Page 10 - the NOISE APril 2013

Ihave been investigating so-called “smart” return, and it’s no wonder the APS CEO power plant — is lying! any public service corporation, or the methods
electric meters for the last two years. I poked around utility company Arizona Public Service and the state agency charged with regulating APS, the Arizona Corporation Commission. The experience has reminded me of the wooden deck at my house. The more I poked, the more I found rot I never knew existed.
In case you don’t know, a “smart” electric meter is a digital meter with cell phone technology. This enables two- way communication between the meter and electric company. “Smart” meters are capable of reporting your electrical usage to the company almost as soon as you’ve used it.
APS has been replacing the old mechanical analog meters (with the spinning wheel) with “smart” meters. Most of the APS service area has been switched out except for a few places like Sedona and Payson. Many claims have been made as to why these new meters are better but I have found all these claims to be lies.
“CAPitAl inveStment” SCAm
One of the main claims is that because the meters communicate via radio transmissions, APS will save on “truck rolls” and on having to employ meter readers. But did anyone notice that APS still charges a “meter reading fee” to customers with “smart” meters? APS justifies this by saying they still have “infrastructure costs” associated with meter reading — a lame excuse for sure but there’s also a whole host of things that APS has not said.
For one thing, APS is allowed by the ACC to make back their initial expense on “capital investments” (such as “smart” meter installations) plus 8-10%. So not only does APS have a perverse economic incentive to install “smart” meters in the first place, APS is also able to make money twice, once on the “capital investment” and again on the “infrastructure costs.”
APS’s $1.86 meter reading fee might not seem like much but do the math. With 1.1 million customers, APS makes over $2 million per month just on this scam alone. Add in the previously mentioned 8-10% guaranteed
makes $5.66 million per year. But wait — there’s more!
Your own PerSonAl Cell tower
APS has easement to your property for a meter. They do not have easement for microwave radio networking equipment which is what the new meters really are.
Suppose AT&T or Verizon wanted to install a cell tower on your property. Wouldn’t you expect compensation? Wouldn’t you expect them to at least ask permission first?
APS dismisses this by saying that the meters only broadcast for a second or two once every 15 minutes and an additional 14 times per day — so what’s the fuss?
In addition to having private property used and taken without permission or compensation — which is trespass and theft — the fuss is this: APS is lying about how often and how strongly their “smart” meters broadcast.
I bought an HF35C microwave analyzer and spent 6 days measuring the microwave broadcasts of APS “smart” meters throughout Arizona. I found that APS “smart” meters were broadcasting once every minute or two, and at strengths greater than what I measured coming off cell towers — cell towers, not cell phones.
Having a “smart” meter is like having your own personal cell tower broadcasting at your house 24/7/365. Some people with “smart” meters have already become sick from the microwave overexposure received. Having their own personal cell tower in addition to the wireless microwave environment in which all of us already live has proved more than some can withstand.
ComPlete regulAtorY fAilure & nobodY CAreS
I presented my finding that APS was lying to the ACC, the Arizona Attorney General, the Governor, all state legislators, the Residential Utility Consumer Office, and 47 newspapers and TV stations in the APS service area. Nobody cares that the state’s largest utility — the same utility entrusted to run a nuclear
Two small papers have picked up my story. And this magazine asked me to write this article. What we are witnessing is complete regulatory failure.
I’ll leave it to you to decide if APS advertising money has anything to with the lack of media response. I’ll leave it to you to decide if APS parent company Pinnacle West’s generous political donations have anything to do with politicians’ lack of response.
Ancillary unanswered questions are: Why should a regulated public monopoly have to advertise in the first place? Why should a regulated public monopoly be allowed to influence elections?
ACC CAn’t define “meter”!
Recently I was told by a staff member at the ACC that they could not regulate meters because they could not legally define what a meter was. The staffer said it was up to the legislature to define “meter.” He put on a great telephone performance and was very convincing, even as outrageous as his claim was.
Astonished by this news, I was also curious enough to phone one of the representatives of my legislative district, brenda barton, to get her opinion on what seemed like a new and bizarre legislative power. Representative Barton seemed intrigued by the news. She said she would be meeting with an ACC commissioner soon, would find out what’s up and get back to me.
Ms. Barton never did. Despite probably more than a dozen follow-ups from me — by email, phone and even snail-mail over the course of at least a month — Ms. Barton never got back to me like she said she would.
Suspicious, I checked followthemoney. org to see who was financing Ms. Barton. Pinnacle West, the APS parent company, is Ms. Barton’s most generous campaign donor.
Anyway, there’s just one problem with the ACC’s blatant evasion of their responsibility to regulate meters, the Law.
ArS 40-321.A states:
“When the commission finds that the
equipment, appliances, facilities or service of
of manufacture, distribution, transmission, storage or supply employed by it, are unjust, unreasonable, unsafe, improper, inadequate or insufficient, the commission shall determine what is just, reasonable, safe, proper, adequate or sufficient, and shall enforce its determination by order or regulation.”
PAttern of lAwleSSneSS At the ACC
This not the first time I have noticed the ACC ignoring the law. They have also violated AAC Section r14-3-107, “Filing and service of formal documents.”
There is a docket at the ACC (#E-00000C-11-0328) to which citizens can post information about “smart” meters. The docket is important as a repository of information because in any future lawsuits commissioners can be sued as individuals if it can be proved they had prior knowledge upon which they did not act.
I found the ACC was not following proper procedure. In short, the ACC was picking and choosing what to post. Interestingly, one of the things they chose not to post was my finding that APS had lied about “smart” meter broadcasts.
The ACC has also broken a rule they voted for in 2007 which was that “...both the benefits and the costs of Advanced Metering and Communications [“smart” meters] should be considered ....”
ACC – lAwbreAkerS with imPunitY
I filed a couple complaints regarding the ACC violations with the civil rights division of the Arizona Attorney General’s office. They replied saying they only get involved in fair housing or ADA type violations. In fact, they said they actually represent state agencies like the ACC so could not represent me. I asked what I was supposed to do. They suggested I sue the ACC. So I am supposed to spend my own money to bring suit against lawbreakers who then get to defend themselves with my tax money!
I tried the uS department of Justice. I received the same response from three different people there, including the FBI.
10 • APRIL 2013 • the NOISE arts & news • thenoise.us
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