A.11-03-015
CPUC APPROVES ANALOG METER OPTIONS FOR EDISON AND SDG&E CUSTOMERS WHO DO NOT WISH TO HAVE A WIRELESS SMART METER

SAN FRANCISCO, April 19, 2012 - The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) today modified Southern California Edison's (SCE) and San Diego Gas & Electric's advanced metering programs to include an option for those residential customers who do not wish to have a wireless Smart Meter installed at their location.

Edison customers choosing to decline an electric Smart Meter may retain the meter currently installed at their location or receive the meter form (i.e., an analog meter or a non-analog, non-smart digital meter) that had been at their location prior to the installation of a wireless electric Smart Meter.

SDG&E customers who do not want a wireless Smart Meter installed at their location can choose to have an analog electric and/or gas meter.

Customers participating in the opt-out option will be assessed an initial fee of $75 and a monthly charge of $10 thereafter. Customers enrolled in the CPUC's low income program (California Alternate Rates for Energy (CARE)) electing to opt-out will be assessed an initial fee of $10 and a monthly charge of $5. The initial fee and monthly charge approved today are interim to allow residential customers to begin selecting the opt-out option immediately. The costs are subject to adjustment upon conclusion of a second phase of this proceeding where issues concerning the actual costs associated with offering an analog opt-out option will be addressed.

Said CPUC President Michael R. Peevey, "As we move toward a more advanced electricity grid, Smart Meters will offer customers real benefits. However, if a customer does not want to have a Smart Meter, our decision today gives them that option."

The September 21, 2011, Assigned Commissioner's Ruling directing utilities to establish a delay list is no longer in effect and all customers on a delay list will be transitioned to a wireless Smart Meter unless they elect to participate in their utility's opt-out option.

The proposal voted on for SCE is available at http://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/EFILE/PD/161688.pdf. The proposal voted on for SDG&E is available at http://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/word_pdf/AGENDA_DECISION/164057.pdf.

For those Ojaians (and other like minded individuals) who want to opt out of the invasive Edison Electric Smart Meter installations, here's a Letter with a Singular Message I'm sure we all can identify with. It's a little stronger than most, details the potential uses/abuses, etc.

August 9, 2011
If you are in a county where the electric company intends to change to Smartmeters, you may want to read through and use this letter, your choice. This has been formulated by a legal expert. Please use the template under your own responsibility.

If you already have your Smartmeter installed, this letter cannot be used.

FROM: [your address here]

Steve Holliday, CEO [TO: Replace with address of your provider]
National Grid USA Headquarters
40 Sylvan Road
Waltham, MA 02451

[DATE HERE]

NOTICE OF NO CONSENT TO TRESPASS AND SURVEILLANCE, NOTICE OF LIABILITY

Dear National Grid and all agents, officers, employees, contractors and interested parties,

If you intend to install or have installed a "Smart Meter" or any radio frequency monitoring device at the above address, you and all other parties are hereby denied consent for installation and use of all such devices on the above property. Installation and use of any activity monitoring device is hereby refused and prohibited. Informed consent is legally required for installation of any surveillance device and any device that will collect and transmit private and personal data to undisclosed and unauthorized parties for undisclosed and unauthorized purposes. Authorization for sharing of personal and private information may only be given by the originator and subject of that information. That authorization is hereby denied and refused with regard to the above property and all its occupants. "Smart Meters" violate the law and cause endangerment to residents by the following factors:
1. They individually identify electrical devices inside the home and record when they are operated causing invasion of privacy.
2. They monitor household activity and occupancy in violation of rights and domestic security.
3. They transmit wireless signals which may be intercepted by unauthorized and unknown parties. Those signals can be used to monitor behavior and occupancy and they can be used by criminals to aid criminal activity against the occupants.
4. Data about occupant's daily habits and activities are collected, recorded and stored in permanent databases which are accessed by parties not authorized or invited to know and share that private data by those who's activities were recorded.
5. Those with access to the smart meter databases can review a permanent history of household activities complete with calendar and time-of-day metrics to gain a highly invasive and detailed view of the lives of the occupants.
6. Those databases may be shared with, or fall into the hands of criminals,blackmailers, corrupt law enforcement, private hackers of wireless transmissions, power company employees, and other unidentified parties who may act against the interests of the occupants under metered surveillance.
7. "Smart Meters" are, by definition, surveillance devices which violate Federal and State wiretapping laws by recording and storing databases of private and personal activities and behaviors without the consent or knowledge of those people who are monitored.
8. It is possible for example, with analysis of certain "Smart Meter" data, for unauthorized and distant parties to determine medical conditions, physical locations of persons within the home, vacancy patterns and personal information and habits of the occupants.
9. Your company has not adequately disclosed the particular recording and transmission capabilities of the smart meter, or the extent of the data that will be recorded, stored and shared, or the purposes to which the data will and will not be put.
10. Electromagnetic and Radio Frequency energy contamination from smart meters exceeds allowable safe and healthful limits for domestic environments as determined by the EPA and other scientific programs.

I forbid, refuse and deny consent of any installation and use of any monitoring, eavesdropping, and surveillance devices on my property, my place of residence and my place of occupancy. That applies to and includes "Smart Meters", radio frequency monitoring devices and activity monitoring devices of any and all kinds. Any attempt to install any such device directed at me, other occupants, my property or residence will constitute trespass, stalking, wiretapping and unlawful surveillance and endangerment of health and safety, all prohibited and punishable by law through criminal and civil complaints. All persons, government agencies and private organizations responsible for installing or operating monitoring devices directed at or recording my activities, which I have not specifically authorized in writing, will be fully liable for any violations, intrusions, harm or negative consequences caused or made possible by those devices whether those negative consequences are justified by "law" or not..

This is legal notice. After this delivery the liabilities listed above may not be denied or avoided by parties named and implied in this notice. Civil Servant immunities and protections do not apply to the installation of smart meters due to the criminal violations they represent.

Notice to principal is notice to agent and notice to agent is notice to principal. All rights reserved.

Sincerely,

[YOUR SIGNATURE]