Today
I drove to Richmond, Virginia, for an interesting hearing, approval to
implement new demand-side management programs and two updated rate adjustment clauses,
euphemisms for crony capitalism. Dominion Virginia Power, a public service
utility, is the beneficiary, along with homebuilders, contractors, and
environmentalists.
Demand-side
resources (DSM) are programs imposed by Dominion Power and paid for with
taxpayer dollars via grants from the Department of Energy and other federal
bureaucracies:
Residential
Lighting Program (bundling)
Low
Income ProgramCommercial HVAC Upgrade Program (duct testing, sealing, heat pump tune-up and upgrade, energy audit, refrigeration)
Commercial Lighting Program
Air Conditioner Cycling Program
Commercial Distribution Generation (CDG)
Three
hundred homes in Virginia received energy audits, duct testing and sealing.
Thousands received compact fluorescent bulbs (CFL) that release toxic mercury
when broken. Some Americans claim adverse health effects when CFLs are in use.
The current administration did
not issue any new coal power plants or nuclear power plants permits. The demand-side
resources (DSM) programs provide Dominion Power with the excuse to forgo
construction of new electric generation facilities.
Virginia General Assembly declared,
“It is in the public interest to promote cost effective conservation of energy
through fair and effective demand side management, conservation, energy
efficiency, and load management programs, including consumer education.”
By 2022, retail customers must reduce
energy consumption by 10 percent. In case you wonder who is going to pay for
all these upgrades, bulbs, load controls, Smart Meters, education, tune-ups,
energy audits, duct testing, sealing, it is the taxpayers. The nanny state must
tell citizens what to consume, when, and how much.
The docket today, PUE-2011-00093,
listed environmentalists, home builders, contractors, Sierra Club attorneys,
Dominion Power attorneys, and a hundred concerned citizens who believed that
the hearing would cover all aspects of Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI).
According to the Division of
Energy Regulation Senior Utilities Analyst, “Dominion received approval from the
Commission to conduct an Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) pilot program
in several geographic areas within its service territory and has now installed
AMI meters on all homes within those selected areas. The AMI pilot program is
one of several Dominion demand-side management programs that was considered and
approved.”
The analyst continued, “Dominion
indicated that the efficiency of the program would be compromised if customers
were allowed to opt-out and, further, that the Company was not aware of any
conclusive and convincing evidence that advanced metering is casually
associated with an increased incidence of detrimental health effects in
humans.”
All contractors, homebuilders,
environmentalists (Sierra Club), and other interested attorneys who brought
into court 12 huge boxes of files, repeated the same canned statements about
green energy, protection of the environment, of the planet, and sustainability
of energy consumption, with little regard for human needs.
When concerned citizens came to
the podium, one by one, the judge told them that the hearing was not about
Smart Meters. Undeterred, most citizen testifiers broached the Smart Meter
issue and their negative effect on health.
A firefighter described his
wife’s condition, headaches, shaking, tremors, burning skin, brain issues,
insomnia, constant nerve firing, and other symptoms that have appeared since
the installation of their Smart Meter.
A couple in their eighties made
an impassionate appeal to have 17 Smart Meters that were installed in the
proximity of their apartment removed. The man was a WWII and Korean War veteran
with peripheral neuropathy. With tears in his eyes and a tone of despair, he was
rhetorically wondering what kind of country we live in. What happened to our
freedom? Why are we treating Americans this way?
Dr. Charles Battig, an engineer
and medical doctor, argued that Dominion Power’s “avoidance of building more
power plants by imposing advanced metering technology may not be to the benefit
of all its customers. The desire of Dominion Power to ‘reduce delivery voltage
and reduce energy usage on distribution circuits’ could be reasonably
accomplished by metering trunk lines, and thereby avoiding the micro-managing
of each individual customer. Health and privacy issues would be greatly muted.”
Dr. Battig further challenged the
utility company’s claim that the system was set up to benefit customers.
Dominion power needs tens of millions of dollars of additional “revenue
requirements” which will ultimately be paid by consumers. Virginia legislation
allows for “enhanced rates of return” on renewable energy projects. Customers
will pay via federal and state taxes by subsidizing these programs.
“Smart metering is promoted as
energy saving, and by implication, money saving for the average consumer.
However, legislation is in place to ensure that the power company does not lose
revenue. “Decoupling mechanism is a
legislated remedy already in place, and can lead to the situation wherein the
utility customer who responds to the call for less energy use, eventually pays
more for using less energy… use less, pay
more.” (Dr. Charles Battig)
The judge interrupted Dr. Battig
while he was making the point that FCC safety data on Smart Meters was not
accurate as it only addressed tissue damage. A 100-page report from SAGE
Associates of Santa Barbara, Ca, “Assessment of RF Microwave Radiation
Emissions for Smart Meters” released on January 1, 2011 provided evidence for
more health concerns in cellular mutation, cancer, and infertility.”
Dr. Battig asked the State
Corporation Commission several non-rhetorical questions that remained answered.
The three-panel regulatory commission remained silent while the twelve
attorneys were smiling.
Did the Commission review such
relevant documents, to safeguard the public in its approval process, when it
allowed Dominion Power to conduct its smart meter pilot program?
Did the Commission study the
different impacts on infants, the elderly, pacemakers, the addition of smart
meter RF energy to pre-existing electric field environment of the user, the
proximity of smart meters to the customer, or to customers who may live in a
multiple family residence with a bank of such meters next to their bedroom or
nursery?
Other citizens testified that
their consumption of energy has decreased but the electric bill has gone up 17
percent. Some took issue with the government control of our electric usage,
telling us what to do, deciding our needs, taking our freedom to decide away.
John Quinn, a World War II and
Korean War veteran, lamented with a lot of pain in his voice, “What is happening
to the United States to let a company do that to their citizens? Why are my
rights taken away? Why are they not removing these meters that are killing both
me and my wife?”
Freddy Boisseau was concerned
that, while temperature changes during peak demand are now voluntary, they may
not be voluntary in the future. His wife’s medical condition was exacerbated by
excessive heat.
Boisseau believed environmental
groups’ testimony was based on a global warming hoax. In his opinion, they have
lied, manipulated the data, and their computer models are flawed. He added that
contractors were interested in efficient home improvement at the expense of
other taxpayers through government grants. Environmentalists created this
problem based on lies, deception, limiting our energy generating ability, stealing
our property rights, individual rights, and ultimately controlling population
growth. “The environmental movement is green on the outside and red on the
inside.”
Sandi Brasili opposes Smart
Meters and Dominion’s expansion because our country is broke. She believes, we don’t have an energy
shortage, we have a manufactured crisis, part of the global warming hoax
currently under investigation by our own attorney general in Virginia She urged
the Commission to keep rates honest and not waste taxpayer dollars on building
improvements.
Jacqueline Whitmore believes that
most people do the right thing on their own. It is wrong to assume that people
need to be controlled or that they do not have any concern for the environment.
Given the high cost of food and gasoline, people monitor carefully their electricity
usage. Americans should be able to
decide how they want to spend their money.
The hearing concluded with many
disappointed Virginians who came to discuss the health dangers of smart meters
and the vulnerability of the Smart Grid. Instead, they heard canned lectures
from attorneys, Sierra Club, environmentalist groups, homebuilders, and
contractors with a huge stake in the crony payout about saving 10 percent in utility
bills by 2022, after spending billions of taxpayer dollars to retrofit homes that
would possibly reduce usage predicted on a computer model simulation.
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