Action: Don’t Smart Meter Me! (Notice of Non-Consent, Notice of Liability)

Action: Don’t Smart Meter Me! (Notice of Non-Consent, Notice of Liability)

It’s time for action. Enter your details into the form over on the right andthe notice detailed below will be sent automatically, on your behalf, to the UK’s main energy & utility providers, energy-focused MPs and other selected parties.

Important note
Despite every best effort on our part, we cannot guarantee that we have captured every single UK energy and water company on our list, nor can we guarantee that your message will be sent successfully (there are countless problems that can be encountered on the web, which is a key reason why we think web-attached ‘Smart’ Meters are such a stupid idea).  With those points in mind, we would like to ask you to fill out our form and then follow-up by sending a printed copy, in the post, to your present supplier (you just need to copy & paste the Notice below into your word processing software).

-BEGINS-

NOTICE OF NON-CONSENT FOR ‘SMART’ METER INSTALLATION, NOTICE OF LIABILITY

From:  [your email address will appear here]
Subject: Notice of Non-Consent for ‘Smart’ Meter Installation
Date:  [today's date will appear here]
Circulation:  customerservice@airtricity.com, customerservice@atlanticeg.co.uk, customer_correspondence@edfenergy.com, bill.coley@edfenergy.com, customercomplaints@britishgas.co.uk, frank.chapman@bg-group.com, julie.wallace@centrica.com, phil.bentley@centrica.co.uk, domestic@eonenergy.com, tony.cocker@eon-uk.com, directorofcustomerservice@eonenergy.com, home@ecotricity.co.uk, customer_correspondence@edfenergy.com, vincent.derivaz@edfenergy.com, electricitycustomerliaison@enwl.co.uk, steve.johnson@enwltd.co.uk, info@ebico.org.uk, help@greenenergyuk.com, help@greenenergyuk.com, customercare@youridealservices.co.uk, Enquiry_Custserv@northerngas.co.uk, mark.horsley@uuplc.co.uk, juice@npower.com, helpline@npower.com, justin.king@sainsburys.co.uk, customerservice@sse.co.uk, customerservice@hydro.co.uk, customer.services@scottishpower.co.uk, keith.anderson@scottishpower.com, customerservice@southern-electric.co.uk, ian.marchant@scottish-southern.co.uk, customerservice@swalec.co.uk, customerservices@utilita.co.uk, memberservices@uwdc.co.uk, custservice@anglianwater.co.uk, customer.services@bristolwater.co.uk, info@cambridge-water.co.uk, admin@cholderton-estate.co.uk, contact@deevalleygroup.com, water.enquiries@dwrcymru.com, waterline@niwater.com, heidi.mottram@nwl.co.uk, customers@portsmouthwater.co.uk, volker.beckers@rwe.com, customer.service@scottishwater.co.uk, richard.ackroyd@scottishwater.co.uk, customerservice@sembcorpbw.co.uk, customer.relations@severntrent.co.uk, tony.wray@severntrent.co.uk, customerservices@southernwater.co.uk, matthew.wright@southernwater.co.uk, Paul.Butler@southeastwater.co.uk, customercontact@southwestwater.co.uk, cloughlin@southwestwater.co.uk, customer_service@waterplc.com, customerservices@thameswater.co.uk, martin.baggs@thameswater.co.uk, customer.services@uuplc.co.uk, steve.mogford@uuplc.co.uk, customerservices.east@veoliawater.co.uk, enquiries.southeast@veoliawater.co.uk, customerservice.central@veoliawater.co.uk, customer.services@wessexwater.co.uk, colin.skellett@wessexwater.co.uk, kevin.whiteman@keldagroup.com, daveye@parliament.uk, edward@edwarddavey.co.uk, charles.hendry.mp@parliament.uk, gregory.barker.mp@parliament.uk, contact@consumerfocus.org.uk, lansleya@parliament.uk, andy.burnham.mp@parliament.uk, caroline.flint.mp@parliament.uk, justin.mccracken@hpa.org.uk, david.heymann@hpa.org.uk

Dear Chief Executive of Utility/Energy Provider as well as agents, officers, employees, contractors, selected representatives of Parliament, the Health Protection Agency and other interested parties:

Be advised, that you and all other parties are hereby denied consent for installation and use of any and all ‘Smart’ Meters or any other surveillance and activity monitoring device, or devices, at my property and/or place of residence as noted herein.

