The utilities lied when they said “smart” or AMI meters would make the electricity grid “resilient” and “self-healing.”
Nothing could be further from the truth, and this latest episode is more proof of the failure of “smart” meter programs everywhere.
On Monday, hundreds of “smart” meters simultaneously exploded in Stockton, California, when a truck ran into a utility pole. Watch the video:
Source: http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2015/03/30/stockton-smart-meters-explode-after-truck-causes-power-surge/
CBS News reported that “neighbors in the South Stockton area described it as a large pop, a bomb going off, and strong enough to shake a house.”
The catastrophic failure of these PG&E “smart” meters — which are not approved by Underwriters Laboratories (UL) — not only damaged meter bases and other homeowner property, but left those 5,800 customers without power.
That’s right — whenever these plastic, unproven meters fail, they shut your power off, as shown in this Cambridge University research paper.
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOqucXzwKkA
Last July, the province of Saskatchewan ordered the removal of all 105,000 “smart” meters, following a rash of fires. Portland OR, Lakeland FL, Arizona and Ontario followed suit with mass removals.
Quebec firefighters are up-in-arms that Hydro-Quebec agents have actually been unlawfully taking “smart” meters from fire scenes prior to investigation.
Analog meters are not susceptible to fires. The risk of fires is a “smart” new feature for all customers, brought to you by your PR-spinning utility. Back in 2011, after a similar power surge ignited 80 “smart” meters in Palo Alto, California, a spokesperson for The Utility Reform Network (TURN) stated:
“In the collective memory of TURN, we have not seen similar incidents with analog meters.”
The total number of separate incidents of fires and explosions caused by “smart” meters is now very likely to exceed a thousand or more, although the true number is not known due do widespread coverups and denials by utilities.
In addition to the ongoing stream of incendiary events, so-named “smart” meter programs:
- are enshrouded in fiscal negligence;
- are not shown to save energy;
- are linked with systemic billing inaccuracy and widespread increase of bills;
- facilitate “time-of-use” billing and future artificial austerity measures;
- facilitate monitoring of your activities and external control of your home;
- open the door to unprecedented hacking vulnerabilities; and
- emit pulsed microwave radiation typically thousands of times stronger than a cell phone, leaving many unsuspecting homeowners feeling ill.
It is difficult to imagine a more blatant failure, or a more harmful deployment of unproven technology.
If this is true, how can utilities be getting away with it?
The “smart” meter deployments in your area are actually part of a corporate-government collusion to deploy a mass in-home data-capturing (read surveillance) and control grid — the “internet of things”.
Here are three main takeaway points:
- As new appliances are being designed to collect detailed activity and report in real-time through the “smart” meter, it’s estimated that the combined data they collect on all of us will be worth more than the entire electricity industry.
- Industry wants to pocket trillions in this shift to an information economy, with you as the resource being packaged and sold — without your consent, of course.
- With industry selling the wireless convenience and glorious modernization of it all, these deployments are being pushed through under the guise of climate action. Go Green!
If this sounds like a stretch, examine the evidence for yourself.
The “smart” meter agenda, once fully spawned, would facilitate an unprecedented transfer of money, control, information and security from people to the corporate-government complex (CGC).
The reason why there has been so much industry and government propaganda around the”smart” meter issue is because the scope of this pillaging is, again, unprecedented. This is also why those attempting to change to a sane course of action from within the CGC have not yet been successful.
But as awareness spreads, scandals increase (like this one in California), and people take inspired action, I see that the “smart” meter agenda will fail and the pseudo-powers behind it will fall.
So, what are we going to do about it?
By protecting our individual rights, we are protecting all of life.
Advocate groups worldwide are encouraged to demand immediate halt and reversal of all “smart” meter deployments, whether they be for electricity, water, or gas. It does not matter how much money was invested before people became aware of the facts about harm being perpetrated. We’re aware now.
