Smart Meter Fires - From A Property Claims Specialist

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Hello         ,

Thank you for your email. Let me state at the beginning that you can share this email with whomever you believe it would be beneficial to.

The major issues in moving forward in dealing with defective Smart Meters and Fires which result from their malfunction are as follows:

1. The fire departments investigating the fires need to have a category established in their incident reports to indicate a Smart Meter Malfunction should be considered. As it stands now, the cause is identified as electrical in nature, or cause cannot be identified.
2. The function of the responding utility companies needs to be changed. The fire departments which are in route to a fire scene will call the local utility company requesting they come to shut off the electricity, and gas. The utility companies will ask a matter of practice remove the Smart Meter from the loss scene and hold it safely in their vaults. The only way that an Insurance Company can get to the meter at the present time is to subpoena the meter for testing, and the subpoena cost money.
3. Finally, since I have been identified as the only Insurance Industry person speaking out against the Smart Meter debacle I can say that the Insurance Industry needs a change of heart and mind. I was told verbally, face to face, that the odds are still in favor of the Insurance Company. It is still Cheaper to pay the claim and subrogate against the utility company for recovery. However, as the Smart Meters age and the lithium batteries in them begin to wear out, leaking into the meter’s interior and going up in flames the balance sheet will tilt in favor of investigation. 
4. I can personally state that it took the company which I work for 18 months of letter writing and subpoenas to obtain the opportunity to perform Destructive testing on the meter that failed and caused the fire. Even then, the settlement was sealed and the final payment to be kept secret from even me. 
5. Insurance companies need to understand that the investigation of a claim involves determining the cause of the loss, and if that cause can be held responsible financially for the damages. If then takes the adjuster to a failed smart meter so be it. 

Respectfully,
Norman Lambe
Property Claim Specialist
Precision Risk Management, Inc.
For Century-National Insurance, Co.
714-228-7900 ext. 1159
nlambe@prmclaim.com

Image from HERE.

Image from HERE.

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Video and image from HERE.

"The Epic Saga of a Smart Meter Opt-Out"

FACT: Utility companies changed the equipment they had been using for about 100 years, installing "smart" and other transmitting electronic meters without customers/ratepayers knowledge or consent.

FACT: I've talked with nearly 100 people now who became ill after installation of pulsed radio-frequency radiation emitting meters. Some became deathly ill, and a few nearly died, but figured out the cause of their illness in time to mitigate or move away from their own home. This is only a small portion of the people in the world who have become ill after smart meters or transmitting meters were installed.

FACT: I've also spoken with people who have become sick after the supposedly non-transmitting or "radio-off" electronic "opt-out" meter was installed. Part of this may have to do with the "dirty electricity" some of the "new" meters create.

FACT: SOME utility companies "allow" us to PAY EXTRA to "opt-out" (of a program we never opted-into), though the safe "old" analog meter that doesn't emit radio-frequency radiation, and doesn't create dirty electricity is usually not an option.

FACT: Transmitting electronic meters usually pulse radio-frequency radiation (RFR) numerous times per minute all day, every day. Some experts argue that this type of continuously pulsed exposure (24/7/365) is more biologically damaging than a single exposure per day of the same accumulated duration.

FACT: No one, not the World Health Organization, not the American Cancer Society, and not the Federal Communications Commission, has EVER said that RFR is 100% safe. Because it's not.

FACT: I prefer to CHOOSE my possible carcinogens, and not have possible carcinogens forced upon me without my knowledge or consent. (Utility companies never gave us full disclosure of how these new meters operate before beginning installations.)

FACT: This radio-frequency radiation exposure is UNNECESSARY since analog meters (that do NOT emit radio-frequency radiation and do NOT create dirty electricity) are still available, and will be available for as long as there is a demand for them.

Some Supporting Information:

• Illinois woman arrested for refusing "smart" meter (Trying to protect her children from a class 2B carcinogen, she gets arrested.)
• Smart Meters: Countdown to a National Crisis of Illness and Death (It's not just electric utility companies installing transmitting meters.  Natural gas companies are installing them also, though they don't call them "smart".)
• Permeability of the blood-brain barrier induced by 915 MHz electromagnetic radiation, continuous wave and modulated at 8, 16, 50, and 200Hz  (Unless you understand the science 100%, you have no business saying transmitting meters are safe.)
• The precautionary principle (Something that is being totally ignored with "smart meter roll-out".)
• Analog utility meters  (If a utility company tells you analog meters are "obsolete" or no longer available, you can now tell them, "BS".)

