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| Time | Text |
|---|---|
| Kevin Schmidt is just another Texan who was surprised to find a smart meter attached to | |
| his home one day without receiving any notice in the monthly energy bill. | |
| No letter, nothing. | |
| After researching smart meters online, he and his wife sent a notice to the energy company giving them 30 days to remove this unwanted meter and replace it with their old analog. | |
| Schmidt was promptly visited by an energy company employee who robotically recited the safety, security, and efficiency of the meters. | |
| After the 30 days expired, the smart meter was still attached to the home, so Schmidt had a licensed electrician replace the analog meter. | |
| Well, several days later, the energy company cut the power supply to the couple's home. | |
| Now powerless, Schmidt has been unable to fight the system to have his electricity replaced, and local authorities say they can't do anything about it because it's between a private person and another business. | |
| And this isn't the only case of citizens literally getting their doors kicked in so that these power company goons can enforce this unwelcome spying smart grid system. | |
| Um, I'm just putting in your meters. | |
| Your power's gonna be up for about 20, well, when I find the meters. | |
| They're down here, right? | |
| I'd heard her banging, but I didn't know that she actually kicked the door in until she left. | |
| Because when she left, I came here and I found this on the ground. | |
| I was like, wow, she actually kicked the door in. | |
| So officials can ticket you, issue fines for all sorts of reasons, give monopolies permission to radiate and invade your privacy, however they don't have the power to reinforce a citizen's right to protect herself and her property? | |
| Well, perhaps that's due to the massive incentive that utilities have to go ahead with the Smart Grid program. | |
| The Smart Meter program was part of the 2009 bailout package, which allocated $11 billion, including Smart Meters for all homes' electricity, gas, and water. | |
| They say Smart Meters are meant to save energy in the environment, increase power reliability, and to give you more control of the energy use in your home. | |
| But some people say the meters use more energy, increase their bills, and not to mention, they're constantly emitting radiation. | |
| Tens of thousands of individuals have already reported to government utilities that they are getting sick or being impaired after the installation of a smart meter at their home. | |
| Muscle contractions that my husband and I were having, involuntary muscle contractions, inflammation, headaches, insomnia, concentration problems, swelling, chest pains. | |
| They did a live blood analysis of red blood cells. | |
| They pulled people's blood before they put them in front of a smart meter and the red blood cells looked normal. | |
| Then they put the people in front of a smart meter for about two minutes, about two feet away. | |
| It was shocking, Alex, what the blood results showed. | |
| The red blood cells had ruptured, they were distorted, and they started stacking up upon each other. | |
| Additionally, the grid is incredibly susceptible to hackers. | |
| Why would our government force these meters on every home only to leave us open to an attack? | |
| Plus, data can easily be gathered about your habits via the smart meters, making them handy for surveillance and a future barrage of constant advertising. | |
| Its primary intention is to transmit data. | |
| It receives data from smart appliances, which will be in your home, so that they can, you know, then immediately push back to you what they feel that you need in that moment for advertising purposes. | |
| It's not giving us more control. | |
| It's actually giving the control to big corporations, to utilities, and to governments who will be sharing in this data that is basically being extracted from the home in a very, very high level of detail. | |
| Thanks to concerned citizens demanding action, some cities are offering an opt-out at a price. | |
| One utility company in Austin charges $75 to opt out of the smart meters. | |
| Another company is charging $300 for de-installation and a recurring $18 a month fee just for sticking to the analog meter. | |
| Others are mulling a charge of $842 for the service of taking the smart meter away. | |
| It's an unbelievable price for opting out when the public never opted in. | |
| Nevertheless, citizens must demand that power companies offer an opt-out. | |
| It's the first step to taking back your power. | |
| Don't allow corporations to pave a perilous path right into your home. |
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