Peevey Orders SM Opt-Out Option…if you pay!
[Click title to view KCRA-TV video]
CPUC Says PG&E Should Allow SmartMeter Opt-Out
Some Customers Worry About Potential Health Effects
SAN FRANCISCO — California regulators will ask Pacific Gas & Electric Co. to set up a process so its customers can opt out of SmartMeters if they have concerns about the devices’ potential health effects.
California Public Utilities Commission President Michael Peevey says he will ask the utility to develop the proposal over the next two weeks.
Peevey’s announcement came before dozens of people and advocacy groups testified at Thursday’s commission meeting that exposure to radio frequencies and radiation from the wireless electricity and gas meters was harming people’s health.
PG&E maintains that the meters are safe. Other PUC commissioners have said they want to see more research on whether the electronic meter-reading system can impact health.
Peevey said he believes PG&E should allow customers to opt out for a “reasonable cost.”
Click here to take KCRA-TV SURVEY
If you were given the option, would you opt out of getting a Pacific Gas and Electric SmartMeter?
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Want to attend the ‘eMeter Leadership Conference?’ ‘They’ don’t want you to. – Please scroll down to end of postings…
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From Josh Hart at StopSmartMeters.org,
Josh Reports, “SF is crazy right now- as we drove down Geary, there was a wellington truck on nearly every street- we need your help to do outreach and stop this.”
Richmond SmartMeter Resistance
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CPUC Says PG&E Should Allow SmartMeter Opt-Out CBS-5 San Francisco
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Want to attend the ‘eMeter Leadership Conference?’ ‘They’ don’t want you to. – Please scroll down to end of postings…
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Due to Circumstances Beyond Our Control…
EON was unable to videotape the March 10, 2011 meeting as we have past meetings. Checking today for the CPUC’s own video posting of the meeting, here’s what we found at the following Google link:
https://www.cpuc.ca.gov/PUC/events/CommMeeting_NoticeA.htm
The page cannot be found
The page you are looking for might have been removed, had its name changed, or is temporarily unavailable.
Google cache:
Your search – cache:1bG7lGx7JLcJ:www.cpuc.ca.gov/PUC/events/CommMeeting_NoticeA.htm california public utilities commission+video+3-10-2011 – did not match any documents.
Did they put it up and take it down? Or is this a temporary clitch? Stay tuned…
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CPUC Wants PG&E to Set Up SmartMeter Opt-Out
March 10, 2011, 12:39 pm • Posted by Jon Brooks – KQED-TV blog
Update 3:56 p.m. KQED’s Stephanie Martin talked to PG&E spokesman Paul Moreno about the CPUC’s request for a SmartMeter opt-out. [Listen to audio here.]
The upshot: Sounds like PG&E will file an opt-out proposal by the CPUC’s prescribed deadline. But what that proposal will consist of — the company is not yet saying.
Update 1:35 p.m. Statement from PG&E spokesman Paul Moreno:
” We are aware of the CPUC’s order to file an opt-out proposal for customers by March 24. We are committed to working with our regulators to meet this deadline. We have been examining possible alternatives for the past few months in anticipation of such a filing. While this advances our timeline, we are prepared to file by the deadline set by the CPUC.
” We understand that some of our customers have concerns related to radio frequency from SmartMeters. Although the great weight of scientific evidence demonstrates that the RF from SmartMeters is safe, we take our customers’ concerns seriously.
“In light of our customers’ concerns, we are evaluating options we hope will alleviate customer concerns and still enable PG&E to upgrade all of its customers to SmartMeters. Our challenge is how we address our customers’ concerns while ensuring them of the enormous benefits that SmartMeters and the smart grid offer. ”
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AT&T wants to dismantle all telephone lines in the entire country, leaving EIs cut off
by Steen Hviid
In a note to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the telecom company AT&T asks the commission to mandate the total dismantling of all telephone landlines in the entire United States.
