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On Friday August 6th 2010 the Fairfax Town Council, Marin County Northern California, unanimously approved an ordinance banning the installation of remote-controlled utility meters (PG&E smart meters) within the town's borders.

Over the next 15 years every person who uses electricity, residential or business, is going to receive a new electricity meter. It may be called a SmartMeter, but it's name will not affect the technical nature of the new meter, or the reason for it being installed.

I must confess that I never imagined a town attempting (it was not a legal act) to ban them! Let alone the county of Marin, a leading community supporting clean energy, voting to ask the California Public Utilities Commission to suspend PG&E's $2.2 billion meter program until a commission review in process was available.

We posted our first information on Smart Meters in July 2010.  It seems clear to me that our task of providing accurate independent information is going to be much needed! We do hope that the following summaries, links and discussion will be a useful resource to our readers!

Using the Energy Monitoring Data
I noticed that PG&E were running a television advert this week, explaining how residents with Smart Meters could Log in to their "My Energy" account at PG&E to see their electricity use on-line, and more importantly (so the television said) be equipped to save electricity read more >>

Independent PG&E Smart Meter Testing
The official verdict is out — Pacific Gas & Electric’s smart meter technology has been working properly, but its customer service hasn’t. That’s the conclusion of a state-ordered report released Thursday from independent analysts at the Structure Group.

A Plea for Productive Discussion of Smart Meters
There is considerable opposition to PG&E’s roll out of smart meters, with many calling for a moratorium on the program until better information is available and concerns are addressed read more >>

A personal experience - My life with a PG&E Smart Meter after one year by Gary Hunt read more >>

Accuracy
The first task of any electricity meter is to record the amount of electricity consumed so that the consumer can be correctly billed. The functionality of doing this can be divided into two components; measuring the time and quantity of electricity used; collecting the meter readings read more >>

The vast majority of smart meters installed in Texas are measuring and recording electric usage accurately, according to a state-ordered study read more >>

Health Risks
Opponents to smart meters claim that they are a health risk, in particular that they are a source of harmful electromagnetic radiation. There are people who sincerely believe that the source of their poor health is a local smart meter and it would be most unkind of this writer to simply dismiss their feelings read more >>

Media Reports
We encourage you to read Till we meter again... by Peter Seidman of the PacificSun. Peter has once again taken the time to speak to PG&E, understand the issues and to present all sides of the story!

The Challenge of Clean Power - Load Balancing
If you are not certain about the need for a Smart Grid, take a look at this article on demand and storage. "Our electric grid today, as we've built it and managed it, is a huge 'just in time' delivery system," says Dave Hawkins, an engineer at the California ISO read more >>

If you know of any information that should be linked to this posting, please let us know using the "Contact us" form at the top of the page.

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