Reply to Pepco's Smart Meters -- Big deal, privacy and health risk, or no?

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Reply to "Pepco's Smart Meters -- Big deal, privacy and health risk, or no?"

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[quote=Anonymous]I may be behind the times, but I've only recently heard about Pepco's ongoing installation of new smart meters in our area. These are digital meters that will replace our old analog ones, and apparently make it easier for the utility to read and monitor our energy usage. These things have generated a lot of hubbub in California (where else?!), where some consumers voiced concerns about privacy and the potential health effects of having another source of RF (radio frequency) exposure in your home (on top of internet wifi, cell phones, microwave ovens, etc.). The opposition in California was such that state officials forced the utility to allow consumers to "opt out" of getting one of these new meters in their home, so long as they were willing to pay extra to keep the old analog unit.

Truthfully, I don't know what to think about all of this, and I'd be curious to hear your impressions. It seems these Smart Meters are not a huge source of RF exposure, especially compared to all the other electronic stuff that's humming on our households these days. And yet, with all of those other sources -- wifi, cell phones, etc. -- we've each chosen to expose ourselves to whatever health risks, if any, may be associated with them. The fact that we don't have a choice about getting a Smart Meter grates on me, and seems emblematic of the way a monopoly (in this case PEPCO) does business with relatively little regard for what consumers want. I'd favor having an opt out in Maryland (where I live) if we could force PEPCO to provide that option.

What do you think?

For background, here are some sources:

Maryland Smart Meter Awareness, a group (which I am not affiliated with) that argues for an opt-out provision - http://marylandsmartmeterawareness.org/

A Pepco news release about Smart Meters - http://www.pepco.com/welcome/news/releases/archives/2011/article.aspx?cid=1755

A (PDF) report by the nonprofit California Council on Science and Technology that discusses some of these issues - http://www.ccst.us/publications/2011/2011smartA.pdf

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