Smart meters are NOT compulsory in NZ and you can refuse a smart meter whether you own your own home, or if you are renting.
This is because the meter box is part of the home. (Even if you do not own the meter inside the box – most meters in NZ are NOT owned by home owners – the meter box does NOT belong to your electricity retailer; it is the property of the home owner.)
If you own your own home, the meter box is your own property.
If you rent your home, as a tenant you are entitled to “quiet enjoyment” of the home that you are renting.
Considering that smart meters have health risks and privacy risks which could interfere with your enjoyment of your rented home (and, if you live in an urban area, emissions from a smart meter at your home could potentially adversely affect your neighbours) these seem like very good reasons to refuse a smart meter.
Please note that I am not a lawyer so this post should not be misconstrued as legal advice.
Many New Zealanders, both home owners and people who are renting, have successfully refused smart meters.
If you do not want to expose yourself to the potential risks of smart meters, which include health and fire risks, as well as higher bills, you may like to read this linkto find out about how other New Zealanders are successfully preventing smart meters from being installed at their homes and businesses.
To stay up to date with the smart meter issue in NZ, please sign up to the free email list at www.stopsmartmeters.org.nz
In the video below you can see footage that local journalist Clare Swinney took while visiting her friend Maxine who had had two smart meters installed at her home by her electricity retailer.
The meters are both EDMI Atlas Mk7A smart meters. These are a common type of smart meter in NZ.
As you can see, on one visit to Maxine’s house the smart meter (or smart meters, if they were transmitting simultaneously) was measured as producing a pulse of RF radiation* of 240,000 microwatts per square meter (240mW/m2).
On a second occasion the reading was 418,000 microwatts per square metre (418 mW/m2) .
This is a concern because the independent scientists who collaborated to produce the BioInitiative report recommends a maximum exposure limit of 1000 microwatts per square metre.
Maxine was not informed by her electricity company that the meter would produce microwave radiation.
NB: If you do not want to expose yourself to the potential risks of smart meters, which include health and fire risks, as well as higher bills, you may like to read this linkto find out about how other New Zealanders are successfully preventing smart meters from being installed at their homes and businesses.
To stay up to date with the smart meter issue in NZ, please sign up to the free email list at www.stopsmartmeters.org.nz
NB: Clare Swinney developed eye pain following the filming of this high pulse of microwave radiation, as is detailed at this link. If you want to film a smart meter, please do not risk the health of your eyes by standing close to the meter while filming it. Please use a tripod.
*Also known as microwave radiation
NB: The test meter used was a Cornet ED 78S model EMR test meter. While this is not a professional level meter, it is reasonably accurate.
A recent article in the Otago Daily Times emphasised the fact that it is possible to refuse to have a smart meter in NZ. (This is because there is NO law or regulation in NZ that obliges either companies in the electricity industry to install smart meters, or for customers to accept them.)
The article quotes Rob Hutchins of Oamaru as saying:
“The [anti-smart meter] movement has taken off and a lot more people know about it.
“In some places, especially in the USA, it’s actually a criminal offence to install them in some counties and cities … such is the concern.”
Do you want to be able to access the internet without the potential health risks from the microwave radiation emitted by a wi-fi router…but have been worried that a hard-wired solution is too expensive?
Good news! It’s not.
“Hard-wiring” an internet connection need not require expensive cabling within a home. It can be done using an existing copper phone line connection with a line filter for each phone line. (These line filters cost less than $20 each).
The price of the ethernet cabling to connect the computers to a router depends on the distance between the router and the computers. If they are close together, it can be less than $20.
Many modern routers are dual purpose wireless/wired and a representative of your internet company can instruct you over the phone how to disable the wireless capacity of a dual purpose router. (Please note that if you re-set your router for any reason, the wireless capacity will be turned back on again.)
You also need to turn off the modems within your computer.
(Please note that I do not have an iPad so I have not been able to try this out for myself and I cannot take any responsibility for whether or not it works or is suitable for all varieties of iPad.)
About this website: The website www.stopsmartmeters.org.nz primarily provides information about smart meters but also includes information about other wireless technologies. For more useful information on this issue, please go to www.stopsmartmeters.org.nz and sign up for our free email newsletter.
An article in the Malborough Express on January 18, 2015 discusses ongoing smart meter roll outs in the Malborough area.
The article stated that currently 40% of people in Malborough have a smart meter but the companies in the electricity industry want to increase this to 100% by the end of the year.
The reporter mentioned that a local Facebook page included complaints that smart meters had been installed without customers’ permission.
The article did not state that smart meters are NOT compulsory in NZ.
If you do not want to expose yourself to the potential risks of smart meters, which include health and fire risks, as well as higher bills, you may like to read this link to find out about how other New Zealanders are successfully preventing smart meters from being installed at their homes and businesses.