Installation and use of any surveillance and activity monitoring device that sends and receives communications technology is hereby refused and prohibited. Consent is legally required for installation of any surveillance device and any device that will collect and transmit private and personal data to undisclosed and unauthorised parties for undisclosed and unauthorised purposes. Authorisation for sharing of personal and private information may only be given by the originator and subject of that information. That authorisation is hereby denied and refused with regard to the advised property and all its occupants.

‘Smart’ Meters violate many of my human rights, such as those laid out by the European Convention on Human Rights under Article 1 of the First Protocol, Article 2 (right to life), Article 3 (prohibition of torture/degrading treatment), Article 5 (right to liberty and security), Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life) and Article 12 – (right to marry and to found a family).

‘Smart’ Meters cause endangerment to residents through many factors and my reasons for denying consent for installation include:

1. Wireless ‘Smart’ Meters, when activated, emit intense, pulsed bursts of non-ionising, RF microwave radiation. More than 5,000 studies have shown that non-ionising microwave radiation/RF EMF is harmful to humans, animals and plants.
2. On 31st May 2011, the World Health Organisation’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) categorised RF EMFs as a possible CARCINOGEN (Class 2b) – the same as lead, DDT, chloroform & methylmercury.
3. On 6th May 2011, the Council of Europe issued a report titled “Potential dangers of EMFs and their effect on the environment” in which they called for an IMMEDIATE reduction in exposure to EMFs by children. The Council advocates a precautionary principle be applied to wireless emissions to prevent public health disaster akin to “tobacco, leaded petrol and asbestos”. ‘Smart’ Meters will increase – not decrease – the EMF exposure to members of a household and their neighbours.
4. As demonstrated by Daniel Hirsch, Senior Nuclear Policy Lecturer at UCSC, ‘Smart’ Meters can expose the body to 160x to 800x times as much microwave radiation as mobile phones. ‘Smart’ Meters can emit intense pulses of radiation in excess of 190,000 times every day.
5. Human, animal and cell culture studies indicate long-term systemic health effects from RF microwave radiation, including hormone disruption, DNA damage, leakage of blood-brain- barrier, sperm count reduction & damage, sleep disorders, learning difficulties, attention deficit & hyperactivity disorders, dementia and cancer including leukemia and brain glioma (tumours). There is concern that pregnant women & children are particularly vulnerable.
6. The ICNIRP safety standards which the UK Government and HPA continue to use fail to recognise the non-thermal, biological effects of microwave radiation.  These standards were voted obsolete by the European Parliament, 522 to 16 votes – yet still remain in use in the UK.
7. As highlighted by Dr. David Carpenter (Director of the Institute of Health and Environment – University of Albany – and former head of the New York Department of Public Health), there is evidence that exposure to RF radiation increases the risk of cancer, increases damage to the nervous system, causes electro-sensitivity, has adverse reproductive effects and a variety of other effects on different organ systems. He has stated on record that there is “no justification for the statement that ‘Smart’ Meters have no adverse health effects”.
8. European surveys have shown at least 1 in 20 people are moderately or severely sensitive to RF EMF radiation, experiencing a broad range of debilitating symptoms. The number of sufferers is rising rapidly. This is problematic and in some cases life-changing for sufferers, and will place further pressure on the National Health Service as well as impacting business productivity.
9. In January 2011, the American Association of Environmental Medicine (AAEM) has called for the complete removal of ‘Smart’ Meters and a return to safe analogue due to scientific and medical studies repeatedly showing health risks from exposure to microwaves emitted from wireless devices.
10. In March 2012, Dr Andrew Goldsworthy’s research warned that Water ‘Smart’ Meters, via their strong RF microwave emissions, can severely reduce water quality, leading to increased toxicity of poisons present in the body.  This is particularly concerning for areas like London where there are still lead pipes in use – electromagnetically-conditioned water flow can strip lead from pipes, leading to an increase in toxin intake into the body and the food-chain.
11. ‘Smart’ Meters monitor household activity and occupancy in violation of my rights to privacy and domestic security.
12. ‘Smart” Meters identify individual electrical devices inside the home and record when they are operated causing invasion of privacy.
13. They transmit wireless signals which may be intercepted by unauthorized and unknown parties. Those signals can be used to monitor behavior and occupancy and they can be used by criminals to aid criminal activity against the occupants.
14. Data about occupant’s daily habits and activities are collected, recorded and stored in permanent databases which are accessed by parties not authorized or invited to know and share that private data by those whose activities were recorded.
