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Are Smart Meters Dangerous? Facts and Evidence

If you have considered installing smart meters in your New York City property as part of Con Edison’s five-million-meter initiative in 2021, you may have had people push back, saying they’re dangerous. To put your mind at ease and to quell any anxiety on the topic from others, including your tenants, Bolt Electric has put together some vital information about smart meters. You’ll be able to make the best choice for your building once you have the smart meters facts you need.

What Are Smart Meters?

A more convenient way to measure energy consumption

Smart meters are electric meters that send data to the utility company, rather than having to be read by a representative from Con Edison. While smart meters are recently gaining ground in the United States and used in over 90 million households, they have been used in Europe successfully for a while now.

Property owners, tenants, and electric utilities like smart meters for a number of reasons:

• They free up utility company representatives, who have millions of meters to read, for other tasks. This makes it easier to get a representative for other needs.
• No one needs to be home to provide access for a physical meter reading at the property like with current meters. You don’t have to miss work or worry about Con Edison being locked out.
• Customers and the electric company get near real-time data about power use, making estimated bills a thing of the past and letting consumers modify their electricity consumption as needed to save energy and money.
• Solar panel users connect more easily with the grid, making selling power back to the city easier.
• Power loss is reported immediately to the electric company, so you don’t have to wonder if someone has phoned in a report during a blackout. The electric company knows exactly where the outage is located, so they can determine whether it’s a regional, city, neighborhood, or building issue that needs fixing and act accordingly.
• Electrical power can be restored more quickly after outages, again with less manpower required. This is advantageous if your business relies on electrical power or if you’re a homeowner concerned about heat or spoiled food.
• Smart meters are easy to pair with apps for other smart home management to make life easier for building occupants.
• Property owner or tenant account transfers are accomplished with less hassle when buildings or units change hands.
• Installation in New York City is quick, and power only needs to be interrupted briefly. Property owners are sent notice 45 days before installation and need to do nothing unless they need to provide access to a locked area.

How Do Smart Meters Work?

Brief radiofrequency signals

Smart meters “talk” to the computers at the electric utility to send information about electricity consumption and power outages. To do this, smart meters use radiofrequency (RF) transmissions, similar to the way cell phones communicate. It is the RF signals that concern some people. However, they don’t understand the science behind this technology.

Are Smart Meters Dangerous?

Concerns about RF signals and data privacy

Some folks are concerned about the radiofrequency signals emitted by smart electric meters. This is because high amounts of RF exposure have been linked to cancer.

However, these meters are nearly always installed outside or at least at some distance from the occupants of the property. Distance, plus walls in between humans and meters, reduces the exposure to a negligible level.

Furthermore, the amount of RF exposure smart meter users receive is far less than other devices that also use radiofrequency transmissions, particularly cell phones and baby monitors. Mobile devices and baby monitors are used in close proximity to humans – much closer than smart meters. So if you’re comfortable with these items, you should rest assured that smart meters are safe as well.

No studies have been done on the possible cancerous effects of smart meters because it would be impossible to tell if any bodily harm came from the meters or from other commonly used devices emitting RF signals. However, smart electric meters have been examined to see if they interfere with pacemakers and pacemaker/defibrillators, and they were deemed perfectly safe. Therefore, groups like the FCC (Federal Communications Commission), the American Cancer Society, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the National Cancer Institute, and the World Health Organization (WHO) have all signed off on smart meters as being safe when installed and used properly.

Finally, New York City dwellers shouldn’t be concerned about privacy either. Con Edison will continue to use its standard privacy protocols to protect users’ personal and financial data. The only information collected will remain related to electricity usage and bill payment.

Should You Install Smart Meters in Your Property?

Enjoy the convenience and savings with safety

At present, New York City property owners have the choice of opting out of smart meter installation under most circumstances. However, building owners are obligated to allow smart meters to be installed if Con Edison representatives aren’t able to gain access to a property for four consecutive bimonthly meter readings with the old-style meters.

At Bolt Electric, we recommend smart meters to our clients all the time because of their ease, safety, and ability to help regulate energy use. If your building isn’t already submetered to provide individual meters for each unit, your smart meter installation is the perfect time to take care of this. We’re happy to come out and consult with you in advance to answer your questions and show how both can save you money as a property owner.

You can call us at 212-434-0098, or use our online form to schedule an appointment at your convenience. Smart technology is the wave of the future in many regards for New York City building owners! Why not embrace it now and use it to your advantage to improve your property management and attract premium tenants?