East County News Service

May 15, 2017 (San Diego’s East County) – Some utility customers who opted out of having smart meters installed are complaining that they have received inflated estimated bills for their analog meter, says Susan Brinchman, director of the Center for Electrosmog Prevention in La Mesa, a group opposed to smart meters.

CPUC Chair Peevey complained his own bills went up after smart meter installed;  

Edison pushed higher fees to force smart meters on the poor

Consumer watchdog groups have analyzed 120,000 e-mails and attachments released by the California Public Utilities Commission. The emails suggest smart meter fees were deliberately set high to discourage opting out analog meters, even when those leading the CPUC admitted in e-mails that smart meters emitting pulsed microwave radiation were harming Californians.

By Josh Hart, Stop Smart Meters

February 28, 2015 (San Francisco) -- New e-mails brought to light between Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), Southern California Edison (SCE), and the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) reveal the extent of corruption and backroom dealing that have characterized the state’s smart meter program.

Devices transmit power over existing power lines

By Miriam Raftery

March 3, 2013 (San Diego’s East County) – Smart meters have become a public relations nightmare for utility companies in California. After a flood of complaints by consumers alleging health problems suspecting of being caused by electromagnetic radio frequencies (EJF), the California Public Utilities Commission ordered utilities to allow consumers to opt out, or to have smart meters removed if already installers. Many homeowners have done so, but must pay for removal plus a monthly fee for reading meters.

Now Idaho Power has begun offering its customers smart meters that claim to avoid these problems. The company's website states: “Smart meters being deployed in Idaho Power's service territory do not transmit radio frequencies. Our smart meters do not use any wireless communication media or generate any high-frequency signals. Our system uses only wired infrastructure to communicate to and from our smart meters utilizing the low-frequency 60 hertz (Hz) power line signal as the carrier for our communications. This may be of interest because some smart meter deployments in California have raised concerns that radio transmission, wireless transmission or high-frequency transmission may pose health risks. The technology we're deploying is fundamentally different from the technologies in question in California.”

This begs the question: Why aren't these devices available to Califiornia ratepayers?

February 18, 2013 (San Diego’s East County) -- The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is reviewing its policies on radiofrequency (RF) radiation, such as that emitted by cell phone towers, smart meters, broadcast antennae and other sources.  Public comments will be accepted until March 6, 2013.

• A Q&A on San Miguel’s situation
• Tony Gwynn joins group seeking to buy Padres (10 News)
• San Onofre future hinges on finding cause of abnormal tube wear (Sacramento Bee)
• San Diego ranked least expensive city in state to do business (10 News)
• La Mesa may welcome wineries and breweries (UT San Diego)
• La Mesa Village Development (La Mesa Today)
• No option at all! (for condo/apartment residents with multiple smart meters) (KUSI Turko Files)
• Walmart Neighborhood Market planned for La Mesa
• Countywide water rates could rise nearly 10% (UT San Diego)
• Grossmont baseball coach Jim Earley quits amid parent accusations (La Mesa Patch)
• Wounded officer asked `Is this my time?’ (UT San Diego)

• CA Senate passes bill for self-driving cars (Los Angeles Times)
• CA Senate passes bill that limits salaries at CSU (Sacramento Bee)
• California Democrats balk at deeper cuts for state’s poorest residents (Sacramento Bee)
• Purple Super Pac launched to support registered Independents (Sacramento Bee)
• U-T: State Plans Big Changes To Testing, Instruction

By Miriam Raftery

March 24, 2012 (San Diego’s East County) – Earlier this month, an administrative law judge with the California Public Utilities Commission ordered San Diego Gas & Electric Company to prepare a plan that would give ratepayers the right to not have wireless smart meters.   

La Mesa smart meter opponent voices outrage over families left in the cold

By Miriam Raftery

December 14, 2011 (La Mesa)—“We have just learned of a very troubling situation,” Susan Brinchman, a La Mesa activist leading statewide efforts to oppose smart meters, has informed ECM.  “Power has been cut off for three families who changed out the smart meters on their homes for analogs.” 

The shut-offs were made by Pacific Gas & Electric Company in Santa Cruz. Like a growing number of Californians, the families left in the dark had complained of health problems that they believed were caused by smart meters installed on their residences. Now, Brinchman fears that the same thing could happen in San Diego County.

October 9, 2011 (La Mesa) – La Mesa resident Susan Brinchman, director and founder of the Center for Electrosmog Prevention, has announced that she will join the Occupy San Diego effort downtown with rallies to draw attention to health issues involving smart meters.

“Smart meters are an excessive form of corporate abuse of our bodies and our rights,” Brinchman wrote in an email to supporters and media. “Let us join our anti-smart meter efforts to the Wall Street protests in our local cities and towns.”

September 26, 2011 (San Diego) – The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) president Michael Peevey has issued a ruling ordering San Diego Gas & Electric Company and two other utility companies to allow consumers who don’t want a “smart meter” installed to place their names on a delay list, pending the outcome of upcoming workshops on the issue.

43 COUNTIES IN CA HAVE VOTED TO OPPOSE SMART METERS --

AND 10 HAVE BANNED THE DEVICES

July 12, 2011 (La Mesa) – The Center for Electrosmog Prevention in La Mesa along with Californians for Renweable Energy, Inc. filed a protest July 6 with the California Public Utilities commission (CPUC) against San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E).