‘Smart’ Meter Pushback Report
In this edition we look at some of the whys and hows PG&E customers may now consider opting-out of the utility’s ill-conceived wireless ‘smart’ meter rollout plan. We also look at critical responses of movement activists to the CPUC’s interim opt-out plan, then at personal privacy perils, corporate data collection dangers and wireless energy grid security risks. In short, why ‘smart’ is on pace to rank as the New Stupid, and why wise public opposition to a wireless energy grid is growing nationally and internationally.

‘Hey! We won – sort of – with more to come!
By Mary Beth Brangan

You may recently have received a certified letter from PG&E and a robo call telling you that you now have the option until May 1 to choose to keep your analog meter or have a ‘smart’ meter installed. Happy day! Except for the ridiculous ‘interim’ fee of $75 up front and $10 extra monthly (to discourage opt outs) and a few other potential pitfalls to watch out for.

A Milestone Won, The Pushback Continues

We aren’t finished with this yet. There is a Phase Two in the CPUC’s opt out legal proceeding and EON is a legal party in the negotiations. The current fees are “interim fees” and may be changed as a result of the discussion in Phase Two.

Our movement is still fighting against this fee extortion but we must first fight against it in the court of the very entity that mandated the ‘smart’ meters in the first place and then charged the fee, the California Public Utility Commission, CPUC.

There are legal challenges coming from our movement both in the CPUC court and later in the state and federal courts. We are absolutely opposed to forcing people to pay to NOT to have something on their homes that they didn’t ask for and that may harm them in many ways and that emits what the International Agency on Cancer Research (IARC) classified as a class 2B carcinogen.

We’re also determined to get community-wide opt outs, since if neighbors have the RF pulsing meters, they still can effect you, by adversely affecting your health from the meters directly or by the “dirty electricity” that will be pulsing throughout the grid wherever there are ‘smart’ meters installed. You can’t opt out of ‘dirty electricity.’ Also, so far, the opt out only applies to residences, not businesses. That is reprehensible.

Actually there are so many reasons to be against this ill-conceived ‘smart grid’ that the whole plan needs to go back to the drawing board. (For the reality of the privacy issues – essentially surveilling you in your home and the reality of national security issues that will be endangered by making the grid so vulnerable to hacking because of wireless meters – see the GAO and the CRS for instance.)

For all these reasons and even more, many activists in the movement are advocating resisting PG&E’s protection racket by not paying the ‘opt out’ fee and are calling for the complete abandonment of the whole disastrous ‘smart’ grid plan.

But in the meantime, here are some things to consider about the current opt out situation:

If you have a smart meter, you now can have it changed to an analog. Many people with smart meters are experiencing (1) higher utility bills, (2) health problems and (3) interference with or damage to electrical devices in their homes. Paying $75 + $10/month to have the smart meter removed may be worth it for some people just to avoid the higher electrical bills, not to mention medical bills.

Then there are the RF radiation pulses. PG&E has admitted in legal filings with the CPUC that each smart meter pulses RF radiation between 10,000 and 190,000 times per day—quite a different account of the radiation than PG&E had previously been reporting in the media.

The County Health Department of Santa Cruz did a report on smart meter health issues, and they concluded that the RF radiation from smart meters poses a significant risk to human health, and that government regulatory bodies should exercise much more caution in such a wide-spread roll-out. The American Academy of Environmental Medicine recently wrote a letter to the CPUC stating that the smart meter program should be halted. .

PG&E needs our fees? Really?

PGE claims that the charges cover meter readers that won’t be needed by those with ‘smart’ meters. But we’re already paying for meter readers in our bills. Plus we’re paying for the $2.2 Billion ‘smart’ meters – about $300 per customer…

So, someone opting out is paying multiple times, for a ‘smart’ meter they don’t want and won’t get, plus twice for meter readers. There are no refunds for the increased rates for unused ‘smart’ meters – or for the new accounting systems they will require. PG&E wants to charge those of us opting out for the separate accounting system, but it already exists and has been paid for by our current charges.

You can also register your objection to the extortionate charges on www.SmartMeterHelp.com the main site for complaints. This site will route your complaint to all relevant officials.

Thoughts on ‘opting out’

The number to call to have the smart meter replaced by PG&E is 866-743-0263. You can also call that number to state you will keep your analog. To do it on-line, the PG&E website is here.PG&E wants to know by May 1.

Some in the movement say to delay until May with your decision, to avoid paying the fee until the last minute. Others claim that a vice President of PG&E promised in a personal conversation that they won’t charge until May anyway. You’ll have to decide when you take action. Just don’t forget to do it if you decide to wait, since after May 1, they will assume you want a ‘smart’ meter if you don’t tell them otherwise.

If you still have your analog meter, be sure that PG&E doesn’t change it to a ‘new’ analog meter. Some meters have been replaced with a quasi-‘smart’ meter that still emits dangerous RF. Be sure to continue to guard your meter and insist on being there when any PG&E employee is dealing with your meter. Don’t let them bully you into accepting a replacement analog meter, unless yours is truly 90 years old. Let us know if they try to do that.

If you have a ‘smart’ meter already and want to get rid of it asap, which is a good idea so you won’t be injured, overcharged or surveiled, you can write “paid under protest” on your check. Avoid signing anything that may limit your right to sue later if we bring a class action lawsuit, which many want to do.

All fees paid for opting out (of something we never opted into in the first place) should be marked “paid under protest” on your check to enable further legal action if necessary.

You might qualify for low-income electricity rates through CARES or FERA. If you do, the opt-out fee is $10 up front and $5 extra monthly.

Mary Beth Brangan – marybeth@eon3.net

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Some Marin SmartMeter opponents dismiss PG&E’s opt-out plan
Some aren’t pleased with meter alternative that comes at a price
Published: Wednesday, February 8, 2012 1:10 PM PST
By Jessica Mullins – Marinscope Twin Cities Times

At long last, PG&E customers have an alternative to SmartMeters. But Mill Valley’s Judi Shils, a longtime critic of the meters’ wireless technology, has nothing good to say about the colossal power utility’s fee-based opt-out plan.

“The whole thing is so reprehensible,” said Shils, founder and director of the Sausalito-based environmental advocacy group Teens Turning Green. Shils said it’s “absurd” that PG&E will charge customers (especially those complaining of health impacts) to keep a regular analog meter.

