Thelma Taormina keeps a pistol at her Houston-area home to
protect against intruders. But one of the last times she
used it, she said, was to run off a persistent utility
company worker who was trying to replace her old electricity
meter with a new digital unit.
“This is Texas.” she declared at a recent public hearing on
the new meters. “We have rights to choose what appliances we
want in our home.”
A nationwide effort to upgrade local power systems with
modern equipment has run into growing resistance in Texas,
where suspicion of government and fear of electronic
snooping have made a humble household device the center of a
politically charged showdown over personal liberty.
Some angry residents are building steel cages around their
electric meters, threatening installers who show up with new
ones and brandishing Texas flags at boisterous hearings
about the utility conversion. At a recent hearing at the
state Capitol in Austin, protesters insisted everyone
present recite the Pledge of Allegiance before the meeting
could begin.
“It’s Gestapo. You can’t do this,” said Shar Wall of
Houston, who attended the Public Utility Commission meeting
wearing a large red “Texas Conservative” pin. “I’m a redneck
Texas girl and I won’t put up with it.”
Utilities began replacing old-style electricity meters
across the country about seven years ago as part of an
effort to better manage demand on an increasingly strained
power grid. New “smart meters” transmit and receive data
remotely as electricity is used. Utility officials say they
can use the real-time information to help prevent grid
overloads during extreme temperatures. The devices would
also promote conservation, such as cycling air conditioners
on and off during peak demand periods.
In 2009, President Barack Obama devoted $3.5 billion in
federal stimulus funds to help utility companies make the
upgrade.
The conversion has triggered opposition in a number of
states. Some residents have questioned the health impact of
the radio waves the devices emit or the possibility that
hackers could get confidential data from the transmissions.
Officials have downplayed the hazards, but several states,
including California, Vermont, Maine and Nevada, have
allowed residents to opt out of the new system. In most
cases, residents would have to pay extra to have a utility
employee come to their house to read their old meter.
Texas utilities have installed nearly 6 million smart
meters, or 87 percent of their goal, since the state passed
authorizing legislation in 2005. But as the project moves
toward completion by 2016, the opposition is getting louder.
It also carries the distinct flavor of an ultraconservative
state that relishes its history as an independent republic
before joining the United States.
State utility commission hearings on the meters have
featured as many references to the Founding Fathers, the
Revolutionary War and the Constitution as to the technical
demands on the power system.
At a recent session, a staff presentation included a slide
saying the new meters “are not meant to spy on you.” Waiting
to testify, activist David Akin replied, “Yes they are!”
Some say the meters would allow the police or other
government agencies to tell when a person was awake and what
they were doing in violation of the Fourth Amendment.
“I’m not going to let somebody else control what I do in my
house,” said Ginger Russell, who recently replaced her “No
Smart Meters” sign with a steel cage around her home’s
analog meter in the East Texas town of Magnolia.
Those emphasizing privacy concerns cite a report issued by
the U.S. Department of Energy in January that said many
companies had not done enough to protect the smart meters
from hackers. Some studies have also added to the health
concerns. A branch of the World Health Organization last
year called radio-frequency radiation from cellphones,
utility meters and other devices a “possible carcinogen.”
However, the Federal Communications Commission has rated the
smart meters as safe, saying they are considered unlikely to
cause bodily tissue heating or electric shock. The radio
frequency radiation levels are much lower than those emitted
by cellphones, supporters say.
Utility commission officials say the security concerns are
being addressed and that the overwhelming majority of Texans
accept the new meters. The commission will consider this
fall whether to allow Texas residents to opt out.
“We believe this new technology is a direction that benefits
consumers from an energy efficiency standpoint,” said
Leticia Lowe, spokeswoman for CenterPoint Energy, which
serves the Houston area. She added, “We’re moving forward
with an industry that hadn’t changed in over 100 years.”
In the meantime, CenterPoint has directed its employees to
leave immediately when a resident rejects a smart meter. The
company says contract installers are encountering tough
resistance in some neighborhoods.
“We’re concerned about the safety of utility workers and
other public service personnel legitimately doing their
jobs,” said CenterPoint spokesman Floyd LeBlanc.
Taormina, 55, says she’s keeping her pistol handy just in
case. The first smart meter installer who came to her house
last summer wouldn’t leave until she got the weapon out, she
said.
“If someone comes on my property and assaults me – that’s
the idea of having a weapon is to equalize my little self
against somebody that’s bigger than me,” she said.
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