SMART Democracy Protects Consumers, Indian Democracy Aids Exploitation

SMART Democracy Protects Consumers, Indian Democracy Aids Exploitation

 

Executive Summary: - Though smart meter technology was disclosed for over 12 years but electricity consumption in USA and California is increasing steadily and EIA projected electricity use to increase further 32% by 2035 in spite of introduction of energy efficient technologies like CFL and LCD lighting, Laptops, IPADs replacing desktop, improved HVAC etc and EIA reported 14% Smart Meter penetration in USA – Delhi had 100% implementation 2004-07. Delhi High Court and Supreme Court quickly without any study approved Smart Meters for India in 2005. I never heard Electric Distributors recommending 1KW-2KW Personal Air-conditioning or Heating in place of Central Heating & Cooling in USA. Hence Metering Data is not intended to reduce Electricity Use but to manipulate supply to realize increased revenue. In Delhi all Consumer Friendly features were disabled like Instant Load, Decimal Resolutions, Peak Voltage, Lowest Voltage, Number of Interruptions and Duration of No Supply etc – False Theft Cases were made even as Meters were read by Computerized Readers – that could download 'Load Profile' any misuse as in the High Court Case mentioned here. My objections on behalf of Indian consumers to record Peak Load in Electricity Bills for example were declined by BRPL. If a consumer has 10 KW sanctioned load but his peak load is 5 KW and average load is 0.5 KW – he is not directed to reduce Sanctioned Load to 5 KW or less. In India 50% population has no access to electricity and just 10% savings could electrify all electricity Dark Zones.

 

Honourable Members of Parliament,

 

Here is an illustration of 'How SMART Democracy Protects Consumers' when Government of a small County Santa Cruz of 0.2 million passed aUnanimous Resolution to stop installation of Smart Electricity Meters Sepember14, 2010 – opposing the Wrong Orders of Federal and State Government Regulators by one of world's largest public utility PG&E, in India in New Delhi, Central Government, State Government, Police and all Courts were literally on the Payrolls of biggest Indian Corporates - Tatas and Ambanis 2002-06 in exploiting Consumers in Mumbai & New Delhi – over 0.1m Fabricated Theft cases were registered in New Delhi and domestic consumers were extorted to Pay 405 times normal average monthly bills. Many more cases were compromised without going to courts.   

 

While every Elected Representative in Santa Cruz County exercise its Legislative Authority to Ultimate Level – in India even very top legislature exercise it rarely. I was in charge of security at biggest Electricity Store of India in 1976-78 and youngest engineer – used to exercise Full Powers though had little executive authority. Anyone complaining of poor quality of goods – I would direct stores to 'Please Issue Good Quality Products' even as products were approved by Director General of Supply & Disposal as well as Indian Standards Institution (BIS). Thus made sure good stores made by reputed companies were ordered.

 

County of Santa Cruz ORDINANCE NO. 5074 >>>

 

>> 'Moratorium. From and after the effective date of this Ordinance, no SmartMeter may be installed in or on any home, apartment, condominium or business of any type within the unincorporated area of the County of Santa Cruz, and no equipment related to SmartMeters may be installed in, on, under, or above any public street or public right of way within the unincorporated area of the County of Santa Cruz.'

 

What are Smart Meters? – Smart Meters are programmed Computerized Electricity & Gas Meters that measure Energy Use on minute by minute basis – record and communicate the data to the Electric Company – either through Wireless Communication instantaneously orInfrared Port periodically. Both perform exactly the same function record Energy Use Profile but Wireless SmartMeters could be further configured to remotely start and stop electricity supply to Consumer Installation or Appliances. Smart Appliances are also introduced that can be remotely operated through wireless communication or internet. Since memory chip costs are nominal these days practically switch on and off of every device can be recorded for some months with minute by minute consumption.

