DECEMBER 16, 2011
Residents raise concerns about health effects of digital meters
Michele Hertz stands next to the analog meter that Con Ed installed after she demanded the Smart Meter be removed.
Michele Hertz was sick, and she had no idea why.
Hertz, 54, who lives on Euclid Avenue in Hastings, began experiencing myriad health problems since 2009, shortly after a new digital reading meter was installed on her house that June. Con Edison began replacing analog meters with digital Automatic Meter Reading (AMR) devices in 2007. The meters collect diagnostic and usage data from residences and businesses.
Before digital meters were installed, Con Edison workers had to walk to and read a meter on a building. With the new equipment, an employee can gather information without ever leaving his vehicle. As a result, meter-reading becomes a less involved, more efficient, and cost-effective process.
Now, concern that AMRs and Smart Meters — which allow for two-way communication of data that can be accessed remotely by an energy or water company — might cause serious health problems is slowly growing across the country.
On Tuesday Dec. 6, Hertz made a presentation to the Hastings Board of Trustees, detailing the health problems she has experienced, which included intense headaches, dizziness, agitation, an accelerated heartbeat and sleeplessness. Eventually, after obtaining a note from her doctor, Con Edison agreed to replace Hertz’s digital meter with an older, analog model. Hertz says her condition improved rapidly when the analog meter was installed.
“I felt like I was let out of being electrocuted,” she said.
Several other residents also spoke during the meeting, including Lisa Katselas of Overlook Road in Hastings.
Katselas, 52, says she leads an active lifestyle, does not smoke or drink, and has had no serious health problems at any point in her life. But shortly after a digital meter was installed on her property in late 2009, Katselas began having heart palpitations and hearing a ringing in her ear. Katselas saw a doctor but initially no cause for her problems was identified. Her husband also sought medical care for multiple symptoms and obtained a note from a doctor asking Con Edison to remove the meter, which she says the company has refused to do.
“I just wasn’t able to function at the level I was used to functioning at,” she said. “To this day, I don’t feel like myself.”
At the crux of the controversy about whether these new digital meters are in fact safe are some technical and scientific issues. The biggest issue, perhaps, are FCC regulations related to non-thermal radiation (electromagnetic radiation given off by particles for reasons other than their thermal energy) and its possible impact on human health. Scientists generally agree that the thermal impact from digital reading meters is negligible. Non-thermal radiation, however, is still not well understood by the scientific community and is not regulated by the FCC.
In a letter to the California Council on Science and Technology — a not-for-profit corporation established in 1988 by the California Legislature — Dr. De-Kun Li, senior research scientist in Kaiser Permanente’s Division of Research, stated:
“The bottom line is that the safety level for radio frequency exposure related to non-thermal effect is unknown at present and whoever claims that their device is safe regarding non-thermal effect is either ignorant or misleading.”
When reached by phone, Li stated that it is not possible to say digital meters that emit non-thermal radiation are safe. He added that, in his opinion, utilities should prove digital meters are safe before installing them — not wait for someone to prove they are unsafe.
“If they’re causing cancer, you have no idea until 20 years from now that they cause cancer,” he said.
In a letter to Hertz dated Nov. 1, 2011, Con Edison vice president of environment, health, and safety Randolph Price stated that the digital meters meet the FCC requirements for radio frequency transmission and that the company felt it was “inaccurate to characterize the emissions from these meters as ‘dangerous.’” The letter does not, however, address non-thermal radiation.
Chris Olert, assistant director of media relations for Con Edison, e-mailed the following statement to the Enterprise:
“We follow all government and industry standards. These meters are being deployed worldwide, and safety is our No. 1 priority for our customers and our employees.”
In California, dozens of local governments have demanded a halt to the installation of digital meters by Pacific Gas and Electric. In Nevada, Pacific Utilities Company (PUC) called for an investigation into the adverse health effects and other Smart Meter issues. In Maine, after receiving numerous complaints, the state's Public Utility Commission voted to allow customers to opt out of the meters at a cost of $12 a month.
More than 300,000 Westchester homes and businesses have had digital meters installed, but many people may be unaware. Carolyn Summers of Ferndale Drive in Hastings says a meter was installed on her property with no notice.
“It was a sneak attack,” she said.
Summers said she has felt an increase in her anxiety level since the meter was installed. She added that a fan and light in her house began to turn on randomly in the middle of the night shortly after the meter was installed, causing sleep problems for her daughter.
Hertz has been searching for answers to this problem for more than two years. She has contacted the FCC, New York State Department of Health, New York State Public Service Commission (PSC), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and several other agencies. She contacted the New York State Attorney General’s office, which referred her, as did several other groups, to the PSC.
A press release dated July 24, 2009, states that the PSC voted to approve a wide range of smart grid initiatives proposed by major utilities throughout the state. One of the initiatives mentioned in the document was Advanced Metering Infrastructure. “Generally, we recommend that you contact the Department of Health because we do not have jurisdiction over health,” said PSC spokeswoman Anne Dalton when reached for comment by the Enterprise.
Peter Constantakes, spokesperson for the New York State Department of Health, said the agency was not aware of any evidence to suggest the meters are not safe.
“It’s not really something that’s in our realm,” he said. “If different evidence comes up, it’s something that we would take to the FCC. This is really in the realm of the FCC.”
A woman in the FCC’s Office of Media Relations who did not identify herself by name said no one was available to talk about the safety of digital meters.
For now, Hertz, Katselas, and Summers are trying to spread the word about the meters. Hertz suspects more people in the Rivertowns may be feeling sick but do not realize — because they are unaware they even have the meters — that they could be the cause.
“I feel like there’s an evil thing on my house,” Katselas said.
Time, no doubt, will tell.
http://www.rivertownsenterprise.net/Rivertowns_Enterprise/ENTERPRISE_NEWS_121611.html
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