Understanding Smart Meters
Utility companies are rolling out smart meter technology across the country in an effort to bring the benefits of a modernized electric grid to consumers. But when you type “smart meters” into a search engine in an effort to learn more, you’ll get over 26 million results. It’s obvious that with that much access to pages and pages of information, it’s easy to have a misunderstanding of this technology which can lead to concerns. So let’s dive right in and get smart about smart meters.
A smart meter is an electronic device that records consumption of electric energy, but it also may measure natural gas or water consumption. They are measured in intervals of an hour or less and communicate that information at least daily back to the utility for monitoring and billing purposes. Traditional electrical and gas meters only measure total consumption, and so provide no information of when the energy was consumed at each metered site. Smart meters provide a way of measuring this site-specific information, allowing price setting agencies to introduce different prices for consumption based on the time of day and the season.
Are There Risks?
Some groups have expressed concerns regarding the health, fire risk and privacy effects of smart meters and the remote controllable “kill switch” that is included with most of them. Many of these concerns regard wireless-only smart meters with no home energy monitoring or control or safety features.
Most health concerns about the meters arise from the pulsed radio frequency (RF) radiation emitted by wireless smart meters. An in-depth review of the scientific literature by the World Health Organization (WHO) revealed that the small amount of RF energy produced by smart meters is not harmful to human health and actually, the RF emitted by smart meters is well below the limits set by Federal Communications Commission and is also below levels produced by other common household devices like cell phones, baby monitors, satellite TVs, and microwaves. In fact, you would have to be exposed to the RF from a smart meter for 375 years to get a dose equivalent to that of one year of 15-minutes-per-day cell phone use.
Smart meters must meet safety requirements and standards spelled out in the National Electric Safety Code (NESC). Issues in the past surrounding smart meters overheating and causing fires have been reported, particularly involving a particular manufacturer (Sensus), which were replaced. Public service commissions do require independent certification proving that smart meters are safe and show resistance to heat, fire, voltages, surges and self-heating.
Concerns regarding privacy have also been expressed, but the reality is that smart meters measure how much energy you use (based on time of day) not how you use that energy. Unless you install a home energy management system, smart meters cannot tell whether the energy used is for your oven, air conditioner, or hairdryer.
The topic of smart meters has been in debate over the past couple years, so when making your mind up, use common sense and do your research.