 

FM.1] Smart Meters Programs to Run Fast – GE US Patent 6459258 explains how more than one set of programs can be stored and operated externally. While the stated objective is to correct the Operating Program in case of malfunction by Reference Programs, in New Delhi this Patented Technology was abused by Tata & Ambani companies by installing Fast and Accurate Programs – Meters were run fast or run accurately when consumer complained of fast meters. Abstract of the patent admits to internal Computer Controlling the Metering Constants and Operation of the Smart Meters.

 

[US Patent 6459258 Abstract - An electronic electricity meter includes voltage sensors configured to generate measurements of voltage at voltage elements, current sensors configured to generate measurements of current through current elements, a microcomputer coupled to the current and voltage sensors and configured to control operation of the meter, and a memory coupled to the microcomputer including calibration constants to compensate for instrument transformer ratio and phase angle errors. The microcomputer is configured to use the calibration constants, when so instructed, to correct for measurement errors that occur based upon instrument transformer ratios and phase angles and to correct metering quantities calculated by the microcomputer.]

 

FM.2] Smart Meters in addition has program - to operate even in case of neutral break or missing situation arising due to theft or burning of neutral terminal etc. Current is measured in both phase and neutral and meter records higher value of current for energy calculation. So when Neutral of two or more meters is in contact it records consumption in two meters. For example – An appliance may have 10A load but it may return 6A through one meter and 4A through another – Meters shall record 10A and 4A loads in two meters thus recording 40% more consumption.

 

FM.3] Smart Meters Promotes Wasteful Consumption – When Appliances can be switched on remotely this promotes additional consumption and in addition Smart Meters offer Time of Day Metering – Peak use tariffs are Higher and Off Peak Tariff lower than average – Consumers are not able to economize much during peak hours but tends to waste energy during Off Peak hours. Instead of Shutting Down say shops at 6PM TOD procedures let shops operate for more hours and Consumers have options to Switch on Air Conditioners in advance than required.

 

FM.4] Smart Meters On Plus Side of Tolerance – Electricity Act 1956 allowed +/- 3% tolerance or error in meters – Utilities in New Delhi were always found to be in Plus side between 2% to 3%. Since all this consumption is charged at higher or highest slab to consumers – this alone resulted in 3% to 4% increase in bills.

 

Additional Indian Experience in New Delhi To Above

 

a.] Intruding & Inspecting Home Installations – Unlike Santa Cruz and USA GOI in Electricity Act 2003 and earlier authorized 'Police Raids' on electricity consumers. Tata and Ambani utilities Fabricated Theft cases by not accounting for Load Factor around 11% in New Delhi or 13% as per regulators calculations. Private utilities fraudulently didn't account for Load Factor in Consumption Assessment – this meant every raid resulting in 9 Times greater Consumption Assessment – Penalty at 5 times normal tariff and for 6 months and Penalty tariff charged at highest slab for most of assessment meant 9x5x6x1.5 = 405 months normal consumption in addition to bills already paid.

 

b.] Three Meter Changed in 2-4 Years – This is Unbelievable when in most of USA including Santa Cruz County when new SmartMeters are being installed after say 50 years – In Delhi Tata/ Ambanis Changed Three Meters in 2-4 years. Immediately on Take Over in July2002, they ordered 'Quick Test Check of All Meters Even Remotely Suspected To Be Slow' – even the Meters slow within +/- 3% tolerance were immediately replaced, but no Meter even 17% fast was replaced, by Electronic Meters with Mechanical Counters and with the introduction of Smart Meters in 2003-06 replaced newly installed Electronic Meters also at public cost.

 

Ø      Though DERC was constituted in 1999 – it ordered Replacement of Consumer Meters 2-3 times but didn't insist on Metering Distribution Transformers. By March2005 only 3500 of 8000 Distribution Transformers were metered and this inventor repeated hauled up top Secretary of Power GOI at several National and International events before DT meters were installed but without Display, read by Infrared or Radio device – so any expert can't read and use their data.

 

c.]  Delhi High Court in most erroneous or mischief ordered Consumer to get 13KW load sanctioned. In the first paragraph it is clear Private Electricity Distribution Company was exclusively authorized to Install & Read Service Smart Meters, Raise Bills, Raid Consumer Premises, Raise Theft Assessment Bills, Disconnects Power Supply etc.