But the opt-out plan, which the California Public Utilities Commission approved unanimously Feb. 1, needs fees to cover manual meter-reading costs, PG&E spokesperson Greg Snapper told Marinscope Newspapers. Customers will pay a $75 initial setup charge and a $10 monthly charge. Those who qualify for low-income rates will pay a $10 setup charge and $5 a month.

PG&E had originally proposed higher fees for the program, Snapper said. “It’s going to be costly to maintain a second meter-reading program,” he said, adding that meter readers would be deployed sporadically, since PG&E has installed about 90 percent of its SmartMeters in California.

SmartMeter installations are 80 percent complete in Marin County, where PG&E had around 216,000 gas and electric meters to upgrade, Snapper said.

Shils and other opponents claim the meters’ electromagnetic signals cause health issues including headaches and trouble sleeping. She said her SmartMeter turns her into “Judy Jetson. I’m in outer space,” she said. The meter makes her feel dizzy, causes heart palpitations and makes her “head feel like it’s going to explode.” She said it wasn’t fair that people who are sensitive to the meters must now pay to avoid them.

But PG&E officials stress that dozens of scientific studies prove the meters aren’t harmful.

“We want to reassure our customers our SmartMeters are safe,” Snapper said. “They are part of the numerous radio-frequency-emitting devices in our society. We still respect and understand that some consumers don’t want them and they can continue living a wireless-free life where they can. We will be fulfilling their request.”

A January 2011 California Council on Science and Technology report revealed the radiation from the meters is dwarfed by the radiation from items such as cellphones and microwave ovens, and that the actual radiation falls well within Federal Communications Commission guidelines.

But Bolinas resident Mary Beth Brangan, co-director of the Ecological Options Network, said she knew of several cases where people became so ill from the SmartMeters they had to leave their homes. “No one is immune to this. It’s going to affect everyone. It’s just some people respond and get sick faster and others get sick and don’t make the connection,” she said.

Brangan went so far as to compare PG&E’s opt-out rates to “extortion.”

“People will be priced out of being able to opt out,” Brangan said. “It’s like a mafia solution. If you pay us enough we won’t make you sick.”

But not all Marin residents are opposed to the plan. Novato’s Dennis Hagerty wrote: “If people don’t want a SmartMeter it costs more for the utility. Let those people pay extra. I do not believe in the alleged ‘health risks.’ ”

He added that the technology, which lets customers closely track their energy usage and is part of a larger “smart grid” system, is helping people save money.

Program to use refurbished analog meters

For people who opt out of the SmartMeter program, PG&E officials will replace the meters with analog meters unless they still have their original meter.

The analog meters are “older-style meters that are no longer manufactured,” Snapper said. PG&E is purchasing them from an East Coast vendor who is refurbishing them. “These do not have any communication components or hardware. These are the ones with spinning dials and mechanical parts.”

Snapper added that the meters must be PG&E approved — customers can’t use their own meters.

Shils said she had been planning on installing her own analog meter in her home before the opt-out option surfaced, and she still plans to install it this week. “I don’t trust them. I don’t want their meter. I probably will get my electricity turned off. At this point my health is more important.”

Communitywide plan on horizon

Brangan said the opt-out plan is “too late.” A second phase in the CPUC-instructed opt-out proceedings will include a “communitywide opt-out option,” which Brangan argues should have come first. “Neighbors’ meters are still going to be able to harm you.”

Snapper said officials don’t yet know what the community opt-out plan will entail, but added that PG&E will be in “full support” of the decision the CPUC makes about the option.

Brangan said a communitywide opt-out could especially appeal to the roughly 10 counties and 38 cities and towns in California (including Marin County and Fairfax) that levied a SmartMeter ban.

Brangan said anti-SmartMeter efforts picked up steam two years ago in Marin. “All over the world people are watching what’s going on here with PG&E and the SmartMeter,” she said.

Residents, Marin city councils and the Marin Board of Supervisors began voicing loud opposition to PG&E’s rapid installation of the gas and electric meters in 2010. While some expressed concern about health impacts from the meters’ signals, invasion-of-privacy concerns and billing inaccuracies, a common message sent to PG&E focused on customers’ lack of alternatives to SmartMeters.

In 2010 Fairfax and the county of Marin passed emergency moratoriums banning SmartMeters. In June 2010 the city and county of San Francisco filed a petition with the CPUC to suspend SmartMeter installation until an investigation looking at billing inaccuracies was complete. Fairfax joined in the petition and the Marin Board of Supervisors, Sausalito City Council, Novato City Council and Ross Town Council all agreed to submit a letter that supported the petition and asked PG&E to suspend installation.

The investigation report, which was released in September 2010, found that PG&E’s SmartMeters functioned properly but the utility company did not effectively address customer concerns.

San Rafael city officials and the Sausalito City Council were among the local municipalities that agreed to send a letters to the CPUC and PG&E asking for a permanent opt-out program for residents who did not want a SmartMeter.

Although the Marin Board of Supervisors voted to impose a one-year moratorium on SmartMeter installations, PG&E said it would not halt installations, and the county sheriff announced he would not enforce the ban.

Some residents took it upon themselves to reject SmartMeters.

Brangan was one of several West Marin residents who halted the private contractor PG&E hired to install the meters, Wellington Energy. “We literally chased the Wellington trucks out of West Marin and we went to the Wellington truck yard in Sonoma and tried to block the trucks there.”

On Dec. 29, 2010, two women were arrested in Inverness Park in unincorporated Marin County in a protest against SmartMeter installations.

PG&E customers can request to opt out of the SmartMeter program online at pge.com/smartmeteroptout or by calling 866-743-0263.

Contact Jessica Mullins at jmullins@marinscope.com.

Privacy Issues:

from Naperville Smart Meter Awareness:

Detailed Data Derived from Smart Meters

On February 3, 2012, the following report “Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress,” was published by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) and authored by three legislative attorneys. The CRS is one of the primary research organizations of the federal government and is operated by Congress to research issues of importance to the nation. They are also nonpartisan.

Readers will be shocked to know what kind of detailed information can be derived from “smart” meters. With alarming accuracy, exactly which appliances are being used at any given time is possible even with 15-minute incremental data taken from the smart meter. A pretty accurate profile of the activities within a home is depicted in the NIST chart below. The City of Naperville is using NIST as its standards, according to their NSGI Customer Privacy and Advocacy Handbook.

https://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R42338.pdf

For the best parts, read pages 7-8:

“By examining smart meter data, it is possible to identify which appliances a consumer is using and at what times of the day, because each type of appliance generates a unique electric load “signature.””

