News Brief

Class Action Suit Seeks to Limit Smart Meter Use

by Evan Dick

California’s Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) is again coming under fire for its use of wireless-equipped smart meters, this time in the form of a class action lawsuit.

The lawsuit, filed by Northern California electromagnetic radiation consulting firm Wilner & Associates, lists ten grievances ranging from alleged misrepresentation of radio frequency (RF) levels emitted by the meters to alleged unlawful use of property. The filing also claims PG&E has violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by allegedly ignoring the rights of customers who suffer from medical symptoms they believe are caused by electromagnetic radiation from the meters.

The lawsuit calls for more than $2 million in sanctions, $10,000 fines per customer regarding various allegations of health-related discrimination, and requirements that PG&E obtain written consent for every smart meter installed and provide an analog meter at no cost to any customer who requests one.

Recent research shows that RF emissions from smart meters are within federal limits for such emissions and below the levels emitted by other devices that are commonly used in and around homes (see “Radio Frequency Exposure from Smart Meters Very Low, Says Study,” EBN Apr. 2011).

 

– Evan Dick

 

 

Published November 29, 2011

Dick, E. (2011, November 29). Class Action Suit Seeks to Limit Smart Meter Use. Retrieved from https://www.buildinggreen.com/newsbrief/class-action-suit-seeks-limit-smart-meter-use

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Comments

BuildingGreen Basic Member

December 21, 2011 - 4:22 am

The Electric Light Power Institute's study on smart meter emissions is, not surprisingly, misleading as it underestimates its microwave emissions which in fact can violate FCC limits, says a report by EMF expert and BioInitiative.org coauthor Cindy Sage :
http://sagereports.com/smart-meter-rf/

Also part of the California Council on Science and Technology's Technical Response Team, Canadian EMF expert Magda Havas agrees with Sage:
http://www.magdahavas.com/2011/01/18/havas-report-on-smart-meters-for-ccst/

As all electronic devices with switching power supplies, smart meters also produce pulsed electromagnetic field (dirty electricity) which epidemiologist Sam Milham http://sammilham.com/links.shtm
suspects are universal carcinogens.
In 1994, McGill University physicians found a huge risk of lung cancer among Hydro-Quebec workers overexposed to so-called transients:
http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/content/140/9/805.abstract

Latest news:
PG&E offers to let customers keep analog, mechanical meters
http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_19580461

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