Class action call on smart meters – The Standard

Posted on May 31, 2012 by Stop Smart Meters Australia

SMART meter opponent Chris Hynes was outsmarted by installers this week after a long campaign to avoid having one installed at his house went as high as the Premier’s office, only to fail.

But Mr Hynes aims to hit back with a possible class action with other disgruntled customers.

The Warrnambool man arrived home from work to find his old analogue electricity meter had been replaced with one of the controversial compact smart meters while his wife had been sleeping after night shift.

“I wasn’t very happy at all, but it looks like I’m stuck with it,” he told The Standard yesterday.

“Now I’m thinking of contacting other opponents and solicitors to see if they are interested in launching a class action against compulsory fitting of the new meters.

“It seems people’s rights are gone and the government can now authorise people to walk into your property and do these jobs. I had notices of objection stuck to my meter box and they were ignored.”

Mr Hynes had written to Premier Ted Baillieu with a list of 10 questions relating to health, insurance and fire risks.

It prompted a reply advising his concerns had been forwarded to Energy and Resources Minister David O’Brien.

Mr O’Brien’s office also did not answer his questions, Mr Hynes said. “I’m going to follow up with a letter to Powercor and to Mr O’Brien demanding answers,” he said.

“I will demand the installers come back again and refit the meter to a heat-resistant board that won’t have a risk of catching fire.”

Another Warrnambool opponent, pensioner Pam Densley, has locked her meter box and installed a piece of see-through perspex on the door.

“I don’t want a bloody smart meter fitted until they can answer all my questions about safety and health risks,” she said.

Via http://www.standard.net.au/news/local/news/general/class-action-call-on-smart-meters/2568282.aspx

Posted in Smart Meter | 25 Comments

Public meeting about Smart Meters – Frankston 6th June 7PM

Posted on May 30, 2012 by Stop Smart Meters Australia

Download the Flyer here

Posted in Meetings | 8 Comments

Class action Poll

Posted on May 29, 2012 by Stop Smart Meters Australia

If you would like to be contacted about this please use the Contact Us page and provide us with your details

Posted in Smart Meter | 6 Comments

Councillor’s smart meter protest – Frankston Weekly

Posted on May 29, 2012 by Stop Smart Meters Australia

FRANKSTON councillor Glenn Aitken has joined a growing number of residents rejecting the state government’s compulsory installation of smart meters on their properties.

Although he has not locked his electricity meter box, Cr Aitken has put up a sign – quoting sections of the Trespass Act – warning installers not to install a smart meter on his Seaford premises.

Cr Aitken said he had spoken to residents who were concerned about health risks associated with smart meters, as well as rising electricity costs associated with the devices.

“Their concerns about smart meters tend to mirror my own,” Cr Aitken said. “I do not want them to just come in here and push a smart meter on my property.

“There have been a number of issues relating to smart meters which have emerged. These people have documentation which raises a number of issues, which I think the broader community should be made better aware of.”

The Weekly has also spoken to a number of local residents who say they have been forced from their homes due to negative health symptoms which they associate with an electro-magnetic field from the smart meter.

They say their symptoms include headaches, insomnia, ringing in the ears and nausea.

One couple is living in their van, a woman is living in a tent and others are spending thousands of dollars painting their homes with barrier paint hoping it will stop radiation from getting through.

Cr Aitken said he was also concerned after reading literature about the machines blowing up, and that the centralised electricity system meant it was possible that power supplies could be more easily monitored and hacked.

In a show of support, Cr Aitken booked the Frankston Mechanics Institute hall for a public meeting at 7pm on June 6 which is being organised by the concerned residents. He will also open the meeting.

The event would provide an opportunity for locals to hear from a number of key speakers about the issue and to ask questions, Cr Aitken said.

via Councillor’s smart meter protest – Local News – News – General – Frankston Weekly.

Download a flyer for this meeting here

Posted in Frankston, Meetings, Smart Meter | Tagged , , , | 8 Comments

My Meter box is staying locked….

Posted on May 28, 2012 by Stop Smart Meters Australia

Latest information – I received a SMS from Powercor asking me to phone them re my Power supply. I did and now find that I have 10 days grace and they will be installing a SMART METER. I asked them to send me something that tells me these darn things are Safe and on Friday of last week got another message telling me they will email me information on SMART METER INSTALLATION this coming Monday. I have had enough. If I must have one and that is “IF” it will have to be re-located to the other side of the House. (They tell me that this will be at my own Expense approx $400.00 which I don’t have). I want a steel plate between my wall and the smart Meter. I want a Qualified Electrician to do the job and I want something In writing from them to tell me these do not cause fires and are healthy (which I am not going to get) – My Meter box is staying locked. I have had perspex in place so my Energy Co can read the meter. I have signs everywhere, including trespassers prosecuted. I have also contacted my Solicitor and expect to hear from him this week.
CLASS ACTION IS REQUIRED URGENTLY – Thanks to all who have supported me…Pam

Posted in Smart Meter, Tell us your story | Tagged , , | 34 Comments

Smart meters vulnerable to false data injection

Posted on May 24, 2012 by Stop Smart Meters Australia

Power grids connect electricity producers to consumers through interconnected transmission and distribution networks. In these networks, system monitoring is necessary to ensure reliable power grid operation.

The analysis of smart meter measurements and power system models that estimate the state of the power grid are a routine part of system monitoring.

