Energy and Climate Change CommitteeWritten evidence submitted by Eleanor Chandler (SMR60)

I write as a member of the public who is very concerned about health issues and who takes very seriously my responsibility for my own health.

I am particularly concerned about the proliferation of electromagnetic frequencies in the environment, not only for the health of human beings but also for the whole ecology of the natural environment. This sustains human life and without the network of natural resources which we plunder daily without counting the cost, the human race would become extinct, like many other species in this age of mass extinctions. One major factor in this is the pollution by, and proliferation of, EMFs. This has been shown in many scientific studies.

Personally I do not use WiFi in my home, I make sure not to live near a mobile phone mast, I do not have a mobile phone or even a cordless DECT phone, and I absolutely refuse to have a smart meter in my home. In addition if a smart meter were fitted to a neighbouring property and I find that my health is adversely affected by it, I would be suing not only the company that fitted it, but also the government for allowing it and actively encouraging it.

I understand that I will have the choice as to whether a smart meter is fitted to my utility supplies, and it needs to be made clear that if I move to a property which has already had one fitted I will have the choice to have it removed.

Smart meters will benefit no one but the utility companies. I already monitor my own use of gas, electricity and water by reading my own meters on a regular basis. I have greatly reduced my own energy use and can vouch that the use of smart meters are totally unnecessary for the purposes of monitoring. The utility companies already know very well at which times of the day there is higher use of energy, and to monitor every household is not only unnecessary but an invasion of privacy.

In addition, the enormous cost of this proposed roll-out of smart meters would of course fall on the shoulders of the public who are already suffering massively in the course of the continuing economic downturn. I resent hugely the possibility of ending up having to pay for the cost of the proposed smart meters despite that fact that I will not have one in my own home.

The cost is not only an economic one, there would also be a huge toll taken on the natural world in terms of carbon emissions as a result of the energy embodied in the manufacture of smart meters. This cost MUST be taken into account when estimating the overall costs of this proposal, in addition to the costs of polluting the environment, in ways which have already been shown in numerous scientific studies.

Any system which depends upon the use of WiFi is far more vulnerable to terrorist attack, and could result in huge system failure and power cuts throughout the country.

February 2013