Smart Meter Hijinks at State Level

By Catherine J Frompovich

Here in Southeast Pennsylvania, where I live, there’s been a tremendous push to install AMI Smart Meters, which many consumers really are afraid of for various reasons, but have forced on to them and their properties by “hard ball” tactics utilities like PECO, an Exelon Company, and the PA Public Utility Commission engage in.

Recently, Pennsylvania Smart Meter Awareness (PASMA) sent out a press release which, I think, indicates what’s really going on, i.e., the utilities and PUC are the ones breaking Act 129, which they claim they have to enforce all while harassing people, since it’s the law! Plus, there are no opt-outs for any reason, while numerous opt-out bills languish in the PA House Consumer Affairs Committee because the committee chair, Robert Godshall, whose son works for PECO, vows he will never call any opt-out bills for a vote, thereby denying Pennsylvanians of their right to redress government on a critical health issue—electromagnetic pollution from microwaves that operate smart meters.

Well, according to PASMA’s findings, HB2200 was signed into law as P.L.  1592 by then-Governor Rendell, and published online.  Guess what? It’s PECO and the PUC who actually aren’t abiding by the law.  Below is the Press Release that PASMA issued.

If utility customers elsewhere are being harassed, or threatened like in SE Pennsylvania, you may want to read the fine print of the actual law passed in your state to see what it really says, and not take for granted what the utilities and the public utility commissions claim it says.  Pennsylvanians found out differently!

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PECO AND PA PUC BREAKING PENNSYLVANIA LAW 1592 REGARDING SMART METERS

PASMA requests the PA State Attorney General’s office and the Pennsylvania Department of State investigate the brazen law breaking by PECO in Southeast Pennsylvania (metropolitan Philadelphia area) and other utilities in the Commonwealth that are shutting off electric, natural gas and water services to customers who refuse AMI Smart Meters.

Public Utility Code (66 PA.C.S.)—Omnibus Amendments Act of Oct. 15, 2008, P.L. 1592, No. 129 [HB2200] approved and signed the 15th day of October, A.D. 2008, to take effect in 30 days states the following:

• § 2807.  Duties of electric distribution companies.

(f)  Smart meter technology and time of use rates.–

(1)  Within nine months after the effective date of this

paragraph, electric distribution companies shall file a smart

meter technology procurement and installation plan with the

commission for approval. The plan shall describe the smart

meter technologies the electric distribution company proposes

to install in accordance with paragraph (2).

(2)  Electric distribution companies shall furnish smart

meter technology as follows:

(i)  Upon request from a customer that agrees to pay

the cost of the smart meter at the time of the request.

(ii)  In new building construction.

(iii)  In accordance with a depreciation schedule not

to exceed 15 years.  [2023]

(3)  Electric distribution companies shall, with customer

consent, make available direct meter access and electronic

access to customer meter data to third parties, including

electric generation suppliers and providers of conservation

and load management services.

PECO and other utilities have been terrorizing customers with turn-off of utilities, even when their bills are paid in full with no arrearages, due to customers’ fearful concerns about EMF and RF radiation from microwave technologies that operate AMI Smart Meters.

How many customers, who have refused AMI Smart Meters—or any customer for that matter—requested a fire-prone AMI Smart Meter to be retrofitted on to their home to replace a safe analog meter?  And yet, PECO and other utilities are harassing customers on no end, even prosecuting them before the PA Public Utilities Commission, who also is an accessory to the fact of breaking P.L. 1592 since the only times AMI Smart Meters are to be installed are specified by law as:

(2)  Electric distribution companies shall furnish smart meter technology as follows:

(i)  Upon request from a customer that agrees to pay the cost of the smart meter at the time of the request.

(ii) In new building construction.

(iii) In accordance with a depreciation schedule not to exceed 15 years. [2023]

Furthermore, electric distribution companies need to obtain customer consent to make available direct meter access and electronic access to customer meter data to third parties.  How many customers have given that permission?

It is incumbent upon the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office and the Pennsylvania Department of State to prosecute the blatant disregard for P.L. 1592, aka Act 129 of 2008, and for the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission to issue “cease and desist” orders to all Pennsylvania utilities regarding harassment of utility customers who refuse AMI Smart Meters until 2023 and utilities must restore all services, including paying for fire-damaged homes, to those customers whose properties have been damaged from AMI Smart Meters due, especially since P.L. 1592 states

Upon request from a customer that agrees to pay the cost of the smart meter at the time of the request. [§ 2807 (f)(2)(i)]

PECO and other utility companies, including the PA PUC, are not abiding by Pennsylvania law 1592 / Act 129, not the customers whom utilities try to intimidate, threaten and harass.

Photo credit: Tom Raftery via Visual Hunt / CC BY-NC-SA

This article (Smart Meter Hijinks at State Level) can be republished  under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Catherine J. Frompovich and Natural Blaze.com, keeping all links intact.

Catherine J Frompovich (website) is a retired natural nutritionist who earned advanced degrees in Nutrition and Holistic Health Sciences, Certification in Orthomolecular Theory and Practice plus Paralegal Studies. Her work has been published in national and airline magazines since the early 1980s. Catherine authored numerous books on health issues along with co-authoring papers and monographs with physicians, nurses, and holistic healthcare professionals. She has been a consumer healthcare researcher 35 years and counting.

Catherine’s latest book, published October 4, 2013, is Vaccination Voodoo, What YOU Don’t Know About Vaccines, available on Amazon.com.

Her 2012 book A Cancer Answer, Holistic BREAST Cancer Management, A Guide to Effective & Non-Toxic Treatments, is available on Amazon.com and as a Kindle eBook.

Two of Catherine’s more recent books on Amazon.com are Our Chemical Lives And The Hijacking Of Our DNA, A Probe Into What’s Probably Making Us Sick(2009) and Lord, How Can I Make It Through Grieving My Loss, An Inspirational Guide Through the Grieving Process (2008)