SUBHEAD: Open letter to Hawaii PUC concerning KIUC request to charge fees for Smart Meter Opt out.
By Ray Songtree on 12 October 2013 in Island Breath -
(http://islandbreath.blogspot.com/2013/10/kiuc-puc-opt-out-charge.html)
Image above: Illustration by David Dees of privacy invasion by smart-meters linking to what goes in your home. From (http://www.a-w-i-p.com/index.php/2013/08/08/washington-thinks-you-are-stupid).
Dear PUC Administrators,
My name is Ray Songtree. I've lived on Kauai for twenty years now. I am age 60 with a 7 year old daughter. I've worked with my hands all my life and am now finishing a book on globalization.
As I understand it, two years ago KIUC had five meter readers that serviced roughly 30,000 meters. The budget of KIUC in last two years hasn't deleted these positions and now we don't need to hire new people to do 1/10th of the work, that is, service only 3000 original "opt out" meters.
If KIUC needs $336,000/year to service 3000 meters, does that mean they needed $3,360,000 two years ago to service 30,000 meters?
Did they save millions of dollars since putting in some new hardware???
Of course not. Their proposed new fee is absurd and unfair.
(As a side note to how crooked our KIUC is, they are suggesting that a new supervisor will be needed to watch over the new meter reader and new collection rep for the 3000 opt-out meters, as if this protocol hasn't been going on continuously for 10 years. And this supervisor will need a salary of $47,000! --- "FTE Supervisor @25% or 0.25 FTE Total Annual Incremental Labor Costs $47,655." --- They are saying they need someone getting $200,000 a year to spend two hours every day supervising two other people! Does that sound like responsible prudent management? It does not to us!)
We, who don't want the new smart meters, are not getting any new service. Our old meter reader service and billing service never stopped from two years ago. So why a new charge? The meter reader never stopped working! They don't need to be rehired or retrained..
Also, KIUC will never be able to prove that those with 'smart meters' are saving any money. It is reverse. "Smart" meter users are using expensive meters that will need replacing every 5 years, and expensive infrastructure that also will need upgrading constantly in a salty air environment. These smart meter users will also be responsible for many liability issues and insurance to cover these issues, notably insurance against lawsuits for health and privacy.
The insurance policies are designed to protect KIUC against accidents, not against lawsuits from it's own members. The health lawsuits will probably bankrupt KIUC and that is why the insurance companies will balk. But then the members won't sue themselves, so the Board Members will probably be isolated and lose everything they have. We who opted-out won't be responsible for any of this liability because we opted-out. So how in the world, should those who opt-out of all these expenses, need to pay more? Do you think any court would side against us?
This proposed $54 switch back charge and $10.27 monthly charge is all about punishing we opt-out folks for not conforming. It is a dishonest scam. PUC can just look at the nickels and dimes of my argument and see something dishonest is being pushed, and as you well know, we have a history of this with KIUC, beginning with the way it was created in the buy out of Kauai Electric.
Let's not forget the same attorney, now retired David Proudfoot, who represented "his clients" against the people of Kauai, stayed at KIUC for ten years to create the non-transparent and secretive corporate culture there, so that unlike State sunshine laws, we are kept in the dark. We have never even got to see the exact terms of the Federal Grant! We can't even record public Board meetings!
Why? Because Proudfoot trained the Board to be afraid of it's own members because Proudfoot was hiding something, and KIUC was built on that secrecy. The big secret Proudfoot was hiding was that the Coop principles are lip service, just "aspirations" in his words. The big secret is KIUC, as now structured, is not a transparent, member run coop. Every impediment to real participation has been put in place to keep knowledge and decisions secretive and centralized.
We are organizing a petition now for a special meeting to question the Board proposal to you for this charge. It is in our coop charter, and is the most important, and in fact ONLY, check and balance tool we as members have to use. Please do not sabotage this. We are already contemplating hiring an attorney to sue PUC if you deprive us of this check and balance action in running our own coop.
And we will design the lawsuit to seek relief for damages. I am not being belligerent here, I'm just saying, if PUC does not respect the checks and balances built into our coop laws and jumps the gun and overrides us, we will protect our rights and you will pay. You can regard this letter then as a legal notice. Please cease and desist.
Now, back to a more congenial tone.... We now have experts on Kauai regarding the lack of wisdom of smart grid. We welcome you to come to Kauai and talk to us. We welcome you. We can educate you, as it is a convoluted story which began almost a century ago with the Technocracy movement. It is a global program that has zero to do with market demand. It is about control, not service. It has nothing to do with being Green. That was just an advertising gimmick.
Globalists who want centralization and control then use industry, who is blind to anything except their own bottom line. The story of smart grid is confused by industry advertising campaigns that includes misstating many facts, so that basic knowledge sounds very different than what people would be concerned about, if it was stated in another way. That is, the risks have been erased by double speak and subterfuge.
