PG&E Smart Meter CPUC Public Hearing on Wireless Radiation Risks Part 2

So what?

So the smart meter process moves forward here on the Left Coast and PG&E and other utilities are enduring the fate of all proponents of change in the endless second guessing. After all the hassles over powerline electromagnetic fields and the endless research to discover whether there were real health and safety problems researchers found nothing, the complaints over EMF have largely gone away.

Yes, there are also those who fear their cell phones will give them brain cancer and maybe if you talked nonstop for 47 years you might have a problem, but few people are giving up their cell phones are they?

My advice to these protesters is forget these health and safety issues as an excuse to stop smart meters and focus on the real problem—ratepayers are being charged for this investment when the benefits accruing to ratepayers are far into the future.
In any ratemaking proceeding the burden is on the utility to prudently show that the cost and benefits of the proposal add up and are being fairly allocated to shareholders and ratepayers. In the case of smart meters, the benefits accrue largely to the utilities at this stage of the transition and thus the costs should also largely be born there too. That’s what regulators in Maryland, and Hawaii recently ruled.

The lack of any business experience by the California protestors is hurting their cause since they are protesting the stuff that does not matter and missing the stuff that does. Then again, they could be climbing trees on the UC-Berkeley campus like previous protests and staying up there for a year until they get their way. Oh forget that—not even iPod batteries last that long!

Kenya, Nairobi,
Cyprus, Nicosia,
Malta, Valetta,
France, Paris,
Namibia, Windhoek,
Central African Republic, Bangui,
Denmark, Copenhagen,
Subiaco, Victoria,
Anchorage, Alaska, USA
Murray Bridge, South Australia

"Revolutionary New Technologiess
Protect You from the Harmful Effects of Cell Phone Radiation,

Computers, Bluetooth Headsets, Microwave Ovens,

Cordless Phones, and other Wireless Technologies."