Utility-issued 'smart' meters explode on 5,000 homes after truck rams utility pole

(NaturalNews) Thousands of California residents were left without power recently after their so-called "smart" meters exploded due to an unexpected power surge. According to CBS Sacramento, more than 5,000 homes in the Stockton area were left with blackened, charred, and completely destroyed smart meters after a dump truck crashed into a nearby utility pole, pulling the static line down onto the distribution line.

When the two lines intersect, stated PG&E spokeswoman Brandi Ehlers to the media, the resultant surge causes a major overload to the system. And when smart meters are involved, this overload can cause the meters themselves to pop and literally blow up, potentially causing a fire or other property damage not typically caused by traditional analog meters.

"The top lines are considered our freeways," explained Ehlers. "The bottom lines are our distribution lines taking power directly to homes. So when the two collide, they're at different voltages and the higher voltage wins out, causing an overload."

Do you have a smart meter? Report problems with it to the Consumer Products Safety Commission

But this doesn't explain why the overload caused the meters to explode which, again, doesn't happen with traditional analog meters. All around the world, people with smart meters are reporting fires, explosions, electrical problems, and even burned out appliances as a result of smart meter installations, and yet utilities continue to install them without their customers' consent.

"The neighbor across the street, his meter doesn't look as bad but his receptacles are all blackened," admitted Brad Abernathy, one of the Stockton smart meter victims, about the harrowing experience in California.

The EMF Safety Network is calling on people with smart meters to report their experiences, including any health and safety risks they've observed since smart meter installation, to the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission. You can submit your smart meter complaint by:

Phone: (800) 638-2772
Online: www.saferproducts.gov

Here's how to get rid of your smart meter, or avoid having one installed if you still have an analog meter

On the EMF Safety Network website, you can peruse story after story of fires, explosions, and deaths associated with the use of smart meters. These apparently untested devices, which we've previously reported pulse electromagnetic radiation into the walls of the homes to which they're attached, are being installed without people's consent, and without any true guarantee of safety.

"One thing that has been revealed by people who've tracked 'smart' meter pulses: They are highly variable," explains the site Stop Smart Meters! "Other descriptors: Unpredictable, random, very erratic, and even bizarre. One EMF consultant has told us that it is impossible to extract meaningful conclusions about the fields created by the pulses."

Among the many health effects documented in conjunction with smart meters are chronic fatigue, difficulty sleeping, leg cramps, headaches, learning problems, and more. A 2011 study published in the International Journal of Neuroscience also explains how the same kind of electromagnetic radiation emitted from smart meters can trigger novel neurological disease.

More on the harmful EMF signals emitted by smart meters is available here:
http://stopsmartmeters.org

Smart meters may also allow your utility company, the local government, and possibly even federal authorities to monitor your utility usage based on the extensive data they collect about electricity usage.

As far as what you can do to avoid having a smart meter installed on your home -- or what to do if one has already been installed without your informed consent -- the EMF Safety Network recommends taking the following steps:

1) Contact your power utility directly and instruct them not to install a smart meter. If one has already been installed, order them to remove it and put back on the analog meter.

2) Contrary to popular belief, smart meters aren't mandated by the federal government, and federal law requires that power utilities provide customers with "a time-based meter" that supports "a time-based rate," upon request.

3) Attach a signed refusal notice to your analog meter saying you don't consent to having a smart meter installed.

4) If you already have a smart meter, complain to your Public Utilities Commission or utility oversight board.

These and other tips and instructions are available at the EMF Safety Network:
http://emfsafetynetwork.org/action-now/

Sources:

http://sacramento.cbslocal.com

http://emfsafetynetwork.org

www.saferproducts.gov

http://stopsmartmeters.org

http://emfsafetynetwork.org

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

http://news.discovery.com

http://emfsafetynetwork.org