Stop Smart Meters Australia

Stop Smart Meters Australia now has new address!

Posted on January 6, 2012 by Stop Smart Meters Australia

our web address is now

www.stopsmartmeters.com.au

Please take a look at How to use this site

You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter

Posted in Smart Meter | 2 Comments

Our goal – Smart Meter free homes

Posted on January 3, 2012 by Stop Smart Meters Australia

We wish everyone out there a happy New Year free of smart meters in our homes and neighbourhoods. Though the fight against smart meters in 2011 has been challenging, the scale of the grassroots resistance that has come together in the face of utility and government bullying has been truly inspirational. There are now organised groups fighting smart meter deployment in many parts of Victoria, around Australia and an increasing number of countries around the world. The movement against the health-damaging, safety-risking and privacy-invading smart meters is not only a local but global fight.

Why not start a Stop Smart Meters group in your neighbourhood today? We can assist.

Posted in Smart Meter | Tagged Privacy, Smart meter, Victoria | 3 Comments

Scaled the outer fence and trespassed on our property!

Posted on January 3, 2012 by Stop Smart Meters Australia

We were informed by a peremptory letter from CitiPower that Smart Meters would be installed in our area, 17-30 December, that we must expect power interruption for 30-60 minutes at our property, and that we would only receive information about this meter AFTER it had been installed.

We do not want a smart meter installed and have signaled our objection by a sign on our door.

Our property is locked at the front and back even when we are at home for security reasons, as we are on a main road. We have twice been ‘scoped’ by people trying to gain access to the house who were found trespassing, and fled when challenged.

On the morning of 20 December at approximately 10.10am, my mother was preparing to take a shower when there was a huge hammering on our glass outer front door. Shocked and alarmed, my mother hastily put some clothes back on and went to investigate. Outside was some barely 20-something moron saying her had come to install the smart meter. My mother told him we didn’t want one and asked how he came to be on our property, “Oh the gate was open”, said the one-neuron wonder.

She told him to leave and went back inside, she was angry and shaken. When my Dad got back from going to get the newspaper, both outer gates at the front were found to be firmly locked with the bolt pin still in place (only accessible from the inside). There’s no way he could have gained access unless he climbed over our nearly two-meter high outer surround fence (which unfortunately you can do if you climb onto the property’s original brick outer wall).

There is no way any gates to or property were open. CitiPower’s representative scaled the outer fence and trespassed on our property. Unfortunately, my Mother was too shaken and upset to actually check the manner in which he left. I would have very much liked to get some photos! Apparently people aren’t safe in their own homes to go about their morning ablutions without being harassed and having their property invaded by these idiot goons!

Next I’m sure we will get a threatening letter from CitiPower demanding we let them in and/or saying they will cut us off. My neighbour also has refused access to her property.

We live in an old house (c.1910) and have had a qualified electrician in every step of the way in any renovations/moderations to our house, and tidying up any extant wiring issues. (Incidentally, this has cost a GREAT deal of money!)

The Baillieu government’s roll-over and betrayal of long-suffering Victorian consumers in the report does not seem to address the MFB’s house fire concerns of November last year. We are waiting to hear from our insurance provider whether a smart meter will invalidate our home and contents insurance. We will ask our electrician what his view is. My Mother says the ‘boy’ they sent to scale our fence looked hardly old enough to change a light bulb.

Will CitiPower’s officiousness extent to abseiling out of the trees in January to land inside our property? Today the power went out in all of East St. Kilda for about an hour. Magic smart meters didn’t prevent that did they?

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Posted in CitiPower, trespassed | Tagged Baillieu government, CitiPower, Smart meter | 2 Comments

Power surge to price surge: prepare for an expensive education, says expert

Posted on January 3, 2012 by Stop Smart Meters Australia

A normal meter (left) and smart meter.

VICTORIANS need to urgently educate themselves about the looming surge in electricity prices this year, or face bills so high many will struggle to pay them, the chief of an energy price comparison service says.

Power use surged yesterday, after temperatures in Melbourne hit 39.6 degrees at 6pm. Today the temperature is forecast to hit 35 degrees, after an overnight low of 24.

The spike in electricity use followed power prices in Victoria jumping on New Year’s Day, by an average 10 per cent.

Much of this increase was on the charge to consumers for simply being connected to the grid – meaning users will now pay more regardless of whether they cut their power use or not.

And, according to Ben Freund, chief executive of price comparison service company GoSwitch, another jump of about 10 per cent is likely to follow on July 1, when the carbon tax begins.

The new tax, combined with mandatory renewable energy targets and chronic under-investment by power companies in infrastructure, will cause prices to rise further across Australia. ”We are looking at the doubling of the cost of power in five years’ time,” Mr Freund said.

