Month: August 2020

Commentary by Vince Welage;  Southwest Ohio for Responsible Technology

How Smart Meters Play a Major Role in Your High Utility Bills

Ohio energy consumers should be able to manage their own utility bills by controlling how much energy they use at home. Unfortunately, in recent years, Ohio utility companies have significantly raised its “customer fees” and that has resulted in customers losing control over a big portion of their monthly utility bills – even if their energy use decreases.

For example, in 2018, Duke Energy won another approval from PUCO to raise monthly fees by a disproportionate amount for Southwest Ohio customers. Consumers who invest in efficiency and renewable energy save money on energy costs, but those savings are reduced with higher fixed fees. Legislation reform is needed in Ohio to change PUCO policy decisions effecting high energy fixed costs. Many utility commissions around the country have recognized the problems with higher fixed fees and have rejected most proposals to increase them.

Smart Meter Components:
Overcharges The utility bills that a growing number of Ohioans can’t afford to pay are higher because of the Smart Meters. In 2009, Duke Energy started to replace traditional 1-way transmitting gas and electric analog meters in Southwest Ohio with 2-way wireless AMI Smart Meters. There have been rate increases and riders approved with the new technology. In 2014, Ohio customers were given a rate increase to pay Duke Energy to finish installing 700,000+ AMI Smart Meters. In 2018, customer rates were increased again to pay for replacing those meters with new AMI Smart meters (PUCO case record 17-0032-EL-AIR).
Ohio energy consumers should have the right to traditional analog meters. Smart Meters are 2-way transmitting whereas traditional analog meters are 1-way transmitting and use less energy. Outside of Ohio it has been determined that the extra energy use to operate Smart Meters is being passed on to customers.

Privacy and Security:  Smart Meters can produce harmful consequences in terms of cyber security issues with residential home installations. Home energy usage tracking data must be kept private and confidential. If Smart Meters move to 5G networks, there is a more significant cyber security risk because the 5G technology is software based. This means it is subject to hackers using backdoor or calling home mechanisms that can go undetected when installed during regular software upgrades. Even without 5G, Duke Energy has experienced a significant number of cyber attacks with their Smart Meter technology.
Legislation is also urgently needed to stop utility companies from renting or sharing that information with third parties including contracted energy suppliers operating under the various statewide aggregation programs.

Health and Safety: Smart Meters are a health hazard because they emit Radio Frequency radiation. RF radiation is biologically-active electromagnetic exposure that is absorbed into the skin. Chronic exposure to wireless radiation has been linked to neurological damage, reproductive effects and cancer. Pregnant women and small children are particularly vulnerable.

Smart Meters are a safety hazard because they don’t have surge protectors and are prone to fires and explosions. Advanced meters must be properly grounded and have surge protection that is adequately rated in order to divert a lightning strike. Also, Smart Meters installed on homes in close proximity are exposing those residents to extremely high RF levels because of connectivity to the neighborhood energy grid which is very unhealthy.

Ohio legislators need to educate themselves on some recent Federal Court rulings against the FCC that pertains to their decision to maintain the 24 year old radio frequency (RF) radiation exposure limits not updated since 1996. The FCC rules are being continuously challenged in Federal and State courts in multiple cases by members of Congress because the FCC chairman has refused to update the safety standards. There are ongoing questions over the relevance of the current FCC human exposure standard given the onslaught of modern wireless technology. The big issue that remains is continuous exposure.

Surveillance: Smart Meter installations result in both unwanted surveillance under the guise of gas/electric aggregation cost savings programs and forced surveillance in the form of ongoing high monthly opt-out fees. Utility aggregation programs that are being implemented in Ohio local communities are tied in with these Smart Meters and Smart Grids. Energy aggregation proponents have promised that these programs would save customers money but this hasn’t been consistent. A few years ago when the Gas/Electric Aggregation programs were first introduced in Ohio, Duke Energy did not participate in the competition and the outside supplier rates for both gas and electric were much lower. This provided a good hedge against Duke utility rates especially against gas rates until they joined the competition and with PUCO compliance reduced the benefit to consumers.

For the most part, many energy aggregation programs have become somewhat of a false flag for consumer savings. This is due to the substantial drop in the GCR since July 2018 (see graph here). Duke Energy defines Gas Cost Recovery (GCR) as the charge for customers purchasing natural gas from the utility versus what a homeowner might purchase from an outside supplier via aggregation. Duke makes no profit on the GCR and the rate includes Ohio excise tax. For electric usage, Duke uses the term Price to Compare (PTC) to quote a price in cents per kWh that an outside electric supplier must offer which is a lower price for the same usage in order to save money. The fixed fees that appear on a typical utility bill are defined as a delivery service charge and a separate delivery rider calculated in advance. These values are not based on actual consumer usage for the month. The monthly fixed costs including the Smart Meter opt-out fees reduce net savings.