An “opt-out” program — whether paid or free — must categorically be rejected because asking for an “opt-out” is voting that you generally approve the installation of a surveillance grid, the harming of everyone else, and the practice of corporate extortion.
Individually, here are three things you can do right now.
- Once you become aware of the facts, remove your consent in writing (see example). This is simple, yet fundamental: your utility has made you an offer. You have the right to (and need to, contractually) either refuse or conditionally accept in writing, any written piece of paper they send your way. Note: everything they send you — indeed every communication they have with you — is essentially a contract offer, which in commerce is deemed accepted if it’s not rebutted.
- Spread the word. Share the facts and solutions, starting with those you know: family and friends, via email and social media. Get together and form a local action group. Subscribe your email via www.takebackyourpower.net and stay tuned to developments.
- Hold the individuals involved liable for causing or allowing this widespread crime. While this is not legal advice, an effective strategy appears to be treating their offer of a “smart” meter purely as a commercial transaction. You can use the same commercial codes and contract laws on which the for-profit corporate system is based, against its agents.Also, here are couple areas of law which are applicable and being used by some groups:
ultrahazardous activity:
“An activity or process that presents an unavoidable risk of serious harm to the other people or others’ property, for which the actor may be held strictly liable for the harm, even if the actor has exercised reasonable care to prevent that harm.” –https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/ultrahazardous_activitystrict liability:
1.Civil (tort): Liability incurred for causing damage to life, limb, or property by a hazardous activity or a defective product, without having to prove that the defendant was negligent or directly at fault. It arises not from any wrongdoing but from the fact of the activity or product being inherently hazardous or defective.
2.Criminal: Liability imposed by a statute without the necessity of proving criminal intent (see mens rea), and intended to absolutely forbid certain acts such as preparation and sale of adulterated or contaminated food. –http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/strict-liability.html
We will continue to release news and developments on our website, www.takebackyourpower.net, where you can watch our award-winning feature film which covers the shocking true story about “smart” meters.
Yeah!!!!! Best news I’ve gotten in a long month of great news about poorly designed electronic devices like smart meters, also wonderfully BAD behavior by persons such as CPUC President Michael Peevey:
http://stopsmartmeters.org/2015/02/26/pge-suggested-prozac-for-those-injured-by-smart-meters-sce-schemed-higher-fees-to-force-smart-meters-on-the-poor/
Tsk,tsk, Mr. Peevey!!! Really now! How’s that crow soup tasting???
Gee, what happens to these rockets when a major grid surge or earthquake comes along??? Ooooops!!!! Becoming an explosive device is not the only ultra-hazardous “technical issue” these devices produce. These devices also permeate homes, businesses, and public citizens with white noise. There are noise abatement laws that cover this illegal production of pure-tone mixed frequency noise… Anyway; glad you did some home work… Don’t forget to check out small legal details such as:
Excerpted from: Breach of contract – Wikipedia
[“Breach of contract is a legal cause of action in which a binding agreement or bargained-for exchange is not honored by one or more of the parties to the contract by non-performance or interference with the other party’s performance. If the party does not fulfill his contractual promise, or has given information to the other party that he will not perform his duty as mentioned in the contract or if by his action and conduct he seems to be unable to perform the contract, he is said to breach the contract.[1]
Breach of contract is a type of civil wrong.[2] “]
Fundamental breach
[“A fundamental breach (or repudiatory breach) is a breach so fundamental that it permits the aggrieved party to terminate performance of the contract. In addition that party is entitled to sue for damages.”]
Complete text:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breach_of_contract
or small details like:
Racketeering – Racket (crime) – Wikipedia
[“A racket is a service that is fraudulently offered to solve a problem, such as for a problem that does not actually exist, that will not be put into effect, or that would not otherwise exist if the racket were not to exist. Conducting a racket is racketeering.[1] Particularly, the potential problem may be caused by the same party that offers to solve it, although that fact may be concealed, with the specific intent to engender continual patronage for this party. An archetype is the protection racket, wherein a person or group indicates that they could protect a store from potential damage, damage that the same person or group would otherwise inflict, while the correlation of threat and protection may be more or less deniably veiled, distinguishing it from the more direct act of extortion.
