Kelowna, BC, November 15, 2012 — One by one, FortisBC customers opposed to the utility’s application for its advanced metering infrastructure project (smart meters) voiced their concerns to a three-member panel of the British Columbia Utilities Commission procedural conference at the Best Western Plus Hotel and Suites Nov. 8.
“B.C.’s electric utilities could and should have selected fibre optic cable, which is an established, proven, safe, reliable, durable, robust, faster, and more secure technology that poses no threat whatsoever to anyone’s health,” said Jerry Flynn, a retired Canadian military electronic warfare captain, and one of hundreds of FortisBC customers urging BCUC to refuse the application. “It’s also safer; it’s impervious to radio frequency jamming and other such interferences. It also is less vulnerable to acts of mischief and terrorist acts and cyber attacks, solar storms, solar flares, electrical storms, and even against some electrical warfare weapons, such as we have today.”
Flynn has submitted a letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper warning of the imminent threat the burgeoning wireless “smart” grid poses to Canada’s national security.
“Government has not given enough credence to the multitude of peer-reviewed studies done on 900 megahertz and 2.5 gigahertz-pulsed low intensity microwave transmissions and their detrimental effects on human health, on single family residences, and in high-density residential complexes,” said FortisBC customer Rory Kapchinsky. “I’m asking the BCUC to refuse Fortis Inc. the right to replace your analog meter with an unproven and unsafe wireless smart meter that will relay private information about you to a utility corporation without your consent.”
FortisBC and BC Hydro both claim their meters are safe; however, they use Industry Canada’s outdated Safety Code 6, which is only a guideline, not a standard, and based on tests carried out by industry. The Canadian government has never carried out its own safety tests on non-thermal radiation, such as that from common household wireless devices. (Safety Code 6 is based on only a six-minute sampling period and deemed safe because tissue samples didn’t heat up directly.)
“I’m confident that if this Commission examines the facts as I have done, you will agree that at this point in time there is overwhelming irrefutable documented evidence to justify a moratorium on smart meters as recommended by scientific reports of international scientists and experts,” said FortisBC customer Marty Enns.
The British Columbia Utilities Commission panel consisted of David Morton, Len Kelsey, and Norman McMurchy. The panel will consider the submissions by customers before making a decision in the next few months.
More than 200 people attended the hearing, part of the commission’s regulatory process, in Kelowna. Hearings also took place in other B.C. communities serviced by FortisBC.
For a complete transcript of presentations by customers to the commission, visit: http://www.bcuc.com/Documents/Transcripts/2012/DOC_32403_11-08-2012_CIS-Kelowna-Vol-3.pdf
For more information on Citizens for Safe Technology Okanagan:
www.smartmeterskelowna.ca www.citizensforsafetechnology.org