Michigan residents link Smart Meters to medical problems, testify in front of legislative committee
LANSING, MI – Georgetta Livingstone, of Clarkston, has been living for months without electricity, showering at a neighbor's house and driving to Kroger to use the toilet.When winter got too cold, she started operating a generator to keep her house heated past 30 degrees. She's been threatened with legal action from her homeowners association but says the generator is the only way to live without the smart meter her provider, DTE Energy, wanted her to have.
"The doctors don't know what it is," she says of a rash that once covered 90 percent of her body.
Michigan utility companies are deploying "smart meters," which the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) describes as advanced meters that send readings to a person's utility company automatically, eliminating the need for meter readers and resulting in more accurate billing.
But advocates at a meeting of the House Oversight Committee, chaired by Rep. Tom McMillin, R-Rochester Hills, said the meters cause health problems and privacy issues.
Dominic and Lillian Cusimano didn't even know they had a smart meter at a secondary home until Lillian started getting flu-like symptoms in 2012, Dominic Cusimano said.
"To make a long story short, we were talking to somebody at a Christmas party at the end of 2012 and they said 'I bet you got a smart meter installed at your house,'" Dominic Cusimano said.
Lillian Cusimano said her doctor understood and has diagnosed her with a sensitivity to electromagnetic frequency. The couple is currently in a lawsuit over replacing their own meter.
Bob Sitkauskas of DTE Energy said the company has an opt-out program, but it comes at an additional cost and the other option is still digital, not an analog meter. However, it doesn't communicate a customer's usage wirelessly to the utility company.
Sitkauskas testified that the company had not yet shut off people for refusing smart meters, but had shut off people who installed their own analog meters instead of using the company's meters. In addition, they've sent out letters warning of shut-offs for noncompliance.
"If the situation prevails, it's gonna be a shut off," Sitkauskas said.
The company hasn't purchased analog meters since 2007 and would have trouble finding them through a major supplier, Sitkauskas said.
Lisa DeLacy of Consumer Energy's smart energy program said that for the most part, customers where smart meters have been deployed are reacting favorably.
"Satisfaction levels have grown in Muskegon, Zeeland and Grand Rapids and our customers are now 50 percent more likely to recommend our company to family and friends," DeLacy said.
McMillin said the issue was that since there wasn't a free market for utility services in Michigan, people didn't have an option to go with a company that would give them an analog meter.
"That's why we're here, again, is you're a monopoly," he told Consumers Energy. He also used the word in questioning DTE Energy.
The MPSC, which regulates utilities in the state, held hearings on the meters. However, McMillin said he wanted them to come because he's heard from citizens they were not allowed to air some of their concerns.
MPSC Legislative Liaison Mike Byrne said that the commission got more than 400 public comments and released a report on the meters. The meters comply with health and safety standards and are a more accurate form of metering, he said.
McMillin asked if it was an OK outcome for a person with a working analog meter to have their power shut off for not allowing a smart meter to be installed.
"That utility is within their rights," Byrne said.
West Bloomfield Township Supervisor Michele Economou Ureste said her own family was having problems with the smart meter, including her children.
"In my opinion this health and safety issue is the most important issue in Lansing," Economou Ureste said.
McMillin's is the sponsor of HB 4315, a bill that directly addresses smart meters. However, that bill was not up in committee on Tuesday. It's been stalled in the House Committee on Energy and Technology since February of 2013.
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