“NIST wrote in 2010 that “research shows that analyzing 15-minute interval aggregate household energy consumption data can by itself pinpoint the use of most major home appliances.”

“Similarly, software-based algorithms would likely allow a person to extract the unique signatures of individual appliances from meter data that has been collected less frequently and is therefore less detailed.”

Grid Security Issues:
Smart Grid Legal News

Recently, PJM CEO Terry Boston stated in his interview with us that security of the electric grid is a critical issue. As cyber threats to the nation’s electrical grid become increasingly sophisticated and dynamic, the Department of Energy is continuing to work closely with the Department of Homeland Security, other government agencies and industry to reduce the risk of energy disruptions due to cyber incidents. Last September, the Department released the Roadmap to Achieve Energy Delivery Systems Cybersecurity and a Draft Cybersecurity Risk Management Process Guideline that seeks to establish frameworks and processes to help the electricity sector manage cybersecurity risk. Read more.

Smart Grid Security Blogspot
from Joe Weiss of Applied Control Solutions:
Jim Lewis may not be aware that more than 200 actual control system cyber incidents have occurred to date. There have been more than 20 control system cyber incidents in the North American electric grid including three major cyber-related electric outages and 2 nuclear plants shut down from full power. Unfortunately, even though the batting average is still low, it is not miniscule anymore. Read more.

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Screw-Ups, Shut-Downs, Ghost Towns and Cover-Ups: Normal Operating Procedures [Updated 2-10-2012]
This edition’s harvest of nuclear news reports casts further doubt on the sanity of the dwindling numbers of atomic energy advocates. From California’s San Onofre, Illinois’s Byron, Minnesota’s Prairie Island, to Moscow’s Nuclear Research Center, to Vermont Yankee, to Japan’s Fukushima, (emergencies just within the past week) to nuclear power plants in Germany, and from TEPCO to the NRC the vulnerability of the whole nuclear complex to technical failure, scientistic delusion, managerial incompetence, official malfeasance and links to organized crime is too obvious to deny. And now they tell us, “We could have lost Alaska?!”

A case in point: the NRC just licensed the first new nuclear reactor in three decades.

Here’s the digest. It ends with a new upbeat anti-nuclear video by young surfer/filmmaker Kyle Thiermann.

We May Yet Lose Tokyo… Not to Mention Alaska… and Now Georgia, Too
by Harvey Wasserman
Published on Friday, February 10, 2012 by Common Dreams
As the Nuclear Regulatory Commission approves a construction/operating license for two new reactors in Georgia, alarming reports from Japan indicate the Fukushima catastrophe is far from over.

Thousands of tons of intensely radioactive spent fuel are still in serious jeopardy. Radioactive trash and water are spewing into the environment. And nuclear engineer Arnie Gundersen reports that during the string of disasters following March 11, 2011’s earthquake and tsunami, Fukushima 1’s containment cap may actually have lifted off its base, releasing dangerously radioactive gasses and opening a gap for an ensuing hydrogen explosion….

…With bitter debate raging in Japan, the US and elsewhere over the killing power of Fukushima’s emissions, the certification of a new US reactor design may someday be remembered as a bizarre epitaph for the 20th century’s most expensive failed technology.

Without state ratepayers and federal taxpayers being forced to foot the bill, new reactor construction in the US is going nowhere.

And without a final resolution to the on-going horrors at Fukushima, the entire planet, from Tokyo to Alaska to Georgia and beyond, remains at serious radioactive risk. Read more.

Vogtle Nuclear Power Plant Wins First Reactor Construction Permit In A Generation
Lucia Graves
huffingtonpost.com
WASHINGTON — Federal safety officials voted 4-to-1 to approve the first nuclear reactor construction permit in almost 35 years, overriding U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Greg Jaczko.

The commission’s vote on Thursday will allow Southern Company subsidiary Georgia Power to expand operations at its plant in eastern Georgia, paving the way for the construction of two new nuclear power reactors at its Vogtle site. The last such project to be approved was in 1978.

Chairman Jaczko in his dissenting vote cited concerns stemming from Fukushima, underscoring long-standing tensions on the commission over the regulatory response to Japan’s 2011 nuclear power disaster.

“I cannot support issuing this license as if Fukushima never happened,” Jaczko said after the vote at the commission’s headquarters in Rockville, Md. Jaczko had requested a binding commitment that the Fukushima enhancements currently planned would be enacted before the facility begins operations. Southern Company refused to meet this stipulation.
Read more.

US licenses first nuclear reactors since 1978
By Miguel Llanos, msnbc.com
Updated at 1:25 p.m. ET: It’s been 34 years — and several nuclear accidents later — but a divided federal panel on Thursday licensed a utility to build nuclear reactors in the U.S. for the first time since 1978.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s chairman, Gregory Jaczko, opposed licensing the two reactors at this time even though he had earlier praised their design.

“There is still more work” to be done to ensure that lessons learned from Japan’s Fukushima disaster last year are engrained in the reactor design, he told his colleagues. “I cannot support this licensing as if Fukushima never happened. I believe it requires some type of binding commitment that the Fukushima enhancements that are currently projected and currently planned to be made would be made before the operation of the facility.”

“There is no amnesia,” responded Commissioner Kristine Svinick, speaking for the 4-1 majority and noting that the industry has been directed to adopt those lessons.
The licensing covers two reactors estimated to cost $14 billion that the Southern Company wants to add to its existing Vogtle nuclear plant in Georgia. Preliminary work has already begun and plans are for the first new reactor to be operating in 2016. Read more.

Emails reveal panic at U.S. nuclear agency as experts were kept in the dark following Fukushima disaster
• One email reads: ‘We have very little factual information as an agency’
• Nuclear Regulatory Commission inundated with requests over safety of U.S. nuclear facilities in wake of disaster
• Experts disagreed over best way to contain Fukushima disaster
• Worst-case scenario would have seen high levels of radiation reach Alaska

By Wil Longbottom – Daily Mail
Emails posted on the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission website after the Fukushima disaster last March have revealed the agency was kept in the dark about the scale of the crisis.

The correspondence, posted after the earthquake and tsunami caused catastrophic damage to the nuclear plant in Fukushima, Japan, reveals experts in the U.S. disagreed over how to deal with the disaster.