False data injection attacks exploit the configuration of power grids by introducing arbitrary errors into state variables while bypassing existing techniques for bad measurement detection.

nCircle announced the results of a survey of 104 energy security professionals. When asked, “Do smart meter installations have sufficient security controls to protect against false data injection?” 61% said “no”.

Full story available at: http://www.net-security.org/secworld.php?id=12717

Posted in Hacking, Security Risks, Smart grid, Smart Meter | Leave a comment

Pensioner takes stance against meters – The Warrnambool Standard

Posted on May 22, 2012 by Stop Smart Meters Australia

By PETER COLLINS 18 May, 2012

PENSIONER Pam Densley is risking being penalised for her continued defiant refusal to have a smart meter fitted to her household electricity supply, despite a new top-level report saying they are safe.

The Warrnambool war widow has had notes stuck around her meter box for months highlighting her concerns and has chased installers off her property.

She’s written to her home insurance company and even considered locking the meter box.

“I shouldn’t have to have one,” she told The Standard.

“I don’t want one until they are proven safe. A lot of concerns have been raised.”

According to electricity distributor Powercor, rollout of the new technology must be completed by the end of next year for all homes and businesses.

Any property owners refusing installation risk having their power supply cut off.

Powercor spokesman Hugo Armstrong said people were required by law to give the distributor safe and clear access to meters.

“We will always try to work with customers to resolve their issues,” he said.

“They can contact us on 1300 783 882.”

He said smart meters had been fitted at two-thirds of Warrnambool region properties and installers were back in the district to finish the program.

Health concerns were dismissed yesterday by Energy Safe Victoria (ESV) which released its draft report on advanced metering infrastructure (smart meters).

It said the new meters posed no more risk than older electronic or electromechanical meters.

Energy Safe director Paul Fearon said much community debate on the meters was not based on facts or evidence and had alarmed the elderly and vulnerable.

However, the Electrical Trades Union later issued a statement urging consumers to read the report with “extreme caution”.

“This draft report in no way removes the need for continued scrutiny of the safety of the smart meter roll out and the rush to find that all is well in the face of contradictory evidence casts grave doubt on its credibility,” ETU Victorian branch secretary, Dean Mighell, said.

Read the rest via Pensioner takes stance against meters – Local News – News – General – The Warrnambool Standard.

Posted in Dean Mighell, ETU, Smart Meter | Tagged , | 11 Comments

ill with migraines and fever like symptoms

Posted on May 21, 2012 by Stop Smart Meters Australia

Comment: A smart meter was installed in the rented home I live in Daylesford, Central Victoria – and over the last week I have been very ill with migraines and fever like symptoms. I believe that the smart meter is spiking radiation, I rang Powercor who gave me the usual line that it is a mandatory installation. I have tried to shield the smart meter – which is on the wall of the kitchen, a room I am in a great deal – with aluminium mesh and aluminium sheeting on the wall in the kitchen, to no effect. Do you know a retailer who will sell me an analogue electricity meter and a sympathetic electrician who could install it for me. I live with my teenage children and am not able to do this myself. I am desperate – all help or suggestions would be much appreciated.

Posted in Smart Meter | 10 Comments

New group forming in Bairnsdale

Posted on May 20, 2012 by Stop Smart Meters Australia

East Gippsland Information Hub. Attached to Stop Smart Meters Australia, there is now a group forming in Bairnsdale. If you are in the East Gippsland region, come to Treasures of Atlantis to pick up free Do Not Fit A Smart Meter sign, information packs, letters of refusal and more.

Details of the upcoming meeting can be found at the store Treasures of Atlantis 1/25 Wood St Bairnsdale Vic, Ph: 03-51523485 or on this site soon.

DO NOT risk your health

DO NOT risk your home insurance

DO NOT accept being bullied

DO NOT accept being held to ransom by an overseas company

STOP SMART METERS AUSTRALIA

Posted in Smart Meter | 1 Comment

Northcote fire questions safety of smart meters – Emergency Services

Posted on May 19, 2012 by Stop Smart Meters Australia

A FAMILY’S narrow escape from a Northcote house fire prompted a Darebin officer to raise concerns about smart meter installation.

Christmas St resident Sophie Tzirozidis hailed her 12-year-old son a hero after he ran to the front of their house, stopped traffic and alerted neighbours to help evacuate his grandfather, Peter, and grandmother, Vicki, before they were overcome with smoke.

“If Peter hadn’t have come running out screaming for help my parents would have died from smoke inhalation because my father’s had a stroke and he can’t walk and my mother couldn’t move because she was in shock,” Ms Tzirozidis said.

“The fire started from the smart meter and the flames spread straight up to the roof.

“There’s nothing smart about smart meters – they’re terrible.”

The Metropolitan Fire Brigade estimated the damage at $300,000.

One brigade officer, who refused to be named because he was opening “a political can of worms”, said this was the third serious fire in Northcote he’d attended in the past six months that started at the smart meter.

He said the power companies were involved in “a massive cover-up” denying responsibility.

“The problem is not with the meter itself but with connecting it to wiring in older houses,” the officer said.

“Unless something’s done (to fix the problem), unfortunately we’ll see a lot more of these fires and we just have to hope no one will get hurt.”

The MFB officer said he’d repeatedly watched power company authorities visiting the houses after the fires and claiming sabotage or other factors were involved to take the heat off them.

Read the rest via Northcote fire questions safety of smart meters – Emergency Services – News – Northcote Leader.

HOW MANY STORIES LIKE THIS ARE WE GOING TO SEE?

Posted in Fire, House Fires, Smart Meter | Tagged , , | 8 Comments