Glen Eira meter fears – Health – News – Caulfield Glen Eira Leader

Posted on October 23, 2012 by Stop Smart Meters Australia

A GROWING number of Glen Eira residents think smart meters are affecting their health, councillors say.

Councillors have revealed many residents have complained about health problems since the device was installed.

The council has now voted to seek a report into residents’ concerns.

The State Government plans to install smart meters at every Victorian home and small business by the end of next year.

It says the meters are safe and fall “well within” the requirements for electromagnetic and radio frequency emissions.

Cr Oscar Lobo said constituents were complaining of ill-health.

“People claim that they now have constantly high-pitched ringing ears,” Cr Lobo said.

“They are suffering palpitations, regular headaches, fatigue, lethargy, disturbed sleep, regular nosebleeds, pressure in the head and difficulty concentrating.”

Cr Margaret Esakoff said one resident had told her she had to confine herself to a room in her house to avoid symptoms.

Read more via HAVE YOUR SAY: Glen Eira meter fears – Health – News – Caulfield Glen Eira Leader.

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Wireless meters tell snoopers when you are not home – NewScientist, 18 October 2012

Posted on October 21, 2012 by Stop Smart Meters Australia

CRIMINALS no longer need to stake out a home or a business to monitor the inhabitants’ comings and goings. Now they can simply pick up wireless signals broadcast by the building’s utility meters.

In the US, analogue meters that measure water, gas and electricity consumption are being replaced by automated meter reading (AMR) technology. Nearly a third of the country’s meters – more than 40 million – have already been changed. The new time-saving devices broadcast readings by radio every 30 seconds for utility company employees to read as they walk or drive around with a receiver. But they are not the only ones who can tune in, says Ishtiaq Rouf at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, and his colleagues.

The team picked up transmissions from AMR meters – operated by companies that they did not name in their paper – and reverse-engineered the broadcasts to monitor the readings. To do this they needed about $1000 worth of open-source radio equipment and information available through online tutorials.

“I consider it an embarrassment that this kind of technology is deployed with no protection whatsoever,” says Klaus Kursawe, a security researcher at Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands, who was not involved in the work. “It is well known by now how to properly and economically secure communication for such a device.”

The security flaws could be a gift to technically adept criminals. Broadcasts can be read 300 metres away and the research team was able to monitor almost 500 meters simultaneously. Because energy usage often drops to near zero when a house is empty, the readings could be used to identify which owners are at work or on holiday.

There are easier ways to determine whether a house is empty, says team member Marco Gruteser at Rutgers University in North Brunswick, New Jersey. “But it’s bad practice for meters to shout out that a house is vacant while police departments recommend keeping the lights on and the mailbox empty to make your house look occupied.”

The team’s work was presented this week at the Conference on Computer and Communications Security in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Via: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21628875.300-wireless-meters-tell-snoopers-when-you-are-not-home.html

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The same health issues experienced by others is happening to me….

Posted on October 19, 2012 by Stop Smart Meters Australia

I live in the Blue Mountains, N.S.W.

A smart meter –  an EDMI Mk7C ATLAS –  was installed here a  year or so back by Integral Energy and without my knowledge. Apparently it’s a trial. …… it certainly has been for me.

It sits in the meter box outside of my bedroom wall and having to move bedrooms doesn’t give me a ‘smart’ option

The same health issues experienced by others is happening to me – dizzyness, ringing in the ears and a generalised sense of ‘not quite feeling right’. I’ve also dropped to the ground on a few occasions which is no fun .

My Doctor is unable to find a cause and shrugs – as doctors often do. ‘Perfect’ he says as the blood tests come back.

I rang  Origin Electricity – my relatively new energy provider – and their technical support rang me back within the hour…. kudos to them.

A helpful bloke who tells me that my meter is effectively only a meter with a mobile phone inside it.

He accepted that I’m not interested in reassurances as to the safety of smart meters and that because I’m suffering health problems,  they’ll remove it – at no charge – over the next two weeks.

I’m suprised at both the ease and the courtesy shown and will let you know if they follow through and if a change in my health occurs.

My sympathy to all those who are desperate enough to be thinking of moving house to avoid ‘smart meters.’

David

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Resident stands firm over smart meters

Posted on October 17, 2012 by Stop Smart Meters Australia

Warrnambool Standard, 10 October 2012
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Meters not so smart?

Posted on October 17, 2012 by Stop Smart Meters Australia

 

A NORTH East building biologist says Victoria’s new smart meters should not be compulsory until their safety can be guaranteed.

Owner of At Harmony Consulting Narelle Haw has seen several people with severe health problems, including insomnia and heart palpitations, after their smart meters were switched on.

She said smart meters produced high-frequency radiation similar to wireless internet and mobile phones, and people shouldn’t be afraid to refuse having one installed.

“Until (providers) can turn around and say this technology is safe then they shouldn’t be doing it,” Mrs Haw said.

“It shouldn’t have been done in the first place, not without more consultation.”

The new digital meters are part of a major upgrade of Vic­toria’s electricity infrastructure.

North East provider SP AusNet said its meters complied with “all relevant international and Australian standards”.

But Mrs Haw said, like mobile phones, their long-term effects weren’t known.

“Mobile phones are voluntary and if people knew what their potential was perhaps they’d use them a different way,” she said.

“There is already a significant body of work that says this kind of technology affects us, we don’t know how, we don’t know why.

“The medical profession is saying there is definitely a correlation, especially for brain tumours, sperm count and blood barrier cross over.”

So far, five Victorian local councils have passed a motion saying they do not support the compulsory installation of the meters.