And while assuring the U.S. population that there was no danger, the NRC did not disclose a worst-case scenario which could have seen high levels of radiation affecting Alaska if Fukushima could not be brought under control.

New Containment Flaw Identified in the BWR Mark 1
Fairewinds Nuclear Update
Fairewinds shows that the nuclear industry’s plan to vent the containment at Fukushima Daiichi could not have prevented a containment failure and the ensuing explosions. Look at the graphics from the containment stress tests conducted more than 40 years ago at a US nuclear reactor identical to Fukushima Daiichi Unit 1. This video and its graphics provide important clues about why Fukushima Daiichi Unit 1 exploded.

New Containment Flaw Identified in the BWR Mark 1 from Fairewinds Energy Education on Vimeo.

Emails Show Panic Within US Nuke Agency in Wake of Fukushima Disaster
US experts for Nuclear Regulatary Commission disagreed over best way to contain ongoing nuclear disaster
– Common Dreams staff – Published on Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Emails posted on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) website show an agency that was ill-informed about the state of the crisis taking place at the failing Fukushima nuclear plant last year in Japan. The emails reveal some of the mitigation plans advisers to the NRC were contemplating, show an agency reluctant to share its own research on spent fuel pools, and unwilling to articulate worst-case scenarios, including a nuclear fallout plan for Alaska.

Shining the Light on the Triple Meltdown at Fukushima Daiichi
Fairewinds – Video Nuclear Update
There were ample warnings that both TEPCO and Japan’s regulators ignored steps that would have prevented this tragedy. Throughout the world, nuclear oversight has been compromised by the revolving door and cozy relationship between the nuclear industry and the so-called nuclear regulators who promote nuclear power rather than regulate.

Shining the Light on the Triple Meltdown at Fukushima Daiichi from Fairewinds Energy Education on Vimeo.

Nuke dangers nowhere near resolved: Kan’s crisis adviser
By REIJI YOSHIDA
Staff writer – Japan Times
In December, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda announced the “conclusion” of the meltdown crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, saying Tokyo Electric Power Co. was managing to keep the three crippled reactors cool, as well as the facility’s spent fuel pools.

But a former special adviser to Naoto Kan, who was prime minister when the crisis started, warned that the situation is far from resolved and said Fukushima has exposed a raft of serious nuclear problems that Japan will have to confront for years.
“I would say (the crisis) just opened Pandora’s box,” Hiroshi Tasaka, who has a doctorate in nuclear engineering and is now a professor at Tama University, said in a recent interview with The Japan Times.

He was one of a select group who glimpsed the secret worst-case scenario document written up by the Japan Atomic Energy Commission on March 25 that was later reportedly quashed by the government.

According to the scenario, the biggest risk during the meltdown crisis wasn’t the reactors themselves but the spent fuel pools sitting atop them, particularly the one above reactor 4, which still contains about 1,500 nuclear fuel assemblies, Tasaka said.
Read more.

Nobel Winner Oe Urges Japan to Decommission Nuclear Reactors
By Chisaki Watanabe – Bloomberg
Feb. 8 (Bloomberg) — Japan should decide quickly to abandon its nuclear reactors, according to Nobel Prize laureate Kenzaburo Oe.
“If we are to take ethical responsibility for children of tomorrow, we need to decide now to abandon all reactors,” the 77-year old author said today at a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan.

“Another severe nuclear accident could occur,” said Oe, who is among the nine founding members of the “Sayonara Nuclear Power Plants” campaign launched last June. “There is no proof it won’t happen again.”

The initiative aims to collect 10 million signatures to urge the government to phase out nuclear power generation and shift to clean energy and energy-saving measures. So far, 5 million signatures have been collected, said Satoshi Kamata, a freelance journalist and another founding member.

Rising temperatures at Fukushima raise questions over stability of nuclear plant
Justin McCurry in Tokyo – guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 7 February 2012 23.52 EST
Workers at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant say they are regaining control of a reactor after its temperature rose dramatically this week, casting doubt on government claims that the facility has been stabilised. Read more.

San Onofre nuclear reactor unit shut down; SCE plans repair of steam generator tube leak
February 3, 2012 – Source: Southern California Edison

Southern California Edison (SCE) (NYSE:EIX), operator of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, continues to plan for the repair of the steam generator tube leak in Unit 3 following a precautionary shutdown January 31. Sensitive monitoring instruments at Unit 3 continue to show no change in radiation levels that would be detectable off-site.

Operators responded quickly to indications of a steam generator tube leak based on readings from highly sensitive instruments designed to detect this condition, and in time to take action to prevent any potential change in detectable radiation exposure outside the plant boundary. Operators safely shut the nuclear power plant down and isolated the component that contained the leaking tube within four hours of detecting the indications.

Currently, operators are cooling down Unit 3 and reducing pressure in the plant, which is the method to stop the tube from leaking. They are meticulously following prescribed procedures written specifically for addressing a tube leak condition.

San Onofre, We’ve Got a Problem – by by Joieau – Daily Kos – Fri Feb 03, 2012 at 05:16 PM PST

That’s a diagram of Mitsubishi Heavy Industry’s PWR and APSR steam generator, with the pieces-parts labeled. In case anyone missed my diary of last night, San Onofre: “Unprecedented” Steam Generator Tube Failure, Unit 3 of the San Clemente nuke had to shut down on Tuesday of this week because a leak in one (or both) of its RSGs [Replacement Steam Generators, installed in January of 2011] set off radiation alarms in the auxiliary building. Inspection of Unit 2’s RSGs was conducted yesterday because that plant is down for outage, and “unusual” tube wear was discovered in more than 800 of the more than 9,500 tubes that carry superheated, pressurized reactor coolant water [~600ºF] into the SGs to heat secondary feedwater to steam to turn the turbines and generate electricity. Unit 2’s RSGs were also manufactured by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and were installed in the fall of 2009.
Here is a link to a DOE report from their Energy Information Administration/Electric Power Monthly, published in August of 1995 which explains in some detail the function of Steam Generators in a PWR nuclear power plant, and what can go wrong with SGs. Which along with the reactor itself are the most expensive components of a nuclear generating plant. It’s worth a read just to get the general overview of why these non-reactor components are so important.
Steam Generator Degredation and Its Impact on Continued Operation of Pressurized Water Reactors in the United States [pdf]

Apparently there was a little manufacturing problem with SONGS’ Unit 3 RSGs, that everyone involved knew about at the time. Here is the NRC’s Information Notice to license holders on that very issue, from April of 2010 –

NRC: Welding Defects in Replacement Steam Generators [pdf]
Read more.

