A story in last year’s Nelson Mail begins like this:
“Network Tasman will invest $15 million installing electronic meters to homes and businesses.
“It will allow the company to better manage its load, and will enable consumers to not only see how much electricity they are using but potentially also use them to provide information on their electric car, rooftop solar power system or check their water consumption.” [emphasis added]
The article further states:
“Because the electronic meters would be read by radio signal or wireless system they might have other uses, such as remote reading of water meters.” [emphasis added]
It also quotes Network Tasman Ltd’s chairman Ian Kearney as saying;
“If the council wanted to have their water meters read they could use our wireless system to do that and have some benefits from a council point of view, and from the consumer’s point would be able to look at their water consumption.”
There is no by-line for the article which suggests it may be a press release from Network Tasman Ltd.
The full article may be read here:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/news/8972010/Meters-offer-energy-use-insight
It is salutary to note that the types of “smart” water meters which have been installed in limited numbers in NZ produce pulses of radiofrequency radiation capable of traveling for half a kilometre – and that each “smart” water meter produces these pulse every eight seconds. These so-called “smart” water meters have the potential to add to the electromagnetic pollution in the communities where they are installed and are likely to cause problems for people who suffer from electrohypersensitivity
If Network Tasman Ltd’s planned roll out of “smart” (or “advanced” meters) and the local “smart grid” goes ahead, this will mean that the infrastructure to receive the signals from “smart” water meters is already in place, ready and waiting for “smart” water meters. Contracts to collect the data from such “smart” water meters and supply it to Councils (or possibly even other parties) could be one way that Network Tasman Ltd plans to recoup the 15 millions dollars it plans to spend establishing a network of “smart” meters and a “smart grid”. A “smart grid” may potentially also be able to supply the data from “smart” water meters in real time which raises privacy concerns.
It appears that Network Tasman Ltd is as keen on “smart” water meters as it is on “smart meters” for electricity. That’s understandable given that there is potentially lots of money in contracts for providing remote “smart” water meter “reading” services. However, just because Network Tasman Ltd thinks it can make money from a technology, that does not mean the company has the right to foist that technology on its community. Especially not a technology like “smart” metering which poses risks to health.
For more information on “smart” water meters in NZ and on Network Tasman Ltd, please see these links:
“Smart” water metering
www.stopsmartmeters.org.nz/latest-news/smart-water-meters-in-nz-the-situation-so-far/
www.stopsmartmeters.org.nz/uncategorized/smart-water-meters-being-considered-for-tauranga/
https://stopsmartmeters.org.nz/uncategorized/tairua-smart-water-meter-update/
Network Tasman Ltd
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