Forwarded from: Safe Technologies -- Fairfield <stop5gfairfi...@gmail.com>
Dear Community, This is a follow-up letter to our communication from last week, now that we have heard back from the Iowa Utilities Board (IUB) and the Office of the Consumer Advocate (OCA). The IUB said today that they are looking into the matter, and they asked everyone to file comments or complaints into the case docket, as our last letter advised. The IUB senior staff member who we spoke with emphasized that the Board will not have any way to understand the experiences of the community with the Alliant mailings, unless people file complaints. The IUB needs to see the volume of customers that have a problem with this mailing, so everyone should file right away if they are not happy with any aspect of the mailing or the fact that now it has become necessary to opt-out once again. On two occasions the Consumer Advocate for Iowa, not only encouraged the community to complain to the IUB, but insisted that it was the only way to succeed. We have included below a list of the feed-back that has come in directly to us about this. Feel free to use this as a guide for your own complaint. The link to make your complaint is below the list. A few of the complaints we have received are: 1. The statement that we must opt-out again within 30 days or you will get a smart meter, can only be interpreted as a threat, since we have spent years in court fighting against smart meters, including the long list of undesirable smart meter features. 2. We thought we had settled this with the utility already. What is this all about? 3. The 30 day time frame is unreasonably short for any process such as this.. It creates fear and puts the consumers into a panic, especially since the consequence of not succeeding in re-opting out is receiving the very meter that this group of people have already said they do not want. 4. Further, the imposition of a short time frame in the light of the global disruption from a virus, when some people may be away from home and forcibly sequestered in states or countries and cannot respond, is much more than unreasonable. 5. There are significant problems with the Alliant website/web-form. It can easily be filled out but for many people it has not been possible to Send or Save the form data that they entered. 6. Alliant in the past has lost records of opt-out customers. Alliant has: -- put opt-out customers onto smart meter install lists, --given customers who have completed multiple opt-out procedures a smart meter, --resisted and often refused to return their Analogs, even when taken by accident, ---the result has been that people are reticent to take on this opt-out process again. 7. There were apparently several different letters with different content sent. Some of the letters allowed retaining an analog meter, and others did not include the analog meter option. Some customers received multiple letters, and some who still have their analog meter received the wrong letter, that did not allow the option to keep their analog. This has been frustrating and confusing for many. 8. Some customers who received the wrong letter have mistakenly believed that they no longer have the right to keep their analog (which is not the case). 9. Unfortunately some have already filed their request for a digital meter with Alliant, which is not only a problem for that individual who will have the dirty electricity from the digital when they could have kept their analog, but is also a problem for that person's neighbor who will also receive the dirty electricity through a shared transformer. Here is the link to file comments/complaints: https://iub.iowa.gov/online-services/open-docket-comment-form <https://gmail.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=af516b827b55ccd9c7457f87d&id=013f630041&e=be8e17c02b>. Use Case Docket # SPU-2018-0007 With regard to the option of the “low pulsing smart meter”, here is the reality of how many pulses you and your family will receive if you choose the low-pulsing smart meter option (please note: we DO NOT recommend this option): In the IUB Hearing last August, one piece of evidence that was presented by us, was the work of Dr. Ronald Powell, Physicist, on the number of pulses of smart meters, where he included the EMF/RF from neighbor's smart meters. Rather than the advertised "once per month" or a "few pulses per month" from a meter on the side of your house, Dr. Powell found that a home or business is affected by smart meters within a 100 yard distance from your location (100 yards in all directions). In application of Dr. Powell's study to the downtown Fairfield area, it was found that many locations in the downtown area, could be experiencing 10,000's of pulses per week, when using these so-called "low pulsing" approaches. For other close neighborhoods, such as sub-divisions, similar “pulsing” numbers will apply. You can read the report that is part of the Hearing testimony: http://rfreduce.com/robertsblog/dl/Smart-meter-Pulses-In-Dense-MIXED-Neighborhoods-OptOut OnDemand_Rev-1.pdf <https://gmail.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=af516b827b55ccd9c7457f87d&id=cf478068a7&e=be8e17c02b> Remember that a so-called low pulsing smart utility meter has other characteristics that many people find objectionable. Just a few of them are: -- the meter may emit microwave radiation with the Bluetooth or other protocol, to attempt to connect with similarly equipped "smart appliances". The amount of this radiation could be considerable. -- the meter is collecting usage information from you and in-effect profiling your daily habits. Many people consider this an invasion of privacy. -- the meter has a power switch inside of it, to completely shut down your power, and there is the concern that this switch has been the cause of many smart meter fires in the past. -- the switch mode power supply in the smart meter creates Dirty Electricity that circulates on the wiring in your home/office and thereby radiates Dirty Electricity Electric and Magnetic fields, into your dwelling, that put voltages and currents into your body -- the utility has not in any way promised/guaranteed that whatever the "low pulsing weekly count" is, that is being proposed now, will not be changed, including, increased, in the future. A final note. We are not aware of any way that filing complaints now would bring a disadvantage to you, or our community in the future. Again, the IUB and OCA have recommended that we make our voices heard. We do not yet have an official position from the IUB regarding the actions Alliant has advised you to take. Therefore at this time, we are not able to make any specific recommendations other than to please file a complaint with the IUB right away. It is entirely up to you whether you immediately complete the Alliant on-line opt-out form as they have suggested, or you decide to delay a little longer, waiting for a final response from the IUB. Thank you so much, Safe Technologies -- Fairfield
