While utilities are promoting how smart meter technology
will reduce energy use, help the environment, and enable
utilities to more quickly determine problems during power
outages, some consumer advocates claim the technology poses
health, privacy, and security risks. Despite no medical
proof exists that exposure to radio frequencies from
wireless network devices such as smart meters, some consumer
advocates in Maine claim additional investigation is
warranted. The concerns have been prompted by Central Maine
Power Co., smart-meter rollout.
Smart meter opponent Elisa Boxer-Cook told the Associated
Press that the devices have been linked to reports of
dizziness, nausea, migraines, muscle spasms and insomnia and
says no meters should be installed without further study.
“The science is so unclear at this point that we don’t want
to blanket entire neighborhoods with radiation while
scientists are debating this.”
Dr. Dora Anne Mills, director of the Maine Center for
Disease Control and Prevention, said she’s seen no research
to indicate the meters pose any more risk than wireless
Internet routers and portable telephones. “Some of the
analogies I’ve seen by opponents say it’s like having a cell
phone tower on the side of your house,” Mills told AP. “It’s
more analogous to having a cell phone or a router or a
cordless phone on the side of your house.”
The Edison Electric Institute, a Washington, D.C., trade
group that represents utilities, estimates that 10 to 20
million United States homes now have smart meters. That
number will increase to more than 65 million homes by 2020.
Communities in other states have also sought to delay
deployments, claiming the devices pose unforeseen health
risks. Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors member John
Leopold says, “I’m concerned about what we don’t know. I
haven’t seen any scientific information that would lead me
to believe there’s a problem, but there are significant
questions.”
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