Racketeering is often associated with organized crime, and the term was coined by the Employers’ Association of Chicago in June 1927 in a statement about the influence of organized crime in the Teamsters union.[2] “]
Complete text:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racketeering
The meter industry made an unbelievable mistake in making those smart
meter. In fact it is a design flaw by a change in electric philosophy.
Explanation
The old meter was made to act like a Faraday cage, the new one is made to
act like a containment chamber. Why they did that ? I presume that is a
constraint to put electronic in the meter.
The old meter was madewith a glass cover with a metal ring and this ring
made contact with the base metal connected to the ground. In addition,
there is 2 metal plates, surge arrester https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8vOmL44C7sQcWxNcWFCejM1WGs&authuser=0
at the back of the meter at the 10h10 position that also make contact
with the base metal. So when a voltage surge happen, it will be divert
to the ground. The old meter is acting like a faraday cage protecting
all the inside and also part of all the electronics of the house. Of
course, it’s not a perfect protection and a direct hit by lightning will
pass through. But this do most of the job for a very little price.
For the new meter, to be a containment chamber, they replace the glass
cover by a polycarbonate one, the glass was too dangerous because the
cover can explode sending glass pieces all around, the glass cannot
contain the pressure when voltage surge happen inside and its explode.
No more metal ring and the 2 surge arrester are gone. https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8vOmL44C7sQVnJkbGZnVWNkNzg&authuser=0 Of course in that way, your appliances are in danger to blow by voltage surge.
Here how the surge arrester on meter work
http://www.google.ca/patents/US3735259
3 incidents happened to prove what i said :
Palo Alto, August 25 2011, a surge happened for more than an hour, 80 smart
meters caught on fire and burned out, the 120 old meters touched by the
same surge were all ok.
http://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/2011/09/04/power-surge-raises-questions-about-smartmeters
Forest Standard, Ontario, october 31 2013, 70 smart meters blow out and some really explode and send pieces all around.
http://smartmeterharm.org/2014/06/20/wires-dangling-and-meter-fires-when-surge-blows-out-60-70-smart-meters-november-2013/
Sumerland, November 26 2014, 69 smartmeters burn or explode
http://www.localssupportinglocals.ca/blogs/kevin-proteau/power-surge-summerland-were-meters-involved
This event is now my fourth to add to the list.
We now know that the voltage surge is the problem for those meters, what cause voltage surge ?
Lightning strike, live 25kv cable broke and touching the 120/240v cable, branches
in storm making contact between those cables, defective transformer,
bad taps on transformer, etc.
So no matter what, all smart meters from any companies are dangerous for fire and explosion if any of those cases happened
Thank you for your explanation. In British Columbia, Canada the hydro company takes the meter from the fire scene before the investigation so there is no “official” statistic on the number of fires from the smart meter. There is documentation of fires outside of the investigation but it is being ignored by government claiming there are no fires. Amazing how these beings look the other way when property is damaged and lives are at risk. The class action law suit starts up next month apparently so hopefully justice is still functional. The universal law “do no harm” is being broken.
I also have a explanation for individual fire.
The back of the smartmeter is made of thin plastic and the old meter with thick bakelite. The bakelite is a thermoresistant material up to 120°C, you find for example this material in a stove connection. The heat is dissipated in all the surface without melting. That is not the case with the plastic that melt around the 4 male pins and put fire.
schlum, this is very thought-provoking. We’d like to do an article on your discoveries. If you are interested, can you please contact us through the About>Contact page on our site? Please let us know a bit about your background if you can.
So there is a possibility of this happening every time a tree comes down on the power lines!??!! … Blackened power outlets and fried electronics and appliances. Great design boys! Something to be proud of.
