If some appliances, computers
or communications equipment have been working oddly lately,
the Maine Public Advocate's office said your electric meter
may be to blame.
The office put out a
statement this week saying Central Maine Power Co.'s "smart
meters" -- which use low-power radio frequency transmissions
to send meter readings to the company -- are interfering
with a wide range of household electronic devices, from
garage door openers and WiFi devices to
security systems.
A spokesman for Central Maine
Power said the company is aware of the problem and has set
up a special unit to handle complaints. It will send experts
to people's homes to make fixes, if needed, John Carroll
said, and has bought new electronic devices for consumers in
cases where it was not able to resolve the problem or if the
equipment was damaged.
"For the most part, we can
fix them fairly easily," usually over the phone, Carroll
said. He said CMP has received complaints from about 250
customers, only a tiny fraction of the 440,000 smart meters
installed, with another 180,000 expected to go in by early
next year.
But a critic of the devices
said the small number of complaints may be due to people not
making the connection between a smart meter and interference
with wireless routers, phones, clocks and even invisible
fences for pets.
"I think the majority of
people who are having problems with their router or can't
stream their Netflix (movies) or whose dogs are zapped in
their safe zones have no idea" it could be the smart meter,
said Elisa Boxer-Cook, who founded the Smart Meter Safety
Coalition.
Boxer-Cook started the group
because of health concerns over the meters' use of low-level
microwave signals to send and receive information. But the
interference issue is eclipsing that initial worry, she
said.
Carroll said the meters
operate on a common frequency and so interference is not a
surprise. He likened it to picking up the transmission from
a neighbor's baby monitor on a phone.
He said the meters not only
allow CMP to bill without sending a meter reader to home,
but it also will give consumers more detailed information on
energy usage and could save money if the company sets
electric rates based on the time of day the energy is used.
Carroll said warnings about
possible interference are included in the notice that CMP
leaves on a doorknob when it installs a new meter and in
information sent out to consumers as part of its opt-out
procedure.
But Boxer-Cook noted that CMP
was ordered to do that by the Maine Public Utilities
Commission and noted that she's heard from dozens of people
with complaints about interference. She predicts CMP's
complaint numbers will rise when word of the Public
Advocate's warning spreads.
Boxer-Cook said she hopes that the news leads more consumers
to opt out of the smart meter program, although she noted
that the interference still could be caused by a neighbor's
smart meter. She said the company should also train
installers to warn customers if they see devices that could
be interfered with, such as a security system or invisible
fence.
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