Several California governmental entities, including the Fairfax Town Council and the Marin County Board of Supervisors, have filed an administrative challenge to California’s opt-out ruling.įairfax Councilman Larry Bragman says that the meters are a poor investment of ratepayers' money and that "there are potential health effects that have not been fully studied. Just like DTE, the California utility says that local entities cannot impose a moratorium. "When a community speaks so loudly and so wisely, really there was no question that the council should continue to impose this moratorium," Weinsoff said.
Fairfax Mayor David Weinsoff said that when the Fairfax Town Council conducted public hearings on smart meters in 2010, the community's opposition was overwhelming. February 4, 2014.įairfax Town Council in Marin County, California unanimously votes to impose three-year ban on the installation of Pacific Gas and Electric's smart meters. PG&E's Brittany McKannay said 191,931 Smart Meters have been installed in Marin, and 3,495 customers have opted out. meter program.Ĭounty supervisors also agreed to post information about Smart Meters on the county website, and consider appointment of a "point person" to help residents with questions about meter matters. The state Public Utilities Commission, and not the county board, has jurisdiction over the Pacific Gas & Electric Co. The Board of Supervisors, declaring "a current and immediate threat to public health, safety and welfare," outlawed installation of the meters but left enforcement issues up in the air. Unincorporated areas of Marin County vote to ban smart meters for another year. Over 50 local governments in California have voted to ban smart meters. SmartGridLegalNews provides periodic, but not always up-to-date, news on smart meter opt-outs. The only meter that does not generate dirty electricity or emit RF is an analog meter. Regardless, any AMR meter and any digital meter generates dirty electricity. In some instances, their signal is picked up by drive-by meter readers. They communicate with the utility every 30 seconds according to the information on TEP’s own website, often via collection towers. They are not a drive-by AMR meter that wakes up only when someone with handheld device drives by. Note that the AMR meters offered by utilities like Tucson Electric Power (TEP) are as dangerous as the regular smart meter. Opt-outs like that currently in Michigan and other states that simply turn off the radio that transmits to the utility but leave in the transmitter, antennas, and the ZigBee wireless radio are the absolute worst. Opt-outs that do not provide for analog meters are the least useful, because of the harm from dirty electricity. The remaining states with opt-outs have policies that are unclear or that do not provide for analog opt-outs. Two states/districts require smart meters: Pennsylvania and Washington, DC. The Nevada public service commission urges the utilites to provide the meter that will have the “greatest customer acceptance,” which, clearly, is the analog.įour states or utilities definitively forbid analog opt-outs: Fountain in Colorado, DTE in Michigan, Central Hudson Valley in New York (AMR), and Port Angeles in Washington (touted as the first place to ban smart meters-not much help you are required to have a digital meter on your home!). Three states let the utility decide: Florida, Maryland, and Nevada. Georgia, Hawaii, and Consumers Energy in Michigan. An existing meter might or might not be analog. Three states offer the “existing meter” as the opt-out meter. The Nevada public service commission urges the utilites to provide the meter that will have the “greatest customer acceptance,” which, clearly, is the analog. Below is a table of smart meter opt-outs and opt-ins.Įugene, Oregon, offers an opt in to smart meters.Īnalog meters are definitively offered as the opt-out meter in four states: Arizona, California, Maine, and Texas. While smart meters should be banned-along with all other wireless devices and digital electrical meters-until they are made safe for humans and other organisms, at least opt-outs provide some relief from the harm of EMFs. Opt-Out and Opt-in Programs Across the U.S.Īn increasing number of states and/or utilities are offering opt-outs of smart meters.
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