An assurance from the B.C. government regarding smart meter installation falls short for some Shuswap residents.
Rich Coleman, B.C.’s minister of energy, mines and natural gas, recently issued a letter to the media that’s posted on BC Hydro’s website, stating: “I am writing to assure your readers that BC Hydro will be working with its customers over the next several months to help them understand the benefits of new smart meters prior to final installation. During this time, BC Hydro will not install a new meter without the homeowner’s consent and will work directly with customers to address their individual concerns.”
He goes on to say that smart meters are safe.
“B.C’s Provincial Health Officer and Health Canada have confirmed that smart meters pose no known health risk or reason for concern. Some customers remain unwilling to accept that fact, and we will work with them to help allay their concerns.”
Coleman states that BC Hydro has installed 1.74 million smart meters in B.C., with 85,000 left to go.
“As a result, they will be revisiting customers who originally turned down the smart meters to better understand their concerns, provide them with credible answers to their questions and finish the final installations.”
He concludes that upgrading the electrical grid will save B.C. $1.6 billion over the next 20 years, but maintaining a separate system with analog meters would “detract from our goal: keeping electricity rates affordable.”
Edgar Murdoch, a spokesperson with Smart Meter Awareness Society, Okanagan/Shuswap, says he is suspicious, given government duplicity surrounding the program. It wasn’t long ago, he adds, that the company installing the meters was using tactics such as unmarked vehicles to install them where they weren’t wanted. Why would such tactics be necessary, he asks, if they are such a benefit?
“If they’re such a good thing, why is there such worldwide resistance?”
He notes that in some jurisdictions in California, smart meters are not only banned, but have become a criminal offence. France is spending $75 million to remove wifi from schools, he says.
“There is absolutely overwhelming evidence throughout the world from independent scientists who don’t have a penny to gain…,” he says, noting that wireless technology is listed as a class 2B carcinogen, but “scientists are saying it should be class 2A. It is a cancerous carcinogen.”
The precautionary principal is not being exercised, Murdoch says.
“That’s the whole thing. Nobody knows. There’s no history attached to smart meters. There’s decades of history attached to tobacco,” he notes, pointing out that it was once considered safe. “Today, it’s costing us one-and-half billion dollars a year for health costs and loss of productivity in B.C. alone. Scientists say that wireless technology today is the tobacco of yesterday.”
Playcare Early Childhood Centre in Salmon Arm has refused a smart meter on its building. Co-owner Jamie Treleaven says they have many reasons, but the main one is lack of evidence regarding safety.
He says because the centre has a concentration of young children – birth to five years – who may be particularly susceptible, the owners don’t want to risk it.
“Experts are saying there could possibly be a cumulative effect – and ‘possibly’ is enough for me.”
He gives other reasons for their opposition, including an invasion of privacy – where installers haven’t wanted to take no for an answer. Treleaven also points to the billions of dollars in profits being made from the technology, which could mean those who stand to profit won’t be scrutinizing it carefully.
If it eventually turns out to be safe – fine, he says, but if there’s any chance the cumulative effects of the technology could be harmful, he’d rather not take the risk.
Nel van der Toorn moved from the Lower Mainland eight years ago to lessen her exposure to noise and light pollution and electromagnetic energy because she has multiple sclerosis. She says such things as car alarms, house alarms, satellite TV and cell phone towers all have a cumulative effect.
“It does have a physiological effect on those of us with neurological disorders,” she says, noting she has difficulty sleeping if she has wifi plugged in.
“I’ve done a lot of things to make sure I’m not overtoxifying my body…,” she notes, explaining she’s very high functioning despite the disease. “A big one is electromagnetic energy. It has a huge effect. It has to, as the brain is electromagnetic.”
She adds, regarding smart meters: “Keep in mind Switzerland took it out, California is in the process, Luxemburg has done it, part of Poland. Switzerland passed a law that it can be nowhere near schools or hospitals…”