ENERGY: Electricity market unperturbed by offline nuke plant
Eric Wolff – North County Times
California has so much excess electricity-generating capacity, the shutdown of San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station last week had no impact on wholesale electricity prices, data from the California Independent System Operator showed.
The impact was lessened by the timing of the outage. Californians use less power in winter, thanks to a mild climate and a relative dearth of electric heaters.
“It goes back to the fact that you have fairly low demand levels,” said Travis Miller, an electricity and utilities analyst at Morningstar Inc. “You have all this spare capacity, a huge amount of gas plant capacity that’s not running at any time during the day. You can replace that 20 percent during the day with those.” Read more.

Nuclear Hot Seat
Radio – Libbe HaLevy
In the wake of all the bad news from San Onofre in the past week (radiation leak in Unit 2, over 800 damaged pipes found in Unit 3, worker falls into refueling pond), I interviewed James Chambers, a licensed nuclear reactor operator and whistleblower, on the difference between what the mainstream media is saying and what these problems might mean.  Please share. His interpretation is timely and important.

Go to Nuclear Hot Seat Podcast here.
Here’s the audio player: chambers42573c97-9c90-9008-b72b-fdb6702ad773
Here’s the download link.

Also on Nuclear HotSeat:
Nuclear Hotseat Podcast for February 7, 2012
* Interview w/Mary Olson, Director of the SE office of Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS.org), on increased radiation risks to women and children as well as national perspectives on the anti-nuclear movement;
* San Onofre problems continue (SEE: Nuclear Hotseat Special Report);
* Fukushima 2 reactor increasing heat while TEPCO injects borax; radiation cloud over New Zealand;
* Fire at a nuclear research center in Moscow;
* Nuke accidents in France, North Anna, and Prairie Island in Minnesota;
* Radioactive fish in Vermont and dying bird populations at Fukushima.

Fire at Moscow nuclear institute, Russia says no risk
By Alexei Anishchuk – Reuters
MOSCOW | Sun Feb 5, 2012 1:18pm EST
MOSCOW (Reuters) – There was no risk of a radiation leak after a fire broke out at a Moscow nuclear research centre housing a non-operational 60-year-old atomic reactor on Sunday, said officials, but Greenpeace Russia expressed serious concern about the incident. Read more.

Press Release IPPNW Germany
Spikes of radioactive emissions during inspection and refuelling

For the first time anywhere in the world, recent German data reveal huge spikes in radioactive releases during the refuelling of NPPs.

In September 2011, Gundremmingen NPP located between Ulm and Augsburg in Southern Germany emitted  much larger amounts of radioactive noble gases during inspection/refuelling  than are emitted during normal power operation. According to the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) in Germany, the normal emission concentration during the rest of the year is about 3 kBq/m³, but during inspection/refuelling (in the afternoon and evening of September 22nd) this concentration abruptly increased to ~700 kBq/m³ with a peak of 1,470 kBq/m³. In the following days (September 22nd – 29th), the concentrations of released radioactive noble gases were still much higher (average = 100 kBq/m³) than during normal power operation.

A possible mechanism explaining leukemia clusters close to German and French nuclear power plants?
Image courtesy of German IPPNWThe German affiliate of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War has published analysis showing large releases of radioactivity during “routine” re-fuelling of atomic reactors in Bavaria. The releases are hundreds of times higher than what is considered a “normal” release. The German IPPNW warns that fetuses would be especially vulnerable to these radioactive hazards. This physical, chemical, and biological delivery mechanism of radioactivity into fetal tissue is one possible explanation for statistically significant increases in childhood leukemia rates detected near nuclear power plants by German and French government health studies, which officially have “no explanation.”

Anti-Nuclear Tokyo Mayor Challenges Big Utilities
By George Nishiyama – WSJ-Japan
Tokyo’s Setagaya ward is over 260 km away from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, a long way from the evacuation area imposed by the Japanese government after last year’s March 11 disasters. Read more.

David Lochbaum: “The NRC Is Not Doing Its Job”NPR
A nuclear engineer, Lochbaum is director of the Nuclear Safety Project for the Union of Concerned Scientists. He’s found that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has successfully intervened in some critical situations and dropped the ball in others. “The biggest concern I’ve had with the NRC over the years I’ve been monitoring them is lack of consistency,” he says. “They’re a little bit slow at solving known safety problems.” This is the edited transcript of an interview conducted on Nov. 29, 2011.
… Would you consider yourself a critic of the nuclear industry?
We’re critics, but we’re not an anti-nuclear organization. We’re a pro-safety or safety advocate.
If a safety problem is identified, we want to see that problem fixed. The only fix isn’t shutting the plant down permanently, taking away the keys. It could be just fixing the safety problem and allowing the plant to operate safely into the future. …
When Fukushima happened, I suppose it’s an article of faith in your business that an accident anywhere is an accident everywhere. Is that what happened?
UCS’s founder, Henry Kendall, used to say that you can’t have but one half of a boat sink. They are basically all in the same boat.
So the accident at Fukushima does affect plants worldwide, and should affect it. It’s a learning exercise. You try to learn from things that work well as well as things that don’t work so well.

SAN ONOFRE: NRC say leak may have caused minor radiation release at San Onofre
BY PAUL SISSON psisson@nctimes.com North County Times |

An official with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Wednesday that a water leak this week at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station could have released a small amount of radiation into the atmosphere, contradicting an earlier statement by plant owner Southern California Edison.

Victor Dricks, a spokesman for the NRC, said a small release could have occurred because the leaking component at San Onofre’s Unit 3 reactor vents into a building outside the reactor’s towering containment dome. That building is not sealed or pressurized, he said.

“We know that it vented some radioactive gases into the auxiliary building because that’s what triggered the radiation alarm that told them they had a leak,” Dricks said.
Whether the gas got out of the unsealed building is not known. Dricks said that any gas that might have escaped would be considered a “very low-level release.”
Read more.

‪FRYING DUTCHMAN humanERROR‬ video

Vt. Yankee owner wants $4.6 million in legal fees
Rutland Herald. VT.
Attorneys for Entergy Nuclear have filed a request in U.S. District Court in Brattleboro seeking attorneys fees from the state of Vermont and other parties in its lawsuit over the continued operation of Vermont Yankee nuclear plant.

