Ulster legislature endorses smart meter options

“You have no choice whatsoever when it comes to the ‘Smart’ Meter agenda,” Romine notes at his website. “They are being installed/deployed (world-wide) without the utility companies asking permission and without them telling you once they have been installed. Once on your home (or near your home) they are PULSING 24/7 and you CANNOT turn them off. They PULSE while you sleep and they are absolutely causing  serious biological (yes, even at the DNA level) ill health problems — to humans, animals and plant life!”

Romine said that he felt the resolution is a good one, aside from the fact that it is not calling for a ban, as has legislation in other parts of the country, notably in California, which was among the first states selected to receive the new meters and which has even moved to criminalize installations in some parts of the state. At the same time utilities are pushing for legislation to limit their liabilities for damages caused by replacement meters.

“According to our Legislative attorney, a county does not have any jurisdiction to regulate smart meters,” said county legislator Wishnick, who served on the committee that fashioned the county resolution. “In New York, that power was given to the Public Service Commission. To address this, the Environment, Energy and Technology Committee decided to support, through resolution, the enactment of pending state legislation (with a request for a more inclusive definition of smart meters) to require the PSC to create opt out provisions.”

Gregorius, who termed the bill a realistic “beginning,” added that future county action would be reviewed by the Environmental Energy Commission which is subject to membership change in January.

Seeking to preserve control

A choice to refuse a “smart” meter without having a utility turning off home power is one aspect of a much larger issue facing consumers and legislators. Not only the precise nature of the technology involved but the entire paradigm of who controls the energy is a rapidly rising subject of debate as the question of locally and regionally controlled micro-grids opens a wide range of possibilities with numerous positive points. An entire sub-industry has emerged to assist municipalities in managing their own local systems using renewable sources of “green” power.

The argument has been presented that a roll-out rush on the part of utilities is an effort to preserve this control in the hands of their shareholders. An influential year-old report from the National Institute for Science, Law and Public Policy called “Getting Smarter About the Smart Grid” carefully dissects these issues and offers a variety of ways the situation may be improved, including a change in the business model of energy dispersal.

A panel of experts, including the “Getting Smarter” study’s author, has been assembled to discuss new energy horizons at the Commonwealth Club of California on January 28. Terming the present utility predicament “a colossal waste of taxpayer and ratepayer dollars” which does not “improve energy efficiency, enhance energy management, help balance supply and demand, or facilitate the integration of renewable sources,” the panel hopes to “clarify technical misunderstandings about smart meters, the entrenched economic models preventing utilities from fully embracing renewable energy, and how the growing smart meter rebellion may herald a transformation in the political economy of energy. The panelists will describe what they believe it will to take to create a reliable, safe, sustainable electricity grid, with our planetary interests at heart, and how a clean energy economy can be fast tracked through an innovative collaborative financing arrangement between the private and public sectors.”

Emily Roberson of ElectromagneticHealth.org, which will be helping to facilitate the event, sends warm holiday greetings to New Yorkers looking for informative guidance and assurances that audio or video will be available afterwards.