 

DHC didn't consider Tenant had vacated the premises and instead of normal 5 members family only two members were served by Distribution Company this in itself reduces the usage by 60%. Average annual use of this consumer would be reduced to just 1066 units annually this is 82 units per month.

 

http://indiankanoon.org/doc/329990/

In above a lady supporting a mentally challenged daughter was implicated in a Fabricated Theft case when Smart Meter was located in common meter box on ground floor when consumer with no Technical Skills was living on top floor was asked to get 13KW connection when in Delhi for over 3 million Domestic consumers, average Power Drawn from grid was 2300MW and domestic consumption for Delhi was 50% and average billing after T&D losses was 8 Billion Units annually. Thus average Power Drawn for Domestic use per consumer is around 400W and annual average use 2666 units.

 

DHC also didn't consider that in Delhi it is very difficult procedure for a Tenant to get independent Electricity connection that can be switched off at the departure of a Tenant and restored in the name of new tenant. Property owners had to own electric connections for use of tenants.

 

d.] Disabled Consumer Friendly Features – During investigation for StarNews and other media it was found Tata and Ambani electricity distribution companies had disabled all Consumer Friendly features that made it difficult to Test Fast Meters. They were 1. Decimal Points in the display, 2. Instant Load in KW, 3. Number and Duration of Load Shedding, 4. Maximum and Minimum Voltages, 5. Leakage Power, 6. Energy recorded by Neutral Current when external load was served through meter operating Common Points like Booster Pump or Staircase of Call Bell etc or in case of common neutral.

 

Ø      We connected Standard Electricity Lamp to meters and measured the pulse rate identify Fast Meters and then connect New High Accuracy Electro-mechanical meters to confirm Fast Smart Meters.

 

e.]  Domestic Consumers Provide Base Load: - Small & Mediumconsumers using up to 2KW load in India provide base load to utilities and be kept out of smart metering program. Any study shall reveal Domestic Consumers use over 70% -80% of electricity during Off Peak Hour – Electricity Companies ought to provide Lower Tariffs Automatically. 

 

Conclusions: -

 

C-1]  95% of domestic consumers be kept out of Smart Meters program inIndia. Similarly in USA consumers who install Personal Heating & Cooling in homes too shall be kept out of smart metering if they Opt Out and Smart Meters shall be Additional to Electro-Mechanical Electricity meters.

 

C-2]  All consumer friendly features be introduced in Smart Meters already installed or to be installed like Instant Load, Peak Load, Peak Voltage, Lowest Voltage, Number of Interruptions and Duration of No Supply – It may record 24 hr, Weekly, Month End consumption with peak load etc.

 

C-3]  All Electricity Smart Meters to have Mechanical Counter to record Cumulative Electricity Consumption.

 

Ravinder Singh

Inventor & Consultant

December29, 2011

Progressindia008@yahoo.com

 

 

Resolution(s): Contract(s): Continue Date(s):

ORDINANCE NO. 5074

 

AN UNCODIFIED ORDINANCE OF THE COUNTY OF SANTA CRUZ

ADOPTED AS AN URGENCY MEASURE IMPOSING A TEMPORAY

MORATORIUM ON THE INSTALLATION OF SMARTMETERS AND

RELATED EQUIPMENT IN, ALONG, ACROSS, UPON, UNDER AND OVER THE PUBLIC STREETS AND OTHER PLACES WITHIN THE UNINCORPORATED ARA OF SANTA CRUZ COUNTY

 

The Board of Supervisors of the County of Santa Cruz find as follows:

 

WHEREAS, the County of Santa Cruz (the "County"), through its police powers granted by Aricle XI of the California Constitution, retains broad discretion to legislate for public purposes and for the general welfare, including but not limited to matters of public health, safety and consumer protection; and

WHEREAS, the County of Santa Cruz has a franchise agreement with

PG&E that has been in effect since 1955; and

 

