Smart meter resisters cuffed at home

Do these people look like criminals?

The two ladies on the left were arrested in their own homes yesterday, for refusing to accept the installation of a new “smart meter” – a device which remotely reads your meter, and also tells the Utility company what appliances you are running and how often you switch them on. Its tantamount to a spy-in-the-home and we at www.off-grid.net forecast this scenario almost a year ago https://www.off-grid.net/2012/05/09/smart-meter-backlash/

In an assault on the arresstees human rights that’s sure to draw national attention, Naperville Smart Meter Awareness President Kim Bendis and board member Jennifer Stahl were dragged from their own backyards and arrested by police in Naperville, Illinois ( 30 minutes west of Chicago) after they tried to block installation of the city’s new smart meters.

The chains on their homes were cut, and the new meters were fitted against their will. It is a sign that the power companies have got together with the politicians and law enforcement to ensure the national grid has a higher priority than the wishes of individual consumers.

For a long time now the Naperville Smart Meter Awareness folks have been using the public forum portion of City Council meetings, to argue their case to council members and city staffers.

They have also filed a federal lawsuit against the city, and done everything they could to derail the smart grid project.This caused a great deal of resentment, fanned by the Utility company spinners and the local media such as the Naperville Sun, which appears to be in the pocket of the Utility company,a regular advertiser.

The city’s offer is that the homeowners that get city electric service from the city-owned electric utility have one of three choices. They can accept the new wireless meters, which the majority of residents have done, or they can pay extra to have a non-wireless meter which would require meter readers to visit their homes, or they will have their power cut off in the winter.

Those who resist the new technology must pay a fine of $68 for a different non-wireless meter as an installation charge and then $25 per month for meter reading)

Even the smart grid cheerleaders at the Naperville Sun admit that “the city could have given the recalcitrant few who have dug in their heels until the summer to figure out their electricity options and avoided the specter of a “mom” being handcuffed on television news.”

Even their opponents agree it is not acceptable for utility workers accompanied by police to go to the house of someone who refuses to have a wireless meter and to cut through a locked fence in order to install one.

The controversy surrounding the use of PG&E’s smart meter technology remains extremely contentious.

PG&E has already installed more than 5 million smart gas and electric meters in the United States, with all 10 million customers expected to receive the new meters over the next two years.

Naperville Smart Meter Awareness Advisory Board:

Bill Eagan, CPA, Accountant, Civic Leader

Michael Costello, Degreed Power Engineer and Precinct Committeeman

John Groll, Commercial Real Estate Broker, Business Owner

Pauline Harding MD, Family Practitioner in private practice

Scott Musser, AARP Associate State Director

Jeff Perkins, Patent Attorney, former Electrical Engineer for the U.S. Department of Energy and ComEd

Naperville Smart Meter Awareness Partnering Organizations:

EMR Policy Institute, Vermont: Janet Newton, President

Stop Smart Meters, California: Josh Hart, President

Center for Safer Wireless, Virginia, Maryland, D.C.: Christine Hoch, Executive Director

Arizonans for Safer Utility Infrastructure, Tucson, Arizon: Elizabeth “Libby” Kelley

www.WhyFry.org – New Mexico: Felicia Trujillo ND, GNP-C

Warriors 4 American Revolution – Michigan: John & Pauline Holeton (January 2012: 11 resolutions, 4 morartoriums against Smart Meter installations)

Coalition for Health Against Smart Meters (CHASM) – Florida: Debbie Rubin and Setphanie Austin

Smart Meter Matrix – Florida

Decatur Smart Meter Awareness – Decatur, IL: Tim Wortman

Decatur Tea Party – Decatur, IL: Pam Johnson

Huntley Tea Party – Huntley, IL: Bill Broderick and Meg Mulhall

Tri-Count-Teas – DuPage, Kane and Cook County, IL: Rick Newton

Stop Smart Meters Georgia – Georgia

Stop Smart Meters Australia: Australia

Citizens for Safe Technology: British Columbia, Canada: Una St. Clair

Coalition to Stop Smart Meters: British Columbia, Canada: Sharon Noble

Colorado Citizens Smart Meter Awareness: Colorado

Nevada Constitutional Alliance: Nevada

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