Yeah, downright scary as most downed lines are caused by very bad weather in which your survival is threatened by very cold weather, flooding, then add your house on fire=no protection from weather, etc. !!
Only the finest from PG&E…where’s Erin Brochovich?!
http://www.brockovich.com
This is a global industry with smart meter manufacturing companies such as Landis and Gyr, Secure, Itron, Elster and others having spread their tentacles in most continents in the world. All the people of the earth are being taken for a ride with these harmful devices being forcefully pushed upon them through blackmail and intimidation. These harmful devices marketed as smart “meters” have incorporated and hidden within them hardware and software that perform activity that is not in any way able to be even considered as being metering. As open and disclosed separate activities from separate devices, radio transmission, personal surveillance, data transmission and remote switching (on and off) of power supply and/or appliances could never have been forced upon people by these sociocpathic greedmongers and control freaks. So what did they do, they hid these diabolical activities in the one box marketed as a “meter” which in reality is not the case. This box is not in any way a meter. The metrology function in that box is now only just a tiny aspect of this insidious box that they have manufactured. They must not be made to get away with this great deception. This is a conspiracy of corporation with corporation with government against every individual man woman and child on planet earth being viewed by them as nothing more than commercial commodities and collateral damage to their evil agenda based in greed.
http://globalnews.ca/news/1477802/saskpower-smart-meter-explodes-in-colonsay-sask/
Another SaskPower smart meter explodes in Saskatchewan (7/28/14)
http://www.kens5.com/story/news/nation-now/2015/02/03/family-blames-smart-meter-on-house-fire-that-killed-74-year-old/22799387/
Family blames smart meter on house fire that killed 74-year-old (3/3/15)
Hundreds of smart meters simultaneously explode
Anyone with basic electric theory will respond to this by asking by the danged meters aren’t properly grounded! And digital anything like TV? Sometimes reception, sometimes none. This is better technology? Really! The human race continues to get dumber and dumber!
Actually, no meter is grounded, if it was it would be on hell of a bill. All outlets should be grounded. the meter box is also grounded, and the meter is mounted and grounded thru the box just for the electronics in the meter only. I do agree the tech is sound and better than the analog meter just the design and lack of proper proven insulation (CERAMIC) and also the lack of solid types of connectors which are causing arcing. I have seen many melted wires in a circuit and the fuses in good condition only due to bad connections.
What about personal property damage !? I’m sure there isn’t any kind of affordable surge protector on the market to protect peoples appliances from something like that ! And we won’t even get into the wiring and plugs in peoples homes. DID you SEE that electrical outlet in that one house ! omg !
After having a smart meter installed in my apartment, I could not sleep
or function during the day- indescribable disorganization! I also had
arrythmia, headaches, ear aches, among other things. What helped me
was a device that helped alleviate my condition. I highly recommend it.
Check out the website, http://www.smartmeterguard.com
Great article but it should touch more on the specific practice of software analytics being used by utilities to locate marijuana growers. Toronto Hydro began using it shortly after the forced installation of smart meters in 2009. Marijuana growers vegetate with 18 hours of light / 6 hours of darkness, then flower with 12 hours of light / 12 hours of darkness. This pattern of use is easily identified by software scanning the grid and lists of addresses growing small and large #’s of plants were handed over to the police. Keep in mind Toronto Hydro did not apply for a warrant to do this and the police did not ask for the information. Of perhaps even more importance NONE of the addresses were engaging in theft of electricity. Most of the victims of this injustice accepted a plea deal because they either did not understand their rights or could not afford to fight. The small # of people who did fight had their cases quietly dropped when they approached trial, effectively silencing any public exposure of smart meter surveillance. A complaint was sent to the Privacy Commissioner of Ontario who recommended Toronto Hydro develop written policies that bring “transparency and accountability” to the practice of smart meter surveillance. Unfortunately this report was never made public and any evidence of Toronto Hydro implementing these measures has not seen the light of day. More recently a Hamilton, ON judge rubber stamped smart meter surveillance and the accused is trying to raise enough funds to move forward with his appeal. If you have anything to contribute you may be helping to bring down this invasive abuse of rights:
http://iamcrowdfunding.com/projects/right-to-privacy–stop-hydro-companies-from-sharing-your-information
What. Houses and apartments. families are homeless and people are dying due to these meters and you’re thinking conspiracy theories against pot growers. Put down the joint and clear your mind. the real world is out there and yes it sucks sometimes but find a better way to deal with it.
