Smart Meters: Are They Safe?

These new meters are designed to log and send your power usage data to the utility for billing and other purposes. We’ve done a little research and learned how they work.

According to BC Hydro, your meter transmits 3 times each 24 hrs. The transmissions are short bursts of low-power radio, like a cell phone, remote car lock, wireless doorbell, etc. It transmits to a cellphone system where it’s relayed to the utility. The duration of the transmission is about a tenth of a second. Below are links to some primary information on this subject.

We had a call from a client in Saanich who reported high-pitched sounds in her apartment, a 1970’s 40-unit, 4 story wood constructed building. Her place was on the ground floor. We looked and listened and were unable to hear anything or discover anything that would account for this. We do not use any instruments for this beyond a stethescope, just our 5 senses. I then looked out in the hallway and found that the next door down from her place was marked with a Hydro logo.

We got the key and when we loooked inside we found that every smart meter in the building was directly on the other side of a 2×6 wall from her bedroom. Furthermore, the head of her bed was against this common wall. The result was, I believe this client did indeed somehow sense the radio frequency from the smart meters. We advised her to move her bed to the other end of the room. I do not know how it worked out for her, but she appreciated our discovery which helped her understand the circumstances.

Links to some primary information about Smart Meters.

Learn about the safety of smart meters from Health Canada 

BC Hydro Smart Meter Radio Signal Analysis Findings Report