Dear Mayor, Council members, City Manager,

There has been lots of confusion whether there are (smart) automated meters installed by APS in Sedona, or not. After doing some homework, here are my findings.

There are two kinds of meters installed by APS in Sedona.

First, are the analog meters with numerical dials. It is the default meter everybody used to have. It is mechanical and has no electronic parts. This meter is time tested over the past 20 years.analog It is accurate and safe. This meter does not generate harmonics (dirty electricity), because it does not have a power switching mode supply, or SMPS for short. Analog meters do not run on electricity and there is no port for meter reading. Read-outs are done from reading the dials.

The second type is the automated meter with digital read-outs. The manufacturer is Itron and there are two models. The Centron used residentially and the Sentinel for commercial and industrial applications. Neither one of these meters is UL certified.

Here are the pictures of the Itron models. The first one is the Centron. Notice that there are no dials, just digital read out. This digital meter is capable of tracking your electricity usage by the time of day. This meter uses electricity to run and has a battery for backup data storage. This meter contains electronic parts, as well as a port for meter reading. Reading of this meter will include usage and time of usage, etc.

This meter has a ‘power switching mode supply’ (SMPS). Its function is to ‘step down’ the 240v alternating current (AC) coming in from the utility pole power lines to the 2 to 10 volts of direct current (DC) required to run the meter’s digital electronics, which record the electricity usage data. The SMPS function emits millisecond bursts of sharp spikes constantly around the clock. It is well known that SMPS can generate spikes of so-called electromagnetic interference (EMI), or high frequency transients which then travel along the wiring in the walls, radiating outward in the wiring’s electromagnetic field. Such spikes are known as ‘dirty electricity’ and can be conducted to a human body that is within the range of the radiating field.

The Itron automated meters consume electricity and even when no appliance is in use, you will still be charged for the electricity consumed by the meter itself. Sentinel If all else are equal, customers with an Itron meter will be consuming more, and thus paying for a higher energy bill. Instead of saving energy, they are consuming more energy. Any damages or loss resulted from any electronic devices that not UL certified and mounted on our buildings will not be covered by our homeowner’s insurance.

Now seeing the difference between the analog and the automated meters, are the Itron meters “smart meters”?

According to APS, they are not.

What about according to Itron, the manufacturer?

Here is the link to Itron’s site about these meters. https://www.itron.com/na/productsAndServices/Pages/CENTRON.aspx?market=electricity

Here are the “features and benefits” listed on Itron’s site.

“When you deploy the CENTRON meter, you can:

Deploy a metering platform that will be ready for an automatic meter reading (AMR) system.

When you are ready to deploy an AMR system, the CENTRON meter’s flexible format allows the communication functions to be installed without disturbing the finely-tuned metrology. Options are available for network communications, PLC and an array of radio frequency (RF) protocols Adapt meters easily and cost-effectively to meet the needs of your customers. The modular architecture of the CENTRON meter allows new snap-in personality modules to be installed in the meter without disturbing the finely calibrated metrology board in the lower, measurement portion of the meter. Optional snap-in personality modules include demand, time-of-use (TOU), load profile and various communication protocol options.

So yes, these Itron meters installed in Sedona are not yet automated ‘smart’ meters technically, but they all can, and will, become automated ‘smart’ meters when APS is ready.

The snap-in modules will easily and cost-effectively upgrade all these “automated” digital meters in Sedona as smart meters with RF protocols.

The only true non-automated meter is the analog meter – the only safe option without RF, without dirty electricity, without the fire hazard, without interference with medical devices and electronic appliances. This is the only meter people all over the nation are asking to keep when they opt-out. This is the only meter that does not have any harmful health effect.

If we don’t stop the deployment of the Itron meter in its track, Sedona will have smart meters when APS is ready.

In point of fact, they have already been putting these meters in every neighborhood around town.

If Mayor Bloomberg of New York City can ban ‘super-sized’ soda, we can ban automated meters in Sedona.

Fifty seven cities and counties in California have opposed automated meters in California. Many people have since become ill (as in electromagnetically hypersensitive, or EMF sensitive) when the automated meters were installed. Nationally, 15 – 20% of the population is EMF sensitive.

In California, anyone who is EMF sensitive and opts out is allowed to have an analog meter, because even the automated meter without an antenna will make them sick.

