“SMART” METER UPDATE
from Citizens Alliance for Utility Safety (CAUS)
PNM has asked the NM Public Regulatory Commission (PRC) for permission to install electric “smart” meters in the areas it serves. A “smart” meter is a digital, wireless, transmitting device attached to the exterior wall of your home. PNM has asked the PRC for permission to bill ratepayers for expenses related to their installation (about $130 million).
(Electricity users whose solar power systems keep them tied to the grid are also subject to “smart” meters.)
“Smart” meter installations in other municipalities have shown that they put everyone at risk of:
Large rate increases. In some areas, customer bills more than doubled. PNM claims that our bills will only increase by $5 (In total or per month?); but their proposal does not say who’ll pay for the $130 million needed to install “smart” meters. Further, in California alone, more than 1500 customers reported overbilling after “smart” meter installations.
Fires. The electric meter base on your home was designed for an analog meter. The “Smart” meter blades which insert into the electric meter base are thinner than analog blades. This leaves a bit of space at the connection which can lead to arcing and fire. Because they caused fires, utilities in Pennsylvania, Texas, Florida, Saskachewan, New Zealand and many other places halted smart meter installations.
Cyber security breeches. Former CIA Director James Woolsey says, “A so-called ‘smart’ grid that’s as vulnerable as what we’ve got (to hacking) is not smart at all. It’s a really really stupid grid.”
Invasion of your privacy.Detailed data about your household’s power usage could be sold to third parties.
Health problems. A “smart” meter transmits data about your electricity usage to the nearest collector with spikes of radiofrequency radiation as often as 170,000 times per day, 365 days per year. These RFs radiate along home wiring, exposing anyone within the building to levels of electromagnetic radiation (EMR) deemed a potential Class 2B carcinogen by the World Health Organization. How does exposure to EMR affect pregnant women, children, people with implants, people whose bedroom walls hold a “smart” meter? Do we learn first-hand; or do we apply caution and keep New Mexico “smart” meter free?
We are working on steps that ratepayers can take to protest PNM’s plan and to opt-out of “smart” meters. We will post this info asap.
www.offthegridnews.com/radio/dhs-not-prepared-for-a-power-grid-attack
DHS Not Prepared For A Power Grid Attack That Would Leave 90 Percent Of Americans Dead?
A recent government report claimed that the Department of Homeland Security has made major strides to protect the power grid from a crippling attack, but that report runs counter to sworn testimony in front of Congress and to what experts say is really the case.
In fact, DHS appears ill-prepared to protect the United States from an attack on the power grid that could leave Americans without electricity for weeks, if not months. So says this week’s guest, Peter Vincent Pry, one of the nation’s foremost experts on threats to the grid. He is the author of the new book, Blackout Wars, the executive director of the EMP Task Force on National and Homeland Security, and he also served on the Congressional EMP Commission.
The EMP Commission found that a one-year blackout would leave 90 percent of Americans dead due to chaos and starvation.
Pry tells us:
- Why any steps DHS has taken to protect America pale in comparison to what needs to be done.
- What the Obama administration has done, and not done, to address the country’s grid vulnerabilities.
- How the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), part of the Department of Energy, has made America more susceptible to a power grid attack.
- Which state might be the safest to live in during an EMP attack on America or even during a solar storm.
In the interview – which is part 1 of a two-part series – Pry also explains how the power grid can be protected on a local level, without help from Washington, D.C.
Read this article and listen to the interview here: www.offthegridnews.com/radio/dhs-not-prepared-for-a-power-grid-attack