Funny nothing is said about the thousands of non “smart” meters, which also failed, dramatically!
Yes, many a non-smart meter have had concerns but nothing even close to what these smart meters can cause. Mine was installed for less than two years then started smoking and arcing. all power shut off by breakers and it still was arcing until it actually blew up. Meter concerns have rose 1000-fold over the last 5 years. Meter concerns in the past with the analog meters were usually not fire related and mostly to do with meter reading discrepancy or tampering. I can guess who you work for.
Must have been a Sensus meter?
Could not access videos. Sight says they were taken down. I live in Edinburg Tx. I called CPL last year because my smart meter was arcing and smoking. An inspector came out looked at it and confirmed the situation and then told me I had to call in a disconnect. What. So, I did just that and ok the 70.00-dollar charge, but they could not tell me when they would be out. This was Friday around 1:00pm. We had everything off in the house and all brakers off, but it still was arcing. Called several times but could not get them to come out. I told them it was an emergency but nothing. At approx 7:00 pm that evening the meter exploded and caught fire. So, fire department on the way. Police came to. Fireman walked up to meter, and I warned him just as it popped again, He backed off. The fire department called CPL and for some odd reason they got here in 10 minutes or less. Great service. Maybe they were on their way already since I called them. I found out later that was not true. So, they killed the power and said I had to get an electrician out to make repairs and then get it inspected. I was also told that the meter box was too small and needed to be a 150 AMP. Two years earlier I had it replaced and inspector signed off on it. Then they put the smart meter in or tried since I have 240 3 phase it took them a while to get the right meter but finally, they put the Smart meter in at this point nobody said the meter box was too small then my problems. Lots of surges in power but I could not track down the concern nor could CPL. they just said it was an issue in the block area. So, first electricians came out made an estimate and said I didn’t have 3 phase power. I argued that I do have residential three phase. showed them the third-row power strip in the fuse box and the Bridgeport milling machine with the 3 horse 3 phase motor on top and they still didn’t get it. FIRED… Called another and got an estimate and confirmed that I’m sane and that I do have 3 phase. He also as did the fire department confirm that the fires origin was the Smart meter. and looking at the meter you can tell the arc points and that the input clamps or spade terminals were not making a good contact one burnt completely off. I ended out of pocket around 3000.00. If my house was wood, it would have been kindling. The ark did burn through the meter box and a 1/4 inch into the brick. I took video of the arcing. And the aftermath. I do have the meter and box. OH, on Monday the CPL man came knocking and asked if we called for a disconnect. So yes, I took him around back and showed him the damage. I told him it was already taken care of. He really didn’t say much, maybe it was my attitude. Next month I see a 70.00-dollar charge on my bill for disconnect. So that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
Just commented but want to add this. The spade terminals on the Smart meter attached to my home are much thinner than the original analog meter that the house had on it. but still uses the original terminals in the meter box. also, the spade terminals in the smart meter are insulated with a Glass reinforce plastic maybe ABS but I do know it is not a good insulator when the terminals get hot from pore contact. and the glass fiber melts and can catch fire very easily. In the old analog meter, it used a ceramic insulator that is not fire resistant but actually fireproof. Ok nothing is fireproof not even concrete, but ceramic would take over 2100 deg F and still would not be damaged. hell, that’s just the kiln temp.