”At that point people will start getting into serious hardship.”

Victoria had the advantage of around 70 per cent of its homes being connected to natural gas, giving many consumers an alternative if power bills rose too steeply, Mr Freund said. ”Consumers will be blase about it for a while, and then they’ll get their bill for summer and be shocked,” he predicted.

”Then they’ll get their winter bill, and by that stage they will be paying a carbon tax and they will be really shocked.”

Also likely to have an impact on future electricity price rises will be the introduction of smart meters to every home in Victoria, which will measure energy consumption every 30 minutes, rather than every three months.

The new meters will allow for time-of-use tariffs to be charged, allowing energy retailers to charge more for using electricity at times when everyone wants to use their power, and less at low-demand times.

Energy Minister Michael O’Brien has guaranteed this new way of charging will not happen until next year, and that those who wish to stay on fixed charges will be able to do so.

But Victorian Greens MP Greg Barber warned that anyone who had considered the $2.3 billion smart meter rollout a ripoff so far needed to be aware of what was coming.

”You can’t put people on time-of-use pricing unless they’ve got instantaneous access to information about how much they’ll be paying for the power they are using,” he said.

To do so would be like ”a pub that shuts off happy hour at 7pm without telling you, then hands you a bill for 800 bucks at the end of the night”, he said.

A spokesman for Mr O’Brien said yesterday that the moratorium on time-of-use pricing would remain in place until next year.

via Power surge to price surge: prepare for an expensive education, says expert.

The Age Comments to this story

Join the rebellion

Posted in Bills Soar, Energy Minister, Energy Minister Michael OBrien, Join the Rebellion, Smart Meter | Tagged Electrical power industry, Electricity pricing, Greg Barber, Melbourne, Smart meter, Victoria | Leave a comment

HOPE of better health from lessened Radio Waves.

Posted on January 1, 2012 by Stop Smart Meters Australia

Can we stop this RF wave of madness? Smart Meters, Wi-Fi? Mobile Phones? “YES WE CAN!” said ‘O’, but now his policies are failing by the day. In all reality? No, I think not, unless you wanna live in Sweden and spend the rest of your life in a log cabin or worse; but we can protect our most valuable asset – our health and well-being. I believe there is only one scientifically proved system to do this, but I will get to that in a moment. Ever since Edison turned on the electrical transformers in the 1880′s and lit up a wired-up Chicago, he gave us heat and he gave us light, but he inadvertently unleashed a WAVE of sickness, disease and epidemics on an unwary population. Carried on those wires is a toxic pollutant and is what we now call dirty power or dirty electricity.

Dear friends, it’s not just the wireless technology that his killing us, and their will be more of it, but the wired! and in your own home, office, school and dwellings. We are the proverbial mass lab rat experiment by the Public Electrical utilities and Teleco’s, and you are the canary in the coal mine, and the lights are dimming fast!!
My name is Stephen Hall and I was diagnosed with relapsing-remitting MS in 2001. I moved from Chatswood (North Shore, east side) to lovely new apartment in St. Leonards 2004-05. Gee, close to SBS, Channel 2 and 9, I thought how lucky, as well as a Radio Station close by and other high-powered Hospital transmitters and satellites. Previously, I had my MS symptoms under control. Able to walk and function better as I began to use vitamin D (Recommended by Sam Milham) and a heap of other antioxidants and other natural health products, and O did I mention being only 10 meters from the NorthShore Railway line, how convenient, how deadly!. Within a short period of time, my MS symptoms began to worsen! Ok, I knew I had remitting-relapsing MS, but I was relapsing much quicker and definitely getting worse, and was not recovering like before. Ever since moving to Herbert Street, St. Leonards, an apartment opposite the RNS Hospital, and now it looked like I was going to be going there (to the dreaded hospital) sooner rather than later.

During 2006, I managed to purchase a Graham-Stetzer (STETZERiZER) Microsurge Meter (Prof. Magda Havas and some other experts in EHS had already used it to determine the RF radiation (E&H) levels more accurately than a 3 axis gauss meter.) and using it to demonstrate what is unsafe in Electric & Magnetic Fields, and what is safe (is anything “safe?” I found that the GS units reading on the Meter (If !, and that was during the day when no-one was using much power. At around that time I managed to get hold several STETZERiZER Filters and plugged them in, turned them on, and they immediately began bringing the GS units (EMF) down much lower to around 27-35 GS units. Now, for the first time I felt “safe”, now my hope for a recovery from MS is real.

