The Editor,
On Oct. 11, I represented a delegation to the Richmond City Council seeking council's help to call for a moratorium on BC Hydro's wireless Smart Meters.
This was after the Union of BC Municipalities and many other city councils had voted for a similar moratorium.
Richmond is the first city in B.C. (along with Prince George) to have received mandatory installation of smart meters.
Thousands of new meters are forced onto residents' homes every week.
People have objected to smart meters on the grounds of invasion of privacy, overbilling, health concerns from electromagnetic radiation, inconsistencies in BC Hydro's data on safety, the lack of oversight and independent assessment over this $1-billion expensive project, and the deprivation of citizens' democratic right to opt out.
A large volume of information has been sent to council to substantiate our request and 50 supporting citizens attended the Oct. 11 meeting.
Unfortunately, instead of making a timely decision, our mayor and councillors decided to table this issue to staff report, meaning: doing nothing to protect our safety and democratic right.
Since Oct. 11, another four city councils have adopted resolutions to protect residents from the ill effects of smart meters, bringing to a total of 23 city councils that have adopted similar actions.
As of Oct. 28, California's utilities company PG&E has started offering analogue meters back to people because of severe complaints on health effects from wireless meters.
Over-billing has also been rampant in American cities where smart meters have been rolled out, to the point of class-action lawsuits being launched by citizens.
Why would our council think that a delay is beneficial to Richmond residents?
What are they are waiting for? Directives from the B.C. Liberal government?
Do our elected officials account to the people or to the provincial politicians?
Michelle Khong
Richmond