The motion states that Entergy has so far spent $4.62 million on the lawsuit, and it noted that in U.S. District Judge Garvan Murtha’s ruling of Jan. 20, that Entergy was entitled to attorney’s fees. Read more.

Stop valve at Vermont nuke fails during testing
The Brattleboro Reformer reported this afternoon:
Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in Vernon is on its way back up to full power after it powered down for a control rod adjustment on Monday.
A rod adjustment is performed every three months to keep the reactor operating at optimal power production.
During the power down, the plant’s turbine stop valves were tested and one of the valves malfunctioned. Read more.

Tepco: Frozen water ruptures pipes at Fukushima plant — Cooling system stops at Spent Fuel Pool No. 4
Summary:
• Tokyo Electric Power Company has found water leaks in 14 locations at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant
• Leaks apparently occurred after frozen water ruptured the pipes
• [Tepco said] leaked water did not contain any radioactive materials
• [Tepco] said about 40 liters of water leaked from a cooling system for a spent fuel pool at the No.4 reactor
• Leak forced the system to stop for one hour and 40 minutes, but the pool’s temperature did not rise
• Tokyo Electric said 7 tons of water had leaked from the No.6 reactor
• Ruptured pipes caused 3 water leaks on the previous day
• [Tepco] official Junichi Matsumoto admitted that the utility failed to take sufficient steps to prevent frozen pipes

report no longer online

Nuke inspectors focus on `unusual’ wear on tubes
By MICHAEL R. BLOOD; Associated Press
Published: 02/02/12 12:06 pm | Updated: 02/03/12 1:21 am
LOS ANGELES — The integrity of some equipment installed in 2009 at Southern California’s San Onofre Unit 2 nuclear plant is drawing concern after unusual wear was found on hundreds of tubes that carry radioactive water.
Thursday’s disclosure came two days after a tube leak at the plant’s other unit prompted operators to shut down the reactor as a precaution. A tiny amount of radiation could have escaped, but officials say workers and the public were not endangered.
The problems at Unit 2 were discovered during inspections of a steam generator, after the plant 45 miles north of San Diego was taken off-line for maintenance and refueling. The two huge steam generators at Unit 2, each containing 9,700 tubes, were replaced in fall 2009, and a year later in its twin plant, Unit 3, as part of a $670 million overhaul.
Read more here.

Bird numbers plummet around stricken Fukushima plant
David McNeill The Independent
Researchers working around Japan’s disabled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant say bird populations there have begun to dwindle, in what may be a chilling harbinger of the impact of radioactive fallout on local life.

In the first major study of the impact of the world’s worst nuclear crisis in 25 years, the researchers, from Japan, the US and Denmark, said their analysis of 14 species of bird common to Fukushima and Chernobyl, the Ukrainian city which suffered a similar nuclear meltdown, showed the effect on abundance is worse in the Japanese disaster zone.
The study, published next week in the journal Environmental Pollution, suggests that its findings demonstrate “an immediate negative consequence of radiation for birds during the main breeding season [of] March [to] July”. Read more.

caption: A former yakuza in Oi, Fukui Prefecture, dispatched workers to nuclear power plants. He used to allocate three workers per three-tatami-mat room. “You could make money easily if you simply had a telephone line,” he said. (Kazuyuki Ito)
Yakuza labor structure formed base of nuclear industry – Asahi Shimbun
In a rural area 15 kilometers southwest of the Oi nuclear plant in Fukui Prefecture, a business office displays the signboard of a construction company. But inside, a 67-year-old man wearing a black knit cap and wrapped up in a blanket while watching television indicates that the company is more of a temp staff agency for nuclear power plant work.

“Do you want to know about worker staffing?” he says, as he narrows his eyes and grimaces. “That was lucrative. When I was asked to gather up 10 workers, I called up yakuza and construction dealers.”

His said his work involved “disguised subcontracts.” Under the system, a subcontractor provides temporary staff to a general contractor, and they work under the instructions of the general contractor. The practice is illegal under the Employment Security Law, which is designed to protect the rights of workers and to ensure proper working conditions for them.

But the practice has remained widespread for years at nuclear plants around the nation, according to sources. Read more.

Fla. sen. tries to repeal statute that would let energy corps. charge for non-existent plants
By Virginia Chamlee – American Independent
Friday, February 03, 2012 at 1:00 pm |
Florida Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, has filed an amendment to a Senate committee’s energy bill in an effort to repeal a statute that allows energy companies to charge their customers for nuclear power plants that may never be built.

The filing was spurred by a settlement agreement reached last month between Progress Energy and state regulators over a nuclear power plant in Levy County. The agreement specifically addresses outstanding issues with the company’s nuclear plant at Crystal River, which was closed for repairs in 2009 and hasn’t opened since. Progress Energy’s customers will ultimately foot the $1.1 billion bill for the development of the Levy plant, and have so far already paid for half — but the company recently received the right to cancel construction on that proposed plant, meaning customers might be paying for something that is never built. Read more.

Xcel says there’s no risk as Prairie Island spills radioactive water again
By Tad Vezner and Leslie Brooks Suzukamo
Pioneer Press
Posted:   02/08/2012 12:01:00 AM CST
Updated:   02/08 12:38:20 AM
Radioactive water has spilled from Xcel Energy’s Prairie Island nuclear power plant near Red Wing, Minn., on two recent occasions, according to notifications the utility sent to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission this month. Read more.

Startup problem shuts Byron 2 for 2nd time in 2 weeks
Reuters
1:08 p.m. CST, February 7, 2012
Exelon Corp.’s 1,136-megawatt Unit 2 at the Byron nuclear power plant in Illinois shut by late Monday soon after ramping up to 25 percent power earlier in the day, due to a turbine trip, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said.

The plant had been shut down last week, after reporting a loss of offsite power a day earlier. Read more.

UPDATE 1-Exelon Ill. Byron 2 returns to service
Feb 7 (Reuters) – Exelon Corp’s 1,136-megawatt Unit 2 at the Byron nuclear power plant in Illinois has been reconnected to the electrical grid and began producing electricity by Tuesday afternoon, the company said.
The unit shut Jan. 30 when power to an insulator in the facility’s switchyard failed.
Repairs to the insulator were completed along with maintenance and inspection tasks while the unit was offline, Exelon said.
Byron 1 was operating at full power, according to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Brand new replacement parts failing at atomic reactors
A tube rupture in a brand new replacement steam generator at San Onofre Unit 3 last week, and a defective brand new replacement reactor head at Palisades, show that safety significant structures at atomic reactors are of questionable integrity and quality assurance. Three Mile Island and Arkansas Nuclear One have also experienced premature degradation of new replacement steam generators, manufactured by Areva of France.