We have experts here now, and in a day long clinic can bring any of you up to speed on what is going on globally with smart meters and the technology. Please note, the world is waking up. I-phones are giving people headaches. People are noticing. There are smart meter and EMF awareness groups in every country now, and in the US, in every state and large city, and we are connected and on fire. We aren't going away. We are spreading real research.
We have better EMF reading instruments than KIUC does, and know more about it. EMF dangers are increasing. Autism and many metabolic diseases are increasing. We won't go away. We care about our kids and grand kids. We know about organizations like (www.bioinitiative.org)
Dear, Administrators... Please note that Germany is now saying Smart Grid is NOT cost effective.
--- State Secretary Kapferer:
In my opinion, PUC needs to be on right side of history or you will be on wrong side.
I do think you should consider this German statement very seriously and rethink your support of Smart Grid. KIUC made a mistake in accepting this grant. The Board could actually sue the Feds for providing propaganda instead of downside risk disclosures. But the Board and CEO were bought off is the sad truth. The funds from Grant help them pay themselves outrageous salaries and benefits NOT befitting a small island community. Flying to DC stroked the ego of someone who should have known better. But he is not a local. He really has never arrived.
Activists here warned the CEO and Board of KIUC two years ago. The warning was straight up, in newspapers, in front of County Council, at Board meetings.
The truth has energy. Not electric energy, but spiritual energy. And people are attracted to the energy of the truth. That is why 10% have opted out and I promise, a lot more will when they see the petition. You might know that over 4,000 people marched to protest the chemical company GMO research practices here last month. I'm sure you remember how KIUC spent our money to fund their side of the FERC issue in the ballot the petitioners brought about (!), and this pissed off a lot of people. Well all those people will come on board with this new petition. We all know each other here. This isn't Honolulu. I promise this smart meter issue is just getting warmed up. I wouldn't get burnt if I were you.
Three-thousand households here on Kauai did not opt out because of irrational fear, but because they studied the facts and could see KIUC never had studied the facts and still has no interest in the facts.
With respect and support,
Ray Songtree
.
By Ray Songtree on 12 October 2013 in Island Breath -
(http://islandbreath.blogspot.com/2013/10/kiuc-puc-opt-out-charge.html)
Image above: Illustration by David Dees of privacy invasion by smart-meters linking to what goes in your home. From (http://www.a-w-i-p.com/index.php/2013/08/08/washington-thinks-you-are-stupid).
Dear PUC Administrators,
My name is Ray Songtree. I've lived on Kauai for twenty years now. I am age 60 with a 7 year old daughter. I've worked with my hands all my life and am now finishing a book on globalization.
As I understand it, two years ago KIUC had five meter readers that serviced roughly 30,000 meters. The budget of KIUC in last two years hasn't deleted these positions and now we don't need to hire new people to do 1/10th of the work, that is, service only 3000 original "opt out" meters.
If KIUC needs $336,000/year to service 3000 meters, does that mean they needed $3,360,000 two years ago to service 30,000 meters?
Did they save millions of dollars since putting in some new hardware???
Of course not. Their proposed new fee is absurd and unfair.
(As a side note to how crooked our KIUC is, they are suggesting that a new supervisor will be needed to watch over the new meter reader and new collection rep for the 3000 opt-out meters, as if this protocol hasn't been going on continuously for 10 years. And this supervisor will need a salary of $47,000! --- "FTE Supervisor @25% or 0.25 FTE Total Annual Incremental Labor Costs $47,655." --- They are saying they need someone getting $200,000 a year to spend two hours every day supervising two other people! Does that sound like responsible prudent management? It does not to us!)
We, who don't want the new smart meters, are not getting any new service. Our old meter reader service and billing service never stopped from two years ago. So why a new charge? The meter reader never stopped working! They don't need to be rehired or retrained..
Also, KIUC will never be able to prove that those with 'smart meters' are saving any money. It is reverse. "Smart" meter users are using expensive meters that will need replacing every 5 years, and expensive infrastructure that also will need upgrading constantly in a salty air environment. These smart meter users will also be responsible for many liability issues and insurance to cover these issues, notably insurance against lawsuits for health and privacy.
The insurance policies are designed to protect KIUC against accidents, not against lawsuits from it's own members. The health lawsuits will probably bankrupt KIUC and that is why the insurance companies will balk. But then the members won't sue themselves, so the Board Members will probably be isolated and lose everything they have. We who opted-out won't be responsible for any of this liability because we opted-out. So how in the world, should those who opt-out of all these expenses, need to pay more? Do you think any court would side against us?
This proposed $54 switch back charge and $10.27 monthly charge is all about punishing we opt-out folks for not conforming. It is a dishonest scam. PUC can just look at the nickels and dimes of my argument and see something dishonest is being pushed, and as you well know, we have a history of this with KIUC, beginning with the way it was created in the buy out of Kauai Electric.
