OCEAN CITY — The Ocean City Mayor and Council agreed to call a meeting with Delmarva Power representatives to address concerns raised over the utility’s ongoing installation of “smart meters” at residential and commercial accounts in the resort area and across the region.
Last spring, Delmarva Power began installing smart meters, or digital meters, at many of their residential and business accounts in Maryland, including Ocean City, as part of a proactive initiative to streamline the billing process and provide consumers and the utility with a better understanding of energy usage. However, concerns have been raised about the amount of radio frequency (RF) radiation the new devices emit and the potential health problems they can cause.
Former Ocean City Councilman Vince Gisriel, Jr. has been championing the cause for the elimination of smart meters, or at the very least an opt-out opportunity for those concerned with the potential health risks, privacy and security concerns and even cost increases associated with them. On Monday, Gisriel brought his concerns to the Mayor and Council, pointing out the potential problems he has uncovered with the meters through research.
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28 comments:
Gisriel has every right to be concerned. DP & L needs to STOP this intrusion on our privacy. They have NO right to install these meters now. The State of Maryland is still taking comments for citizens and they have not made a decision regarding these meters.
Educate yourselves asap because these meters are NOT good for your homes or for your health and certainly not good for your privacy and liberty.
Then stop buying electric. Nobody is forcing you to have electric.
It seems as though at this point the consumer has no choice about the meter itself being installed without paying higher fees to have their meter read!What I don't get is that they are supposed to read meters from their office but after they forced their meter on us about four months ago they are still sending meter readers to our house to read it? The information the power company is sending out is much to the tone of the main stream media around here you can only believe what you actually see yourself! For the last several years we have had to watch our electric bill like a hawk because of over charges on it. Several times we have been told the charges would even out next month however we never pay them because most of the time the charge is 100 dollars or more and go on the thought that why should we be letting them have our money ahead of time when they have much more than we do. The power company says the meters are helping us to save money when in truth they do nothing to save the consumer money at all. Energy saving controls purchased by the consumer and leaving the power company out of it completely are the only way to save money. As a consumer it is strongly recommended to contact a Good electrician or HVAC company for ways to save money not the power company after all they are in the business to sell power not save it.
10;52am that is not quite true if you own a condo in O.C. because of condo and association rules and laws.
In the last couple of days we have experienced intermittent power outages in one of our mechanical rooms. It has disrupted the electronics and the running of our equipment. We have had to refund monies to customers, reset the electronics and equipment, and in order to do this we must be on site. If not customers are left trying use equipment with no power and they become some what irate.
Not only is health safety a concern, but with the ability to turn the power on and off to individual buildings with total disregard to the negative impact to the financial income and equipment,is very disconcerting to say the least.
We will begin on Monday to determine what action is required to have these "smart meters" removed from our business, and addition our homes.
Thank you for sharing this information on your site.
Nobody is being forced to by a condo in Ocean City. If you don't like the condo rules, live somewhere else.
10:52, it's obvious you're ignorant on this issue. for those who want to educate yourselves on the "smart meter" being pushed on us by the U.N. Agenda 21 and our current administration through the federal government and now state; here is a real eye opener.
http://mdcoastdispatch.com/2014/02/06/smart-meter-concerns-raised-in-ocean-city/#comment-7126
Cut and paste to your browser if you need to, but PLEASE educate yourselves...
I agree with the privacy issue. One thing I have noticed is that those of the lower class don't' value their privacy so these meters don't bother them in that regard. People of a higher social class put great value on their privacy and go through great measures to protect it.
I had called the "opt out" number for Delmarva Power...nonetheless, I still received a letter saying they were going to install the Smart Meter...I called again, and sent e-mails...I did get a response back that they would not install the Smart Meter...I called Delmarva Power after they installed them on a neighbors house...they said that they had us on file for NO smart meter...so make sure you follow up on opting out!
At a running pace they have started smart metering salisbury. Many in our neighborhood opted out, by sending the required paperwork.
We got smartmetered anyhow and this is how they do it. They knock on your door, you say no they leave. They come back again and again and when you do not answer your door they change it, even if it is posted not to.
Then when you call they say too bad.
Many communities who have previously been smart metered are now repealing it, and we have just started, always a decade behind.....
The "opt out" is a ploy and power play of the electric companies. Even though it was not mandatory to smart meter, the opt out ploy makes it mandatory since you can not actually get out of it even if you follow protocol.
DP has always been a lying cheating monopoly and always will be.
After they have injured a whole community, they will then cry innocent and tell you it is not their fault because you did not opt out and brought it on yourself, since it was not mandatory.
OMG the radio waves from the smart meter are going to interfere with the radiation entering my brain from my cellphone!
