Posted on 07/19/2012 3:41:33 PM PDT by Rennes Templar
A woman in Texas says she tried to be polite when she told the man from the power company that she didn't want to have her old electric meter replaced with a new "smart" meter. But when he refused to listen to her, she grabbed her gun.
The woman tells Houston's KHOU that she placed herself between the installer and her old meter but, "He just kept pushing me away."
That's when she showed him her handgun.
"He saw it, and went back the other way," she tells KHOU.
The homeowner says she is not comfortable with the amount of information smart meters transmit back to the power company.
"Our constitution allows us not to have that kind of intrusion on our personal privacy," she explains. "They’ll be able to tell if you are running your computer, air conditioner, whatever it is."
The woman still has her old meter and she and her husband have posted warning signs declaring "No Smart Meters Are to Be Installed On This Property," but CenterPoint, the power company that attempted to install the meter says it will persist in its efforts.
"We are deeply troubled by anyone who would pull a gun on another person performing their job," reads a statement from the company. "CenterPoint will be taking additional steps – including court actions – because what happened is dangerous, illegal and unwarranted."
KHOU reports that CenterPoint Energy already installed around 2 million smart meters in the area, but the local Public Utilities Commission is now weighing the possibility of allowing homeowners to have the new meters removed.
I think Powerage is their best album, even though it didn’t have any radio staples on it...but it’s their most solid effort from start to finish, just balls out rock and roll all the way through.
“Having said that, like most others here, I LOVE HER!!! She will be taking the arrows for millions of us who don’t want a criminal record attached to our names.”
I agree. It’s just time someone stood up to them.
I think this sort of action will be happening more and more in other areas of unnecessary intrusion.
Not good enough. The guy ALWAYS had to come out and read the meter, the cost is already built into today's rates (not to say that it would still be built in five years from now after three more rounds of rate hearings). If they want to save themselves money and just accidentally spy on you, and the only alternative to them spying on you is to reimburse them for the money they would have saved, then let them come up with a meter that can be PROVEN to be incapable of doing nothing more than totalizing usage and reporting one monthly total. THEN it would be OK to force people to take them or pay the meter reader, and not before. The utility is the one that tried to tie the semi-legitimate cost issue to the outrageously ILlegitimate spyware issue, the other party shouldn't be the one to suffer from the linkage of the two. Let the utility expend the cost and effort to separate the two issues and defend them separately.
Speaking of ignorance, if you reread the article you'll see it's not health concerns that motivated her but the (very real) fear of improper leakage of personal electricity usage information that she's concerned about.
They were automated calls. I talked to supervisors at about three different sites. They all kept pointing the fingers at some other department. I finally got it cleared up. *Crosses fingers*
But not the right to push her aside. It is vital to note that she did not reveal the weapon until the installer "kept pushing her out of the way," i.e. physically assaulting her.
If a power company employee manhandles me on my property, I'll ruin his day if I can. And it won't involve a lawyer.
I too am approaching 50, and I too see dueling as not the smartest concept I ever heard of. What I don't get, however, is what delusion led the government to think it was any of their affair to ban or even regulate.
Who? I know for sure the government is one. I suspect that data goes to whomever will also buy it.
It sounds like it varies from community to community but when I built my garage our utility company supplied the primary to the box, along with the meter. Their easement extended across my property to the box for access to their meter.
I hear you, but you’re barking up the wrong tree here. It is MUCH CHEAPER for the utility to have you use power WHEN THEY TELL YOU TO than it is for them to read your meter.
I do realize that meter reading is already built into the cost of service, but the arguments against “Smart Meters” are much more important than a few bucks a month. These things are the second biggest threat to privacy in the past 100 years (the biggest is GPS tracking of cars, that Governor Perry is trying to impose here in Texas).
I believe you may owe Mr tgusa an apology. Nowhere in his post did he write that his nephew was installing "smart meters." If the power company is supplying energy they have a right to read the plain, old-fashioned meter. My understanding of Mr tgusa's post was that was what his nephew was doing, just in a pretty rough neighborhood where he needed a little protection.
You wrote to Mr tgusa, "Your ignorance is astounding. Tsk, tsk! In no regard was that called for, now was it?
Against the law here unless it is an emergency and power is out for hurricane or other natural disasters.
Do I understand you correctly, that it is "against the law [t]here" to disconnect from the power supply grid? If so, government is forcing you to purchase a product.
“With interest, I hope, and “late charges”?”
I had requested a meter test and that I wanted to be present.
The next day, I came home from work and discovered the meter had been replaced. Again. I contacted the water dept. and they said yep the meter was bad. When I asked how they were going to calculate the overage, they said they would use my usage for the next month.
It was December. After a month went by I contacted them to hear that they were going to monitor another month. After another month went by they decided to caculate my usage for the last 2 years based on my usage for December and Jan.
I made out like a bandit.
I hope you were showering at the Y and flushing with water from the store. Would serve the asses right if you did.
A weapon should only be drawn if someone’s life is in danger and you intend to kill someone. Was she really going to kill a man over installing a meter?
A weapon is not a toy to scare people with. If the man assualted her and was trespassing she should of called the police.
I thought about that at the time.
Makes me think though, How many people are out there with bad meters and don’t even know it.
>> CenterPoint: “We are deeply troubled by anyone who would pull a gun on another person performing their job.”
I’m deeply troubled CenterPoint’s employee didn’t respect the property owner’s wishes that he vacate the premises immediately.
It’s called being caught with pants down, I suppose. The government is like. They know what they are doing to us.
And indeed, I could think of many times when the government pulled the gun on someone trying to do their job. I mean, our rules of engagement in Afghanistan are just about that.
Yes totally correct, the pushing aside was not right at all. That’s assault and that’s part of the lawsuit right there.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.