JUNE 14TH, 2013 – DETROIT EDISON’S SMART METER “OPT-OUT” PROGRAM? By David Sheldon
Many of you will be receiving an Opt-Out Notice letter from DTE soon. The letter says you have 30 days to join their opt out plan, thereby agreeing to let them put a “smart meter” aka “AMI meter” on your home with the “radio turned off”, and that you agree to pay both an initial fee and monthly fees indefinitely for this. The letter indicates that if you do not sign up for their plan within 30 days they will put a fully functioning smart meter on your home. We think this opt-out plan is a farce and a sham and, for most people, will not solve the problems for which an opt-out was requested in the first place.
But we think there is a third alternative not mentioned in their letter. If you still have your analog meter we think your best course of action is NOT to sign up for DTE’s opt-out plan. Instead, send DTE a letter indicating that you are not signing up for their plan, but that you also refuse your consent for them to install a smart meter. To make this work you need to lock your analog meter and post a sign next to it saying that you do not consent to installation of any smart meter or “digital meter”.
The legal basis upon which you can follow this course is based in part on the fact that some of our members who participated in the recent MPSC hearings are filing appeals of the DTE opt-out plan with the Michigan Court of Appeals, and are also asking that court to stay enforcement of the opt-out plan. The other legal basis is that you have an inherent right to defend your person and your home against a known harm. That is a right we expect will be upheld in the court system regardless of the MPSC appeal.
Detailed instructions on how to lock down your meter can be found elsewhere on this website. A copy of the DTE Notice letter and a form letter you can use to answer it can be found on this website.
It is possible that DTE will begin billing you for the initial and monthly opt-out fees based on your refusals. If so we would recommend you pay those fees but pay them under protest. To not pay them would cause you to fall into arrears on your monthly utility bill and provide a pretext for DTE to terminate your service. Write a letter to DTE stating that you will pay the fees under protest, and write the words “opt-out fees paid under protest” on your bill stub and on your check. There will come a time when you may be able to join in a class action lawsuit to recover those fees.
If you already have a smart meter you may well have been waiting to see if there would be a real opt-out plan before making your move. Your best course of action will depend on how militant you wish to be in defending your life and your health. The preferred course of action is to send DTE a letter demanding removal of the smart meter within 14 days and restoral of an electro-mechanical analog meter such as you had before the smart meter. Your letter should state that if the company will not remove the smart meter you will do it yourself, replacing it with an analog meter you can buy on the internet.
Be aware that there are certain hazards to this course of action, including the possibility that you would be sued by DTE as a couple of families have been. Defending such a suit could become time consuming and expensive. Only you can decide how important your health and your Fourth Amendment rights actually are.
If replacing your own meter is beyond your comfort zone, then you may wish to sign up for DTE’s opt-out plan. This will not protect your privacy nor will it eliminate all of the radiation, but at least this will eliminate some of the radiation. You can then consult with an emf abatement specialist to see whether special filters or other measures could be taken to minimize any remaining radiation.