I will always look back on that day when, 24 hours after installing many STETZERIZER filters I began to sleep better and feel better. The pain in the limbs lessened, my vision improved, the dizziness had reduced, now I could get up out of bed with a feeling hope. It is nearly 6 years on and I have had another MRI scan (putting myself through all that EM RADIATION just to prove to myself and the world that I have not only “medically” improved with lessened MS symptoms but, irregardless of the of the onslaught of EM Radiation being thrown at me in this unhealthy place, I can still live well.

Thank you for allowing me to share my story and to Prof. Marty Graham and Dave Stetzer who spent vast amounts of money (designing, manufacturing and waking up the world) to clean up our electrical environment and wires, and for the HOPE of better health from lessened Radio Waves.

Stephen
cleanelectricty@bigpond.com
http://www.site.stetzerizeraustralasia.com (+612 411372210)

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Posted in Smart Meter | Tagged Electromagnetic radiation, Magnetic resonance imaging, Multiple sclerosis, Radio frequency, Stephen Hall | 3 Comments

Meters are coming, it’s a matter of when – Wodonga & North East – The Border Mail

Posted on December 28, 2011 by Stop Smart Meters Australia

ELECTRICITY supplier SP AusNet is still unable to say when it will roll out more digital smart meters in Wodonga and the North East. About 1200 meters have been installed at Wodonga, Beechworth, Bright, Mount Beauty, Towong and Rutherglen.

An SP AusNet spokesman yesterday said these had been installed in new houses and small business where there were new connections, or as replacements for faulty analogue meters.

Some had been installed to allow solar power to be carried on the electricity grid. “These installations are not part of the state government-mandated advanced metering infrastructure program,’’ the spokesman said.Installations as part of that program will begin late next year in the North East, as part of a statewide program that will take in all houses and small businesses by the end of 2013.

Suppliers have already installed about 900,000 smart meters across the state. Although some consumer groups have warned they will cost customers more, the government insists they allow people to make choices about how much energy they use by providing accurate real-time information.

Unlike the old metering technology, smart meters are two-way, digital communication systems that record electricity usage every 30 minutes and can automatically send this data to the electricity suppliers.This will virtually bring an end to estimated quarterly bills and manual meter readings.

via Meters are coming, it’s a matter of when – Local News – News – General – The Border Mail.

What’s Wrong? Smart Meters in Victoria: Information and Concerns
Almost 90,000 refuse smart meters
Join the Smart Meter rebellion
Tell us your story

Posted in Smart Meter, Sp Ausnet, Tell us your story | Tagged Advanced Metering Infrastructure, Rutherglen, Singapore Power, Smart meter, SP AusNet | Leave a comment

Will the Smart meter cause problems with my wife’s heart monitor?

Posted on December 22, 2011 by Stop Smart Meters Australia

Text of email sent to SP AUSNET re installation of smart meter on our property. What can be done?

I am writing to ask that the installation of a smart meter be deferred pending assurances and solid proof from all relevant bodies that the operation of the meter will not cause problems with my wife’s heart monitor.

I phoned your customer service department earlier this week and was referred to two companies conducting meter installation. One could not help as they do not install meters in this area, and the representative of the other company was cold, uncaring and rude. All I was requesting was deferral of installation until we are assured all is safe – and I was told repeatedly that installation would proceed regardless. I then chose to phone the DPI about my concerns and was not able to get definitive answers to my questions.

I was referred to EME Series No.8 Fact sheet from the ARPNSA and was told it would be of some assistance. This is, I believe, because of a belief that any EME emissions from a smart meter would roughly equate or be less than those from a mobile phone. Therein lies a problem as the implanted monitor worn by my wife can be affected by mobile phones, Bluetooth devices and the like. It is not a cardiac pacemaker or defibrillator, but rather a monitor to check that no irregular heart rhythms occur.

The proper operation of this monitor is vital to maintain my wife’s mental wellbeing as she suffers from a range of mental illnesses including depression, severe anxiety disorder, panic attacks and OCD. Any stress brought on by anxiety over potential issues surrounding the installation and operation of a smart meter can and will bring on severe anxiety which will result in hospitalisation. She has been hospitalised once already this year for an extended period because of severe anxiety and is taking medication to try and alleviate her stress and anxiety.

I am not prepared to allow my wife’s health to be further compromised. I am not prepared to allow access to my property to install a smart meter until my wife and I are both 100% certain that there is absolutely no chance of electromagnetic radiation from the smart meter interfering with the full and proper operation of her implanted monitor. I am not going to take any risks with her wellbeing – whether physical or mental.

I am happy to meet with a representative of your company and / or DPI to discuss this issue. I am not prepared to be forced into a smart meter installation that has any, even the remotest, chance of affecting my wife in any way.

