Seattle City Light is moving forward with plans to upgrade residential electrical meters with advanced technology, often called “smart metering.”
But several activist groups say the wireless devices pose health risks and invade people’s privacy. They’re planning to speak out at Monday’s Seattle City Council meeting where budget approval will appropriate money for the project.
The utility is replacing about 430,000 meters to provide two-way communication on energy use. This allows for real-time information that can help customers and the utility pinpoint inefficiencies. It also eliminates the need for technicians to go to people’s homes to read the meters and provides immediate information during power outages.
But activists say the technology is bad news.
“The primary reason is health,” said Sonia Hoglander, who has been organizing against the deployment of smart meters in Seattle for nearly a year and a half.
She says adding more radio waves from wireless meters to the constant barrage from cell phones and radio towers will cause more people to suffer from things like headaches, nausea and insomnia.
“We already have so many radio frequencies and we’ve reached a point of saturation of these electromagnetic radiations, and so it’s cumulative,” she said.
Hoglander is part of the newly-formedSafe Utility Meters Alliance Northwest. It’s joining forces with activist groups in California who say along with health concerns, there are privacy issues — both about the specific information collected and its vulnerability to hackers.
The group is hosting a public meeting Tuesday night in Wedgewood with a leader from California who is on a national speaking tour.
The city says it’s taking these concerns into consideration as it designs the new systems. It held several citizens’ forums this summer and has issued a white paper to address all the issues before it starts purchasing the new technology.