15. Those with access to the ‘Smart’ Meter databases can review a permanent history of household activities complete with calendar and time-of-day metrics to gain a highly invasive and detailed view of the lives of the occupants.
16. Those databases may be shared with, or fall into the hands of criminals, blackmailers, corrupt law enforcement, private hackers of wireless transmissions, power company employees, and other unidentified parties who may act against the interests of the occupants under metered surveillance.
17. It may be possible with analysis of certain ‘Smart’ Meter data for unauthorized and distant parties to determine medical conditions, sexual activities, and physical locations of persons within the home, vacancy patterns and personal information and habits of the occupants.
18. Energy/utility companies and Government agencies do not have the lawful right to monitor, manage and control my utility usage. Profiling and monitoring of my energy and utility usage is a gross invasion of privacy and will be susceptible to misuse in the wrong hands.
19. A one year study in Toronto, Canada, showed the energy/utility bills have gone up in 80% of cases, many by more than 50%.
20. The UK Government has said ‘Smart’ Meters will cost more than £11billion for estimated savings of just £25 per home/year – and that saving will only possible if customers have at least two ‘Smart’ Meters and succeed in changing their own behaviour to create the savings. Not only will there be a need for this £11billion to be clawed back, in part, through my energy/utility bills, but many new ‘Smart’ Meters only have a 10 year lifespan before requiring replacement – which is a shorter lifespan than current analogue meters.  They will potentially require more regular servicing too.
21. Wireless transmissions of my personal energy usage, with information about the devices I use, when I use them and what I am doing with them at any given moment, will be available to your organisation and any potential hackers.
22. Smart meters can be hacked, have been hacked and will continue to be hacked. By deploying millions of ‘Smart’ Meters with the same software, firmware and hardware, they become a highly-concentrated, strategic target for any malicious hackers and will endanger the community if an attacker, for example, can switch the power on and off from remote en masse. This makes ‘Smart’ Meters dangerous and a liability to the bill-payers who would have to ultimately pay for any damage through higher bills. The FBI has warned that ‘Smart’ Meters hacking real and is “likely to spread”.
23. Ethical hackers in Germany have shown how easy it is to unlawfully access data from ‘Smart’ Meters and to remotely control them. This is a risk to me, my family and our entire energy grid. Former CIA Director James Woolsey has called ‘Smart’ Grid a “really, really stupid idea”.
24. In a wireless ‘Smart’ Grid, my entire home will become a node on the Internet. This means my home and device usage will suddenly become available to hackers, who can use the data to analyse when certain people are at home, e.g. young children.
25. In the US, this data has been sold by energy companies to 3rd parties, e.g. police, corporate marketing departments and insurance companies. ‘Smart’ Meters represent pieces of invasive surveillance equipment within my home. I may have nothing to hide but I believe that I have the right to defend my privacy and my right to decide how I use my utilities which you provide to me as a service.
26. Smart’ Meters will make it far easier to disconnect customers remotely – a particular concern in light of the hacking threats, especially to ‘Smart’ Water Meters.
27. In North America, ‘Smart’ Meters have been shown to explode, cause fires, and can interfere with sensitive electrical devices such as heart pacemakers.
28. Smart meters are not protected from EMP attacks, large EMP or localized EMP (Electro Magnetic Pulses).
29. Disabling the receiver will not prevent other forms of “hacks”. For example, a malicious attacker could confuse the internal CPU, reset it, change random memory locations, change the KWH reading, force a power disconnect, or completely disable a ‘Smart’ Meter with a simple coil of wire and a small battery. This can’t happen with a mechanical meter. It is well known that a wide EMP can take out car computers; ‘Smart’ Meters will make that possible on the city wide electric infrastructure.
30. A thief or burglar could the same EMP or hacking methods to turn off the house power even if the electrical switch box is locked.
31. Scientists have widely refuted claims that ‘Smart’ Meters are ‘green’. There is a significant (and growing) body of work showing ‘Smart’ Meters actually harm nature and our environment.
32. ‘Smart’ Meters, in tandem with In-Home-Display units, are likely to consume far more energy than the old analogue meters do.
33. The Council of Europe’s May 2011 report on RF microwave radiation indicated that hundreds of studies have identified significant impacts of sustained RF microwave radiation on our natural environment, including: stress reactions and genetic problems in plants, trees, animals and insects, problems in migratory animals like birds and bees, birth defects in calves and fertility problems in herds.
34. Tree deaths, plant die-offs and bee colony collapse disorder cases have also been reported shortly after Smart Meter installation/activation in the United States.

