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Community Corner

PG&E Threatens to Shut Off Power to Anti-SmartMeter Customer's Home

A mother of two had her SmartMeter removed after she and her children suffered headaches and other symptoms.

Pacific Gas and Electric promptly responded to Live Oak resident Bianca Carn's decision to return her SmartMeter with a threat to turn off her power on Thursday.

According to Carn, a Live Oak resident, she was told by PG&E Public Relations Director Lavern Mitchell that she would receive a letter within days instructing her to have the wireless meter reinstalled or face disconnection in 24 hours.

"They said, 'We will come back and replace your SmartMeter if you want or we will turn off your power,'" Carn said. "I [wonder] if I am being picked on because I am fairly new to the movement, so they think they can bully me."

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Carn is the first person that Scotts Valley resident and Stop SmartMeters Director Josh Hart has heard of to suffer these consequences for the act of resisting the controversial program.

She was one of nearly a dozen local residents that after having electricians disconnect them and put analog meters in their place on Wednesday. Some customers said they had purchased analog meters for $50 from electric supply stores in the area where they are still widely available.

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Because of the recent removal of analog meters, anti-SmartMeter activist Jeff Nordhal said that he bought dozens of them online for $10 a piece.

Carn is seeking legal advice to help her fight PG&E's decision. Hart told her that going off the grid is always an option. However, Carn has two children, and one with health needs that require probiotic supplements that must be refrigerated, so reliable energy to keep the products from spoiling is crucial.

Her children were also a large motivation to have the SmartMeter removed.

"The meter is right outside their window, and my daughter began suffering from headaches shortly after it was installed," she said. "Now that it's gone, she has been fine."

PG&E representatives are forming an opt-out plan for the program, but it won't call for removing previously installed meters. Carn said that had she known that, she would have attempted to declined the SmartMeter in the first place.

“I never received an opt-out form and I was never given an option," she said. "My life would have been a lot easier.”

A PG&E spokesman has not yet responded to requests for a comment on the situation.

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