Page 9 - the NOISE March 2015

Dear Reader
At the top of this year, this magazine published a 5-page report on the health con- cerns surrounding the wireless smart Meter (and its contribution to the concentra- tion of electromagnetic Frequencies in the domestic environment), the 5-member regulatory agency that is the Arizona Corporation Commission (who has consistently approved electricity rate increases these past 4 years), and those members’ relation to the for-profit electric monopoly, Arizona Public service (APs) / Pinnacle west.
As an editorial decision, we wished to gain insight from each of these respective institutions, as our series of articles covered the lesser-reported side of this conten- tious debate — as we wrote only of the effects, emotions, and findings of fact from citizens throughout the region.
Realizing we — as a nonprofit publication founded in Arizona at the beginning of this millennia — are not only a de-facto financial contributor to both the Corporation Commission (with our 15 years of annual report fees & other miscellaneous filing charg- es) and APs (the collective payment history of our writers, artists & sponsors is in excess of 3,000 years), we thought we might have better luck than a single individual making a phone call to customer service.
And since our previous attempts telephonically & via email failed to achieve a re- sponse, we wanted to allow for the benefit of the doubt —phone messages do some- times get lost in the shuffle of a busy office decor, electronic mail may not necessarily be the most reliable — and opted to send our questions via the one institution granted the authority to discern fraud & given its charge by the American Constitution: the Us Post Office.
so we bucked up, bought the Certified Restricted-Delivery signature-Required Return-Receipt postage for $12.87, packaged a copy of our January edition in a large manila envelope along with a letter, which not only requested sincere comment to our reports, but asked these questions:
In the past year, how many times (and over what duration) have you met — ei- ther personally or with the rest of the Commission — with representatives from Ari- zona Public Service?
During that same period of time, how many times have you met — either person- ally or as a group — with individuals who have concerns over the safety of wireless smart meters?
During your deliberation December 12 to impose a fee on customers who choose to retain analog meters, did you consider the de-facto rate increase & the estimated $1.2 million additional annual income for APS?
Do you, or anyone in your family, own shares of Pinnacle West? Have you ever had any financial interest, or have you received any financial benefits from Pinnacle West or its affiliates?
The Certified Mail Receipt is dated 2/17/2015; the date of this writing is 2/25/2015; we have yet to receive our return receipt or a response from the three Commissioners we wrote to: Bob Burns, Bob Stump, or Susan Bitter-Smith. All three have sworn an oath to the people of Arizona, receive their salaries from our public treasury, and are charged with being the one board balancing utility interests & the pocketbooks of ratepayers. even during the “Great Recession” that began in 2008 and caused many Arizonans to lose their homes & regular incomes, each of these Commissioners has voted in favor of increas- ing electricity rates at least 3 times in recent memory.
However, the ACC is one part of the equation. To the CeO of APs/Pinnacle west, David Brandt, who received millions in bonuses last year as his company surpassed revenue ex- pectations while eliminating hundreds of middle class jobs yet continues to ask for more from ratepayers, we’d like to also ask:
Do you have a response to longtime APS customers who have suffered measurable harm from the unsolicited installation of an electromagnetic device by your company?
Are you aware the electromagnetic device found within a wireless Smart Meter your company installed without solicitation from current ratepayers adds to the concentration of frequencies found within a household, business & neighborhood?
According to documentation obtained at the Corporation Commission, 22,000 customers have called your customer service line to have the wireless Smart Meter removed from their business or residence before December 12. Internal estimates since that time now bring that number to 36,000. Can you verify the number, to date, of customers who have called to remove the wireless Smart Meter?
If that number of “opt out” customers is correct, it represents 3% of current APS customers. For insurance companies to initiate a recall investigation of vehicles from an automaker, they require a 5% fault record. As these numbers are nearly compara- ble, what would it take for APS to begin considering a recall of wireless smart meters?
It is our hope these entities will join this conversation, and enlighten us, evermore.