Michigan’s Palisades nuclear plant may be named one of nation’s 5 worst

The Palisades nuclear power plant, which sits on the shores of Lake Michigan, could soon be downgraded by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to a status making it among the nation’s five worst-performing nuclear plants after a year of accidents, unexpected shutdowns and safety violations.

The regional head of the NRC said last week that if performance does not improve, the agency would not hesitate to shut down the plant. Palisades is one of the nation’s 10 oldest nuclear plants, and after hitting its 40-year life-span in 2011, its license was extended until 2031.

“Quite frankly, we find your performance troubling, and it declined in 2011,” regional administration Cynthia Pederson said in a rare public rebuke of the plant owned by Entergy Nuclear Operations. Read more.

Three Mile Island nuclear plant finds unexpected flaws in new steam generators
Published: Thursday, January 26, 2012, 6:33 PM     Updated: Friday, January 27, 2012, 8:54 AM DONALD GILLILAND, The Patriot-News

After just one operating cycle, inspectors at Three Mile Island nuclear facility have detected unexpected flaws in the facility’s new steam generators.
There’s no indication radiation was released.

Officials say the flaws are well below regulatory thresholds, but the Nuclear Regulatory Commission held a meeting Thursday morning to get more information.

The two 70-foot, 510-ton “once-through” generators sit on either side of the nuclear core, and were installed at TMI in 2009.

Each cost more than $140 million. Read more.

‪Surfing For Change: J Bay Nuclear Plant
Kelly Slater Van Jones Foster Gamble (2012)‬
https://youtu.be/Bbcp0UOD3bs

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“Pay Up and We Won’t Break Your Kneecaps”
That’s the essential spirit and message of the opt-out policy authored by CPUC President Michael Peevey and approved by four of the five Commissioners on February 1, 2012.  (Where was Mike Florio?)

The unpopular decision came after over an hour of  50 public comments unanimously condemning the policy from customers, many of whom described serious health effects from the wireless ‘smart’ meters already installed in their homes, apartments and neighborhoods.

The new policy allows individual customers to retain their analog meters or have ‘smart’ meters replaced with analog meters by paying a one-time fee of $75 and a monthly fee of $10 ($10 up front and $5/mo. for low income.) Customers have until May 1 to make their decision by visiting this PG&E webpage or calling 866-743-0263. The so-called ‘delay list’ is terminated.

Rolling Back the Roll-Out
The ruling, despite its serious flaws, should be seen as a victory for the movement in opposition to the ‘smart meter’ build-out, a movement that is growing across the country and around the world, with California one of the epicenters. In that sense it is proof that persistent resistance is fertile, and industry observers both domestic and international are watching developments in California closely, blindsided as they have been by the vehemence of the public backlash against the mass deployment of wireless meters.

PG&E is now saying it supports ‘individual choice for residential customers when it comes to the meter at their home.’ But they know they’ve been beaten back from their original ‘There-Is-No-Alternative,’ ‘Resistance-Is-Futile’ technocratic totalitarian stance.

Well-intentioned, but misinformed advocates of a world-wide, wireless energy grid are watching developments in California and elsewhere with consternation as their ill-conceived agenda begins to unravel due to massive and growing science-based public opposition and the plan’s own internal technical problems.

Here, in three segments, is our video coverage of (1) the public comment period; (2) the Commissioners’ pre-vote statements, and (3) public reactions after the vote. EON’s position on the decision follows below, as well as recent news reports.

California ‘Smart’ Meter Opt-Out Decision 2-1-2012 – Part 1 – Public Pre-Decision Comments

California ‘Smart’ Meter Opt-Out Decision 2-1-2012 – Part 2 Commissioners’ Statements

“Our Health is Not for Sale!”
Public Responses to CPUC’s Smart Meter Opt-Out Ruling – Post-Decision Interviews

Partial Victory
EON and so many others have protested since the beginning of their ‘smart’ meter rollout and have joined other organizations as official interveners in the CPUC Opt-Out Proceeding.

While we welcome the opportunity given to customers to retain their analog meters, we oppose the charging of fees.

The Community wide and ‘wireless meter safe zones’ aspect should have been considered first, not relegated to the second phase. Protection from meters cannot merely be one at a time because of the mesh network’s adverse health effect. In order to have true protection, many would be forced to pay for their neighbor’s fees and can’t afford it.

In situations where the utility bill is in an uncaring landlord’s name, or when one customer has multiple accounts, the fee of $75 up front per account and $10/month extra is prohibitive. If one resident becomes injured by overexposure to RF/EMF and opts out, but the neighbors aren’t sensitized yet or don’t have the money or the willingness to pay the extra fee, the injured resident faces paying all the neighbor’s fees to protect themselves. Very few will be able to afford it. Where can these people live safely?

People suffering harm from the intense emissions can still be harmed by the mesh network surrounding them, since removing one meter will not stop harm from neighboring meters. This is why it’s so important for us to have community wide opt out. Due to organized community pressure there are 10 counties, 38 cities and towns and one Native American tribe that have passed resolutions or moratoriums against forced installation. Hopefully community wide opt outs will be worked out in phase two of the CPUC proceeding on the opt out issue.

Pres. Peevey declares that wireless smart meters are the basis for the smart grid and that’s the ‘new standard.’ But Peevey, the other Commissioners and industry still don’t understand the health problem.

With this interim decision, the wireless mesh network will still be in place, bouncing from 10,000 to 190,000 pulses of high frequency RF signals from each meter to each neighbor’s meters and then to a data collector unit on a utility pole, which also concentrates exposure. When there are multiple meters, as in an apartment complex, or when there are homes built close together, or multiple meters on a home, or homes that have meters outside a frequently used living area or bedroom, these RF emissions are even more intense.

The technocrats and industry see these meters as a huge growth industry and can’t fathom the consumer backlash. Yet many see this wireless meter debacle as continuing the pattern of PG&E’s record of wanton safety violations and disregard for customers , like Hinkley, Diablo Canyon and San Bruno.

To be forced to pay to NOT have a device that emits a class 2B carcinogen on one’s home, we believe, is extortion.

