Vermont Nearly Commandeered

In a recent letter to the Burlington Free Press, GMP CIO Brian Otley writes:

"Not all of our customers support the smart grid and smart meters, with some questioning the benefits the technology can deliver. Our experience during Sandy has shown that the smart grid in Vermont is delivering real benefits, even when it is still being constructed."

Vermont was very lucky to have avoided Sandy for the most part, but in areas all along the Atlantic coast, it is clear that even the smartest meter is no match for extreme weather. The country's power grid is often ignored, that is, until the lights go out. If one stops to notice how much electrical infrastructure exists today, it becomes obvious that we have built a system that is too massive to sustain. Moving forward, the challenge facing us is how to make the grid smarter by shrinking it and creating smaller, less-centralized grids. This will waste less power through transmissions losses, save trees from being cleared for rights-of-way, keep toxic herbicides out of the environment, reduce electromagnetic fields near homes and discourage people from taking electricity for granted. This may even require us to manually flip switches or read meters once in a while. In lower Manhattan, the practice of keeping backup generators in basements is being rethought. Other communities are now seriously considering the costly practice of burying transmission lines to avoid future damage during storms. What is obvious is that there is no single solution that will make the grid smarter. While smart meters have been subsidized by our ballooning national debt and glorified by deploying utilities, these one-size-fits-all devices are actually making the grid less stable and putting customers at risk of fire and experiencing health effects related to microwave sickness.

Right now you can still find normal background levels of radio frequencies in and around homes in towns like Woodstock and Thetford where GMP has inherited CVPS's older non-transmitting meters. Within the next couple months, all of Vermont will be covered with pulsed RF from these meters and the accompanying wireless backhaul network. People have already begun "waking up" to the serious threat to public health from wireless smart meters and other sources of chirped microwave radiation. Maybe you've noticed your sleep disrupted recently or feel abnormally anxious at home or work. Headaches, heart palpitations, tinnitus (ringing ears), dizziness, fatigue, tingling and numbness of the limbs have all been reported after installation of these meters, yet most who are being affected will never make the connection. If you are experiencing new, unexplained ailments but your doctor says you're fine, check your meter. If it's an Elster REX-2, call today and opt out. There is no charge.

Green Mountain Power has the benefit of numerous political connections who will likely remain convinced and contented that "it's just a little RF, no worse than a cell phone." Vermonters who realize they are being harmed by this ever-expanding wireless mesh network—even after they opt out—may find themselves trying to leave the place they know and love most.