Charles Seiverd, PUB.
SEND US YOUR BEEF! 333 words (more or less)
post to:
the NOISE
c/o Letters Editor
POB 1637
Flagstaff, Arizona 86002
or email: editor@thenoise.us
NORTHERN ARIZONA’S MONTHLY
FEBRUARY 17, 2015 LETTER TO ARIZONA CORPORATION COMMISSIONERS STUMP, BURNS, & BITTER-SMITH
a publication of Weavel Inc, an Arizona 501c3 nonprofit organization
Dear Mr. Burns,
Last year, we attempted to gain comment from you & your colleagues via email about the Smart Meter debate, to no avail. So please forgive the formality in this certified letter to gain your thoughtful response.
In our January edition, we published a fifive-page narrative on the Commission’s meeting held in early December which ultimately resulted in a $5 monthly increase (plus an initial “setup charge”) for regular APS customers who wish to retain an analog meter, rather than allow APS to install a wireless smart meter— a device considered “not likely to harm” by the ADHS, yet also considered by many domestic & international public entities as an unnecessary addition to the pervasive milieu of electromagnetic frequencies found within a home or business.
In our upcoming edition, we would like to print your answers to the questions below, and aim to continue a public conversation over regulatory issues our readers have voiced interest in.
First, after perusing the enclosed copy, would you care to comment about any of the narrative found on pages 8-11?
In the past year, how many times (and over what duration) have you met — either personally or with the rest of the Commission — with representatives from Arizona Public Service?
During that same period of time, how many times have you met — either personally or as a group — with individuals who have concerns over the safety of wireless smart meters?
During your deliberation December 12 to impose a fee on customers who choose to retain analog meters, did you consider the de-facto rate increase & the estimated $1.2 million additional annual revenue for APS?
Do you, or anyone in your family, own shares of Pinnacle West? Have you ever had any fififinancial interest, or have you received any financial benefits from Pinnacle West or its affiliates?
I would be glad to ask you these questions in person, if that would be more efficient, and would be happy to accommodate any schedule request from your office.
I thank you in advance for your thoughtful consideration. Sincerely,
Charles Seiverd, Publisher
charles@thenoise.us
POB 1637 • Flagstaff, Arizona 86002 • 928/634-5001
Dear Editor,
I’m writing to you as a kindergarten teacher of 12 years. I am deeply concerned with the $13.5 million in proposed budget cuts to the 2016 state education budget. This would take $135 from each student in Arizona.
This does not make any sense considering that Proposition 100 generated $900 million a year for three years. Proposition 100 was voted overwhelmingly by the people in this state to give this money to education. Governor Jan Brewer stated Proposition 100 had
“done its job,” yet from 2010 to the present, the education budget has diminished. Gov. Brewer even said there was a $700 million surplus, yet none of these funds have gone to education.
The national school Board Association, and many others, sued the superintendant of Public Instruction to get these moneys back. The politics in this state have gone from bad to worse. The money that we the people voted to go toward education, assuming this would raise our education to at least the national average — did not happen. Raising this $2.7 billion from this 1¢ tax increase allowed Brewer, then-state Treasurer Doug Ducey, and then-superintendant Huppenthal to take the money & put it somewhere else, never increasing our bar for education, which we’ve all voted for.
Despite voting for politicians who say they’re for education, voting for proposals to give our public moneys to education, repeatedly our civil servants are legislating money away from students & teachers, not to mention the lunch lady & the bus driver.
so when, after doing all the things the common person can do to bring more money to our schools, when do we get the pitchforks?
signed,
Justina Richardson
Dear Justina —
sincerely
Thank you for your letter, and realizing the mass protest at the State Capitol on the day of an unusual statewide communications failure on the 25th of February, we’ll do our best to investigate your concerns in an upcoming edition. — ED.
thenoise.us • the NOISE arts & news • MARCH 2015 • 9