Ohio utility opt-out fees are determined by the utility and PUCO. The Smart Meter opt-out fees have always been a punitive measure. The consumer who chooses to opt-out still pays Smart Meter costs included in the distribution charges.

In Southwest Ohio, the net savings from energy aggregation programs hit a threshold near year end in 2017. With PUCO approval, Duke Energy had been adding a $100 setup fee and a $30 opt-out fee since September 2016 to replace the Smart Meter with a non-RF meter. The extra cost became more prevalent after reaching that threshold when choosing to opt-out.

In many cases, the Smart Meters were installed without homeowner permission or consent. At that time, many residents were already aware of the health hazards and other dangers from Smart Meters, but were faced with an added cost burden aside from the fixed monthly fees. That same situation persists today and has created a real hardship for Ohio energy consumers.

A proper alternative to the high fixed costs is a well defined cap limit approach to monthly home energy usage. This means the prior year non-heating and cooling months (May-Sept) would be used to establish a base energy usage for the current year. Duke Energy is already using a very subtle cap limit approach for electricity usage during those months by setting a 1000/kWh ceiling for cooling with a rate discount. Duke has the archival history available for both gas and electric usage in order to project a cap limit at the start of each year. In many Southwest Ohio communities, a cap limit approach for the billing of water and sewer charges has been in existence for many years.

Legislative Actions:
In 2013, Ohio Senate Bill 181 “Smart Meter Consent Bill” was endorsed by the Ohio ACLU

In 2015, The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) created “Resolution For a Moratorium on the Installation of ‘SMART’ Meters and No Cost Opt-Out”

Michigan elected officials introduced Smart Meter legislation so citizens could refuse these meters and Smart Meters would be made safer.

Kentucky governor, Andy Beshear, stopped the “rollout” of Smart Meters while he was Attorney General stating that they cost too much and weren’t needed. 

 

 

 

Since the start of the Covid-19 crisis, Governor Mike DeWine has chosen to align himself and the state of Ohio with some unsavory individuals and organizations.

First it was  Partners In Health, an organization co-founded by Paul Farmer that lists George Soros’ Open Society Foundation as an official partner, along with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Farmer and the PIH openly espouses a Marxist, globalist world view.  PIH  counts Chelsea Clinton on its board of trustees.

DeWine handed contact tracing of Ohioans over to PIH on a silver tray, with no input from the legislature, thereby avoiding any potential opposition.

More Recently, DeWine chose to partner with the Rockefeller Foundation, a group well known for promoting eugenics and population control.

On Aug 4,  The Rockefeller Foundation released a statement announcing that Gov. DeWine and five other governors established a partnership with the foundation  to source  three million Covid-19 antigen  tests –   the same test that two days later produced DeWine’s false positive.

“The Rockefeller Foundation stands ready to assist in facilitating financing mechanisms to support this large-scale interstate testing compact,” said The Rockefeller Foundation release.

Incidentally, The World Health Organization cautioned against using antigen tests in April, due to a low accuracy rate of  just 34% to 80%,  according to WHO.

The Rockefeller Foundation also has close ties with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

DeWine has extensive ties to Haiti and reportedly took Dr. Amy Acton for a visit there before she became ODH Director in February 2019. Many of DeWine’s chosen bedfellows are also active in Haiti.

Clearly, DeWine has forgotten that it is Ohioans’ hard-earned money funding his paycheck, and that he is not in office to pursue his own interests and agenda.

Read about the Connection Between the Rockefeller Foundation, Johns Hopkins, and Gates Foundations.

Read about DeWine’s views on George Soros have done an about-face.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine may have a difficult time closing the can of worms opened by his Covid-19 testing ordeal.

The Governor’s experience has made Ohioans more aware than ever that their freedoms, livelihoods and lives are very likely being based on faulty testing.

DeWine tested positive for the coronavirus on Thursday afternoon after taking a rapid-response antigen test. A few hours later, he tested negative on two follow-up PCR Covid-19 tests.

Still, the Governor said he wants Ohioans to  trust in the reliability of Covid-19 testing.

“I think what people should not take away from my experience (is) that testing is not reliable or doesn’t work,” DeWine told CNN’s Dana Bash on State of the Union on Saturday.

DeWine said the antigen tests are fairly new and the companies coming out with them have the burden of “showing how good they are.”

This downplays what CNN previously reported, that the ability of an antigen test to identify someone with  Covid-19 ranges between 34% and 80% in accuracy, according to the World Health Organization.

DeWine spoke highly of Covid-19 PCR tests, calling them “very, very, very reliable.”

