The utility faces resistance from homeowners, city planners, environmentalists and political conservatives worried about health effects, accuracy, privacy and jurisdiction.
Pacific Gas & Electric Co.’s plan to install ‘smart meters’ in this affluent Bay Area community of eco-friendly homes, yoga studios and organic restaurants has unleashed a torrent of anger among customers who fear the devices will expose them to hazardous pulses of electromagnetic radiation.
Hundreds of Fairfax residents have posted red-and-white “Smart meter not here” signs beside their mechanical meters as a warning to PG&E technicians. A few have secured their spinning-dial meters with gates, cages and padlocks.
“There’s no way they’re taking my meters away, and I don’t want them putting things on my property that I don’t want,” said local Realtor Diane Hoffman, fastening a padlock onto a wooden gate guarding her home meter.
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