Just say NO!

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Today I called our power company and told them I was opting out of the new Smart Meters that they were planning on installing this month. All of Oregon is, apparently, going through this change. For the privilege of exerting my choice in sticking to an analog meter, I get to pay an extra $36 a month. I'm miffed at the extortion fee but I absolutely refuse to have these new devices on our house. After doing some research last night, my husband agreed that we would stick with the old analog. Now, "they" say Smart Meters are safe but they are relatively new tech and I came across many, many stories of people who became sick after they were installed. My sister's mother-in-law has always been extremely sensitive to WiFi, cell phones, etc. and we all tend to roll our eyes when she starts complaining. But now, I'm starting to wonder if she's not so crazy... I watched a documentary where a doctor took 3 volunteers and tested their blood. Their red blood cells were normal. Then he had them stand in front of a Smart Meter for 2 minutes and retested their blood: Subject #1's red blood cells started to degenerate and mutate. Subject #2's cells were "bottlecapping", which is a sign of oxidation. Subject #3 was only able to stand in front of the Smart Meter for 45 seconds before complaining of a headache. Turns out her red blood cells had started to stack up. Apparently everyone experiences damage to their cells when exposed to a device like this but only a few actually feel the effects. Besides health affects, many who have had these meters installed have said their electric bill has actually gone up instead of down, as the power companies said they would. Smart Meters also, of course, record the amount of energy you use. Specifically, they track what type of energy you're using. So if you washed three loads of laundry in one week, it sends that information back to "headquarters". If you open the fridge twenty times, use the Keurig ten times, or turn the lights on and off all day long, every use is recorded and used to compile a fact sheet on that household. Over time, the power company can tell if something is different if your itemized energy usage changes. Not to mention that if energy isn't being used, then one could easily determine that the family isn't home. And since the system is hackable, it would be easy for thieves to use these recordings to more easily rob people. The first Smart Meters (installed around 2012) were known to randomly burst into flames, setting houses on fire. They say that problem has been fixed, but I read a comment from a person in Mexico that said she had TWO Smart Meters burst into flames, roughly 4 months ago! Between health risks, higher bills, privacy infringement, and the risk of fire, I refuse to have this thing installed. And for now, I have that choice. However, I read that the goal is to have all analog meters replace by 2020, so we'll see how long it takes before it becomes mandatory. Do you have a Smart Meter? If you're interested in learning more about Smart Meters, you can watch this (long but interesting) documentary: