SmartMeters Raise Questions of Science and Legality

Plenty of people in Santa Cruz County are upset at the prospect of SmartMeters being installed on their homes. With World Health Organization studies showing the potential dangers of such wireless devices, groups like Stop Smart Meters! have .

Other findings show that SmartMeters operate within FCC safety standards. .  

With growing concern among residents, the Capitola City Council passed an ordinance in February to ban SmartMeter installation through the rest of 2011, joining 42 other city governments that have acted accordingly. Santa Cruz County passed a similar ordinance in January. 

In the months since that February meeting, reports have continued to surface of PG&E's plans to install the devices across the county, surprising those who thought the issue had been resolved by the City Council. The bi-monthly meetings of the Capitola City Council have since been peppered with public comments on the potential risk of the devices. The comments certainly do not fall on deaf ears. The problem for these residents, however, lies in the fact that those ears are essentially handicapped by the fact that city ordinances are easily ignored.

"Cities don't have jurisdiction when it comes to the deployment of our SmartMeters and our program," PG&E Spokesman Greg Snapper told Patch on Wednesday. "Only the CPUC (California Public Utilities Commission) has jurisdiction over the program."

CPUC Spokesman Christopher Chow reflected Snapper's  stance in an email to Patch on Wednesday.

"The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has authorized the state’s investor owned utilities (PG&E) to replace conventional customer meters with SmartMeters in order to give consumers greater control over their energy use," Chow said. "Section 8 of Article 12 of the California Constitution states that '[a] city, county, or other public body may not regulate matters over which the Legislature grants regulatory power to the Commission."'

Capitola Councilmember Kirby Nicol acknowledged this fact the night of the February moratorium vote, and for that reason was the lone dissenter on the issue.

Santa Cruz County Counsel Dana McRae, however, recently wrote a letter to Wellington energy, the company contracted by PG&E to install the SmartMeters, warning against the action throughout the county.

"The installation of SmartMeters in unincorporated areas of Santa Cruz County will be in violation of the County’s ordinance, and any person found violating the ordinance will be subject to citation by law enforcement personnel," she said in the letter.

Enforcing the ordinance, some argue, unfairly punishes the laborers employed by Wellington or PG&E.

"Citing or arresting workers for nothing more than doing their job is an attack against working people," International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local Union 1245 Business Representative Hunter Stern wrote in a letter to the Capitola City Council this week. 

After a similar ordinance was passed in Marin County, one sheriff in the area refused to issue the citations. 

While attempts to stop PG&E from continued SmartMeter installation appear futile, customers can sign-up for the SmartMeter delay list, which allows them to keep an analog meter temporarily. An official opt out list is not yet a reality, although it is in the works. To sign up for the delay list, customers can call 866-743-0263.

With conflicting scientific studies on the safety hazards of SmartMeters, deciding whether to sign up for the delay list or not can be tricky.

"I understand that people may want to wait until health concerns and accuracy issues are resolved," Aspen Environmental Group Energy Analyst Ashley Spalding said. "But, that may never happen and we cannot afford to postpone the installation of SmartMeters indefinitely. They are the first step in creating a smart grid that will make it possible to integrate large amounts renewable resources into the system."

Stay tuned to Patch for further coverage of this issue.