New AMR ERT Public Utility Meters: Not-So Smart

New AMR ERT public utility meters (natural gas meters) are not called "smart meters," yet they do pulse microwave radiofrequency radiation, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, non-stop, just like so-called electric and water (AMI) "smart meters."  AMR meters also create what's called "electrical pollution" or "dirty electricity" that has been linked to adverse health effects.  

When we asked the Regional Operation Manager of SEMCO Energy (our natural gas provider) why the new AMR meters pulsed over 600 times per hour, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, he did not know.

When we asked him where the pulses transmit to, he did not know.  

And when we asked how SEMCO was getting around the State and Federal laws that prohibit a radio transmitting devise to be installed on private property without the property owner's knowledge and consent, he didn't know that either, but said he would check with their legal department and get back with us.  That was several weeks ago, and we still haven't heard back from him.

New AMR ERT natural gas utility meters destroyed my health, beginning with pain in my cell phone ear that I had not felt in about two years.  My symptoms did not stop there.  I experienced a plethora of odd and debilitating symptoms, until we shielded the meters, wrapping them in lead, and began turning off electric breakers at night, so to sleep in an environment of reduced electrical pollution.  Slowly, I've been reclaiming my health.

In Michigan, we are trying to get legislation passed that will give every utility customer the choice to keep safe and time-tested analog utility meters, without having to pay extra.  If you live in Michigan, please contact your State Representative and ask for their support of House Bill 4916.  Thank you!

This video shows how aphids react to microwaves from 14 miles away:

For more information, please see:

• Disease and the Age of Electrification
• Electrosensitivity | Canadians for Safe Technology
• Dirty Electricity and Disease (Video)

October 20th Battle Creek City Commission Meeting

Once again, I spoke about smart meters at the City Commission meeting.  Public comments are limited to only three minutes, so I try to pack the most amount of information in, which is why I don't go into much detail, but have posted the links to the studies I mentioned.  The video of the meeting is here, and I start speaking at about 74:37.  While the buzzer is still buzzing, the Mayor addresses the audience, though I finish my speech before the buzzer ends.  Below is a script of what I said:

My comment is regarding the new utility meters the City of Battle Creek Water Department, Consumers Energy, and SEMCO Energy have been installing on our homes, which utilize radio frequencies. The following two studies are from PubMed.gov, a website of biomedical literature: 

Electromagnetic hypersensitivity - an increasing challenge to the medical profession: Some people exposed to electromagnetic radiation, including the frequencies utilized by the new water meters, develop Electromagnetic hypersensitivity. While some cannot discriminate between an active radio frequency signal and placebo, others showed observable changes following exposure; reactions in the pupil, changes in heart rhythm, damage to red blood cells, and disturbed glucose metabolism in the brain.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26372109

Self-reporting of symptom development from exposure to radiofrequency fields of wireless smart meters in Victoria, Australia: a case series: Shows the most frequently reported symptoms to be insomnia, headaches, tinnitus, fatigue, cognitive disturbances, abnormal sensations, and dizziness, and pointed to the possibility that smart meters may have unique characteristics that lower people's threshold for symptom development.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25478801

Comments on the Draft Report by the California Council on Science & Technology “Health Impacts of Radio Frequency from Smart Meters,” by Daniel Hirsh, Nuclear Expert & Lecturer, University of California, Santa Cruz: Showing that smart meters produce between 50 & 160 times more cumulative whole body exposure than the cell phone.  http://www.committeetobridgethegap.org/pdf/110212_RFrad_comments.pdf

The fact remains that the new radio frequency smart utility meters have not been proven safe, yet evidence they cause harm continues to grow.

The fact is that we have not gone one generation using the level of wireless devices we are today, so we humans are the guinea pigs in this very first long-term study, with many of us already suffering the consequences of unproven to be safe technology. 

The fact is that the Water Department has been working on an “opt-out” program for over three months now. I can understand how it may be difficult to word an opt-out program for something that many of us were forced into in the first place. But the bottom line is, we just want them removed. 

