BASSETERRE, St. Kitts –- FORMER Minister under the People’s Action Movement Administration, Richard Caines believes that the St. Kitts Electricity Company (SKELEC) is rushing into the implementation of its new smart meter system without taking health issues into consideration.
Caines’ position comes after he received numerous complaints from individuals in overseas territories, who have all complained about health-related issues since their respective countries or districts implemented the smart meters.
“I think that the smart meter ultimately is the answer to reducing cost and making the company more efficient, but I don’t think that the time is right,” Caines opined.
Caines explained that the new meters emit a high level of radiation, to which he made reference during his radio programme on a local radio station.
“I have been the first person to raise alarm bells about smart meters on a programme I host on WINN FM. And since then I have had several telephone calls and I have got a document that someone sent to me with some of the complaints in the United States.”
In an interview with SKNVibes Business, Caines stated that this new technology is not effective, since it has only been around for a short period of time within the United States.
He added that these meters were met with a great amount of resistance from the consuming public within the United States.
“The technology is not perfected! They only started in the United States in 2009 and by 2010 there was a proliferation over the United States. But, with some of the cities in California, Texas, in New York, in New Jersey and Florida, there have been tremendous amounts of resistance to the installation and this is based upon the experiences that people have had.”
He told SKNVibes, too, that the meters have created health problems for those persons who already have them installed within their homes in the United States.
Caines showed this publication a document within which several health problems were listed, some of which could be life-threatening. These include cancer; sleep problems, including insomnia, nightmares, headaches and disorientation.
“I think we could have waited another year because the United States is a country where when problems of this nature develop they have got to find solutions.
“And this is why we went on the programme, because nobody has ever heard about these problems until we from Operation Rescue aid them, and then everybody was ringing off my telephone the day after,” Caines said.
When SKNVibes Business reached out to SKELEC for a comment, the publication was told that “a press release will be issued”.
Smart Meters are expected to help the company monitor the amount of energy they push and it expect to inform the consumer at any point the amount of electricity he or she is consuming on any given day.
The readings from this new meter would be fed directly to the electricity company, thus there will be no need for meter readers.