Let's not forget the same attorney, now retired David Proudfoot, who represented "his clients" against the people of Kauai, stayed at KIUC for ten years to create the non-transparent and secretive corporate culture there, so that unlike State sunshine laws, we are kept in the dark. We have never even got to see the exact terms of the Federal Grant! We can't even record public Board meetings!
Why? Because Proudfoot trained the Board to be afraid of it's own members because Proudfoot was hiding something, and KIUC was built on that secrecy. The big secret Proudfoot was hiding was that the Coop principles are lip service, just "aspirations" in his words. The big secret is KIUC, as now structured, is not a transparent, member run coop. Every impediment to real participation has been put in place to keep knowledge and decisions secretive and centralized.
We are organizing a petition now for a special meeting to question the Board proposal to you for this charge. It is in our coop charter, and is the most important, and in fact ONLY, check and balance tool we as members have to use. Please do not sabotage this. We are already contemplating hiring an attorney to sue PUC if you deprive us of this check and balance action in running our own coop.
And we will design the lawsuit to seek relief for damages. I am not being belligerent here, I'm just saying, if PUC does not respect the checks and balances built into our coop laws and jumps the gun and overrides us, we will protect our rights and you will pay. You can regard this letter then as a legal notice. Please cease and desist.
Now, back to a more congenial tone.... We now have experts on Kauai regarding the lack of wisdom of smart grid. We welcome you to come to Kauai and talk to us. We welcome you. We can educate you, as it is a convoluted story which began almost a century ago with the Technocracy movement. It is a global program that has zero to do with market demand. It is about control, not service. It has nothing to do with being Green. That was just an advertising gimmick.
Globalists who want centralization and control then use industry, who is blind to anything except their own bottom line. The story of smart grid is confused by industry advertising campaigns that includes misstating many facts, so that basic knowledge sounds very different than what people would be concerned about, if it was stated in another way. That is, the risks have been erased by double speak and subterfuge.
We have experts here now, and in a day long clinic can bring any of you up to speed on what is going on globally with smart meters and the technology. Please note, the world is waking up. I-phones are giving people headaches. People are noticing. There are smart meter and EMF awareness groups in every country now, and in the US, in every state and large city, and we are connected and on fire. We aren't going away. We are spreading real research.
We have better EMF reading instruments than KIUC does, and know more about it. EMF dangers are increasing. Autism and many metabolic diseases are increasing. We won't go away. We care about our kids and grand kids. We know about organizations like (www.bioinitiative.org)
Dear, Administrators... Please note that Germany is now saying Smart Grid is NOT cost effective.
--- State Secretary Kapferer:
"The findings show that we in Germany need to design our roll-out of smart metering systems in a targeted fashion which meets the needs of our energy reforms; generalised approaches are unsuitable.
We are now reviewing whether the study's recommendations can be implemented. We have set up a working group with the Federal Network Agency on the financing mechanism to clarify the possibility of building them into our system. The main principle here is to keep energy affordable for the consumer."
The study shows that the costs of a smart metering system clearly exceed the average potential savings for final consumers with low annual consumption levels. It would therefore be disproportionate and economically unreasonable to require all consumers to install such meters."See (http://www.bmwi.de/EN/Press/press-releases,did=588354.html)
In my opinion, PUC needs to be on right side of history or you will be on wrong side.
I do think you should consider this German statement very seriously and rethink your support of Smart Grid. KIUC made a mistake in accepting this grant. The Board could actually sue the Feds for providing propaganda instead of downside risk disclosures. But the Board and CEO were bought off is the sad truth. The funds from Grant help them pay themselves outrageous salaries and benefits NOT befitting a small island community. Flying to DC stroked the ego of someone who should have known better. But he is not a local. He really has never arrived.
Activists here warned the CEO and Board of KIUC two years ago. The warning was straight up, in newspapers, in front of County Council, at Board meetings.
The truth has energy. Not electric energy, but spiritual energy. And people are attracted to the energy of the truth. That is why 10% have opted out and I promise, a lot more will when they see the petition. You might know that over 4,000 people marched to protest the chemical company GMO research practices here last month. I'm sure you remember how KIUC spent our money to fund their side of the FERC issue in the ballot the petitioners brought about (!), and this pissed off a lot of people. Well all those people will come on board with this new petition. We all know each other here. This isn't Honolulu. I promise this smart meter issue is just getting warmed up. I wouldn't get burnt if I were you.
Three-thousand households here on Kauai did not opt out because of irrational fear, but because they studied the facts and could see KIUC never had studied the facts and still has no interest in the facts.
With respect and support,
Ray Songtree
.
1 comment :
I have been criticized for being too sharp with my words. Actually I toned this down. I accept the criticism. Perhaps I am not expressive in the best way. Ray
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