Recently, and completely without my knowledge, my gas company has installed a smart meter, or smart meter equivalent, on my gas regulator. Now I would be fine with this except for the fact that the signal generated by that meter is interfering with my HAM radio. Now this isn’t just a faint click occasionally in he background, but a full on wailing screech that is transmitted out with any transmission I make. I can no longer make or receive and radio communications and the meter, for those of you who know, is in total violation of Title 47 Code of Federal Regulations Part 15 Section C which states that an unlicensed intentional electronic transmitter can NOT under ANY circumstance, but that of an emergency, interfere with a federally licensed device, which mine falls under the jurisdiction of.
So, I put in a call to CenterPoint Energy telling them my problem and asking them to replace the smart meter with the mechanical meter they had in the week before. They refused, so I explained the federal laws that require them to correct the problem and they still refused even when speaking with their manager. I was then redirected to the public office of consumer utility complaints and they immediately told me they had no jurisdiction over gas lines and they redirected me to the railroad company and complaints office. They asked me why the heck I called the railroad commission about a consumer utility problem and told me to call CenterPoint again. So now I was in a triangle of redirection ಠ_ಠ .
I called CenterPoint one last time, speaking to the manager, and told him he has two options : A.) Send someone out to replace the meter and you’ll get your smart meter back or B.) A federal agent will come out, rip out the meter, hire a private contractor to install a mechanical meter, and a federal agent will then have to be present when servicing or reading the meter fro this point on, and you WONT get your smart meter back. Again, they refused.
So, I wrote a formal letter of complaint to the FCC and within the week they sent someone out to check on the problem. Then THEY contacted CenterPoint, a federal officer did this, and they STILL refused to replace it. SO about one and one half weeks after submitting my FCC complaint the FCC removed the meter, hired someone to put in a mechanical meter, tagged the meter stating it was unlawful to install a electronic meter (gas electric or waster) on this property, and fined and billed CenterPoint for services rendered.
What I have learned from all of this is that I am VERY pleased with the FCCs actions, CenterPoint has the worst customer service, and smart meters don’t like HAM. Either way, I’m back on the airwaves so its all good to me.
Not odd at all… They are known for screwing up many devices in the home.
HOWEVER the FCC would allow the utility a window to correct the issue “on paper” I find it interesting that there are consumers all over the United States with open complaints against smart meters (and the respective utility) and the utility has typically replaced the meter with a lower power unit. Yet in this case (after he made insane threats) the utility does nothing. Does not sound right at all. The are typically pretty cooperative with the powers that be they know it will cost them in the long run. OF course if you called me with that attitude (and you problem sound young) I would have just hung up on you.
He should have some documentation from the FCC showing his complaint and the resolution.
God help us that he has a HAM radio to begin with but that is not really the issue…
Ah, you misunderstand, I was fully polite the entire time, being firm and affirmative with what I’m saying is different than being a dick over the phone. I know that they are just telephone operators and I know they don’t really have any power to do anything themselves. And I don’t sound young, I have a think Russian accent that puts me in my late 20’s.
Oh, and yeah I have all the paperwork and stuff, but my all-in-one has some major problems that not even I can fix and I can’t afford a new scanner right now cause of a recent car accident, dental work, surgery, and other hospital fees. I guess I could try to take a photo with my camera, but he quality wont be that good, its from the 90s.
Kinda weird that the smart meter would mess up your HAM radio though…