Petition:
Request for a moratorium on the installation of Hydro-Québec's next-generation meters

Petition text

WHEREAS the installation of the so-called "smart" meters that Hydro-Québec intends to impose on all its customers, without prior consultation or permission, constitutes a serious violation of their freedom of choice;

WHEREAS the electromagnetic radiation from the pulsed microwaves emitted by these meters, which fall within the 900 to 920MHz range (similar to cell phones whose radiation the WHO has classified as "possibly carcinogenic") would further increase the already heavy exposure to which the population is currently being subjected and would contribute to trigger a host of health problems, especially in people with electromagnetic sensitivity, as observed wherever wireless meters have been installed;

WHEREAS Hydro-Québec has not demonstrated the need to change the existing meter reading method, based on a six-times-a-year schedule, nor has it established the benefits of providing its customers with multiple, daily readings of their electricity consumption;

WHEREAS the exorbitant cost of replacing the current electromechanical meters, which have a useful life of more than 25 years, with meters that will last a mere 15 years constitutes an unjustified expenditure that customers will have to bear sooner or later ;

We, the signatories of this petition, call for the government to require Hydro-Québec to immediately suspend the deployment of these meters until it has been demonstrated that the issues raised above have been duly addressed and appropriate corrective measures have been implemented, to the satisfaction of an evaluation committee composed of an equal number of representatives from Hydro-Québec and citizen groups opposed to this deployment.

The signing period for this petition is over.

Signing deadline : February 2, 2012

Number of signatures : 9840

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