Stop smart meters?
November 18, 2011
The Stopsmartmeter group in the USA reported that PG&E has begun to remove smart meters due to ‘alleged’ negative health effects.
The group claims that just as PG&E, the largest of the state's investor-owned utilities in California, is entering the final phase of its deployment of wireless smart meters it has reversed course and quietly begun to replace the 'smart' meters of those reporting health impacts with the trusty old analogue version.
Consumer rights and health groups immediately seized on the news, demanding that millions of Californians unhappy with their new wireless meters get their analogue versions returned immediately at no cost.
Smart meters are new wireless utility meters that are being installed as part of the ‘smart grid initiative’, spearheaded by technology firms and backed by the Obama administration and the Department of Energy. Promises ranging from lower utility bills to enhanced renewable generation capacity have failed to materialise, and according to the lobby group there have been widespread reports of higher bills, privacy violations, fires and explosions, and health impacts such as headaches, nausea, tinnitus and heart problems associated with powerful wireless transmissions.
It appears that this is more scaremongering than reality. According to Fred Goldstein from ionary Consulting, utilities normally operate under the same Part 15 rules as other unlicensed devices, with a 1 watt maximum power level, and a very low duty cycle. A January 2011 report from the California Council on Science and Technology (CCST) examined the meters that PG&E was using. They were 902-928 MHz, 1 watt maximum, with a 50 millisecond burst of data every 4 hours.
Some meters are used in meshing, however, and they transmit more often when relaying from others. Nevertheless the duty cycle still would not exceed 4%. Even at 100% duty cycle the power level is safe. The access points, usually at pole top, use .25 to 1 watt transmitters in the 800-900 MHz or 1900 MHz (cellular/PCS) bands. Some home meters support a second WiFi (2.4 GHz) access point for in-home communications, <1/4 watt, although these are not in service at this stage.
The World Health Organization finds no effect, except perhaps in those ‘hyper-sensitive’ to normal use at normal levels.
On the other hand, utilities installing these meters have generally overpromised and under-delivered on the benefits to the end-user. This is where the real problem lies – much better consumer information and education is needed. The problem, however, is that with such information now coming from a very negative perspective it will be more difficult to win consumers back.
Retail smart meters are probably the least productive place for smart grid technology. What is really needed is smarts within the distribution networks, to make more efficient use of the network and to shift supply more flexibly to meet demand. The distribution grids are using ancient technology and are woefully under-capitalised.
The end-user benefits of the smart grid are not yet apparent because there are at this stage only a few devices that can take advantage of it, but nevertheless the focus should be on smart grids rather than on smart meters.
Paul Budde
See also:
Global SG reports
