by Katherine | 4 Sep, 2016 | Latest News, Smart water meters
An email has been received by www.stopsmartmeters,org.nz relating to a large bill increase following the installation of a so-called “smart” water meter to measure water use at a home. The new “smart” meter does not appear to be measuring the household’s water usage accurately.
The water bill for the household has approximately quadrupled since the installation of the smart water meter despite no increased water consumption and no leaks able to be detected by a plumber.
Do you live in an area where smart water meters are being trialed?
If you live in Waiuku in the South Auckland area, Tairua on the Coromandel, or in a part of Tauranga or Nelson, your household may be part of a smart water meter trial. (Please see these link for details: https://stopsmartmeters.org.nz/latest-news/urgent-smart-water-meter-alert-for-nelson-and-waiuku/ and https://stopsmartmeters.org.nz/uncategorized/tairua-smart-water-meter-update/ and https://stopsmartmeters.org.nz/latest-news/smart-water-meters-in-nz-the-situation-so-far/
Have you (or a friend) had an excessively high water bill following the installation of a smart water meter?
If you email www.stopsmartmeters.org.nz through the contact form that you can access by clicking HERE you can report your smart water meter problem in confidence. (Information is posted on this website only in cases where permission has been given to do this.)
You can refuse to have a smart water meter installed or get one removed if it has been installed
A retired nurse in Waiuku has successfully had a smart water meter to removed and provides a model that you can follow at this link: https://stopsmartmeters.org.nz/latest-news/retired-nurse-succeeds-in-having-smart-water-meter-removed/
Smart meters are NOT compulsory in NZ
Roll outs of wireless so-called “smart” electricity meters are ongoing in many areas of NZ. (Some electricity companies may describe smart meters as “advanced” meters in their letters to customers or simply state that the company plans to install the “next generation” meter or upgrade or a replace the existing meter.)
If you live in an area where smart meters are being installed you may receive a letter stating that your meter will be upgraded or replaced, however sometimes letters get lost in the mail and do not arrive prior to a planned installation.
You can click HERE for information on how to avoid getting a so-called smart electricity meter.
Please note that while some electricity company representatives tell customers that smart meters are “compulsory” or are a “government requirement” or use other words to this effect, this is not true. The legal situation regarding electricity meters is explained at this link.
How to get updates on the NZ smart meter situation
If you have found this information interesting or useful, please sign up to the free email list at www.stopsmartmeters.org.nz
Stop Smart Meters NZ is now on Facebook and you can get updates by visiting our page at this link:
https://www.facebook.com/Stop-Smart-Meters-NZ-1211462805538548
by Katherine | 8 Apr, 2016 | Latest News, Smart water meters, Users Feedback
Website editor’s note: The piece below was contributed by a retired nurse, who had previously reported how a smart water meter had been installed outside her home without her permission.
Her latest contribution to this site shows the power of a simple letter refusing a smart water meter.
If everyone in Waiuku were to refuse to participate in the smart water meter trial this could have a big positive impact for the Auckland region.
Retired nurse succeeds in having smart water meter removed
Earlier this week, I saw Watercare personnel in the street. [Ed note: Watercare is the “Council Controlled Organisation” that provides water and waste water services to most people who live in the Auckland region.]
On enquiring what they were doing, three Pacifica/Maori guys said they were changing all the [water] meters to “smart” meters.
When I said to the men that I didn’t want one and said why, a Pakeha older man “flew” out of the truck and proceeded to tell me that I didn’t know what I was talking about – the meters were akin to cell phones. He just about had an apoplectic fit when I remarked that cell phones are not safe either. [Ed see this link for a discussion of some of the research on cell phones and brain and other cancers.]
He calmed a little when I explained the two cards in my mail box within four days, the first saying the water meter outside my fence didn’t need to be changed, the second saying that a “smart” one had been fitted as part of a trial.
He told me that the meter wasn’t mine and it wasn’t on my property. I replied that it served my property; also that Counties Power’s meter wasn’t mine either, but it served my property, and the outcome of my letter to them. [You can read about how this contributor successfully avoided the installation of a smart electricity meter at this link.
I emphasised that smart meters are not compulsory, and those of us who are knowledgeably informed about them shouldn’t have them forced on us.
On his advice to contact the PTB immediately, I proceeded to write my letter – using your template for refusing a smart water meter at this link: www.stopsmartmeters.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/FORMAL-NOTICE-OF-NON-CONSENT-FOR-SMART-WATER-METER.docx
[Ed note: Please note that since this template letter was posted, the email addresses for the Minister of Health and some other people have changed; these will be updated as my time allows or you can google them.]
I found that most of the politicians/email addresses are now outdated – had to find the relevant ones. The Auckland Council’s CEO’s email [was] nowhere to be found and I told someone at Council that such info should be on the website and easy to find. I was given Stephen Town’s email address.
I received acknowledgments from Auck. Council people within 24 hours – nothing from any of the politicians.
I included in my letter a copy of most of my letter to Counties Power in 2014 (which may be read at this link), including their subsequent intimation that my address had been removed from their installation list.
Yesterday, hand-delivered to my mail box was a letter from Watercare Project Mgr, Waiuku Smart Meter Trials, confirming that the smart meter has been removed.
Ed note: This is a great example of how one person is making a difference.
A successful trial of smart meters by Watercare in Waiuku could potentially lead to smart water meters being foisted upon everyone in the Auckland region.
This retired nurse has paved the way for successful refusal of a smart water meter, please share this link with everyone you may know in the Waiuku and encourage them to do likewise.
More information about smart water meters (including reasons to refuse their installation) are at this link: www.stopsmartmeters.org.nz/category/smart-water-meters-2/
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
by Katherine | 5 Mar, 2016 | Privacy, Smart water meters
This morning www.stopsmartmeters.org.nz received an email from a concerned resident of Huia Street in Waiuku to say that on Monday (February 29, 2016) she found a card in her letter box informing her that a smart water meter had been installed for her home as part of a trial.
This home owner did not consent to the installation of this device which is designed to produce microwave radiation to send data about water use. In fact just the previous Friday she had received notification from the company that her “water meter did not need to be replaced.”
According to Watercare’s website the smart water meters that it is installing will transmit only once per day; however this information cannot be independently verified at this stage as the company did not state the make and model of the meter on its website. (The type of smart water meter trialed in Tairua transmits every eight seconds.)
The type of radiation produced by smart water meters (and smart electricity meters) has been classified as possible carcinogen (class 2B) by the World Health Organisation’s International Agency for Research on Cancer.
In addition smart water meter also have the potential to be used as a surveillance device. (See this link for details: https://stopsmartmeters.org.nz/government-and-electricity-industry-positions/how-smart-water-meters-invade-privacy/ )
More information about the situation in Waiuku will be posted on this website (in the smart water meters section) soon as it is available.
If you are in Waiuku (or live anywhere in the Auckland region as a whole, since if the Waiuku trial is considered to be successful, the smart water meters may be rolled out to other parts of the area administered by Auckland Council) and wish to refuse to have a smart water meter installed at your home, there is a template letter you may like to consider adapting for your own use at this link:
www.stopsmartmeters.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/FORMAL-NOTICE-OF-NON-CONSENT-FOR-SMART-WATER-METER.docx
More information about smart waters meters may be found at the archive on this site:
https://stopsmartmeters.org.nz/category/smart-water-meters-2/
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NB: If you would like to keep up to date with 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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