Background: Because 15% of PG&E territory is in hilly and mountainous terrain, the RF signals are designed to travel one mile according to a tech rep from Silver Springs, the manufacturer of PG&E’s meters. These intense bursts of millisecond high frequency RF pulse 24/7 from each electric meter – though actual data transmission time is only on average, 45 seconds/day. The other thousands of pulses, called ‘chirps’ are to maintain the mesh network from house to house. Additionally, there are constant high frequency RF emissions from the switch mode power supply that transforms the AC current from the utility pole 240v to the approximately 5v DC current needed to run the electronics in the meter. This pulsing, staccato of radiofrequency radiation gets into the wiring throughout the house and throughout the adjacent wires, causing ‘dirty electricity.’ Exposure to these all these sources of radiofrequency radiation, in addition to wireless home routers, wi-fi, cordless phones, local cell towers, etc., is what is making people sick.

The CPUC frequently reminds us that they are not in the business of determining health issues and refuses to acknowledge the massive science showing severe health impacts from RF radiation. Current FCC guidelines are obsolete and don’t refer at all to the situation we all face now of chronic long-term exposure to exponentially rising levels of RF/EMF radiation. The American Academy of Environmental Medicine wrote directly to  Pres. Peevey to halt the ‘smart’ meter rollout immediately, calling this “an issue of the highest importance.”

And the health issue is in addition to the safety, security and privacy/surveillance issues with wireless meters

American Academy of Environmental Medicine Weighs In Against Wireless Meters

From the recent AAEM letter to Peevey: What They Officially Recommend:

The Board of the American Academy of Environmental Medicine also wishes to note that the US NIEHS National Toxicology Program in 1999 cited radiofrequency radiation as a potential carcinogen. Existing safety limits for pulsed RF were termed “not protective of public health” by the Radiofrequency Interagency Working Group (a federal interagency working group including the FDA, FCC, OSHA, the EPA and others). Emissions given off by “smart meters” have been classified by the World Health Organization International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) as a Possible Human Carcinogen.

Hence, we call for:

• An immediate moratorium on “smart meter” installation until these serious public health issues are resolved. Continuing with their installation would be extremely irresponsible.

• Modify the revised proposed decision to include hearings on health impact in the second proceedings, along with cost evaluation and community wide opt-out.

• Provide immediate relief to those requesting it and restore the analog meters.
[ Download PDF here. ]

NEWS COVERAGE
The Industry Response – Impact by “Vocal, Well-Organized Minority” Equals “Mob Rule”

California: mob rule on analog opt-out solution?
PG&E’s, CPUC’s favored options may be discarded
Phil Carson | Jan 31, 2012
Today, let’s dip back into the CPUC’s proposed decision for a closer look at some of the objections to PG&E’s suggested solutions and regulators’ takes on those objections. Read more.

From health claims to Orwellian accusations, CPUC decision stings some
PG&E opt-out option doesn’t sooth anti-smart meter antagonists
Kate Rowland | Feb 02, 2012
As I have noted before, a critical piece of the intelligent utility is the intelligent consumer. In my opinion, the latter was sorely lacking in the public input portion of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) Feb. 1 business meeting.

As I watched the video coverage yesterday, I was struck nearly dumb by some of the continued public outrage against the CPUC’s proposed decision on agenda item 28, the modification of Pacific Gas and Electric Company’s (PG&E’s) smart meter program.
Any good debater knows that it’s imperative to keep emotion out of the argument. And yet, high emotions (and, in at least one case, downright delusion) ruled the day as nearly 60 people stood up to speak, and many ran over their one-minute time allotment.  

As I listened, I realized that not one word of what PG&E and other utilities in California (not to mention the rest of the country) have been trying to do to educate customers has penetrated even the first layer of understanding for these particular folks. They know what they know, despite scientific evidence to the contrary [sic]. Read more.

CPUC Approves PG&E SmartMeter Opt Out Charge
February 1, 2012 12:10 PM – video
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS/AP) – California regulators said Pacific Gas & Electric Co. can start charging its customers fees to avoid having wireless utility meters installed in their homes.

State regulators to vote on PG&E smart meter “opt-out”
By Dana Hull dhull@mercurynews.com
Posted:   02/01/2012 06:07:55 AM PST

In a move being closely watched by utilities across the country, state regulators are expected to vote Wednesday to give PG&E customers the right to “opt out” of having a smart meter and keep their old meters — for a fee.

The opt-out proposal, crafted by California Public Utilities Commission President Michael Peevey after months of discussion and debate, comes after a year of highly organized protests by consumers opposed to smart meters because of concerns about their accuracy, privacy implications and impact on health….

Vast network
Pacific Gas & Electric plans to install about 9.7 million smart meters on homes and businesses throughout its vast Northern California territory. So far, about 90 percent of all smart meters are installed, with deployment on track to be completed by the end of this year.

It’s unclear how many of PG&E’s more than 6 million customers will pay to keep their old meter. Many smart meter opponents fiercely oppose having to pay to keep analog meters, and others say they cannot afford the fees.

“Yes, we want the analog meters,” said Sandi Maurer of Sebastopol, who opposes smart meters because of health concerns and does not have one. “But we are beyond mad about the fees. This is extortion. Read more.

SAN FRANCISCO: Critics decry CPUC’s approval of SmartMeter opt-out fees
The California Public Utilities Commission voted Wednesday to impose fees on PG&E customers who choose to opt out of the utility’s SmartMeter program. Patti Lee reports for Channel 2 News at 5.

CPUC agrees to PG&E smart meter opt-out plan – angry meter opponents don’t
By Doug Peeples
SGN News Editor

In the best of all possible worlds, the California Public Utilities Commission decision today to approve Pacific Gas & Electric’s smart meter opt-out plan for customers who don’t want them would be the end of the story.  But it’s incredibly unlikely to turn out that way.

While PG&E’s plan gives smart meter opponents the option of getting their analog meters back, it’s going to cost them: a $75 upfront fee and a monthly charge of $10 and for low income customers, a $10 up front fee and $5 a month.

After what the San Jose Mercury News described as a “raucous” commission meeting in which the proposal was approved, one woman was quoted as screaming, “This is a crime against humanity!” The clamor from meter opponents during the meeting apparently was so disruptive that CPUC President Michael Peevey called for security guards to clear the room. Another opponent said customers would refuse to pay the fees and that personal injury and class action lawsuits would be on the way.

Smart meter opponents from Maine to California have long contended that the meters are health, privacy and safety hazards. Read more.

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