We need smart metering of our electricity, gas and water in order to use them in an economically and environmentally safe way. In practical terms, smart meters will offer many advantages to Salmon Arm residents.
Timely information from smart meters allows the grid managers to reduce demand peaks by offering consumers lower rates at off-peak times. Detailed knowledge gives the utility the ability to reduce fossil fuel consumption, transmission and production costs and will facilitate smaller scale environmentally friendly solar and wind-power facilities. More detailed metering at the point of consumption gives the utility the ability to pinpoint leaks, losses and thefts to a greater extent than is possible with the old meter system.
Many people are understandably concerned about possible health risks from the radio frequency radiation from smart meters, however if they exist at all they must be extremely small.
The proposed meters radiate very little power, are mounted outside the home and are not radiating most of the time. As a result the radio-frequency strengths they produce within the home are much smaller than from devices we have been using for years such as microwaves, cell phones and computer wireless routers.
The biological effects of low intensity radio frequency exposure and possible associated health risks of cancer and other ailments have been the subject of numerous studies throughout the last three decades. A very wide and comprehensive definitive study completed by the World Health Organization in 1996 considered the weight of evidence available at the time. One of their conclusions was that: “Despite extensive research, to date there is no evidence to conclude that exposure to low level electromagnetic fields is harmful to human health.”
Since water is earth’s most precious resource, maybe we can achieve a leapfrog of technology in Salmon Arm by installing smart meters for measuring water usage as well.
I am a concerned resident of Salmon Arm with a scientific background and no connection whatsoever to BC Hydro or any other utility company.
Geoff Benson