To stay up to date with the smart meter issue in NZ, please sign up to the free email list at www.stopsmartmeters.org.nz
“Could smart meters be used to spy on your home? Devices could be used to create ‘honeypot’ of data to sell onto marketing companies, privacy campaigners warn”
The article goes on to explain how data from smart meters represents a “honeypot” for companies and could be used by marketing firms to target consumers.
The article states:
“Gas and electricity firms will be able to use smart meters to collect information about how customers use energy as frequently as every half hour.
“This could reveal details such as which rooms and gadgets clients use most regularly, as well as when homeowners are in or out and even what time they are going to bed or how many cups of tea we make.”
A monumental and perhaps the most inclusive work ever on MCS [Multiple Chemical Sensitivities] and EHS [Electrohypersensitivity] –Pelda B. Hyman, New York.
In presenting a host of the non-communicable diseases that currently plague our society not simply as diseases of civilization but as by-products of that civilization’s reliance on chemo- and electrowizardry, Prostituting Science takes up where Silent Spring left off.
Prostituting Science documents authoritative evidence for such an aetiology for a number of contemporary disorders ranging from asthma, migraine, diabetes, obesity, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and cardiovascular disease; through ADHD, autism, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, depression and schizophrenia; to chronic fatigue syndrome, multiple chemical sensitivity, and electromagnetic hypersensitivity.
In addition to mustering a formidable assemblage of scientific data, Mrs Crumpler documents her own family’s descent into disabling Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS) and Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity (EHS) as a consequence of heavy pesticide exposure. Here, too, is all the evidence you’ll ever need to convince the sceptics that these are bona fide physiological disorders, as well as an effective treatment protocol for recovery.
As the title denotes, Prostituting Science also explores the paradox whereby the more that is known of a physical aetiology for these disorders, the more widely accepted have become allegations of psychogenesis. Within this context are also recounted gross abuses of the civil and human rights that other citizens of a representative democracy tend to take for granted.
Diana Crumpler trained as a teacher-librarian and taught in Victorian schools until 1984, when she was forced to retire due to ill-health. A career change was prompted by the eventual diagnosis of MCS and EHS. For the past 25 years she has been one of Australia’s foremost writers on MCS and EHS and the effects of chemicals on both human and environmental health. Her first book, Chemical Crisis, won widespread acclaim in Australia, North America and Great Britain.
NB: The text above comes from the back cover of this book which I highly recommend to anyone who is interested in how chemicals and electromagnetic radiation can adversely impact health.
That’s the question that the new documentary Generation Zapped hopes to answer with interviews with doctors and scientists who are leaders in studying electomagnetic radiation (EMR) and health.
You can see the trailer for this film at the link below:
On Sunday, December 27, the Maori TV news programme “Te Kaea” broadcast a story about smart meters.
The story focuses on the experiences of Whangarei women Marama Waddell (who has become ill and experienced sleeping difficulties following the installation of a smart meter at her home) and Mrs Nellie Rata. Mrs Rata – whose late husband Matiu Rata was the much loved MP – has had her power bill increase significantly after a smart meter was installed at her home.
Please note that while staff from some electricity companies have been telling their customers that smart meters are compulsory or are some sort of government requirement, this is NOT true. (There is more information about this issue at this link ) If you do not want a smart meter because you are concerned about the higher bills that could follow a smart meter installation, or Time of Use pricing, many people in NZ are successfully refusing to have a smart meter installed using the techniques described at this link
If you would like to keep up to date with information about electromagnetic radiation and health, including the “smart” meter issue in NZ, please sign up to the free email list at www.stopsmartmeters.org.nz. Thank you
If you have experienced a significant increase in your electricity bill with no change in your electricity usage after a smart meter installation, you are not alone.
Update: The reason for the higher bill in the case of Alan Graf (who is featured in the story at the link above) has turned out to be that he had been incorrectly charged at a for three phase power (via the smart meter) for his residential home that uses only single phase power.
Have you had higher bills after a smart meter installation?
NB: If you are in the situation of having had a large bill increase after a smart meter installation, it could possibly be due to a faulty meter or perhaps your tariff may have been changed around the time that the smart meter was installed. If your bill increase does not appear to relate to increased electricity use, you have the option of first complaining to your electricity retailer, and if that does not solve the problem, complaining to the Electricity and Gas Complaints Commissioner Scheme.
Smart meters are NOT compulsory in NZ
Please note that while staff from some electricity companies have been telling their customers that smart meters are compulsory or are some sort of government requirement, this is NOT true. (There is more information about this issue at this link )
If you do not want a smart meter because you are concerned about the higher bills that could follow a smart meter installation, or Time of Use pricing, many people in NZ are successfully refusing to have a smart meter installed using the techniques described at this link
NB: If you would like to keep up to date with information about the “smart” meter issue in NZ, please sign up to the free email list at www.stopsmartmeters.org.nz. Thank you
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