Smart meter rings alarm bells
IN theory smart meters are a great idea.
29/04/2004 NEWS: Ten houses in different suburbs in Melbourne have been tested for high level electro-magnetic fields near high voltage powerlines. EMF Consultant Don Maisch with a reading of 16.6 mg from a park in Glen Waverley. Picture: Justine SywakSource: Mercury
These household devices record energy use as that use occurs and they tell customers how much energy their household is using.
In Australia, Victoria and New South Wales have been at the forefront of the rollout of smart meters and in the European Union 80 per cent of households will have smart meters by 2020.
In the US and Canada smart meters are sweeping across both nations.
According to a report in the UK newspaperThe Telegraph, half of smart meter users "say they are more likely to turn things off when not using them".
Avery useful consumer-friendly innovation it seems.
But not so fast.
There are concerns about the health risks posed by smart meters, and the capacity for data from smart meters to be used by intelligence agencies to track the movements of individuals is seriously worrying.
As to the former, work by Dr Don Maisch, an expert on radiation, highlights the fact that smart meters are not regulated adequately.
Furthermore, industry lobbies are capturing the regulation of what is called non-ionizing radiation, the radiation emitted by smart meters.
Maisch documents a number of case studies from smart meter users in Melbourne in which individuals are complaining of nausea, heart palpitations, headaches and shortness of breath.
There is, Maisch argues, "practically no research on possible ill health effects of exposure to smart meter radio frequency emissions".
This is despite a US survey of smart meter users showing that 49 per cent experienced insomnia, 43 per cent stress, 40 per cent headaches, 38 per cent ringing in the ears and 26 per cent heart problems.
In many cases the symptoms were more pronounced when the smart meter was adjacent to a bedroom, Maisch notes.
Anew documentary film Power Takeover: What's Wrong with Smart Meters? by Canadian film marker Josh Del Sol, highlights the privacy implications of smart meters.
Del Sol's film, while in the style of a polemic, does feature some surprising characters arguing against smart meters.
Senior people formerly associated with Apple, the National Security Administration and the CIA all make an appearance in this newly released film.
As does Edward Snowden, the man responsible for lifting the lid on the US and its allies network of surveillance.
The security concerns about smart meters range from hacking to data collection by security agencies such as ASIO, the NSA and agencies in the UK.
A security consultant from the UK, Eireann Leverett, says that smart meters can be hacked through the mobile network they operate on and through the hardware used by the firm that installs and operates the meters.
On the matter of data collection, smart meters provide the capacity for security agencies to have handed to them vast volumes of data on the movements of individuals in their homes.
This includes how much power they use, when they are away from their homes and tracking their expenditure on electricity.
We now know, courtesy of the work of Edward Snowden, Julian Assange and others that companies in the telecoms and IT sector are regularly handing over vast swathes of data to security agencies under what were until recently, secret agreements.
Power companies will be no exception to this grab for data by security agencies.
What we have learnt this year through Snowden's revelations is that the utility companies are all too ready to work hand-in-glove with security agencies and not stand up for their customers' right to privacy.
Smart meters have been recommended in a Tasmanian Government discussion paper published in November last year.
The arguments in favour of the rollout of such a network are based around ensuring consumers have more control over power usage and pay less for their power consumption.
It is important, in light of some of the work being done and revelations in Del Sol's film, that wet hink carefully about their rollout.
Smart meter technology is not inherently dangerous or harmful, but a rush to roll out without addressing privacy concerns and health matters would be foolish and lead to an increased cost down the track.
Del Sol's film is being shown this week in Cygnet and at the Baha'i Centre in Hobart.
Maisch is speaking at both events.
He is a considered voice and a person who deals in data rather than emotion.
This is what one wants when dealing with new technologies.
Interestingly, just as Tasmania is considering embracing smart meters, some US companies are now giving their customers an opt-out clause because of concerns about health, hacking, power bill surges and privacy breaches.
Let's make sure we have solid evidence-based facts and independent voices on smart meters before it's too late.
Greg Barns is a Hobart-based human rights lawyer.
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