The note was filed with the FCC on December 21, 2009 as a comment to the National Broadband Plan (GN Dockets 09-51, 09-137 and 09-47). The note stated that 22% of American households have already cut their landline and rely exclusively on cell phones for their telephone service. The number of residential phone lines has fallen from 139 million lines to 75 million (though most of that reduction is the elimination of second lines for fax and dialup internet). Meanwhile, 66% of households subscribe to broadband (fast internet) service and 86% own a cell phone.
AT&T sees the trend of fewer households using regular telephones as continuing, with the local phone companies eventually being unable to afford maintaining their phone system for the remaining subscribers.
The company suggests that the FCC speed up the transition to wireless and internet-based phones by setting a firm date for eliminating all landlines in the entire country. The company believes such a sunset date would free up money for extending fast internet service to rural areas…. [Read more]
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Does Fiber Have a Role in the Smart Grid? A Tennessee Utility Thinks So
By Katie Fehrenbacher
Utilities will have to make a major decision this year about what kind of networks to use for the smart grid, and many are looking to technologies like cellular, WiMAX, RF Mesh and broadband over power lines for their build-outs. But one of the more unique smart grid projects we’ve heard about comes courtesy of a fiber-optic network in the little town of Chattanooga in Tennessee. Municipal utility and communications company EPB is in the process of building out a $200 million fiber network for the city’s residents that will offer Internet, phone, video and — in an unusual twist — smart grid services.
Smart grid technology and energy management is a sort of hybrid version of the “quadruple play,” says Jim Ingraham, vice president, Strategic Planning for EPB, referring to a twist on the traditional quadruple play of services for broadband, which normally includes Internet, video, phone and mobile. While the smart grid likely won’t be part of the fiber quadruple play for most utilities, EPB says that by building out a fiber network — with a smart grid stimulus grant — the town will create almost $850 million in value from both communications and smart grid services, including things like jobs and energy savings. [Read more]
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FCC Expects ‘Spectrum Deficit’ by 2014
By Brad Reed, NetworkWorld
Growth in wireless data demand will lead to a “spectrum deficit” of 275MHz if no new spectrum is released by 2014, the Federal Communications Commission projected Thursday.
In a new FCC technical paper, titled “Mobile Broadband: The Benefits of Additional Spectrum,” the FCC projects that growth in mobile data services will require around 822MHz of total spectrum, or 275MHz more than the 547MHz of spectrum available today for dual use in voice and data services. The United States will have all of the wireless spectrum it needs to meet mobile data demand until 2013, the FCC projects, as mobile data demand is not expected to cross the 547MHz threshold until then.
National broadband plan: Where does the spectrum come from?
To put this into perspective, the United States today only requires around 225MHz of spectrum to meet all its mobile data needs, or less than one-third of what it will need in just four years. The FCC says that if no new spectrum is freed up for use, carriers will have to meet mobile data demand by building out additional cell-sites, which the report estimates will cost the industry about $120 billion to build over the next four years. And although the advent of 4G technologies such as LTE will more than double overall spectrum efficiency, this alone won’t be enough to meet the enormous coming growth in mobile broadband consumption…. [https://www.pcworld.com/article/208526/fcc_expects_spectrum_deficit_by_2014.html?tk=mod_rel]
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From the ‘Who Are These Guys?!’ Department
eMeter Leadership ConferenceMonday, ,
‘eMeter’s Smart Energy Leadership will take place May 9, 2011 in San Francisco at the stunningly beautiful Fairmont Hotel, at the top of Nob Hill. The hotel offers world-class service and views of this great city that many of the eMeter team calls home.
‘eMeter’s User Advisory Board will be holding its Spring in-person meeting on Monday, May 9th.
Only current eMeter customers may attend.[Emphasis added]
‘The User Advisory Board is an opportunity for you to give direct feedback to the eMeter Product Management team to guide the direction of the eMeter EnergyIP Platform and applications.
‘If you would like to participate in the User Advisory Board meeting, please contact Elena Abueva at (650) 227-7770 ext. 13. She’ll be able to connect you with the eMeter User Advisory Board customer members.’
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