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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (June 13, 2024)
news Meter War Kathy Ging, a longtime Eugene resident, says she worries about the supposed health effects from the elec- tromagnetic frequencies (EMF) the meters pulse when sending data to the utility company. Ging claims that a link exists between a high volume of EMF bursts and electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS), a condition that, according to Ging, causes a coterie of symptoms such as nausea, headache, fatigue, stress and burning sensations, among many others. “There's already too many microwaves That live, real-time monitoring has in North America,” Ging says. “We don't an opt-out clause. If you prefer to not need more microwaves going through send the data in real time, you can people's houses." tell EWEB to turn off the radio Faced with being told her power signal from the smart meter. This will be disconnected, Ging says means EWEB must conduct a her home now has a smart meter. manual meter read every month Sabrina Siegel, one of the plain- and send out a truck to all the tiffs in the lawsuit, says she suffers houses with the smart radio daily from EHS and claims she can signal turned off. feel people’s smart meters in her Those greenhouse gas emis- own home. “It makes my life unliv- sions from the EWEB fleet add up able — I can't really function at all,” quickly, and EWEB says it’s antitheti- she says. cal to its eco-friendly goals. According to the World Health Orga- Already installed on over 96 percent nization (WHO), there is no scientific basis to of the homes within Eugene since the switch link EHS symptoms and exposure to EMF, and EHS began in 2018, Connors points out smart meters isn’t considered a medical diagnosis. While not suffering are the industry standard and have been installed on from EHS herself, Ging says she became over 120 million homes in the U.S. epileptic after using her cellphone for over EWEB can receive updates from every ‘WE REALLY 25 years. She says she has taken several home in Eugene every 15 minutes, and can CAN’T ADDRESS steps to keep EMF and RF out of her home. even remotely turn power back on that Although she still has a wi-fi router in has been disconnected for nonpayment. CLIMATE her home and has owned a cellphone since Without the meters, EWEB Climate CHANGE OR 1990, Ging says she has installed EMF Policy Analyst and Advisor Kelly Hoell WORK TOWARDS shielding in her home and Stetzer filters, says that EWEB would be unable to fold which supposedly short out high frequen- in more renewable energy sources into its A LOW CARBON cies like those from a smart meter. energy portfolio. “We really can't address FUTURE EWEB emphasizes that everything it climate change or work towards a low WITHOUT A does is strictly regulated and its smart carbon future without a smart grid, right?” meters meet the highest standards of the SMART GRID, Hoell says. “And a smart grid requires Federal Communications Commission smart meters.” RIGHT? AND A (FCC), which monitors and controls stan- With renewable energy comes variance SMART GRID dards surrounding EMF and RF. in the output it can produce. There’s only REQUIRES “According to the FCC, they're safe, so much sun in Oregon during the winter and the emissions that are the radiofre- months, and there's only so much wind that SMART METERS.’ quency emissions from smart meters are blows at night. These sources vary by season, — Kelly Hoell, well below the safety standards, well below time of day and even weather patterns. EWEB climate a cell phone and many other regulated “As the grid as a whole is trying to inte- devices,” Connors says. grate more variable sources, we need tech- policy analyst EWEB Chief Energy Resource Officer nology that can match that variable supply and advisor Brian Booth explains that opponents claim with the variable demand in real time,” Hoell smart meters create “dirty electricity” says. In the past, EWEB could just buy some because they have a digital switching power supply. “That natural gas and oil from wholesale energy producers. similar logic would apply to any DC power supply in your With real-time, variable supply matching, EWEB can house,” Booth says. “If you plug in a cell phone charger, ramp up its wind, solar and hydroelectric plants to better alarm clock — anything.” match the demand. WHILE EWEB IS REACHING 96 PERCENT OF LOCAL HOMES WITH SMART METERS, A FEW RESIDENTS ALLEGE IT’S ‘DIRTY’ ELECTRICITY AND CLAIM THE ECOFRIENDLY METERS POSE A HEALTH HAZARD, GOING SO FAR AS TO FILE A LAWSUIT AGAINST THE PUBLIC UTILITY By Bentley Freeman n function, smart meters do the same thing as legacy analog meters — collect and report data on water and electricity. But several homeowners have complained that Eugene Water and Electric Board’s smart meters are “dirty electricity” and have refused to let EWEB install them. EWEB has said those who refuse the meters will have their homes disconnected from its electrical service. Twenty Eugene residents are now seeking an injunction to prevent EWEB from installing smart meters and from disconnecting residents from their power. There are 91,140 smart electric meters and 50,373 smart water meters installed on homes across Eugene. The “smart” part of the smart meter is just a radio — which operates between 900 megahertz and 2.4 giga- hertz frequency bands — that remotely sends live data on a building’s water and electricity usage in real time to EWEB’s headquarters, allowing for remote disconnec- tion and reconnection. These are very similar to the frequencies emitted by all cellphones, wi-fi networks, baby monitors, cordless phones and other wireless networks and devices. And the meters transmit those frequencies in short bursts of 100 to 120 milliseconds, which throughout the day add up to about six minutes, according to a 2011 study completed by EMF & RF Solutions based in Encinitas, California. According to a lawsuit against EWEB and its general manager Frank Lawson, filed May 24 by Damascus-based attorney Steve Joncus in the U.S. District Court, three of the plaintiffs who have refused the new meters say they have already had their power disconnected, and are still waiting for it to be turned back on. Joncus says they are hoping to receive a preliminary injunction (which would last throughout the duration of the case) to block EWEB from disconnecting electrical services from anyone else. “I think it’s atrocious that EWEB is using its power to cut off people’s electricity,” he says. “These things are dangerous.” EWEB maintains that customers cannot choose their own model of meter and will disconnect electric service from anyone who refuses this customer service policy. "The meter is just like the pole in your backyard, and the transformer and the wires. That's all EWEB-owned equip- ment.” EWEB Communications Specialist Jen Connors says. “If that customer were to continue to refuse to let us access our equipment, then we would start a process where we would disconnect them.” I KEEP EW IN PRINT! Visit support.eugeneweekly.com to contribute E U G E N E W E E K LY . C O M MAIL CHECK CONTRIBUTIONS TO 1251 LINCOLN ST. EUGENE, OR 97401 J U N E 1 3 , 2 0 2 4 5
