Horizon Power backs down on inflated bill

Posted on May 18, 2016 by Stop Smart Meters Australia

Horizon Power in Western Australia has eventually been ‘persuaded’ to adjust the exaggerated bill of a customer after being provided with irrefutable evidence of errors in the amount of electricity consumption reported.  The dispute comes amid a flurry of increased electricity bills in parts of WA where smart meters (advanced meters) are currently being installed.

The customer, Broome Vacation Village caravan park strata manager, Marianne Williamson, provided total electricity consumption figures from the sub-meters at the caravan park which divvy up Horizon’s power bill among the residents.  After months of Horizon finding no fault with the original bill provided, and charging the customer to investigate the meter, suddenly the bill was adjusted in line with figures provided by the customer.  But Horizon Power was strangely silent with the customer on why the bill had been adjusted and reissued.

In another case, a Broome resident saw his electricity bill skyrocket by 400%

Full story

Posted in billing blunders, Bills Soar, Power Company | Tagged , | 27 Comments

Israeli breakthrough for wi-fi in schools

Posted on May 3, 2016 by Stop Smart Meters Australia

A 30 minute documentary on ElectroMagnetic Hypersensitivity and the dangers of wi-fi, particularly in schools, has achieved the highest rating for the day that it aired on Israeli TV.  And it has led to wi-fi being banned from schools in Haifa, the third largest city in Israel.  The documentary is titled “How We are Killing Ourselves—Wireless Radiation”.  Click on the ‘CC’ button to view English subtitles.

 

Online article about the documentary.

 

Posted in electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS), EMR, health, health risks, Wi-Fi, wireless | 8 Comments

Energex moves to discourage off-peak electricity usage

Posted on April 28, 2016 by Stop Smart Meters Australia

From RenewEconomy’s website comes a story that can only be described as the truth will come out.  Amidst the power distributors’ claims that the purpose behind the smart meter rollout is to enable consumers to switch their electricity usage to off peak times, comes allegations that Energex in Queensland is endeavouring to make it undesirable for consumers to do so.

Giles Parkinson writes:

Queensland government owned network operator Energex has taken the extraordinary step of banning battery storage, air conditioning and appliances such as washing machines and clothes dryers from off peak loads in a move that has stunned the solar and storage industry.

The move was announced without explanation in an email to electricians and rooftop solar installers. It seemed hastily cobbled together, it couldn’t spell “tariff” (see below), and energy experts are struggling to see the logic in it.

energex-tariff-300x61

 

 

Indeed, sources told RenewEconomy that the response was so savage that Energex had advised that the rule changes would be withdrawn by the end of the day, and only re-introduced after proper consultation with the industry. Indeed, that was confirmed by a new email from Energex that it was only a proposal, and apologies for the confusion.

As it is, the industry is perplexed. They say the proposed changes brings to an end decades of efforts of trying to shift consumption away from peak demand.

And they pointed out that it made no sense to exclude battery storage from off-peak loads, but at the same time allow electric vehicle batteries – as the load looks exactly the same to the network. And why allow another form of storage – hot water – and not batteries?

Some suggested it may be a sign of panic in the network industry in the face of the biggest changes to energy demand in a century, or just a ruse to increase peak load and give the network an excuse to push the case for yet more poles and wires. Continue reading →

Posted in Energex, Power Company, Queensland, time-of-use pricing | Tagged , , , | 10 Comments

May Day march 2016

Posted on April 24, 2016 by Stop Smart Meters Australia

Smart meter Contingent 3 2016-1-1

Smart meter Contingent 3 2016-1-2

 

 

Posted in Bills Soar, control our individual appliances, Cost Blowout, Hacking, health, Public Demonstration, Smart Meter | Tagged | 3 Comments

Wireless technology and its potential impact on health

Posted on April 22, 2016 by Stop Smart Meters Australia

“A growing body of medical studies is now linking cumulative RF exposure to DNA disruption, cancer, birth defects, miscarriages, and autoimmune diseases. Smart meters significantly contribute to an environment already polluted by RF radiation through the pervasive stationing of cellular telephone towers in or around public spaces and consumers’ habitual use of wireless technologies.”

Source: Wireless Technology and the Accelerated Toxification of America

Incidence of Cancer in Australia

  • In 2009, there were 114,137 new cases of cancer in Australia (64,342 new cases in men and 49,795 new cases in women), excluding non-melanoma skin cancer.
  • In 2015, 126,800 Australians were expected to be diagnosed with cancer.
  • Between 1982 and 2009, the number of new cancer cases in Australia more than doubled (from 47,471 to 114,137 cases)

Source: Cancer Australia Statistics

When you take the above information of increasing cancer statistics and then associate it with medical studies potentially linking cancer with cumulative RF exposure, is there any wonder that there may be a link between the two?