Thank you for listening. May you all be blessed.

* 

Update: SEMCO Energy Gas Company

In response to my recent correspondence with them, SEMCO Energy Gas Company employees and/or representatives have shown total disregard for my health and how their new AMR (automatic read) equipment has been adversely affecting me, as evidenced by the letter we recently received from Cheryl K. Hachee in Consumer Affairs.  

Cheryl makes it clear that they don't use "smart meters."   They are now referring to their new AMR meters as, "encoder receiver transmitters," or ERT.  

The employees and representatives of SEMCO may not call their new meters smart meters, but they do pulse radiation (electromagnetic waves) 10.67 times per minute at 5.86 milliseconds per pulse.  That information I received "from the horse's mouth," David Williams, Regional Operation Manager, SEMCO Energy Gas Company.  

The fact that we have two of their new meters installed means that we are being pulsed over 21 times per minute.  Not a biggie if you're not electromagnetically hypersensitive (though electromagnetic radiation is cumulative, and adverse affects may not manifest immediately).

However, if you are electromagnetically hypersensitive, as I explained to David Williams on September 9, 2015, (the same email that Chery K. Hachee is now "in receipt of"), life can become extremely uncomfortable.  It appears that they don't care.

These new SEMCO AMR ERT meters were installed under false pretenses.  We were told by the installers basically the same thing that Cheryl states, that the new meters only "wake-up once a month."  Maybe they only "wake-up" once a month, but they also pulse 10.67 times per minute, and Cheryl did not deny this, nor any of the other things I stated in my September 9, 2015 email.  

Cheryl explains how this ERT (radiation pulsing technology) is "integral" to their metering and billing system, and is "required" to receive gas service.  And I say, Bullshit.  There are old 100% analog gas meters all throughout the city, and those customers are still receiving gas service.

Cheryl does not mention in her letter other comments I made in my September 9, 2015 email to David Williams, that she is in receipt of, regarding safety and health affects of their new meters:  

And regarding the information from the manufacturer that you sent.  It holds no weight, because it's from the manufacturer.  

The fact is that there are no independent, third-party, long-term tests done on these automated devices that PROVE they are safe, while more and more people, every day, are beginning to experience adverse effects from them, and more and more scientists and medical doctors are attesting to the ADVERSE biological and health effects from wireless devices such as the new utility meters. 

The fact is that there is an appeal in front of the World Health Organization, signed by over 200 scientists, based upon over 2,000 peer-reviewed and published studies.  The Appeal asks the WHO to reevaluate the guidelines based upon the over 2,000 studies that show adverse biological and health effects.  https://www.emfscientist.org/ 

There's also the BioInitiative 2012 Report, published by 29 authors, MDs, PhDs, and other professionals, that conclude that "bioeffects are clearly established."  http://www.bioinitiative.org/ 

I'm sure there are more studies and reports out there about the adverse health effects wireless devices like your new meters have on the human body, not to mention other animals, the birds, and the bees, if you want to keep digging.  There's several interesting talks Dr. George L. Carlo gives about the studies he was head of, that clearly proved adverse health effects from wireless devices, and what happened to him after he started reporting these findings.  The wireless industry has tried to discredit him for obvious reasons. 

Plus the fact that the new chairman of the FCC, Tom Wheeler, has been active in the wireless industry since the 1970's, and now he's in a position to regulate the very industry that has been his bread and butter for over 40 years, explains why the FCC refuses to reevaluate their standards and guidelines.  That's what's called the fox guarding the hen house.  Good for the fox.  Not so good for the hens.

When the only documentation that all of these utility companies have to share, when questioned about the safety of their new equipment, is propaganda from the manufacturer, in other words, from those who stand to profit from the sale of the new meters, is that not cause for concern?

In the meantime, we are looking into converting at least one of the buildings here into either 100% electric, or electric and propane, so that we can start with removing one of the AMR ERT 10.67 pulses per minute meters.

I did call the Michigan Public Service Commission today (1-800-292-9555), and complained to Ryan there of the adverse effects I am getting from SEMCO Energy's AMR ERT meters.  Ryan said that he would have to check with his boss because currently SEMCO doesn't offer an opt-out program.  All the more reason for Michigan to pass the Analog Choice Bill, that will allow all utility customers an analog meter (absolutely nothing wireless/radiation/pulsing about it) choice.

