Inside the fight between my small Iowa hometown and a $12 billion utility over smart meters and the radiation that some residents call 'poison'
Many residents in Fairfield, Iowa, home to thousands of disciples of a deceased Indian guru, claim that radiation emitted by cell phones and other devices is harmful to human health.
It was May, and I had been staying with my parents months after escaping New York City. In their home, more than 80 miles away from the nearest airport, the threat of a pandemic felt distant. For the power company, smart meters are the future, offering big savings and granular info about energy use. For some residents of my hometown, they pose an unacceptable health risk.
It's hard to say when meditators first developed an aversion to RF, a type of electromagnetic radiation, but it fits neatly among some of the other beliefs that meditators here share. Fairfield has two golden, geodesic domes where hundreds of people meditate together in the morning and evening.He "strongly urged" that there be no wifi at facilities associated with the meditation community and that people avoid carrying cell phones, according to Jon Lipman, an architect in town.
Energy utilities put that refuge at risk. For years they've been rolling out smart meters that communicate with power companies using RF. The utility, a subsidiary of Alliant Energy, would charge $15 a month for electric meter opt-out fees, according to its proposed tariffs. Plus, customers wouldn't be able to retain their old, non-emitting analog meters — the ones with dials on the front, like elaborate watches. Instead, customers choosing to opt out would receive non-emitting digital electric meters.
Bauer also points out that smart meters benefit customers. They reduce billing errors and allow for remote service activation and deactivation. They also automatically alert the utility if a customer's power goes out. Jay Marcus, an attorney in Fairfield who represented intervenors who opposed Alliant's smart meter program.In the summer after Alliant proposed its opt-out terms, two Fairfield residents — including Lipman — launched their attack.
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