Posted in Smart Meter | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

EMR Aware newsletter March-April 2016

Posted on April 3, 2016 by Stop Smart Meters Australia

As usual, the latest ‘EMR Aware‘ newsletter is jam-packed with information on all ElectroMagnetic Radiation issues.  In the March-April 2016 issue you will find information on:

  • Mobile and Cordless Phones
  • Microwave Towers
  • Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
  • Children and Schools
  • Smart Grid
  • Wearable Tech
  • Mains Radiation, ELF
  • Transport, Aerospace
  • Environment, Wildlife
  • Security
  • Electro-Sensitivity (EHS)
  • Biological Mechanisms
  • Neurological Effects
  • Safety Standards
  • Industry Watch
  • EMR Countermeasures
  • General Events & Networking

EMR Aware website

Posted in electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS), EMR, Hacking, mobile phone, NSW, RF, Smart grid, standards, Wi-Fi, wireless | 2 Comments

Smart meter fires: burning meters, burning questions, shocking answers

Posted on March 31, 2016 by Stop Smart Meters Australia

Brian Thiesen, who previously brought us the video The truth about smart meters, has released another powerful video, this time focusing on smart meter fires.

In this video Brian investigates the cause of smart meter fires and the cover up by authorities.

Story at Take Back Your Power

 

Posted in corruption, Fire | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

TED talk: Wireless wake-up call

Posted on March 25, 2016 by Stop Smart Meters Australia

In the first ever TED Talk on wireless/EMF/smart meter health effects, Jeromy Johnson, a Silicon-valley engineer turned technology health advocate, discusses our attachment to technology and the health hazards such an addiction may hold.

Jeromy has a Master’s degree in Environmental Engineering and you can also find valuable information at his website.

 

Posted in electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS), health, health risks, Radiation, RF, wireless | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Benefits??? of smart meters

Posted on March 23, 2016 by Stop Smart Meters Australia

In a return of the classic spin used to promote smart meters to Victorians six years ago, the Sydney Morning Herald is spruiking the supposed benefits of smart meters.

But as Victorians who have had their fingers burned will tell you, their electricity consumption mysteriously sky-rocketed after the forced installation of a smart meter on their property. Like Tina Lyons in the SMH article, many of these people have had little choice but to monitor their electricity consumption by the minute in order to be able to pay the higher bills. Those who fiercely hung onto their analogue meter have not been so heavy-handedly ‘incentivised’ to reduce their electricity consumption.

A search on the term ‘smart meters’ on the Sydney Morning Herald website produces a plethora of articles that are critical of smart meters. Working down the list of search results we have:

  • Smart meters: You paid billions for electricity companies to benefit – report
  • Smart meters coming despite cost concerns
  • Consumers out of the loop on role of smart meters
  • Smart meters are the future but it’s not clear who is going to pay
  • Macquarie eyes profit in smart meters
  • Smart meters, but at whose expense?
  • Half-hourly checks to monitor smart meters
  • Smart meters too toxic to touch
  • Japan to tap smart meters, fuel cells to tackle climate change
  • AP Exclusive: ‘Smart’ meters have security holes
  • Look closely and smart meters are really not so smart

Only by the time you get to the bottom of these negative sounding articles (sorted on relevance) do you find more positive sounding articles, written at the time of the commencement of the rollout of smart meters in Victoria, when consumers did not yet know that they were being told a pack of lies. History repeats itself, no doubt. The NSW media is now in positive spin mode, selling the supposed benefits of smart meters.

One has to wonder whether the NSW government has persuaded the SMH to find something positive to say about smart meters, now that they are being rolled out in NSW. It’s great if you can rely on people having short memories of negative reviews they read months ago. Perhaps the NSW government now needs to persuade the SMH to remove the old negative articles from its website.

Posted in Bills Soar, Media, NSW, Smart Meter | 24 Comments

ARPANSA replies to SSMA community response

Posted on March 21, 2016 by Stop Smart Meters Australia

The CEO of the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA) is to be commended for his prompt reply to SSMA, following our correspondence taking issue with ARPANSA’s response to the ABC Catalyst programme Wi-Fried?.

ARPANSA has come up with a new justification for its web statement on “Wi-Fried?”.  We have been informed that the statement is based on ARPANSA’s assessment of the scientific evidence on mobile phones, Wi-Fi devices and health and “is in line with international best practice; including the advice provided by the peak international health authority, the World Health Organization, and the peak international authority on the protection of RF EME, the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection”.

Thankfully, this new phrasing avoids the inflated claim made in ARPANSA’s web statement.  Surely, however, the jurisdictions which have seen fit to instigate more protective RF limits are the ones that are leading the way in international best practice?  As one writer to SSMA’s website correctly pointed out, Australia has “slacker RF/microwave standards by a factor of 100 times … Why doesn’t Australia have the best?”

SSMA also finds it difficult to give credence to ARPANSA’s claim that ARPANSA is in agreement with many of the statements from various organisations which SSMA mentioned.  The example given by ARPANSA is its acknowledgement of the findings of the INTERPHONE study.  ARPANSA’s May 2010 media release on this study states that the “results of the INTERPHONE study do not establish an increased risk of brain cancer related to mobile phone use”.  This conclusion is poles apart from that reached in Israel as a result of its participation in INTERPHONE.  As stated by their Ministry of Health, in a report titled Environmental Health in Israel 2014, “Findings in Israel clearly indicated a link between cellphone use for more than 10 years and the development of tumors in the salivary glands, particularly among people who held the telephone on the same side where the tumor developed and individuals in the highest category of exposure (heavy use in rural areas)”.

SSMA members look forward to the day when ARPANSA is no longer merely paying lip service to following international best practice, but is up there with the best.

Posted in ARPANSA, Smart Meter | Tagged , , , , | 12 Comments