WHEREAS, in addition, the County retains authority under Article XII,

Section 8 of the Constitution to grant franchises for public utilities, and pursuant to California Public Utilities Code section 6203, "may in such a franchise impose

such other and additional terms and conditions..", whether governmental or

contractual in character, as in the judgment of the legislative body are to the public interest;" and

 

WHEREAS, Public Utilities Code section 2902 reserves the County's right

to supervise and regulate public utilities in matters affecting the health,

convenience and safety of the general public, "such as the use and repair of public streets by any public utility, the location of the poles, wires, mains, or conduits of any public utility, on, under, or above any public streets, and the speed of common carriers operating within the limits of the municipal corporation;" and

 

WHEREAS, Pacific Gas & Electric Company ("PG&E") is now installing

SmartMeters in Central and Northern California and is installing these meters

withi the County of Santa Cruz; and

 

WHEREAS, concerns about the impact and accuracy of SmartMeters have

been raised nationwide, leading the Maryland Public Service Commission to deny permission on June 21, 20 10 for the deployment of SmarMeters in that state. The State of Hawaii Public Utility Commission also recently declined to adopt a smart grid system in that state. The CPUC currently has pending before it a petition from the City and County of San Francisco, and other municipalities, seeking to delay

 

the implementation of SmarMeters until the questions about their accuracy can be evaluated; and

 

WHEREAS, major problems and deficiencies with SmartMeters in California have been brought to the attention of the Board of Supervisors of the County of Santa Cruz, including PG&E's confirmation that SmartMeters have provided incorrect readings costing ratepayers untold thousands of dollars in overcharges and PG&E' s records outlined "risks" and "issues" including an ongoing inability to recover real-time data because of faulty hardware originating with PG&E vendors; and

 

WHEREAS, the ebb and flow of gas and electricity into homes discloses detailed information about private details of daily life. Energy usage data, measured moment by moment, allows the reconstruction of a household's activities: when people wake up, when they come home, when they go on vacation, and even when they tae a hot bath. Smarteters represent a new form of technology that relays detailed hitherto confidential information reflecting the times and amounts of the use of electrical power without adequately protecting that data from being accessed by unauthorized persons or entities and as such pose an unreasonable intrusion of utility customers' privacy rights and security interests. Indeed, the fact that the CPUC has not established safeguards for privacy in its regulatory approvals may violate the principles set fort by the U.S. Supreme Court in Kyllo v. United States (2001),533 U.S. 27; and

 

WHEREAS, significant health questions have been raised concern the increased electromagnetic frequency radiation (EMF) emitted by the wireless technology in Smarteters, which will be in every house, apartment and business, thereby adding additional man-made EMF to our environment around the clock to the already existing EMF from utility poles, individual meters and telephone poles; and

 

WHEREAS, FCC safety standards do not exist for chronic long-term exposure to EMF or from multiple sources, and reported adverse health effects from electromagnetic pollution include sleep disorders, irritability, short term memory loss, headaches, anxiety, nausea, DNA break, abnormal cell growth, cancer, premature aging, etc. Because of untested technology, international scientists, environmental agencies, advocacy groups and doctors are calling for the use of caution in wireless technologies; and

 

WHEREAS, the primary justification given for the SmarMeters program is the assertion that it will encourage customers to move some of their electricity usage from daytime to evening hours; however, PG&E has conducted no actual pilot projects to determine whether this assumption is in fact correct. Non transmitting time-of-day meters are already available for customers who desire

them, and enhanced customer education is a viable non-technological alternative to encourage electricity use time shifting. Further, some engineers and energy conservation experts believe that the SmartMeters program--in totality--could well actually increase total electricity consumption and therefore the carbon footprint;

and

 

WHEREAS, Assembly member Jared Huffman has requested the California Council on Science and Technology to advise him on whether the Federal Communications Commission's standards for SmartMeters are sufficiently protective and assess whether additional technology-specific standards are needed for SmartMeters; and

 

WHEREAS, a response to Assembly member Huffman from the Council on Science and Technology is expected as early as November 1, 2010; and