Here is a video of the kind of gas meters that are installed here, and it shows just how they pulse:

May We All Be Blessed!

*

If You Live In Michigan...

If you live in Michigan, the time to do something 

about your freedom of choice is now!

[Updated October 31, 2019: If you live in Michigan, please see THIS post.  Thank you!  As of today, we are working on getting new legislation for analog utility meter choice re-introduced.]

Utility companies in Michigan are installing wireless "Smart Meters" all across our state, sometimes without our knowledge and/or consent.  This is a violation of our fundamental property rights, yet they are getting away with it!

[Update: Some companies are saying that they do not utilize "smart meter" technology in their gas meters.  However, I have personally found that what they are are calling AMR - ERT (automatic read - encoder receiver transmitter) natural gas meters, extremely harmful to my health, eliciting many adverse symptoms.  When asked for proof that their devices are safe, they sent me propaganda from the manufacturer, those who stand to profit from the AMR - ERT devices.] 

Because I am sensitive to radio frequencies (found out in 2013 with a cell phone), this is very disturbing.  Not everyone is electrosensitive, but about 10% of the population have more adverse effects, while 35% have less adverse effects and may not even know they are being affected by radio frequencies.

There are lots of propaganda charts circulating that state smart meters emit only a fraction of the radiation of a cell phone. That statement is not proven and is being challenged by professionals.

The radiation from Smart Meters 

may be about 100 times that of cell phones...

This video of Daniel Hirsch, California radiation expert, and UCSD instructor, and this video of Professor Glenn Chase, faculty alum at USC, California State, Monterey Institute of International Studies and Naval Post-Graduate School, explains why the radiation from a Smart Meters is about 100 times that of a cell phone.

It's no wonder my "phone ear" started hurting again after SEMCO Energy lied to us three times in order to install two of their AMR meters here, meters that pulse over 10 times per minute, over 600 times per hour.

There are no studies proving the safety of smart meters, 

while evidence continues to surface 

saying they are not so safe.

When asked about the safety of smart meters, utility companies, including the City of Battle Creek Water Department and SEMCO Energy, send out propaganda from the manufacturer of the smart meters.  And now the City of Battle Creek Water Department admits that they are not in possession of any studies proving the safety of their new wireless water meters.

There are several other issues with Smart Meters.  Many are concerned about their safety because Smart Meters have been known to catch fire and/or explode.  

There was a house fire in Portage, MI, on Bellaire, where witnesses and the owner of the home explained that the new smart meter, installed only a few days prior, was the first thing they saw on fire.  However, the Fire Marshal ruled the smart meter out as the cause of the fire (which has been a common scenario when a fire starts after smart meter installation).

Smart metering is a hackable system and will put our privacy at risk.  (Analog meters are not hackable.)  Here's an article about how the FBI found "smart meter hacking surprisingly easy." 

Even if you're already called your representative in the past regarding electronic utility meters, they haven't heard from enough of us yet!  

We've had the old 100% analog meters for over 50 years with none of these concerns.  Why "fix" something that's not broken, with something that is unproven to be safe on many levels?

It's not too late to let your representative know how you feel, even if you already have an electronic and/or smart meter!

It took me about two minutes to call my Michigan State Representatives - Please do the same!

Find your Michigan State Representative here by using your address and zip code.  Call anytime, evenings or weekends if you just want to leave a message, yet still, have your voice heard.

Phone calls carry more weight than emails. If you want to write, call first, then follow-up in writing.

Our representatives are here to represent us, 

it's their job!

Always be respectful. Here's what you can say:

• Hello, my name is ___________, and I'm one of your constituents / I live in (city / county). 
• I'm calling about the no-fee Analog Utility Meter Choice Bill now in the Energy Policy Committee. 
• I want you to support this legislation that will protect my property rights and give me a safe and reliable analog meter choice. 
• Also, please speak to your colleagues in the Energy Policy Committee and encourage them to support this Bill, because it's for The People. 
• Thank you! 

It's very simple to do, and our State Representatives need to hear from us in order to know how we feel.

Please let me know if you have any questions or need help finding your state representative, I'd be happy to help you!

Time is of the essence! Please make that call now!

Thank you and bless you!