NewsHour Friday July 20

How Smart Are Smart Meters? - PBS NewsHour

For the past few years, activists of various stripes -- environmentalists, liberals, some tea party folks, and others -- have been protesting the installation of smart meters in Northern California and elsewhere.

The controversy is over what else the smart meters do. Do they send out electromagnetic waves of such intensity that they can cause health problems? Do they penetrate walls of a house with their signals? Do they rob utility users of their privacy, by letting the company know when the customer is using power and perhaps what for? Do they really save energy, as the utility claims, or do they burn more energy, as the protestors allege?

Watch Activists Want Smart Meters Gone, Say They're Bad for Health on PBS. See more from PBS NewsHour.