WHEREAS, because the potential risks to the health, safety and welfare of

County residents are so great, the Board of Supervisors wishes to adopt a moratorium on the installation of SmartMeters and related equipment within the unincorporated area of the County of Santa Cruz. The moratorium period will allow the CPUC petition process referenced above to be completed and for additional information to be collected and analyzed regarding potential problems with SmartMeters; and

 

WHEREAS, there is a current and immediate threat to public health, safety and welfare because, without this urgency ordinance, SmartMeters or supporting equipment will be installed or constructed or modified in the County without

PG&E's complying with the CPUC process for consultation with the local jurisdiction, the County's Code requirements, and subjecting residents of Santa

Cruz County to the privacy, security, health, accuracy and consumer fraud risks of the unproven SmartMeter technology; and

 

WHEREAS, the Board of Supervisors hereby finds that it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the adoption and implementation of this

Ordinance may have a significant effect on the environment. This Ordinance does not authorize construction or installation of any facilities and, in fact, imposes greater restrictions on such construction and installation in order to protect the public health, safety and general welfare. This Ordinance is therefore exempt from the environmental review requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to Section 15061(b)(3) of Title 14 of the California Code of Regulations.

 

WHEREAS, there is no feasible alternative to satisfactorily study the potential impact identified above as well or better with a less burdensome or restrictive effect than the adoption of this interim urgency moratorium ordinance; and

 

WHEREAS, based on the foregoing it is in the best interest of public health, safety and welfare to allow adequate study of the impacts resulting from the SmartMeter technology; therefore it is appropriate to adopt a temporary moratorium that would remain in effect from the date of its adoption until December 31, 2010, unless your Board acts to repeal it prior to that date.

 

NOW, THEREFORE BE IT ORDAINED by the Board of Supervisors of the County of Santa Cruz as follows:

 

SECTION I

 

Moratorium. From and after the effective date of this Ordinance, no SmartMeter may be installed in or on any home, apartment, condominium or business of any type within the unincorporated area of the County of Santa Cruz, and no equipment related to SmartMeters may be installed in, on, under, or above any public street or public right of way within the unincorporated area of the County of Santa Cruz

 

SECTION II

 

Violations of the Moratorium may be charged as infractions or misdemeanors as set fort in Chapter 1.12 of the Santa Cruz County Code. In addition, violations shall be deemed public nuisances, with enforcement by injunction or any other remedy authorized by law.

 

SECTION III

 

This Board of Supervisors finds and determines that: (a) there is a current and immediate threat to the public peace, health, or safety; (b) the moratorium

must be imposed in order to protect and preserve the public interest, health, safety, comfort and convenience and to preserve the public welfare; and (c) it is necessary to preserve the public health and safety of all residents or landowners adjacent to such uses as are affected by this interim ordinance as well as to protect all of the citizens of Santa Cruz County by preserving and improving the aesthetic and economic conditions of the County.

 

SECTION IV

 

If any provision of this interim ordinance is held to be unconstitutional, it is the intent of the Board of Supervisors that such portions of such ordinance be

severable from the remainder and the remainder be given full force and effect.

 

SECTION V

 

This interim ordinance is not subject to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to Section l5060(c) (2) - the activity will not result in a direct or reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment

and Section 15060(c) (3) - the activity is not a project as defined in Section 15378 of the CEQA Guidelines, because it has no potential for resulting in physical change to the environment, directly or indirectly.

 

SECTION VI

 

Effective Dates. This ordinance shall take effect immediately based on the findings by the Board of Supervisors that this ordinance is necessary for the protection of the public health, safety, and general welfare. This ordinance shall be in full force and effect from the date of its adoption by the Board of Supervisors until December 31, 2010, at which time it's terms and provision shall expire and no longer remain in effect.

 

PASSED AND ADOPTED THIS 14th day of September, 2010, by the Board of Supervisors of the County of Santa Cruzz by the following vote:

 

AYES: SUPERVISORS Coonerty, Leopold, Pirie, Stone & Campos

NOES: None

ABSENT: None

ABSTAIN: None