No News is Suppressed News
After OK-Safe wrote an article titled, Smart Meter Battle Escalating - Idaho Power Brings Guns to the Fight, I sent a link to it out to my email list. Somebody must have forwarded a link to the article to the Times-News newspaper in Twin Falls because a reporter called and asked me for an interview. We spent probably 15 minutes or so on the phone talking about the issue of the Smart Meter, the Smart Grid and my objections to it. We also talked about the implications of it for the future and the fact that most people have no understanding of that. They only understand the happy talk about energy efficiency. The reporter said she was going to talk to the Editor to see if she could write the story. That was several days ago but there has been no story so apparently, the Editor squashed it.
I searched the online edition of Times-News for articles on Smart Meters and found only this cheerleading article titled: Smarter homes in Magic Valley as energy meter overhaul reaches south-central Idaho . Notice the quote from Idaho Power's representative Mark Heintzelman:
“We would never force someone to use a different pay system, but late down the road we want to give the option for customers to choose to either pay for time of use or continue using the current tiered system in place now,” Heintzelman said.
Of course Idaho Power would NEVER force anyone. They would just ask their buddies at the Idaho Public Utilities Commission to give them an Order to implement time of day pricing because the objective of the entire Smart Grid System is to control usage of electricity under the guise of conserving natural resources. Idaho Power has primarily hydroelectric but truth doesn't matter. There is an agenda and they are moving forward with it up to and including bringing badges and guns to granny's house in a show of force to prove that she can't get away with Just Saying No.
I stopped by the Sheriff's office today to make an appointment to talk to him about Idaho Power's use of armed reinforcements. I didn't get to talk to the Sheriff. I guess he's too important to be bothered with a trivial issue of misuse of police power. I spoke with a lieutenant. He told me that they are at Idaho Power's beck and call. Anytime Idaho Power calls for armed escort, the Sheriff's office accommodates with no questions asked and no paperwork filed.
When the Idaho Power Representative was here with the installer and the Deputy Sheriff, I told the Deputy that I was in dispute with Idaho Power regarding the installation of the Smart Meter because it's not just a meter. It's a two-way communications, surveillance and control device that also includes an electric metering function. I was told there was nothing he could do about it. He was just there as a show of force to allow Idaho Power to install "the meter".
Idaho Power misrepresented the issue to the Sheriff's Department and because the Sheriff's Department is accustomed to a "no questions asked" policy, they exerted improper use of force in a civil dispute.
In Idaho Power's letter to me dated December 1, 2011, the final paragraph said the following:
Idaho Power requests that you contact Rick Astley at [ ] no later than 12/9/2011, to schedule the meter exchange. If the Company has not received a response from you by that date, Idaho Power will seek a declaratory order from the Idaho Public Utilities Commission to exchange the meter and enforce it in District Court if necessary. To the extent Idaho Power must involve the Commission, the courts and/or law enforcement to exchange the Company's meter, Idaho Power may seek court-ordered reimbursement of its expenses from you.
They did of course receive a response from me -- hand delivered to the local Idaho Power Office on December 6, 2011 (with a signed acknowledgement of receipt). They did not seek a declaratory order from the Idaho Public Utilities Commission. Rather, they just brought fire power and their standard Rule C and Rule D forms with the following highlighted:
Rule D - Metering
1. Meter installations. The Company will install and maintain the metering equipment required by the Company to measure power and energy supplied to the Customer. Meter installations will be done at company's expense except as specified below or otherwise specified in a schedule.
Rule C - Service and Limitations
7. Rights of Way. The Customer shall, without cost to the Company, grant the Company a right of way for the Company's lines and apparatus across and upon the property owned or controlled by the Customer, necessary or incidental to the supplying of Electric Service and shall permit access thereto by the Company's employees at all reasonable hours.
There is no order for a Smart Meter installation in those rules. There is a significant difference between a meter that simply records usage and a Smart Meter that is a two-way communications device with the capability to capture second by second usage including time of day and other technical aspects of the usage that would reveal the devices consuming the electric power all of which reveal personal habits and activities inside the home. That information is transmitted to the utility company to be stored in a database and since information is a valuable commodity, probably will be sold to parties interested in consumer profiles for marketing as well as given to the police for analysis of suspicious activities, probably to insurance companies, and others to numerous to mention.
Apparently, under Idaho Power's definition of meter, if a sound detection recording component and a digital camera were included in the case and it records electric usage, it would still fall under the category of "meter".
When all things are considered regarding the Smart Grid and the Smart Meters and totalitarian control that this system will give the Utilities and controllers of the Grid, it would seem there should be some media interest in the story. However, the mystery disappears when one reads the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, that included the following in Title VIII Section 801 - Improved Management of Energy Policy. It reveals advance strategic planning for buying the silence of the media:
Vicky Davis
December 17, 2011