005 legislation "require[d] the Public Utility Commission (PUC) to develop a plan for deployment of smart meter networks ...." Two years later, HB 3693 "[e]xpressed the intent of the legislature that net metering and advanced meter data networks be deployed as rapidly as possible."' After studying the issue in depth, the legislature concluded that rapid deployment of digital meter systems is the most effective method of achieving the twin goals of "energy efficiency and conservation in Texas."

In that document it talks about we petitioners having had numerous opportunities to attend workshops at the PUC while the rule making was going on regarding deployment of those meters. I didn't live in this state in 2005 for one thing. Second, seven years later and most Texans still don't know what those meters are other than being told they have no choice but to have one installed on their home.

HB 2129 has exactly one sentence in the bill relating to 'smart' meters and the word used is encouraged. Not mandatory. The very arrogant PUC Chairman, Donna Nelson, used the same language when she testified in Congress, September 8, 2011: "State legislation has encouraged the implementation of advanced metering by directing the Texas PUC to establish a cost recovery mechanism for utilities that deploy smart meters and related networks."

The TDSPs smelled hundreds of millions of dollars out of the District of Criminals and future big bux because of the way billing would be structured, which incidentally, has caused people's bills to skyrocket. Texans Demand Freedom From Smart Meters: “The ‘smart’ meters will not save the consumer any money, since he will be subjected to higher time of day based rates and to interruption of his use of appliances. The meters will not reduce the amount of electricity a customer uses nor will it result in any savings.”

The TDSPs decided to force those meters on homes (I still don't have one) despite strenuous objection by home owners. As a result, people all over this state are suffering very real and deleterious health problems that won't go away. Serious health problems running up more health care costs. People are unable to enjoy good health because of greed. Some can't work because they are so sensitive to electromagnetic frequency radiation pulsing all around them.

Our attorney filed an appeal in State District Court in Austin. We are waiting for appointment of a trial judge and then David will get down to the business of all the pre trial conferences. If our appeal for a full public hearing with an administrative law judge is denied, we will go to the Texas Supreme Court. If they deny us, that path ends.

But, while the wheels of justice turn slowly, we are also going to sue the power companies and TDSPs for fraud as well as other legal issues. Thelma Taormina and I are putting together documents our attorney needs to file that lawsuit, which I hope will be filed the first quarter of 2013. There is another lawsuit I'm hoping we can file around the same time as the fraud lawsuit. I will be specific on that one later.

A third one is to sue the manufacturers, power companies, TDSPs and several other entities lower on the pecking order under the consumer protection safety laws. That takes one or two large law firms as class action lawsuits are costly up front for them. I am contacting law firms. This is no different than the class action lawsuit over VIOXX that killed more than 28,000 Americans before the ghouls at the Federal Death Administration (FDA) pulled it off the market. They should have gone to prison along with the the CEO of Merck.

Anyone else who sold a product that killed over 27,000 people would not have avoided prison time. But, those of us who have done research and kept up with what the FDA does know they are nothing more than pimps for the big pharmaceutical companies protected by the prostitutes in Congress who receive bushels of campaign money from them. If the FDA says it's safe, I would run in the other direction.

Merck Paid 3,468 Death Claims to Resolve Vioxx Suits - (A $4.85 billion settlement fund)
(Merck also manufactures the deadly HPV vaccine cocktail)
Merck to Plead Guilty, Pay $950 Million in U.S. Vioxx Probe (Criminal misdemeanor charge)

In the same CenterPoint's link above, they whine about the cost of an opt out running millions of dollars; pg 22. Additionally, CenterPoint then wants to scare the homeowner about the cost of an opt out: "Based on a preliminary analysis, as shown below, CenterPoint Houston estimates that the initial monthly charges to optout customers could range anywhere from $25 a month to over $300 a month per customer, depending upon how many customers chose to opt out of the digital meter program."

Several states like Maine and California have opt out provisions and rate payers pay through the nose. None of that is acceptable to us. Those Texans who were threatened with termination of power if they didn't let ONCOR or CenterPoint install a 'smart' meter are now to be fleeced because the TDSPs over stepped their authority by ignoring the intent of HB 2129? I don't think so. It is a form of extortion and I believe one could make a case under the Fourteenth Amendment for equal protection under the law.

An opt out is nothing more than a Band Aid. A person can opt out, but if they are surrounded by 5,000 of those meters transmitting every 15 seconds, it will not stop the damage to their body. Only until you do the research as so many of us have, in my case more than 500 hours, one really can't comprehend just how dangerous those 'smart' meters are and why they must be banned in this country.

The power companies and TDSPs in this state have relied on a couple of "expert" reports. Believe me, they cherry pick the same as the big pharma houses to get what they need for some governmental agency's approval. All the scientists, experts and physicians world wide who are against 'smart' meters are all wrong according to the power companies and TDSPs. Only their couple of sources are credibile. They really do think we are stupid.

We are not giving up and we are not going away. The PUC may throw the peasants a few scraps from their table, but we're not going to dine. This war is no fun, believe me. We have so many issues we're fighting coming out of the Outlaw Congress and bills we're trying to get through our state legislature. But, we have no choice. We fight.

In my first three columns you will find links to credible scientific research and opinions by doctors (link at top of column). The Internet is awash with You Tube clips. It's difficult to print out everything and that's why I want to tell you about a new documentary we should all support: Take Back Your Power: The "Smart" Meter Agenda Unveiled. It's a badly needed documentary so that anyone in any state can give it to their state representative so they can see why those meters must be banned. We must continue to stress to our legislatures that their health and their family's health are also at risk. They're not exempt from the harmful radiation emissions just because they serve in the legislature.

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Our nation is being blanketed with dirty electricity that IS detrimental to all of us and future generations. That's not hyperbole on my part. This is very serious stuff. I made a small donation to help get the above documentary finished. I hope you will, too. If everyone gives a little for something that benefits us all, the project gets completed. You can make a donation on line or as I did via snail mail: Redfive Marketing, PO Box 621, Gibsons, BC, Canada, V0N 1V0. The good folks in Canada are fighting just like we are here in the U.S.

The 'smart' meter is only part of the story. There's a bigger agenda: the 'smart' grid. A clear and present danger to all of us, which I will cover in an upcoming column.

Important Links:

1- Looming Health Crisis: Wireless Technology and the Toxification of America
Excellent, short book:
2- Dirty Electricity - Electrification and the Diseases of Civilization
3- Toronto Hospital is First to Recognize Symptoms from Wireless Radiation
4- Smart Meters Blow Appliances
5- Smart Meter and Electromagnetic Radiation: Another Health Crisis Of Our Time
6- No More Privacy: Smart Meters Are Surveillance Devices That Monitor
The Behavior In Your Home Every Single Minute Of Every Single Day
7- Automated smart meter reading systems make life easy for intruders
8- Did Utilities and Meter Makers Just Admit Responsibility for Fires?
9- Short video: Smart meter fires explained
10- Opposition grows
11- Health Experts from 20 Countries Caution About Smart Meter Risks
12- Food Safety Act And The Federal Death Administration
13- The FDA Has Blood on Its Hands (VIOXX)

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