San Miguel Power Association

Alaimo: Smart Meters, Smart Questions - Ouray News

In the near future, San Miguel Power Association will be swapping out our old meters for new ‘smart meters’. The question was raised whether the resulting new radiation would make many people sick.

It is inappropriate to ask whether or not the new wireless radiation is harmful and to ask for proof that it is harmless - because there is no new wireless radiation being created. The wave is already there. SMPA is just adding a small (1 volt or so) wavelet to the larger 240V wave that already goes in and out of your home. SMPA will not have access to what appliances you use in your home only how much total power you use, and you can choose to ‘opt out’ of the program for a fee which, presumably, pays for the time the technician takes to come out to your place and read your meter the old fashioned way.


SMPA Responds to Member Concerns about Advanced Meters - San Miguel Power Association, Inc.

"Many of our members were concerned about radio frequencies or wireless transmission signals and the effect those might have on health. SMPA has been researching these different technologies for advanced meters for more than two years, and we've chosen a meter that does not utilize radio frequencies or wireless technologies," said SMPA General Manager Kevin Ritter. "It made better sense for us to use our power lines. It's the best type of technology for our service territory, and our meters won't introduce any new radio frequencies."

SMPA's advanced meters use a hard-wired technology called Two-Way Automatic Communication System (TWACS). This technology utilizes existing power lines to send and receive data such as meter readings. The meters located on member services will place data directly onto the existing 60 hertz voltage and current waves.

TWACS software and equipment is manufactured by Aclara, a company based in Missouri that specializes in improving the way utilities deliver energy. Utilities across the county, including other rural electric cooperatives, have been installing Aclara TWACS for more than twenty years.

Uproar Over SMPA Smart Meters - Telluride Watch

SMPA’s Manager of Member Services and Marketing Brad Zaporski started off with a Power Point presentation that directly countered McDonnell’s fears. To begin with, Zaporski said, “after two years of analysis, we have chosen the TWACS system of smart metering.” TWACS stands for Two-Way Automatic Communication System. “It’s not at all the same” as the Wi-Fi smart meter systems being contested in California. 

There are no radio waves at all, he said. “The measuring of your electric consumption is transmitted back to us, at the office, once a day over existing powerlines. There will be no more radiation emitted from the new meters than there was with the old analogue ones.”

It’s a proven technology, Zaporski said, that’s been around since the 1980s and is currently being used in 12 million meters in 42 states. He then put up a slide that showed the difference in radiation exposure from a typical microwave oven versus that from a TWACS smart meter. The microwave emits 500,000,000 (five hundred million) times the radiation the meter does.