According to Dr. Andrew Goldsworthy, a retired lecturer at Imperial College London, ‘smart’ meters may cause autism and cancer (see attached paper). Currently, one out of every 80-150 births results in a diagnosis of autism.

The WHO classified radio freuqency radiation (RFR) as a class 2B carcinogen in May, 2011. This is typically emitted by wireless devices, such as cell phones, cordless phones, WiFi routers, wireless digital smart meters and all wireless transmitters. Many nations of the world are recommending precaution, to avoid hazardous exposure conditions and protect health. APS still claims in their literature updated June 2012 that WHO has concluded no known health effects with RFR. This is fraudulent and an out right lie.

APS is telling the City that they won’t be deploying smart automated meters in Sedona until 2013. With APS’ track record of truth telling, will the City be ready to stop their deployment if the utility changes its mind and decide to start activating these Itron meters next month? Because the Itron is not considered a fully functional automated ‘smart’ meter, APS does not even need to notify any of its customers that it is deploying their meters. Our analog meter at our commercial building in West Sedona was switched to an Itron Sentinel without any notice. By the time APS is ready to notify us of its deployment, no analog meters will remain in Sedona.

The only chance we have to prevent this fiasco from occurring is happening NOW, before APS flips the switch. Please put “automated meters” on your “urgent to do list.”

We do not have to reinvent the wheel, there are already legal documents drafted by various cities in California banning these meters. The best written one is the one from the City of Fairfax. Here is the link. http://www.town-of-fairfax.org/pdfs/council/council_packet/SmartMeter/Motion%20to%20Delay%20Deployment%20with%20Attach%20043012.pdf
And here is their latest ordinance #765 http://www.town-of-fairfax.org/pdfs/council/council_packet/2012/052412/Item%203%20Ordinance%20Extending%20SmartMeter%20Moratorium.pdf

October 4th 2012 is the National Day of Action Against Smart Meters. I invite the City of Sedona to join in and start seeing the truth of what APS is doing in Sedona.say no There are overwhelming concerns among local Sedonans with the pending deployment of automated meters. Just look at the volume of correspondence and requests from all of us asking the City to do something to protect and preserve our beloved city you have received over the past year. Did you receive any request from anyone in Sedona asking to have a smart meter?

It is our goal to be able to keep our analog meters both residential and commercial. The City of Fairfax did it and we can do it, too. Mayor Bloomberg did it with “supersized” soda for public health reasons, we believe our mayor is equally capable to accomplishing a similar feat by banning “automated’ aka ‘digital’ meters. This will make Sedona a safe haven for those who are sensitive to RF, as well as increase everyone’s property values.

Sincerely,

Monnie Ramsell

cc Elizabeth Kelley M.A.
Director, Electromagnetic Safety Alliance, Inc.

Curtis Bennett, Chief Science Officer, Interprovincial Journeyman Electrician (Red Seal), Engineering Technologist issued the attached letter dated September 24, 2012 to the City Council of Naperville, Illinois and Naperville Fire Department. He has recommended that this be shared with the City of Sedona and our Fire Department. Therefore, I am including the City Clerk so that she may transmit this message to the Fire Chief.

Chief among his comments regarding the missing critical data is concerned with the rest of the wireless radiation; relays, routers and cell towers radiating within a circuit, not being considered in the initial equation regarding the safety of ‘smart’ meters.

Bennett says, “Oncor in Texas stated routers are covering 5 square miles and collectors covering 125 square miles. That makes the frequencies illegal as applied and creates a biological killing field while radiating all buildings, as well as infrastructure.”

You may or may not recall that I recently sent you a video of aphids located 14 miles away from one radar beam. Every time the radar scanned the area where they were located, the aphids jerked uncontrollably. Here’s a refresher for you if you missed it.

“If aphids can react to the microwaves from a distant radar, how do human cells react to even closer microwaves from cell phones and towers and WiFi, ‘Smart’ power meters, CFLs, digital phones, baby monitors, microwave ovens, etc.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=018C2oG2Rcs&feature=channel&list=UL

· Imagine, hundreds of square miles bathed with these pulsating frequencies simply to communicate with ‘Smart’ devices to create a wireless grid.

Please protect us from this threat.

Sincerely,

Nancy Baer
Sedona, AZ 86336