I will take any action necessary to prevent having a smart meter installed at our property. I will take action if I do not receive a satisfactory and timely response to my concerns.”

Posted in heart monitor, Share your story., Tell us your story | Tagged Anxiety, Bluetooth, Mobile phone, Smart meter | 3 Comments

Smart meter technology to drive up the costs of power | Sydney thetelegraph.com.au

Posted on December 22, 2011 by Stop Smart Meters Australia

THE cost of cooling your home and cooking dinner could double under a new Gillard government power proposal.

Charging consumers more for electricity during the evening peak, and less at other times, is among a raft of “policy options” contained in a discussion paper made public yesterday.

The plan would involve a statewide rollout of so-called “smart meters”, which have caused anger among some consumers whose bills have risen sharply. Other proposals put forward in the paper include minimum energy standards for appliances, rebates and green building regulations.

There is also a bizarre plan allowing energy companies to remotely control home airconditioners in high-demand periods in return for a discount at other times – a move experts say would hit western Sydney hard.

After the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency released the consultation paper for a proposed national energy savings initiative, acting Greens leader Christine Milne claimed it was “another great Greens idea coming to fruition”.

The push for a new green scheme would, according to the paper, “complement” the carbon tax, which will add $171 to power bills and would come on top of the existing renewable energy target scheme which added $100 to power bills this year. Smart meters monitor electricity usage in 30-minute intervals and feed information back to the energy company.

Some families in new homes with so-called smart meters are already on time-of-use tariffs where, between 2pm and 8pm, they pay 44c a kilowatt hour – twice the flat rate.

Energy Australia was forced to allow 200,000 households in NSW to revert to a flat rate if they wanted to after time-of-use charging hurt those who were at home during the peak period – new parents, pensioners and the disabled.

Energy Australia claimed 70 per cent of households were better off with smart meters.

But research by St Vincent De Paul has shown time-of-use charging imposes double-digit increases on young families and the welfare-dependent.

Are you paying too much for power? Tell us below

Businesses who fail to meet targets could be hit with penalties and the paper conceded “obligated parties will pass through to their consumers some or all of the costs of meeting the obligation”.

Senator Milne said: “For too long, governments, businesses and householders haven’t tackled our hugely wasteful use of energy because there has been no clear and urgent driver to do so.” She said a target for energy use reduction should be set at 3 per cent a year.

Energy Users Association executive director Roman Domanski said similar schemes in Australia and overseas had produced limited benefits. He said time-of-use pricing would be more pronounced in hotter areas of Sydney – the west.

“If the government introduces a scheme like that, it is going to increase bills,” he said.

“We’re now going to have a carbon price that is going to encourage people, supposedly, to lower emissions and also reduce the amount of energy people use so we wonder why you need one of these sorts of schemes to push electricity prices up even more.”

A spokeswoman for parliamentary secretary for climate change Mark Dreyfus said a national energy savings initiative was aimed at “helping households and business save money on energy costs”.

via Smart meter technology to drive up the costs of power | thetelegraph.com.au.

Telegraph Comments on this story

Posted in Bills Soar, Smart Meter, Sydney, time-of-use pricing | Tagged Australia, Christine Milne, Energy, Mark Dreyfus, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, Smart Grid, Smart meter, Technology | Leave a comment

Double-blind study: Radiation from Cordless Phone Base Station Affects the Heart

Posted on December 21, 2011 by Stop Smart Meters Australia

A study by Dr. Magda Havas and colleagues in the peer-reviewed European Journal of Oncology Library Vol. 5, 2010 shows that radiation from a digital cordless phone base station affects the heart in a double-blind provocation study.

Click HERE to view the study.

According to this research, some individuals are hypersensitive to microwave radiation and respond when they are exposed to levels well below federal guidelines (5 microW/cm2 or 0.5% of guidelines in Canada & U.S.). During real time monitoring of the heart some individuals experienced an irregular heart rate or a rapid heart rate that occurred only during provocation and not during sham exposure (when the radiation was off). This is the first study showing such dramatic and repeatable results.

More information and videos via Dr. Magda Havas, PhD » New Study: Radiation from Cordless Phone Base Station Affects the Heart.

Please Note: The cordless phone base station beacon signal used in the study operates at at 2.4 GHz.

The Smart Meters being installed in Australia operate at 900MHz and 2.4 GHz http://www.powercor.com.au/Smart_Meters/Meter_Functions/

The Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA) Frequencies now similar to mobile and cordless phones!

Posted in 2.4GHz, double-blind, electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS), hypersensitivity (EHS), Microwave, Smart Meter, Tell us your story | Tagged Base station, Cordless telephone, ISM band, Magda Havas, Microwave, Mobile phone | 1 Comment

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