11:18 what you do not realize is that it doesn't matter if it is on your house or not, you are surrounded by the signal if your neighborhood has been converted.
If your neighbors smart meter is on the side of the house facing yours and you are only a couple of feet away you are getting bombarded with signals.
Also.. its a chain effect, the meters talk to each other up the street until they hit the last house who emits the signal. so who ever is last on the block closest to the receiver has more activity.
Did city council even discussed this issue at all or did they simply allowed DP to do what ever they wanted?
Do you guys hear what you're saying?!! OMG! We are bombarded with radio waves every day from all types of devices... cell phones, garage door openers, TV broadcasts... etc..
Get a life and get over it.
11:27 and 11:41 they used to say that about spraying neighborhoods with DDT until everyone started to die from it.
Pull your head out of yer behind.
Are you that naive as to think that big business and the government are actually looking out for your best interest and everything they do is harmless and tested?
Yep 11:59 and then when they or a family member or friend are told they have 6 weeks to live they wonder why why why. It's called be proactive and questioning. Following along blindly is the lazy way.
I bet half the folks worried about this have satellite dishes in their yard or attached to their houses.
11:59
Easy solution…disconnect from the grid-no electric=no meter.
you can put a lock on your meter box and if they break the lock it is breaking and entering,etc. you can also buy an analog electric meter and have it installed by an electrician and NOT by delmarva power.
I don't think the fact that you have a smart meter is supposed to save you money. It's that you can go online and see how and when you use the most electricity and change your habits. It's not magic. You do have to take responsibility for how much electricity you consume.
Joe posted a video the other day that clearly explained all the issues with smart meters.
I can only suggest you should have watched it before you commented.
It has nothing to do with satellites, cellphones, routers or saving energy. It emits signals thousands of times higher than other electronics or appliances.
It is about money and power. It is purely that simple.
And if they burn down your house, make you sick, or kill you, they do not care, nor assume liability because the electric co and the state said it was not mandatory. They have protected themselves and put all the liability on you.
Bottom line, if it's cold as hell you will use more energy. If it's hot as hell, you will use more energy. At Christmas time you will use more energy. No rocket science here.
I think this would be a good time for Joe to post that video again. I think it was very interesting and scary at the same time.
I had a smart meter installed at my house unbeknownst to me. The first clue was that the first month, my bill was extremely low, the next month it was higher than it had ever been, yet it said it was an actual reading and not "adjusted". When speaking to DP and L they said that the reason was that the previous month had been "read low". I have several problems with this; if it had been "read low" then my bill should have indicated that it was an adjusted or corrected reading, not an actual. If the meter was actually read then I don't see how they could read it low and it wasn't marked as estimated. Even if I averaged the high and low bills, it still came out higher than any months in the last two years. I believe that they didn't record the end reading on the old meter or beginning reading on the new meter and figured they would just charge me whatever they want. I've heard that others have had the same problem.
Ever since the smart meters were put up in my neighborhood and at my office (ten meters right outside my office window) I have had horrible ringing ears, dizziness and major fatigue. I opted out however, there are 160 plus meters surrounding me, I would love to attend a meeting with Mr. Gisriel has he has done his homework on the smart meter and I can attest they are NOT good for your health. It's possible some people (me included) are more sensitive to the high frequency signals that they emit My neighbors basically "laughed" at me about this concern and told me to "stay up with technology"...
5:14 Our neighborhood has battled this uneven billing/reading issue for the last couple of years.
The fact was they were not actual read bills, they were estimates and they were lying on the bills.
They were over billing us on 100's of kilowatts. We filed a complaint with the PUC stating that they were lying. End result was PUC did nothing.
It took us months, each time to get our bills corrected. Because their readings/estimates were so bad we often were adjusted and our bills were under $20, that is how badly we were consistently overbilled.
Anonymous Anonymous said...
you can put a lock on your meter box and if they break the lock it is breaking and entering,etc. you can also buy an analog electric meter and have it installed by an electrician and NOT by delmarva power.
1:30PM,
that is incorrect, u mess with the meter seal, you will get turned off
Smart meters are really about command and control, they are "control meters". Of course, DPL will offer a bright picture, the state shoved it down their throats to buy them, now they are stuck with them. A better idea for Rick and the silly council, have the meters installed in their homes and businesses, call it 5 year study!
Anonymous Anonymous said...
you can put a lock on your meter box and if they break the lock it is breaking and entering,etc. you can also buy an analog electric meter and have it installed by an electrician and NOT by delmarva power.
1:30PM,
that is incorrect, u mess with the meter seal, you will get turned off
9:06 you just add the lock . not replace it with the lock.
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