Contrary to DeWine’s claim, PCR tests are also prone to false positive results, say scientists. More on that below.

DeWine doesn’t seem to grasp that a false-positive result for the average Ohioan means major life disruptions.

Unlike DeWine, who had almost immediate access to follow-up testing, Ohioans do not.

The turnaround time for a PCR test is between 48 hours and seven days, according to the Ohio Department of Health  website – possibly even longer depending on how busy labs are.

When you receive a positive result, you are reported to the ODH and your county health department.

Per CDC guidelines, you will be instructed by health officials to quarantine for at least 10 days. Anyone living in the same household is ordered to quarantine for 14 days from the date the person with Covid began isolation.

You are then subjected to contact tracing. Anyone you have been in close contact with is notified by health officials that they must quarantine for 14 days.

If you refuse to quarantine after receiving a positive Covid test result, a health department official will likely show up at your doorstep with law enforcement officers and you will be threatened with legal action.

Testing labs  report  between 2% and 8% of PCR testing can show false positive results.

In addition, there are errors resulting from improper sample handling before the sample ever arrives at the lab.

It was the mishandling of samples that resulted in 19 false positives at an East Ohio nursing facility earlier this year.

“And PCR is so incredibly sensitive, contamination is a particular concern. Even the tiniest amount of stray material in a lab can spell trouble,” said Dr. Bobbi Pritt, a clinical microbiologist who chairs the microbiology committee for the College of American Pathologists.

See a report on “False positives in reverse transcription PCR testing for SARS-CoV-2.”

DeWine admitted that antigen testing has room for improvement.

“Could they be used in some situations? Yeh, they could be, but you have to understand going in that you can get the false positive, like happened in my case, or you can get the false negatives,” said DeWine.

Despite being aware of this, DeWine recently agreed to purchase 500,000 additional antigen tests for use in Ohio anyway, as was reported on August 4.

Maryland, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Virginia and Ohio formed an interstate compact with The Rockefeller Foundation to ramp up the use of rapid antigen tests in schools, workplaces and nursing homes.

“Time is of the essence, which is why I am pleased to join with my fellow governors to work together to expand the use of rapid, point-of-care antigen tests in order to help to slow the spread of Covid-19 in our states,” said Governor DeWine.

Commentary by Del Duduit

They know what’s going on but refuse to do anything about it.

Real Democrats, what’s left of them, just sit back and watch the extreme leftist liberals dismantle America and all it represents.

They must be afraid to speak up because there is no way, even moderate Democrats can approve of their “leaders” destroying this nation, just because they hate the current occupant of The White House.

Thugs are released into the streets, if they are arrested at all, to offend again. Buildings and businesses are allowed to be burned and vandalized, city streets are painted with political messages while innocent people who defend themselves are at risk of losing everything they have.

Citizens are unlawfully ordered what to wear and if they can operate their own small business.

The party that is allegedly for tolerance, has labeled some people “essential” and “non-essential.” They have created a social class war by describing people this way. It sends a subliminal message that many have already swallowed.

Democrat mayors and governors threaten to arrest people for going to church yet participate and condone violent riots where hundreds gather.

It’s no longer a matter of Democrats losing their way. Today’s left wing is making an all-out blitz to destroy the fabric of America – freedom. This movement to cancel everything and defund the police is well orchestrated.

Their plan is to take away any means of protection so that rioters have nothing to stop them from tearing down American history.

Adolph Hitler is thought to have said this about his plan to overtake the world decades ago. “To conquer a nation, you must first disarm its citizens.”

Does that sound like the Democrat platform today?

Jerry Nadler, the liberal congressman from New York, told reporters the violence out west in Oregon and California is “fabricated” and a “myth.”

Meanwhile, ABC news reported a riot and fire was set inside a police station in Portland.

Democrats turn their heads to the destruction of our liberty but get visibly upset when President Trump advocates and endorses those who serve to protect all citizens.

Liberals will not condemn Antifa and its violent acts because that appears to be their base of support.

This is a group that intimidates the elderly and will use brute violence against any who opposed their anti-American beliefs.

It’s goal is to collapse American values – this is obvious because they burned Bibles last week. Where? Of course. In Oregon.

Republicans stand united and want to fight for freedom while Democrats either deny that freedom is under attack or encourage violence against our Republic. They are wrong in both cases.

Liberals want The White House so bad they are willing to wreak havoc on the American citizens.

The Coronavirus is a serious threat to those who are exposed, but the liberal left has used the pandemic as political ammunition.

They don’t want people to be safe. They simply want the nation to shut down, businesses to crumble, kids to be scared to go to school, everyone to stay home and the economy to crash. Why? Because it is the only and last attempt to win the election.

