Good News.  🙂

Today the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC)  approved a smart meter opt out option for  both Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas and Electric customers.  Please share this information with friends and neighbors.

From the SCE press release:   “Starting May 9, customers may opt out by calling 1-800-810-2369.  For customers already on the delay list, calling the number will enable them to enroll in the opt-out program and keep their current meters.  Customers who have a smart meter, but would like to opt out, can have their meter exchanged for the type (i.e. electro-mechanical analog meter or non analog, non-smart digital meter) that was previously in place.”
San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E)  has not yet announced the date their opt out will go into effect, but they need to offer it within twenty days. Their contact number is 1-800-411-7383 .

Even though the CPUC has given the utilities permission to charge (price gouge?)  California rate payers to opt out (a 75 dollar initial fee even if you already have an analog and a ten dollar additional monthly fee) I recommend that people still go for it.  They don’t want you to.  (They have many plans–financial incentives–for their smart grid including feeding your information to third party vendors).  Inactivate their “smart” meter program by refusing to participate!  Also, when you opt out you can send a note that you are paying the opt out fee  “under protest.”   See also the Northern Californian web site  Stop Smart Meters!  for other suggestions to challenge the fees.

Besides the satisfaction of not going along with the big utility monoliths, there are, of course, other reasons to opt out of a  “smart” meter.  It is extremely easy for all of us to be inattentive to the possible effects of non ionizing radiation–as it is invisible, has no taste or smell, etc.  You can only tell if you are being irradiated if you have a special meter/analyzer or if you happen to be electrohypersensitive.

However, there are too many studies, including WHO’s designation of it as a carcinogen, which show (even as it becomes so ubiquitous in our society) that radiofrequency electromagnetic radiation may have adverse health effects.  A recent Yale study involving cell phones and mice, for example,  showed cognitive changes from non ionizing radiation.  Also, even though you may not be able to immediately feel the effects RF electromagnetic radiation is having on you, your cells are still responding.  As the late Dr. Neil Cherry has said in a radio interview “Our brain is an electromagnetic organ. [In] our central nervous system, every cell communicates with its neighbors to see how they are–using electromagnetic signals.” One effect RF electromagnetic radiation can have is to disrupt the calcium ions in our brains.  Says Dr. Cherry “calcium ions control the neurotransmitters in the brain. . . .If you expose the brain to these frequencies-you alter the calcium ions–you alter the brain patterns. That’s what Ross Adey in California showed; repeated by the EPA; Carl Blackman; and it’s been repeated in about 10 or 12 laboratories in the world–that calcium ions are changed by these signals. That’s pretty well established. Frequencies match and cells react and change the behavior which changes the brain pattern, the reaction time.”

To stay updated about the ins and outs of the Smart Meter rulings,  please see the following web sites and Facebook pages:  Burbank Action,  StopOCSmartMeters, Stop Smart Meters Now (Facebook), Center for Electrosmog Prevention,  EMF Safety Network, Stop Smart Meters! and Eon3emfblog. among others. There continue to be many issues with the smart meter opt out option (and the smart grid in general): it doesn’t allow businesses to opt out; doesn’t address multiple co-located smart meters;  the soon to come (useless for you but lucrative for them)  gas and water “smart” meters, etc.

My web site Stop Smart Meters Irvine also has archived articles, links and occasional updates. I am not able to update it regularly, but the entire wireless issue (that is the complete irradiation of our public spaces) continues to advance.

Just FYI, Here are Some Mainly Local Examples:

1.Wi Fi on OCTA Buses.  The metal buses create what Dr. George Carlo calls a resonant cavity (increasing the radiation level); it’s like riding in a travelling microwave oven.  (For a funny take on the “microwave oven” idea, see Stephen Colbert’s video where he puts an Amy’s burrito between himself and his cell phone).

2.  Wi Fi In Medical Clinics. In Irvine, medical clinics now offer irradiation services  for free (no co pays)  not in the radiology department but in the waiting room:  The Kaiser Permanente medical clinic in Woodbridge, Irvine, frequented by newborns, people with pacemakers and others  with various illnesses is now fitted with radiation emitting wi fi–because their administrator told me “their members wanted it.”

3 The Irvine libraries have routers right above the reference desk so the employees are exposed to this all day long. Bonjour? I recommend they brush up on their French and call the National Library of France-where Wi Fi was completely removed because librarians became active and protested the health effects.

4. Buy your Daisy Sour Cream. Irradiate your Head!  If you shop at the local grocery stores, you can be irradiated as you do your grocery shopping (Albertson’s Campus store, dairy section;  look above you on the wall–the spider like device is a high powered router.  (There is Wi Fi in Ralphs and Gelsons, also.)

5. Mission Viejo Library: Special teen only section with cool irradiating spider: The irradiating “spider” is also affixed to a wall at the Mission Viejo Library near the children’s area.

6. RF Chips Credit Cards: Also besides not holding (as neurosurgeon Dr. Keith Black recommends) your cell phone to your brain, you might think twice about stashing your new credit card in your pocket or bra–because the credit companies are now installing RF chips in these, which creates not only health but security risks.  See this you tube video for the security issues.  Note:  If your company sends you such a card, you can punch the RF chip out with a hole puncher.)