Oral arguments in the Maine Coalition to Stop Smart Meters smart meter case will be heard this Thursday at Maine’s highest court, meeting in Bangor. The case challenges PUC approval of Central Maine Power’s switch from an electromechanical or analog opt out meter to a digital solid state smart meter without communication module but still creating power quality or dirty electricity issues because of the switch mode power supply necessary for the direct current [DC] device to run on the alternating current [AC] grid and to step down the voltage accordingly. Our original brief is attached in appealing the PUC decision.
The audio will be streamed live on the Judicial Branch’s website. https://www.courts.maine.gov/courts/sjc/arguments-stream.html
Audio will also be posted the Judicial site within a few days of the argument.
The argument is on the court’s schedule for 11:30 am. It will be by zoom only
Click to Download Brief of Maine Coalition to Stop Smart Meters
Case Summary
The Public Utilities Commission approved the request of Central Maine Power Company (CMP) to revise its terms and conditions relating to customers who opt out of using smart meters. The revised terms and conditions allow CMP to replace its electromechanical meters with solid-state meters that do not transmit data via radio waves.
The Maine Coalition to Stop Smart Meters appeals, arguing that the Commission erred by (1) relying on determinations by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that the levels of radiofrequency (RF) radiation that the solid-state meters emit (even though they do not transmit data) are safe and failing to give deference to a decision of a federal appeals court that held that the FCC must consider recent evidence that exposure to even low levels of RF radiation may cause negative health effects; and (2) disregarding the evidence before it that there is, in fact, a “growing body of substantial evidence . . . demonstrating a credible threat of harm from low level RF radiation,” especially to the environment and to people sensitive or vulnerable to the radiation.
