November 2nd, 2011 – Today one member of the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC),Orjiakor N. Isiogu, together with several of his staffers and representatives of all the utilities, held a public forum to hear citizen questions or concerns and to assist people with their individual utility bills.
There were a couple of questions from people concerned with how to pay their utility bills, and one question from a representative of the Sierra Club concerning why MPSC is not doing more to cut back on the use of coal in electricity generation.
The overwhelming majority of questions and statements, however, were from people taking the commission to task for failing to protect the public from the new ‘smart’ meters.
The Commissioner kept repeating that the Commission must “stay within it’s mandate”, the same answer he gave to the Sierra Club questioner. He seemed to be saying that concerns about people’s health was outside the mandate of the Commission which is only supposed to concern itself with the rate review process.
Many citizens expressed outrage over the assault on homeowners rights caused by these new devices that invade privacy and endanger public health.
The Commissioner expressed his willingness to talk with people individually on these issues, but did not promise any followup action.
There have been other such public forums in various parts of the state, and will be one coming up on November 8th in Ypsilanti.
October 17th, 2011 – The Southfield City Council unanimously approved a resolution to the Michigan Public Services Commission (MPSC) “to initiate a careful review and analysis of the expressed public concerns
relative to potential health effects of smart meters, privacy issues, and the lack of consumer/homeowner options to either opt-out of the installation in the first place or to have the smart meter removed after installation, as a result of consumer/homeowner concerns that may have arisen after said installation.
Council also asked for the MPSC to set up “open public forum” for discussion of these issues.
Here is link to the resolution:
City of Southfield Resolution on ’Smart’ Meters
October 11th, 2011 – The Warren City Council voted unanimously on this day to petition the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) to go slow on ‘smart’ meter deployment. Warren is the latest public body to adopt a resolution “asking the Michigan Public Service Commission to investigate whether the meters are dangerous to the public’s health and invade privacy.”
The company plans to begin installations in the city in 2013. “City Council wants to be assured that the installation of smart meters will not adversely affect the health, safety and welfare of the citizens of Warren,” the resolution states.
Opposition to smart meters by residents has centered on the possible health effects caused by the radio transmissions of the new meters, and also on the assault by the new meters on resident’s Fourth Amendment rights to privacy. The new meters measure electrical consumption in great detail and report usage every few minutes. The new meters are also equipped to listen to individual appliances within the home that are equipped with the new smart chips, and ultimately to be able to control those appliances.
This resolution is non binding. Some Council members expressed a desire to take stronger action up to or including an outright ban on the new meters, or a requirement that DTE obtain a license from the city prior to installing these meters.
Here are links to the resolution itself, and to a story which appeared in the Macomb Daily concerning this action:
Warren City Council Resolution
Warren Wants to Drop Smart Meters
August 6th, 2011 – On this day the City Council of Warren, Michigan held a special two-hour committee of the whole meeting to discuss the possibility of passing a city ordinance requiring the electric utility, DTE, to obtain a license from the city prior to installing any ‘smart’ electric meters in the city.
Months earlier, in April, the Council had asked the city attorney to study what actions the city could take regarding new meters slated to be installed in 2012 or 2013. By late July some of us had drafted and submitted to Council a proposed ordinance on this subject which Council voted to take up in the August 6th special meeting. Many possible actions were discussed at this meeting including the citizen proposed ordinance or, in the alternative a resolution plus working together with other cities to persuade the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) to put the brakes on smart meter deployment. The city attorney was asked to again study the city’s options and report back.
Here is link to a news story in the Macomb Daily on this special meeting:
Warren Moves Slowly on Smart Meters