I am exercising my lawful right to forbid, refuse and deny consent for the installation and use of any monitoring, eavesdropping, and surveillance devices on my property, my place of residence and my place of occupancy. That applies to and includes ‘Smart’ Meters and surveillance and activity monitoring devices of any and all kinds. Any attempt to install any such device directed at me, other occupants, my property or residence will constitute trespass, stalking, wiretapping and unlawful surveillance and endangerment of health and safety, all prohibited and punishable by law through criminal and civil complaints.

All persons, government agencies and private organizations responsible for installing or operating monitoring devices directed at or recording my activities, which I have not specifically authorized in writing, will be fully liable for any violations, intrusions, harm or negative consequences caused or made possible by those devices.

This is legal notice. After this delivery the liabilities listed above may not be denied or avoided by parties named and implied in this notice. Civil Servant immunities and protections do not apply to the installation of ‘Smart’ Meters due to the criminal violations they represent.

I reserve the right to amend this notice and complaint at any time, this is not a complete list of concerns since this technology is new and new information is being found every day. Concerns listed here are not in any particular order.

Notice to principal is notice to agent and notice to agent is notice to principal. All rights reserved.

[Your name will appear here]
[Your email address will appear here]
[Your address will appear here - make sure your full address is detailed in the form]

-ENDS-

Energy companies in copy: Airtricity (Northern Ireland), E.ON Energy (including Amerada & Powergen), British Gas/Centrica*, Ecotricity, EDF Energy (including British Energy, London Energy, Seeboard Energy, & SWEB Energy), Electricity North West, Equigas (EBICo), Good Energy, Green Energy UK, Lloyds TSB (Utilities), Northern Gas, Npower, Sainsbury’s Energy*, SSE Group (Scottish & Southern Energy, including Atlantic Electric & Gas), Scottish Gas (Centrica in Scotland), Scottish Hydro Electric, ScottishPower, Southern Electric (including Cambridge Gas and Electricity), SWALEC, Utilita, Utility Warehouse

Water companies in copy: Anglian Water, Bristol Water, Cambridge Water, Cholderton and District Water, Dee Valley Water, Dwr Cymru Welsh Water, Essex and Suffolk Water, Northern Ireland Water, Northumbria Water*, Portsmouth Water, RWE nPower*, Scottish Water, Sembcorp Bournemouth Water, Severn Trent Water, Southern Water, South East Water*, South West Water, Sutton and East Surrey Water, Thames Water, United Utilities, Veolia Water East, Veolia Water South East, Veolia Water Central, Wessex Water, Yorkshire Water/Kelda*

*Regrettably, we were unable to find email addressees to correspond with the customer services departments of British Gas, Northumbria Water, RWE nPower, Sainsburys Energy, South East Water and Yorkshire Water/Kelda Group.  So, in their cases, we have targetted their CEO, customer complaints department, customer relations director and/or similar.  Where available, we have included the customer services department and the CEO to make sure they receive the message.  We were unable to locate any email addresses at all for Essex & Suffolk Water andSouth Staffs Water – and have therefore had to leave them off the list.  If you can help us with either case, please let us know.

Thank you for your support!

From Sir Veilmenot and your friends at Stop Smart Meters! (UK)

PS – Remember to follow-up with your own individual energy & water supplier(s) directly by sending a printed copy of this letter to them in the post.

http://stopsmartmeters.org.uk/dont-smart-meter-me-notice-of-non-consent-for-smart-meter-installation/