When asked if Indigo Council would consider passing a similar motion, acting chief executive officer Greg Pinkerton said it would have to wait until after this month’s local government elections.

Mrs Haw admitted she didn’t know how long it was likely to be before the smart meters could be guaranteed safe.

“The Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency doesn’t have any standards for high-frequency radiation,” she said.

“They have no studies and nothing in regards to everyday low-levels of radiation … they don’t have the technology to do that.”

An SP AusNet spokesman said the energy company was required to replace old meters with smart meters in all small businesses and houses in its distribution area by the end of next year.

“Property owners are asked to provide free and clear access to their property for this installation to occur,” he said.

But Mrs Haw has received legal advice saying people were well within their rights to refuse.

“Our legal advice is that there’s no precedent whatsoever that says I must allow someone to walk onto my property and put a smart meter on,” she said.

Via http://www.bordermail.com.au/story/402311/meters-not-so-smart/?cs=11#

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Letter of the week!

Posted on October 14, 2012 by Stop Smart Meters Australia

Stop Smart Meters Australia receives copies of numerous letters addressed to power distributors from people who are refusing installation of smart meters. We thought this letter deserves sharing…….

The letter was sent to us with this introduction:

“We and our neighbours have received letters saying they will notify us when the smart meter install is supposed to happen. We and our neighbours are telling them what we think (see our letter below).  We have had to protect our properties, and our neighbours are all determined not to have a smart meter.

This  whole campaign is now going to take the form of defending our health which is unbelievable in a democratic country.  A friend who was recently verbally bullied via a phone call from a power distributor was proof of whats happening in a so called democracy when we have to defend the rights of our families.”

Letter Sep 2012

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Former smart meter installer suffers from electro hypersensitivity (EHS)

Posted on October 10, 2012 by Stop Smart Meters Australia

I am writing this letter in the hope of spreading awareness concerning my experiences in what I now know to be a hyper-sensitivity to EMF radiation.  So far as I can tell some of what I have experienced is fairly new territory in terms of medical knowledge and the effects new technology can have on the public. I hope that this letter will help others to realise similar problems and get on the bandwagon to prevent what will inevitably be (in my mind at least) perhaps the equivalent of a 21st century plague.

I am 23 years old, up until this experience I was a fairly ordinary young male but after what I have been through, I honestly don’t think I will ever be the same again………

A full copy of this letter can be found at: J O’s Letter

 

 

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Diggers Rest Smart Meters Public Meeting

Posted on October 8, 2012 by Stop Smart Meters Australia

Correction: Diggers Rest Bowling Club, Old Calder Highway, Diggers Rest

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Mornington Peninsula acts on smart meters | Peninsula Weekly

Posted on October 8, 2012 by Stop Smart Meters Australia

No entry: Tamara Hicks has locked up her meter box to prevent a smart meter being installed. Picture: Gary Sissons

ANTI-smart meter activists packed a Mornington Peninsula Shire Council meeting last month as councillors raised concerns about the compulsory installation of the meters.

After a heated debate and amid cheers from the gallery, the council resolved to write to Premier Ted Baillieu requesting that Energy Minister Michael O’Brien urgently meet community group representatives concerned about the smart meter roll out.

An amendment was also passed for the council to ask Health Minister David Davis to initiate and carry out a thorough investigation into the implications on health and well-being among people exposed to electromagnetic radiation emitted from the smart meters.

The original motion was put forward by Cr Leigh Eustace, who attended a public meeting on smart meters in Seaford on August 9.

Cr Tim Rodgers also attended the meeting and was passionate about raising the concerns over smart meters, despite allegations by another councillor that it was an election tactic.

“This is the disease of the 21st century,” he said, likening the side effects allegedly linked to smart meters to asbestos and the tobacco industry.

Cr Rodgers said he had heard from people who, just 30 minutes after smart meters had been installed, had suffered ill effects, including nausea and headaches from the electromagnetic radiation. “We need to say this isn’t right and we need to get rid of it right now,” he said to applause from members of the gallery.

Speaking to the Weekly, Rosebud resident Tamara Hicks said the installation of smart meters in her street had reduced her quality of life. “I can’t even sit here and have my breakfast with that noise going,” she said.

“I have had the skin rash, red face and hands, heart palpitations, waking up every hour and there is a constant ringing sound. It has made my fridge rev and my washing machine hum. Even my solar lights have been pulsating.”

Ms Hicks said she had been forced to move furniture in her house away from her neighbour’s smart meter so she could sleep at night.

“I have locked up my meter box to prevent the power company installing a smart meter. I’m not having one, because I don’t want any more radiation in here.”

Read the rest via Mornington Peninsula acts on smart meters | Peninsula Weekly – Western Port Weekly.

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Castlemaine smart meter battle should be praised | Bendigo Advertiser

Posted on October 8, 2012 by Stop Smart Meters Australia

I wish to congratulate you and reporter Josh Fagan on the recent story about Brian Clarke in Castlemaine and his opposition to having a smart meter installed at his house.

Mr Clarke is a courageous individual for daring to stand up for his health and safety, as well as his rights as an individual consumer against the considerable propaganda and spin put out by the authorities in regard to the “safety” of smart meters.

Here in Daylesford, there are many who are fighting the same battle. But for the most part our stories have been ignored by the local journel, The Advocate, which appears to consider this issue not worthy of being reported in the local press, for whatever reason.

Thank you Bendigo Advertiser and Mr Fagan for having the courage to report on a controversial local issue.

Zachary Casper,

Daylesford/Glenlyon

via Castlemaine smart meter battle should be praised | Bendigo Advertiser.

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