Smart-meter battle arrives
The fight against BC Hydro’s plan to install smart meters in every household in the province is coming to Kamloops.
A local chapter of the group Stop Smart Meters in B.C. has organized in town and is hosting a public meeting later this month to discuss the issue.
Trudy Frisk, a member of the Kamloops chapter, said the group — which is also opposed to city wireless water meters — is not against the basic idea of metering, but rather the technology being used.
“We have an objection, and a very deep one, to these meters, which transmit the radio signals and the microwave signals,” she told KTW.
Frisk first spoke out about her ordeal with wireless water meters earlier this summer in a KTW story, after she began suffering health problems when one was placed in her home as part of the city’s water-meter program.
The Dallas resident experienced ringing in her ears and a prickly sensation in her body after a water meter was installed in her home.
Frisk has been told by her doctor there is a small percentage of people who have recorded an intolerance to the electromagnetic fields emitted by the meter’s radio-frequency transmitter that reads the unit remotely.
She tried several different options, including burying the meter in the ground, but the health problems have persisted.
Since her story was first reported in KTW, Frisk said she has received calls from other people in the city experiencing similar problems.
Frisk noted 25 to 30 people have joined the local group in opposing wireless meters, and she’s hoping to organize a support group for people suffering from the effects of meters.
She said many who have attended the group’s meetings think they’re alone in dealing with their problems.
The province has mandated BC Hydro install smart meters in every home in the province by the end of 2012.
However, the smart-meter plan has drawn plenty of criticism, with opponents citing health and privacy concerns and the potential for electricity bills to increase.
Last month, municipal leaders voted 55 per cent in favour of a moratorium on smart meters at the annual Union of B.C. Municipalities convention in Vancouver.
The Kamloops chapter of Stop Smart Meters in B.C. is holding a public meeting at Desert Gardens on Oct. 24, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
There will be a panel of three speakers addressing the concerns of health, privacy and the economics of meters.
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