Letter: Smarten up Mass.
Friday, September 12, 2014Worcester is the site of National Grid’s “smart” electric meter pilot program. The $48 million Worcester pilot has not proven that smart meters are cost effective or safe, yet the Department of Public Utilities intends for Massachusetts residents to pay an estimated $7 billion for investor-owned utilities to deploy.
Homeowners reporting signal interference, multiple light bulbs or appliances blowing prematurely, the onset or intensification of stress-related health ailments or inflammatory markers, and damage to trees and shrubs are ignored. Instead, the DPU, endorses discriminatory opt-out fees for residents unable to tolerate exposure to micro-pulses of microwave radiofrequencies. The DPU also mandated auto-enrollment, which amounts to human experimentation without knowledge or consent.
The DPU’s process for Northern Pass, the gas pipeline, industrial scale wind and solar, and smart meters denies the actual costs to health and the environment, favoring a utility model in its death throes.
Beware politicians opposing the gas pipeline and endorsing smart meters for energy efficiency. Lisa Madigan, AG of Illinois, stated, “The utilities want to experiment with expensive and unproven smart-grid technology, yet all the risk for this experiment will lie with consumers. The utilities have shown no evidence of billions of dollars in benefits to consumers from these new meters, but they have shown they know how to profit. I think the only real question is: How dumb do they think we are?”
PATRICIA BURKE
Stop Smart Meters Massachusetts
Millis
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