Fear has put a dent in the most successful economy ever and it also might put the kibosh on the brilliance and momentum of the Trump rallies. If they can stop the rallies, then they might have a chance to win. That is what the shutdowns are about.

Dependence. Socialism. Fear. That is what extreme Democrats shove down the throats of citizens every day. They use the cooperation of the media who also hates the president.

Democrats are now the shutdown party. The lockdown governors such as Tom Wolf of Pennsylvania and Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan have frustrated people who believe in the Constitution of the United States.

Government power and restrictions have been the norm during this crisis. This is what they thirst for and need to survive.

Candace Owen said this past week that the “Coronavirus is the greatest rigging of an American election that has ever taken place – and we are all unwitting participants.”

They want to disrupt the normal election process and use “their suggestion” for mail-in ballots.

Everyone knows, even the Democrats, that this is their best way to cheat because they cannot win with Joe Biden in his basement.
It would be amazing if “real” Democrats stood up and took back their party. But that hope is fading.

The only thing they can do now is put a check next to Donald J. Trump’s name for President when they vote in private.

I have a suspicion many will do just that.

 

Del Duduit
Best-selling author, award-winning writer
Literary agent, C.Y.L.E. Agency;   delduduit.com

Rumors have circulated for weeks about Ohioans who were notified that they tested positive for COVID-19 without ever being tested for the virus.

According to most accounts, someone was in line to take a test and then bailed when they grew tired of waiting.

Until now, there has been no official confirmation of this.

At a fundraiser Wednesday in Madison Township, Auditor Keith Faber reportedly spoke about this phenomenon and said that his office has verified five actual cases in a little over a week.

Republican State Central Committeeman John Plecnik was in attendance and shared Faber’s words in a social media post.

Ohio Statehouse News reached out to Faber’s office but have not yet received a response.

“He asked everyone in attendance that Wednesday evening to share what he said to social media,” said Plecnik. “I asked him if he was serious, and he said yes, please share.”

No official Ohio reporting line has been set up as of yet. Auditor Faber’s office can be reached by calling  614-466-4514.

Ohio will be soon be mailing absentee voter applications to all of the state’s 7.8 million registered voters. This is being done to ensure that those with coronavirus concerns can vote with confidence, said Ohio Secretary of State media contact Maggie Sheehan.

The applications are expected to go out to voters shortly after Labor Day.

The polls will still be open on Election Day for in-person voting.

Meanwhile, some voter’s rights groups and the Ohio Democratic Party have filed lawsuit over how Ohio verifies absentee ballots and electronic ballot applications.

Along with 29 other states, Ohio has a “no excuse” absentee voting system, so that any voter for any reason can mail in an absentee ballot. Even so, a voter must first submit an absentee voter application, which requires a legal signature and proof of identification.

In the past it was necessary to request the application.

On Friday,  lawsuits over how Ohio verifies absentee ballots using signature matching was called a flawed, inconsistent system. Read the story here.

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose reportedly said that removing the system would open the floodgates to potential voter fraud.

Signature matching is used by election officials to verify absentee ballot applications and mailed-in ballots. If officials suspect a mismatch, the absentee ballot could be denied

LaRose reportedly called the lawsuit a “solution in search of a problem that would obliterate Ohio’s safeguards on providing secure, no fault absentee voting.”

LaRose said he is open to working with these groups to improve signature verification, but with so little time before absentee voting begins, removing signature verification is not the answer.

The federal law suit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Ohio, and Lawyers’ Committee, challenging the Ohio system of matching voter signatures on absentee ballots and absentee ballot applications

The Ohio Democratic Party’s lawsuit reportedly seeks to compel the secretary of state to allow voters to apply for absentee ballots by electronic means, including by fax or email.

Secretary of State Frank LaRose criticized the efforts.

The Ohio Secretary of State website states that the office continually adds and removes people from Ohio’s voter rolls, using data from the national moving database, the Bureau of Motor vehicles, and death records. This ensures that only currently eligible voters can get ballots.

Voters need only fill out and return an application and their absentee ballot will be mailed to them so they may make their selections at their leisure and return their ballot to the board of elections ahead of Election Day.

If mailed, absentee ballots must be postmarked by the day before the election in order to be counted. You can also return your absentee ballot in-person to your county board of elections before the close of the polls at 7:30 PM on Election Day.

Ohioans serving in the military overseas can vote using a Uniformed Services Absentee Ballot. US citizens living overseas may also be eligible to vote by absentee ballot. Learn more about military and overseas voting from the Ohio Secretary of State.

Contact your county board of elections. 

Recent polling suggests the race in Ohio is tightening. A recent CBS News Battleground Tracker poll showed the president with 46% support, compared to Biden’s 45% support among likely Ohio voters.