Letters: Response from an NDP MLA to the letter which follows. Note: questions not answered. I have asked the author to ask for comments re. fires. From: Krog.MLA, Leonard Eugene Date: Thu, Sep 11, 2014 at 3:25 PM Subject: FW: Paying legacy fees that equal electricity used Dear_____________________, Thank you for your email. There’s lots of examples of the work the NDP Opposition done on smart meters when John Horgan was critic and tons of links to news releases and Hansard demonstrating that our caucus was speaking out about smart meters from the time they were first announced. News Release: B.C. Liberals directing independent power regulator to rubber stamp smart meter fees bit.ly/1r3bc9 We strongly believe that the program should have been subjected to an independent review by the BCUC. Most recently, John Horgan spoke out in the Legislature in the DEBATES OF THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY, (HANSARD), WEDNESDAY, MAY 14, 2014, which fell on deaf Liberal ears: leg.bc.ca/hansard/40th2nd/20140514pm-CommitteeA-Blues.htm If you feel that a mistake has been made on your utility bill, and you fill in the attached Consent to Obtain Personal Information, I can send it in to BC Hydro for review. Yours truly, LEONARD KROG, MLA NANAIMO pdf attached - complaint form for billing complaints to bc hydro ****** Sent: September 11, 2014 9:35 AM ---------------------- Dear John Horgan, cc: Leonard Krog I am a 25 year customer of BC Hydro, earning less than $10k a year as a music teacher and living in a house under 700 square feet. This past July/August BC Hydro billing period I was able to get our two-person houses bill down to $60 for 60 days (used minimal electricity to produce lowest bill of the year). The bill from Hydro arrived yesterday totalling $125. $60 of that is for power used. Another $60 is for legacy meter fee. So now I am paying $1 a day for the smallest use of electricity possible for two people in an all-electric house, and another $1 a day for the legacy meter fee. Does this strike you as ironic? I am paying more to STOP the utility-monopoly from placing an energy saving device on my house, at this point in the year, then I am for their electricity. Whats wrong with this picture? I summarize my arguments below. Please hand this to Mr. John Horgan, please! Any sane individual will see that this so called smart program has gone far enough. Why am I against so called smart meters? - residential electricity is only 30% of all used in BC - dont need meters on every house, just one for whole neighbourhood or substation and main-lines. - this smartmetering is not required to go green since there is no fossil-fuel backup generators in the system (we have controllable water dams in BC) - our province has more than enough elecricity (no shortages, no extra generator backup required) - there was no independent oversight over the program and it is run as a monopoly - invades privacy extremely; no consumer protection. B.C. Privacy commissioner found 14 violations; none have been corrected. - creates expensive electricity; the less used, the higher the price that is set.That is the purpose of TOU billing. Determine the high points and charge more for them. - instigated without oversight or business plan; no consumer input or understanding. - no cost savings to customers (see UK panels 2% or $30 a year savings but only if customer understands and is able to lower their use.) - no explanation for 15 minute readings and constant radio-mesh-network always ON - no energy savings information given to customers except suggestions of clothes-lines for drying laundry and shutting off power vampires/turning off lights/changing to LED bulbs etc. - no safety checks on whole system (no longterm pilots) - customers are actually the utilitys owners (crown corporation) and yet are unable to stop expensive and possibly dangerous program - especially injurious to the poor - cannot change their tiny usuage, but must pay more for it - could imperil those with health problems (meters broadcast wifi too near to home-bound patients) - creates a wifi intensity in neighbourhoods that could injure devloping fetuses or small children - can cause house fires - zero proof that it does what it claims to do (Not green) ie: outages/grow-ops/rip-off-artists/tampering - no proof that smeter solve these. - short lifespan; software outdated quickly, ends up in the garbage (analogs can last 30-50 years and are mechanically refurbishable) - could be used by security services or police/homeland-security US to locate persons of interest (wifi area-locaters on every home and gridding all homes) - could be hacked - could be used as a weapon (hackers could increase wifi waves to harmful levels or shut off whole areas from power.) - could be nefarious in general (not what it purports to be but a surveillance device or house control device) - no proof that it is safe, effective, or a good idea. NONE. - forced on people despite their stating they dont want it - deployed by semi-trained workers, many of whom were too fast, too sneaky and/or aggressive - extortion fees demanded of those who refused to have one. - mainstream media being manipulated not to expose problems. Whats good about the smart program again? Oh yes: Being able to read a graph of your electricity usage online. But, you could do that with other apps that can be made fully private and firewalled against intrustion, and do not bathe home in wifi signals from all other homes in a meshed network. Hopefully any intelligent person can see the problems here. Thank you for stopping smart meters. _____________________end
Posted on: Sat, 13 Sep 2014 16:00:30 +0000
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